Food – Page 5 – Peter Tan – The Digital Awakening

Mee Koo Toast

My neighbours in Taman Pekaka celebrated the birthday of the “latuk kong” (resident deity) last Thursday. Worshippers who contributed to the festival were each given a goodie bag of fruits, two mee koo (tortoise buns) and a box of nasi kunyit (steamed turmeric glutinous rice) with curry chicken. They gave me one bag too when I dropped in to collect some things from the apartment.

Mee koo – tortoise bun.

Wuan and I ate the nasi kunyit and fruits when we got back to the hotel but decided to take the mee koo back to Kuala Lumpur. The mee koo is basically a bun made into the shape of a tortoise with a head, legs and tail. It is used as an offering to deities during festivals. They are also given out during birthday celebrations of elderly people.

Pink mee koo are more common as the colour signifies auspiciousness while the tortoise shape represents longevity. On the same note, yellow is also an auspicious colour. It is a matter of preference of the deity who will inform the worshippers through a medium during a trance. Halal nasi kunyit with either chicken or mutton curry is predominantly an offering for latuk kongs.

The mee koo can be eaten just like that when fresh. Alternatively, it can be coated with beaten eggs and made into toasts. I also like them with a generous dollop of butter hot from the steamer. Wuan turned the mee koo into toasts for breakfast this morning. This is the recipe she used:

Mee koo toasts – tortoise bun toasts.

Mee Koo Toasts Recipe

1 tortoise bun
2 eggs, beaten
Cooking oil, for frying
Pepper, to taste (optional)

Peel the skin off the mee koo. If the skin is stuck fast, steam for 10 minutes and it will come off easily. Cut into 3/4″ thick slices. Heat oil in pan. Coat generously with egg. Fry in low heat until golden brown. Serves two.

Roti Babi At Song River Cafe

Roti babi – Song River Cafe, Gurney Drive, Penang.

My quest for delicious roti babi saw me discovering a stall selling roti back in my hometown in Penang. This island is also where I first grew a dislike for this dish of Hainan and Peranakan origin. I was barely in my teenage years then. My mother used to make it once every few months. I was only allowed to eat only one half portion of the roti babi because she considered me too young to be eating too much of such oily food.

That was no great loss to the young me. The greasiness of the deep fried egg-coated bread dipped in the weird tasting “ang moh tau eu”, the Hokkien name for Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, and eaten with sliced red chillies, always made me nauseous. I guess the shredded cabbage bits contributed to that malady as well. As a kid, I was already a fussy eater and cabbage was one of the vegetables that my taste buds were greatly averse to. To make a long story short, over the years, I have gradually come to love it and have been having cravings for roti babi in recent years.

We made our way up to Penang on Tuesday morning, dropped the cats off for boarding in Ipoh Garden and had a late lunch with Wuan’s parents at Ipoh Old Town. We checked in at about 7pm at the Gurney Resort Hotel & Residences, our journey delayed by intermittent rain along the North South Expressway. We were tired but not that hungry and decided on Song River Cafe which was just a short distance from the hotel. I was delighted when I saw that the lor bak stall also served roti babi and duly ordered one.

Lets just say that I have eaten more delicious roti babi elsewhere. There wasn’t any hint of crab meat, potato or carrot in the filling. Perhaps, they were well mixed into the minced pork. The Worcestershire sauce also tasted bland, none of that nauseous-inducing flavour that I have come to like. One serving costs RM3.50. My cravings are definitely not satiated. The quest continues.

Fresh Dates Of Ramadan

Fresh red dates (huluwa dates) and yellow dates (barhi dates).

The highlight of the holy month of Ramadan for non-Muslims must surely be the mind-boggling array of delicacies for breaking fast at the bazaars. I have yet to visit one but I know what I like about Ramadan. It is neither the ayam golek, bubur lambuk nor the mouth-watering kuihs though.

I like the fresh dates from the Middle East most. They are available only during Ramadan. I had some last years and liked them very much. There are two varieties – red (huluwa dates) and yellow (barhi dates). Wuan bought some for me from the fruit stall near her work place last week. The huluwa dates are elongated while the barhi dates have a rather roundish shape. Both are astringent when they are unripe.

The huluwa dates ripen quicker. Their skin turns dark red, almost brownish, and becomes wrinkled and soft. The wrinkled ones I had smelt fermented and were unsavoury. I am not sure if they were rotten. On the other hand, the barhi dates ripen very slowly. The skin turns a darker shade as they ripen. The firm and unripe ones were slightly astringent and slightly sweet at the same time. I like the crunchiness as well. Hmm, I better stock up on the barhi dates before the supply runs out at the end of Ramadan.