Quay Po Cooks: nynonya cuisine

Showing posts with label nynonya cuisine. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Walker and Turner

It is good that as we grow older, that we sustain our interest in life and various topics. Its good to have a hobby as more of our time frees up, and we aren't as consumed by working. I fear that if we do not have pastimes that sustain our imaginations and thought processes we may risk becoming a walker-and-turner. I know you'll be puzzled by that term. Don't fret too much because I just made it up. The term comes from a recent market trip with my Mum. When we go there, she shops for the fresh vegetables, spices, and grocery items, while I like to watch the people. Malaysia is blessed to still have our "wet markets" where so much is available in one place from a large variety of sellers. In the U.S. the supermarkets are huge, pristine clean, air conditioned, and filled with all kinds of things to buy, including many non-grocery items. They are convenient, and of course there are people to watch there too, but not quite the cast of characters we can view readily in a Malaysian wet market.

During the visit I am referring to, I happened to watch an old man as he walked and turned through the market. He was not buying, but simply observing this and that, and appearing rather aimless. I remember thinking, poor uncle, he has nothing to do, really. He should buy some ingredients and take them home to cook something instead of just walking and turning. Then, I thought I am so fortunate to have found a joy in cooking and baking. It has brought a focus into my life that I hope I never lose. As my Mum and I walked back to the car I thought about the uncle again. Then, I realized that while I was watching him, he was watching others and it occurred to me, how do I know that he wasn't just as engaged as I was with watching the activity and amusing himself with the bustle of the market? It gave me a chuckle that in fact, we may both have been enjoying people watching. It may be that a "Walker and Turner" isn't something so bad after all, as I had hastily thought before. Maybe there is a little "Waker and Turner" in me. LOL!

Still, as we drove away I began to get excited about the dish I was planning to make when we got home. True to form, I brought out the iron and all the ingredients and proceeded to "wok" my way to a delicious dish under the guidance of an original recipe by Chef Janet Yong of "Proud Janny" Restaurant (opening soon at Menara The Weld). I hope you'll agree.

Tamarind prawns

Chef Jenny Yong’s recipe

Ingredients:

6 prawns with shells

2 tsp tamarind pulp

1 tsp light soy sauce

3 tbs cooking oil

1 tbs honey

1 tsp fish sauce

¼ tsp pepper

Method:

Mix tarmarind pulp with 3 tbs water. Combine with fish sauce, soy sauce, honey and pepper. Wash and clean prawns and then coat them with tamarind mixture and marinate for 15 minutes. Heat oil and stir fry prawns until brown and cooked. Serve immediately.

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.