Lessons From My Mother

To my siblings

These precious lessons are especially dedicated to my sister in Penang and my sister-in-law in Melbourne cos both of you have three sons each and being the mother-in-law, it is good to teach your daughters-in-law Por por's secret recipes. Well, as always known, to know the recipes alone is not enough. You must see the owner at work. I had the privilege of seeing her handle a couple of dishes which can come in handy when you have a home away from home.

'Old habits die hard'. Where Por is concerned, there are many. Being the 'teo chew' lady, she is spick and span and there is absolute no compromise where cleanliness is involved. Her table cloths are fit enough to be one's face towels and she is fussy, fussy, fussy. Well, that's why she is incomparable!

To start with, she is adamant that all chinese cooking only tastes best especially if you cook soup and brew dishes when you prepare it over a clay stove.

She says the effect of the charcoal cooking is felt in the 'taste' of the delicacies and nothing is more esteemed in Chinese cooking than the stove!

Look at the burning charcoal. She manipulates the fire by controlling it with a straw fan and the size of the opening to the stove.




Depending on the stage of cooking and the 'readiness' of the dish, she adds the charcoal accordingly. After a dish is done, and if the fire is still strong and good, one can always boil water over it. Nothing comes to waste.
Now I remember that during my confinement period, the confinement lady was also using this stove to boil pots and pots of Chinese herbs for my baths to remove 'air' from my body. You will know one day that the lady will perpetually be boiling 'something' throughout the day my it be chicken soup, herbs, water for the baby, water for the mother and the list goes on. Perhaps it is a good idea cos it may save some 'gas' money. Well, it takes something to make the younger generation of bananas to accommodate the idea. So maybe, we can just forget about it. They tell me the Caucasians are up and about in the malls a week after a child is born. So let it be.



You see, my mother is so neat and proper. She places her charcoal stock in a container accompanied by a pair of tongs for picking the pieces of charcoal. When in her kitchen, one has to be very disciplined. Misplacing and rearranging her equipment in wrong positions will mean non-stop reprimand. She sounds naggy but there are many good habits to acquire. It is a matter of opinion. To be meticulous at her age, is a sure sign that there she is still in control of life.

So on the second day of the new Lunar Calendar, when everyone has left except for my family, she told me that she will be cooking 2 dishes which have always been her forte and they were dishes which we look forward to when we are in town and during festive seasons.

The first dish was the 'sea cucumber ' dish. I do not know how to label it but it is a concoction of pork trotters, sea cucumbers and mushrooms.



When preparing a dish with mushrooms, one has to soak them for a while before cooking. Also, one is not supposed to just add the mushrooms into the whatever dish but to first stir fry it using shallot oil for a few minutes. When ready, dish it aside.



The sea cucumber is a Chinese delicacy and it is pricey. Asked Esther if she could guess the price of the above load and she told me maybe 20 ringgit? Can't blame her cos I have never exposed her and I was just as blur. Por told me that sea cucumbers that crumble under fire is of low grade and we must get ones that do not disintegrate easily. So having so many buddies in town, she somehow manages to get better ones and the above shown is ...RM400.00...only. Now you know why Chinese restaurants dinners cost no less than RM588, RM688, RM788...during the eve of the Lunar Calendar.
So, as usual, she says we must first stir fry it with shallot oil and some peices of ginger and a glove of garlic of course.



After a reasonably good fry, add in the trotters, dark black sauce, light soy sauce, salt and continue to stir fry.






Of course, we have to add some water, little by little and slowly let the ingredients mixed to get the best out. She will be alarmed if you add a lot of water at one go cos the aroma of the dish will disappear. One of the secrets of cooking is to add the water little by little, that you must remember. You then add in some Chinese rice wine (maybe a chinese bowlful) and a little corn starch water to thicken the gravy.

When the stir frying is done over the 'gas' stove, dish it out into a pot.







Then place the pot over the charcoal stove for at least 2-3 hours. When towards the last stage, you can remove the trotters and continue to simmer the sea cucumbers and mushrooms. This is to make sure that the trotters do not go too soft. Remember to keep on stirring to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the pot.








When the sea cucumbers are soft enough for the palette, add in the trotters again and the dish is now ready...licking good!

The second dish. I forgot to take earlier pictures but I managed to take some towards the end of the preparation but still good enough I think...the teo chew lor duck.





Por will never concede to the taste of anyone else's lor duck after hers. Nothing tastes right after her own lor duck...so very typical...no change allowed...so very dogmatic! But she has a point though...it does taste good.

Well, first you have to marinate the duck with the '5 spice' powder. Go to any chinese medicinal hall may it be in KL, Subang Jaya, Brisbane, Melbourne, London and they will have it. I noticed that she had the duck marinated after she had cleaned the duck and kept it in the fridge marinated for a few days. Do commercial stores marinate the tens of ducks overnight? Or bother to marinate them long enough? That's her contention. The lor ducks do not seemed to be well marinated. Thar's why she eats no one else's lor duck heartily.
Oh and you need to stuff the duck with a few pieces of ginger...also known as 'lam kior' in teo chew. I will try and find the English equivalent later.
Then you start the wok with 4 tablespoonfuls of oil adding 4 tablespoons of sugar at the same time. Watch out for the fire and stir the sugar until brown but not burned. Get ready the cover for the wok before pouring in 2 glasses of water. Quicky cover it before it starts to splatter. Oh we will be in trouble if it splatters cos the whole place will so very oily...and she starts to get agitated. So much discipline in the kitchen!
Now when the mixutre boils, add in black thick sauce and gently put in the marinated duck. Make sure the fire is low, and slowly using the frying ladle to stir the sauce onto every part of the duck. If need to , continue to add in some water so that the level is always enough to lightly immerse the duck.The duck will then acquire an even brown clolour and add a strip of pork belly to enrich the concoction. Add salt to taste.

When the duck has reached this stage, remove it from the wok .

There the duck is ready for further instruction!

Meanwhile, get ready some hard boiled eggs and fried toufu. Add these ingredients into the duck sauce and soon it will be brown like what is shown above.
Now you can chop the duck into pieces and add into the sauce . For the aroma of the duck to accentuate, brew it again over a low fire and the clay stove with left over charcoal comes in handy again. Of course if you do not have the charcoal, a gas stove will do. If you do not want to consume the whole duck, you can always keep it in portions and serve it over some meals.

There my mother's recipes for her authentic dishes. For those away from home if you need to have pot luck dinners, perhaps you too can show off a little with Por por's dishes.

Have a good try. And good luck.