We have been together for eleven years. Wuan is still as caring as she was when we first met, and much more. Many times, I ask myself what I have done to deserve such a wonderful woman. She ensures that all my needs are looked after. She wakes up at 5 am in the morning, every morning, to cook my lunch before she goes off to work. She watches over what I eat like a hawk to keep my declining renal health in check.

We can talk about anything and everything. Our interests are similar. We seldom have disagreements, almost never. She knows what I have in mind even before the words leave my lips. She spurs me on whenever I begin to lose hope. She gives me hope. She inspires me with her optimism. She is that spurt of energy that carries me through the last mile. With her, I have no worries. Life is a bliss. She completes me. She is all that is white and pure. She must be an angel. She is!

MY GUARDIAN ANGEL

Circa 2001

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Hometown Yong Tow Foo at Ampang Point.

If there is anything about Mum’s cooking that I miss most now, it is her nyong teu fu. That is yong tau foo in Hakka. The ones she made were as authentic as they could be. I have yet to find one done they way she did them. I have eaten what were claimed to be Hakka yong tau foo but they do not taste the same, not even close. For the longest time, I have been hankering for those like Mum’s.

It is a blessing that Mum’s second sister, my Jee Ee, uses a similar recipe. Whenever I am in Penang, I would visit her at her home in Ayer Itam. She is my cousin Ah Huat’s mother. I knew she knows the recipe but it just never crossed my mind to ask her, until yesterday.

I was going through some photographs when I came across some of yong tau foo that Wuan and I had when we went to Ampang Point recently. Coincidentally, I had also blogged about liking bitter gourd yong tau foo just before that. Some temptations are simply too difficult to resist. I picked up the phone and called Jee Ee and asked her for the recipe.

Just like Mum, Jee Ee does not quantify ingredients by weight. Two of this, half a catty of that, about twenty grains of this – I had a hard time following her. In the end, I only have a rough idea of how much each ingredient should be. Most importantly, I got an inkling of what the two secret spices are. These two spices made their yong tau foo unique in aroma.

One of these weekends, I am going to get Wuan to experiment with the recipe and see if we can recreate the flavour of Mum and Jee Ee’s Hakka nyong teu fu. It has been such a long time I have sunk my teeth into some. In the mean time, I will just have to make do with the Ampang yong tau foo from Restoran Foong Foong. They serve the best yong tau foo I have eaten so far, that is apart from the nyong teu fu that Mum used to make.

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Deep fried bitter gourd – Passions of Kerala, New World Park, Penang.

How can something bitter be delicious? That was what I used to think about bitter gourd until I was initiated into eating bitter gourd omelette many years ago. I then progressed to drinking bitter gourd and pork ribs soup. That was less palatable but Mum said that it was cooling for the body. I used to run around under the sun and that was supposed to help.

Much later when Wuan and I were dating, we used to share a cup of bitter gourd and green apple juice whenever we were at Jusco Supermarket. This combination made the drink bitter and sour at the same time. Still we drank like it was nectar from heaven as bitter gourd was believed to be detoxifying as well. I have also grown to love bitter gourd yong tau foo, preferably deep fried and served with some gravy instead of in soup.

The one dish that keeps me wanting more is the deep fried bitter gourd from Passions of Kerala in Penang. It was love at first bite for me. Whenever we ate there, it was a must have dish. The batter that coated the thinly sliced bitter gourd gave it crispness and aroma. It was delicious whether eaten as is or with banana leaf rice. I have not found another place that makes it as nice as at Passions of Kerala. No prize for guessing correctly where I will head to the next time I am in Penang. Bitter can be delicious. You better believe it!

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