The Food Canon

I added Mee to my home version

So why in the world do you want to make Char Kuay Teow at home?

It is readily available in almost every food court. Even the Penang ones are appearing all over Singapore these days.

Some still prefer to fry them at home. I venture to explain some of the possible reasons:

• They like to turn their homes into smokehouses.
• They want a romantic evening, gazing hazily at each other, with the song "Smoke gets in your eyes" in the background
• They want to try out different ingredients. Such as foie gras, truffle oil or lobster meat. Oyster in place of cockles. Instead of lard, they prefer the apparently healthier la graisse de canard (duck fat!)
• They dislike queues (and the better CKT stalls always have queues - I call these the Char Queue Teow stalls - CQT).
• They dislike the CQT man who always scowl with a 'take it or leave it' attitude. 
• They dislike the made-to-feel-guilty stares as they queue and bump into a friend. Sheepishly, "Er..I only queue for CQT once a month!
• They are dying to try their new wok and burner.

I really don't know.

(This is a 3-part series on my recent trip to Ipoh. You can read the first two posts here and here)

A stall outside  house

We skipped lunch on our second day in Ipoh as we needed a break after the curry mee meal.

Not for long though and by tea time, we were primed and ready for the famous Hong Kee Mah's Fa Sang Wu. It is a fantastic Chinese Peanut Cream dessert eaten piping hot.

This in my opinion must be one of the best Fa Sang Wu around but it has the usual Ipoh treatment. Humble and non-descript. If you drive too fast you may miss it. It is a plain looking stall outside a house in a resident area. And it is only opened from noon till about 4 pm.

This is an old-fashioned drivethru.

This is how it looks if you order the garnishes and meat separately

The "Don't Hurry Me Curry Mee"

Wait and take your turn...

We started our second day in Ipoh with curry mee.

Will you wait 45 minutes or more for a bowl of this?

Judging by the wait and queue at Xin Guan Fang Curry Mee, it seems like many won't mind. It is located near the new police station at Jalan Sultan Iskandar. It is known by locals a "ma ta liu min" and reputed as one of the best curry mee here.

One reasons for the wait is the limited no of tables. This tells you that the owner has been at this for a long time and not about to introduce any changes. He is only cooking a certain amount each day and it will all be finished by late morning.

He is not in a rush. "Take your time" and this seems to be the way of life in this city.

Welcome to Ipoh

It is now almost 5 years since we were last in Ipoh. Lots of memories as my ailing mother was nursed here.  The last time I visited Ipoh was to bid her farewell.

Ipoh is about 2 hours drive from KL. The drive is very beautiful and scenic. When you see limestone hills, you know you are approaching Ipoh.

The Rabbits are here

Once a year, some in the Chinese community here will be craving for Rabbit fish.

Some call it the "Chinese New Year Fish" or "Pai-Lin Yue."

For a few days in a year - and only for a few days - the ones caught and sold in local markets are full of creamy roe and wilt, with little of the usual fishy taste inside the stomach. This is the period when they get ready to spawn. I suppose its' rich tummy is a sign of prosperity. For most, it is just tradition and taste.

It is a special Chinese New Year delicacy. During that period, they come with a premium price, fetching up to $100 per kilo. Crazy.

This year, they missed the boat and arrived way too late, being perhaps the leap year.

Fried Sea Bass - Thai style. Perhaps I won't call this a 101 dish but to Thais, fried fish with some condiments is a basic dish.

I have always been keen on eating at home.

There is something special about the family gathering around the dining table. I feel that a home is less than one if the kitchen and dining table is not used regularly. At least I grew up in one where the home centered around them.  

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I started learning to cook soon after I started working as I always wanted to recreate some of the dishes I grew up with. When the kids came, my Mum came down from PJ to stay with us. It became less necessary for me to be in the kitchen. Mum was providing the daily spread. We could look forward to returning home to dinner everyday. Sometimes I will call her to ask what's for dinner. She will always say a phrase in Cantonese which rhymes. "I won't let you know and will let your heart keep wondering."

After my Mum passed away, for a while, we were quite at a lost as to our daily meals. We tried "tingkat" home delivery meals. They sent dinner in these stacked containers. You have to eat whatever is delivered to you. The food was often bland and rather tasteless. After two weeks of trying to appreciate these meals, one evening, we just could not carry on. Not even after we have said grace! I told my wife to cancel the arrangements.

That was when I made a new resolution to resume home cooking.