"DC." not@home wrote in :

snip

[cutTheLapCheong]


Instructions saved, thanks DC!

Your wok should be very hot now with all the flavoured oils smelling
great, grab a handful & throw in the kway teow & char like there's no
tomorrow, next do everything you see & replicate since you were a kid,
standing & ogling at the CharKwayTeow man & i promise you, it'll be as
good but not better than what you had as a child, you can never better
anything from childhood memories.

How true!

This technique works & solves any problems from using a domestic stove
to make CKT because, the kwayteow noodles are already cooked & partly
flavoured, the wok frying only sears it & gives it a nice wok flavour,
all that is left is your skill at replicating the correct ingredients
to go in to flavour it like minced garlic, thick black sauce, egg etc.
& finishing off the dish. This part is fairly simple as it's just
adding what you want & that i leave to you. One further point, do one
portion at a time on a home stove, the heat's not strong enough to do
a big job lot like uncles does in the hawker centres or kopi taims.

Plus my stove is one hopeless kind. Next year we are remodelling the
kitchen and I want to buy a professional gas stove. Any recommendations?

sq, "And thanks so much for all the advice"

snip
If you can't smell the longkang how can the experience be authentic?
Thanks for the good advice. I'm olady writing down Mama's.

Even better if the longkang has small fishes & guppies swimming in them,
that's even more authentic & 'ulu'. I was told that there's 3 Nonya
restaurants in Georgetown & that Mama's was the one to go to. It's where the
locals go to & we found that to be true. Mama's 31-D, Abu Siti Lane (Jalan
Abu Siti if you're a local or need to ask the taxi driver) It's about
10-15mins from central Georgetown & 5mins from the sheraton hotel. It's
closed on Mondays.

I stayed there briefly more than two decades ago, when it was a little
bit rundown, in an elegant kind of way. If so smart, maybe I got to go
elsewhere lah.

The whole area where the E&O is, is slowly being redeveloped. There's even a
refurbished old townhouse opposite that's now a arts & craft mall for
tourists. So you can imagine what's it going to be like when ou get there.

When I was a kid, we used to take the train up to Penang and stay at the
government rest houses with the mosquito nets and the starched white
sheets and the big ceiling fans. Maybe CheongFattTze mansion will remind
me of those happy times (and stealing the neighbour's jambu batu from the
tree).

CHT mansion will be more regal i'm afraid.. it was after all the favourite
home of mr CFT, the last mandarin of China & one of the wealthiest Chinese
at that time. It's kind of like a musuem but you can stay there. Do a search
on the web for it or have a look at the movies Indochine or Anna & the King,
parts of it were filmed in there. I can't recommend it enough, it was fun &
more to the point, historically very informative for people like us, the
displaced ones.

DC.

snip
Who's making the Feng? Boy, I miss Devil Curry. Someday I'll tell you my
Devil Curry story too.

Me of course... but i might trade recipes with my Macau eurasian friend, she
has a different Feng & Devil curry recipes, more HK Cantonese style where
roast duck, char siu etc. are added. Or if i get my godmother's Feng recipe
in time, it'll be a real Malacca styled Feng, apparently she uses spare
parts & that's very different.

enjoy your Indian meal this weekend.

DC.

Plus my stove is one hopeless kind. Next year we are remodelling the
kitchen and I want to buy a professional gas stove. Any recommendations?

I don't know what you have in mind, but i've gone... how you say, 'balek
kampong' & am having 2 kitchens or i should say 2 cooking areas. One inside
(normal western kitchen) & one 'Asian' kitchen outside when the weather is
better or conducive to outdoor cooking (i.e. not snowing, gale force winds
blowing or Siberian weather) here in London. My outside cooking area is
simple, a place to put my table so i can rest my hawker style wok burner.
Have all the prep done inside & bring out the stuff to cook. My upstairs
neighbours won't complain so much then as it won't be that stinko. I'm
basically having all my cooking outside like in the days of grandma &
aunties, many moons ago. I believe this is known as the Perenakan kitchen.
It'll be in full swing again in the summer & i can have all my chillis &
spices growing near by. For the wok burner... go to Sia Huat on Temple St.
in Chinatown. Ask for Albert Ng & tell him the guy from London who goes to
his shop every year & buys something stupid to bring back to London
recommended you & don't forget (or PaiSay) to ask for a discount. They have
a few wok burners to choose from. I bought a big ring a few years ago that
uses normal domestic pressured LPG gas, the blue coloured tanks. I use this
for slow cooking outside like for curries, rendangs, soups, stews, laksa
etc. This year i went back & bought a proper wok burner. It's small in size
but it uses high pressure LPG gas, the ones the hawkers use. Make sure it
says 'tank gas' & not piped gas or else you'll have to fit it on mains high
pressure gas like those in the restaurants. For this, i use a high pressured
LPG regulator & it has a special screw thread as opposed to the twist & clip
ones the normal tanks use. You'll also need to use a high pressured hose for
it. It sounds complicated & dangerous but everyone in SE Asia uses them so
it's pretty safe as long as you follow the safety measures. I can now cook
like the hawkers but have to change my cooking methods & techniques after
years of using a domestic stove that doesn't give such a big flame. oh...
the price, $28 for the big ring & $32 for the high pressure wok burner,
that's after the discount! peanuts if you're counting in US$ or £.

Once you get use to using this, you won't regret it... if i were your
boyflen, i would think about shooting that deer & have venison TzeChar on
your menu next summer ; )

DC.

ps. check to make sure you have similar gas tanks in the States before
lugging one or 2 wok burners back. I think you do because i watch King of
the Hill & if Hank Hill says so... i believe him. LMAO.

"DC." not@home wrote in :

Plus my stove is one hopeless kind. Next year we are remodelling the
kitchen and I want to buy a professional gas stove. Any
recommendations?

I don't know what you have in mind, but i've gone... how you say,
'balek kampong' & am having 2 kitchens or i should say 2 cooking
areas. One inside (normal western kitchen) & one 'Asian' kitchen
outside when the weather is better or conducive to outdoor cooking
(i.e. not snowing, gale force winds blowing or Siberian weather) here
in London.

[snip description]

Wah lao, you ah, got fan club or not, ah?

Thanks very much, that is top notch advice.

Once you get use to using this, you won't regret it... if i were your
boyflen, i would think about shooting that deer & have venison TzeChar
on your menu next summer ; )

Hau le, I'll tell him. %^) I'll report back on the quality - after eating
my roses for ten years the bugger must be as sweet as sugar by now.


ps. check to make sure you have similar gas tanks in the States before
lugging one or 2 wok burners back. I think you do because i watch King
of the Hill & if Hank Hill says so... i believe him. LMAO.

%^D

Are you a professional chef? I'm just blown away!

sq

"DC." not@home wrote in :

Plus my stove is one hopeless kind. Next year we are remodelling the
kitchen and I want to buy a professional gas stove. Any
recommendations?

I don't know what you have in mind, but i've gone... how you say,
'balek kampong' & am having 2 kitchens or i should say 2 cooking
areas. One inside (normal western kitchen) & one 'Asian' kitchen
outside when the weather is better or conducive to outdoor cooking
(i.e. not snowing, gale force winds blowing or Siberian weather) here
in London.

[snip description]

Wah lao, you ah, got fan club or not, ah?

Thanks very much, that is top notch advice.

Once you get use to using this, you won't regret it... if i were your
boyflen, i would think about shooting that deer & have venison TzeChar
on your menu next summer ; )

Hau le, I'll tell him. %^) I'll report back on the quality - after eating
my roses for ten years the bugger must be as sweet as sugar by now.


ps. check to make sure you have similar gas tanks in the States before
lugging one or 2 wok burners back. I think you do because i watch King
of the Hill & if Hank Hill says so... i believe him. LMAO.

%^D

Are you a professional chef? I'm just blown away!

sq

"DC." not@home wrote in :

snip
Who's making the Feng? Boy, I miss Devil Curry. Someday I'll tell you
my Devil Curry story too.

Me of course... but i might trade recipes with my Macau eurasian
friend, she has a different Feng & Devil curry recipes, more HK
Cantonese style where roast duck, char siu etc. are added. Or if i get
my godmother's Feng recipe in time, it'll be a real Malacca styled
Feng, apparently she uses spare parts & that's very different.

My dad used to call them spare parts ahso.

sq: Dad, I'm home, what's for dinner?
Dad: Spare parts and rice.
sq: Cheh! Do'wan to eat olady.
Dad: No choice. Dudok your bontot and makan your nasi.

enjoy your Indian meal this weekend.

Thanks, DC.

Let me know if you get your cookbook published - if there's Feng and
Devil Curry recipes, I want to chop one.

sq

"DC." not@home wrote in :

snip

If you can't smell the longkang how can the experience be authentic?
Thanks for the good advice. I'm olady writing down Mama's.

Even better if the longkang has small fishes & guppies swimming in
them, that's even more authentic & 'ulu'.

I was an 'ulu' kid, lah, every monsoon hanging the shoes around the neck
and climbing into the longkang to catch those poor little swimming things
and slipping them down my classmates' shirts.

But I don't do that any more. %^D

[snip]

CHT mansion will be more regal i'm afraid.. it was after all the
favourite home of mr CFT, the last mandarin of China & one of the
wealthiest Chinese at that time. It's kind of like a musuem but you
can stay there. Do a search on the web for it or have a look at the
movies Indochine or Anna & the King, parts of it were filmed in there.
I can't recommend it enough, it was fun & more to the point,
historically very informative for people like us, the displaced ones.


Thank you. Chinese history is one of my obsessions, a vast subject with
so much to know.

sq, who has nearly forgotten to read and write from not using the
language all the time

snip
Let me know if you get your cookbook published - if there's Feng and
Devil Curry recipes, I want to chop one.

Published?.... i don't think so, it's just a hobby between friends etc. i
'publish' most of my recipes here or in other NGs when people ask for
recipes & advice, maybe one day i'll do a trawl of everything i've written
on google & give that to a publisher, that'll be an easy job. If you want
Feng & Devil recipes, let me know after Xmas, i would have made mine then
based on whatever recipes i use at that time, like i say, i have a few to
choose from & a few more arriving, then i can go into the finer details &
which i think works best etc.

DC.

snip
Let me know if you get your cookbook published - if there's Feng and
Devil Curry recipes, I want to chop one.

Published?.... i don't think so, it's just a hobby between friends etc. i
'publish' most of my recipes here or in other NGs when people ask for
recipes & advice, maybe one day i'll do a trawl of everything i've written
on google & give that to a publisher, that'll be an easy job. If you want
Feng & Devil recipes, let me know after Xmas, i would have made mine then
based on whatever recipes i use at that time, like i say, i have a few to
choose from & a few more arriving, then i can go into the finer details &
which i think works best etc.

DC.

"DC." not@home wrote in :

snip
Let me know if you get your cookbook published - if there's Feng and
Devil Curry recipes, I want to chop one.

Published?.... i don't think so, it's just a hobby between friends
etc. i 'publish' most of my recipes here or in other NGs when people
ask for recipes & advice, maybe one day i'll do a trawl of everything
i've written on google & give that to a publisher, that'll be an easy
job. If you want Feng & Devil recipes, let me know after Xmas, i would
have made mine then based on whatever recipes i use at that time, like
i say, i have a few to choose from & a few more arriving, then i can
go into the finer details & which i think works best etc.


OK, can I sign up now? %^)

sq