Taste of home: 3 Singapore families share their special Chinese New Year dishes
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Taste of home: 3 Singapore families share their special Chinese New year's day dishes
Braised pork buns, 'coin' dumplings and Peranakan noodles – these families invited CNA Lifestyle into their homes to sample their once-a-year bootleg dishes keeping family traditions alive.
What'due south on your tabular array this Chinese New year's day? For these iii families, it's bootleg Nyonya noodles, kong bak pau and jiao zi or dumplings. (Photo: Genevieve Loh)
Watching his wife pick a juicy slice of freshly-made kong bak (iii-layer braised pork) out of its aromatic thick sauce and sandwich information technology in-between a pillowy soft steamed flat bun reminds Moses Lim of a story.
"Long earlier your time, in the southern province of Singapore…" cheekily deadpanned the 71-year-quondam Singapore actor-host, riffing off his iconic Under Ane Roof character Tan Ah Teck.
"I was dreaming of marrying someone who can brand kong bak pau this delicious and this tender. My wife'due south kong bak pau is melt-in-your-rima oris good!"
Which is exactly why 65-yr-old Monica Lim's dwelling-cooked Taiwan-style kong bak pau is a must-have on the dinner table during Chinese New year's day.
"This is a very typical Hokkien dish," explained Moses. "And considering my wife is from Taiwan, whenever I take this detail dish, it simply reminds me of the taste of ii unlike countries (meeting)."
The kong bak pau in Taiwan (or gua bao – "cut" bun – as the Taiwanese call information technology) tastes slightly dissimilar from its Singapore cousins.
"There'southward a very special dark sauce that is very, very full-bodied. Just one spoonful can enhance the flavour of the entire dish," explained the actor. "This dark sauce used to be merely institute in Taiwan and my wife had to purchase information technology when we went dorsum to visit. But now, I believe you can find it in Singapore."
So why is kong bak pau so special to Lim and his family during Chinese New Yr? For the granddad of four, the special dish has always been associated with a large occasion to celebrate.
He remembers attending Hokkien family weddings or birthday dinners with his begetter during his childhood days where even afterwards ix or 10 courses, the last course would still be the hefty kong bak pau.
"To me information technology'due south like, wah, nosotros are all and then full. Yet people will withal consume it all up and finish, considering it'southward kong bak pau!" he recalled with a laugh. "You lot can imagine how of import this dish is. To people who beloved to eat – particularly the Hokkien people. Information technology's unique and special to most Hokkien families."
Lim believes that for nigh Hokkien families, it'south one of the must-have dishes during the festive season, specially for reunion dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year.
"Because when we abode-make kong bak pau, we make a lot of information technology. A lot, a lot of it," he said. "The more you cook, the more we consume. And no matter how much we manage to consume on Chinese New Year's Eve, there volition always be leftovers. Which is perfect for the following 24-hour interval – the first day of Chinese New year's day – when you tin oestrus information technology up and serve your guests. And guess what? It tastes fifty-fifty better!"
He connected with a knowing express joy: "The moral of the story is this: When you see kong bak pau, that ways y'all must swallow. When you don't see kong bak pau, you must asking for it to exist made and so y'all tin can indulge and enjoy!"
READ: Dearest letters and plain bak kwa as well boring? Attempt these unique Chinese New Yr treats
THE TAN Family'South NYONYA NOODLES
Information technology's pretty much the same story over at Richeal Tan'southward household – her cocky-styled "Nyonya noodles" is the most requested dish all year circular from her large family (including me – total disclosure, she'south my aunt).
Only the 75-year-sometime grandmother of 3, who is legendary for being the official "feeder" of the family with her cunning culinary skills and multi-cuisine repertoire, insists on only making her special Nyonya noodles during Chinese New Yr.
"I really honey cooking for my family, peculiarly when I encounter then many happy faces when they eat my nutrient. But this particular dish is simply very labour-intensive and painstakingly arduous even if it's not very difficult to execute," she shared.
"The stock alone takes days to prepare, as well every bit the sambal belacan. I am so grateful to my helper who has been with me for more 20 years who has become quite the Nyonya cook herself!"
Indeed, when it comes to Peranakan food, it'due south all about the way it is prepared. And the guardians of these beloved recipes are uncommonly persnickety when it comes to the entire process and there volition be no cutting of corners.
From the ii-mean solar day simmering of the prawn heads to create stock to fry the noodles in, to the pestle-and-mortar pounding of the chillis to make rempah (paste) for the sambal belacan, information technology'due south truly a tedious process. But the toil is more than worthwhile. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. In this case, erm, the noodles.
"The way I cook Peranakan food is exactly the way I was taught by my mother. She always said we have to be meticulous and follow each and every step," she explained. "And considering my family craves for this dish all the other times of the year, I brand sure we gear up everything in big portions so that there is plenty to go effectually."
She added, with a smile: "More than a few times."
Simply what exactly is Nyonya noodles and why is information technology a must-have during Chinese New Year?
"Information technology's really dry out Hokkien mee cooked Peranakan-style," explained her husband, Dr Tan Peng Yang. "It's really my grandmother's recipe. The unabridged extended family would convene at her house for tiffin every Chinese New year's day. The highlight of the meal would be these noodles. And it'southward very apt because noodles represent longevity."
He continued: "Afterwards my grandmother passed away, the recipe was then passed downward the family, amid my Nyonya aunties. Eventually when they likewise passed on or grew too old to cook it whatsoever longer, the mantle was then passed on to my wife who tirelessly took information technology on. Over the years, she's fabricated it her own, tweaking it to the taste buds of our family, and thus Nyonya noodles was born."
Now talk to any Peranakan family about food, and you will probably go the typical "no ane makes it better than my grandmother/female parent/1000-aunty/aunty".
And it's par for course if you lot enquire Richeal's large family, who will all attest that information technology tastes this amazing because it's made entirely with love and a lot of attempt. And the fact that they but have a chance to eat information technology in one case a year.
Richeal, however, will say information technology'south the nutty saltiness of the "taucheo" (fermented bean paste gravy) that sets this noodles apart from the others. And yes, that is added with a lot of love.
THE WANG FAMILY'S 'COIN' DUMPLINGS
Now, it wouldn't be Chinese New year without some homemade dumplings (jiao zi). And every bit far every bit symbolic dishes steeped in tradition become, this one is the, erm, aureate standard.
Families traditionally spend the eve preparing the dumplings earlier midnight and will consume them during the terminal hour of the old twelvemonth and the first hour of the brand new lunar calendar. Information technology's a custom that dates dorsum to the Ming and Qing Dynasties and i that Singaporean PR Tina Wang loves to dutifully follow ever since moving here fifteen years ago.
Tina's mother, Wang Gui Lan, has been making dumplings in her hometown in Dandong Urban center in the Liao Ning Province since the older lady was a little girl. And equally the 68-yr-onetime grandmother explained in Mandarin, the pronunciation of dumpling (jiao zi) phonetically refers to the turning indicate betwixt the old twelvemonth and the new yr.
"It ways bye to the former and let'southward usher in the new," said Gui Lan.
"Dumplings are shaped to look like the ingot – the gold and silver pieces used as money in olden times. The shape symbolises wealth," Tina explained.
"Nosotros believe that eating jiao zi will bring good luck, and so that everything goes well in the coming new year and that the family can be together. It also represents being prosperous, because expect at all this 'money' you're eating!" she added, laughing.
Indeed, when family and friends become to partake in Tina's family'southward homemade jiao zi, i might end up eating actual money.
Equally a fun tradition, Gui Lan sets aside carefully sanitised coins – legal tender 50 cents or one dollar coin – and puts them in random dumplings during the wrapping procedure.
With the Chinese assertive that sure fillings of dumplings have cheering connotations themselves, putting a make clean coin brings the tradition to the adjacent level. Exist the lucky one to eat the dumpling with the coin, and y'all'll exist the wealthy one all twelvemonth round.
Tina who is married to a Singaporean and has two young boys, enjoys the exclusive fourth dimension spent with her mother making jiao zi from scratch – whether it's kneading the dough to make the wrapper; marinating the special pork mince or doing the actual wrapping for the dumpling itself. It'southward besides meaningful to her that she is keeping a big role of her Chinese roots alive.
Her two sons and husband, of grade, bask the eating part of the process the most. But the 38-yr-erstwhile hopes that her 2 Singapore sons will i twenty-four hours larn from their grandmother and carry on the tradition.
"Last time, I kept saying that I didn't want to learn how to make dumplings," confessed Tina with a smiling. "Only now that I'm all grown upwardly, I think it'southward a skill!"
READ: Why do you overeat during Chinese New year's day? And what happens to your body?
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/chinese-new-year-dishes-homecooked-recipes-246661
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