Kneading, wrapping, steaming a traditional food even before the sun comes out.
My mom loves cooking. It could be that she never had a chance to attend school when she was young and she had to help take care of a relative's widowed kids. She picked up cooking at a very young age.
She used to tell me a story about how she pleaded with an old grandma to teach her to make kueh bangkit, a kind of Peranakan cookie. The lady refused to teach her and told her off, "Young girl like you want to learn so much for what." Undeterred, she went on to make it herself and learn from her mistakes one step at a time. If the cookie turned out too hard, she'll ask if she had used the correct flour or too much of it. If it breaks, she'll find out if she added too much sugar.
The first time she got someone to teach her make mini peanut puff, it was so frustrating cos the skin would just open up and the fillings flowed out once we put them in the oil to fry. The same thing happened when she first attempted to make curry puff. But she persisted despite the failures.
Through countless testing, she is now an expert in making Peranakan cookies. Love letters, kueh buluh, pineapple tart, mini peanut puff, peanut cookie, spicy shrimp roll and nonya kueh are some of her specialties. She became so good that she started selling them during the Chinese New Year to supplement the family income.
I remember when I was still in school, one month before the Chinese New Year, our home is turned into a mini factory. We'll wash the containers and sun them dry. Bought all the ingredients in advance. Waking up at 6am, most of my weekends were spent helping to churn out tins and tins of cookies. I'm probably the only student who sold cookies to my teachers in school.
She'll sell dumpling during the dragon boat festival. Other times, she'll sew clothes to earn some extra cash. Though we were not well off, we never go hungry.
We stopped selling them as she is getting older.
Over the years, unknowingly, she has taught me a few precious lessons.
You can teach yourself
If no one wants to teach you, you can always teach yourself.
Ask and ask
When my mom goes to market, she will ask anyone, including strangers if they know how to make something she is trying to learn. She is not shy of looking foolish and not fearful of rejection.
Never give up
Try and try and try. One day, you will find the right recipe.
Never take shortcuts
In the past, we made love letters using charcoal. It's no joke to be sitting on the floor next to hot burning charcoal for 5 hours handling 30 molds at one time. You have to keep turning the molds to make sure both sides are cooked nicely. And getting burnt by the bloody hot mold is no laughing matter.
Then someone invented the electric love letter making machine. Clean and easy. No turning of molds. No heat. No more sitting on the floor and straining your back. No danger of scalding yourself. The only drawback was it's so slow that you'll probably fall asleep waiting for it to cook as it cooked two at a time.
But the most important difference is that love letters made over charcoal taste nicer and lasts longer. The longest time we've kept love letter is three months. No mould and totally still edible.
And she insisted on not adding water to the ingredient which would dilute the fragrance of the coconut milk, even while others do so. Adding water allowed her to make more but compromised the taste and the crunch.
Thanks for being a great teacher.
What did you learn from your mom? Share them with us.