Stinking The Apartment

Being single and staying alone, living in an apartment suits me just fine. The view is great. There is always a cool breeze blowing in. Everything is within easy reach. I do not need that much space. Those extra nooks and crannies in a bigger abode will merely gather dust anyway. However, one of the drawbacks in living in such confined space is that the kitchen is also close to every other part of the apartment. When something pungent is being cooked in the kitchen, the whole place reeks of it, which is what happened this morning.

Having gathered all the ingredients for the kiam hu kut kari over several days, and not feeling feverish anymore, I was resolute that today would be the day to treat myself to this delicious fare. Cooking this curry consisted of frying the salted fish bones which let off a pong that was overpowering initially. Fortunately, the breeze blew away much of the odour. The curry tasted nice but not as I remembered. Mum’s was nicer. I allowed myself only two pieces of salted fish bones. Preserved food is something I should keep away from as much as possible. I will cook this again when Wuan is here with a slightly modified recipe and see if it tastes like how Mum had cooked it, and stink the apartment all over again. Hopefully, that will be another breezy day.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

7 thoughts on “Stinking The Apartment”

  1. Hey there,

    Seeing your food is making me hungry also….. I know, I know, very greedy! I am sorry to hear that you have not been feeling well. I hope you are feeling better and I hope that you are okay!

    Heh heh heh, the downside of cooking salted fish….. stinky……like cooking belachan….. my nephew used to be really unimpressed when i would cook belachan….. (but so yummy!)

    Anyways take care!
    Loads of love!

  2. Dee,
    I am feeling much better, hence the boldness in eating spicy food. Thank you. This recipe called for a piece of belacan to be toasted and added into the gravy. Belacan and shrimp paste are the two prawn-based seasonings I have stopped taking for the sake of my kidneys. If not, my apartment would be smelling like there is a dead rat somewhere now. And yes, belacan is so yummy!

  3. same here. i like kiam hoo kut kari also but i only take the tau pok… and of course lots of the gravy. curry is one of my favourite food, you know. whenever i eat rice, must either have curry or sambal belacan.

  4. yeah peter… esp. when it is in curry mee (penang’s curry me, not KL’s). 🙂
    but come to think of it, i love the ‘blood’ more than tau pok in curry me.

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