Local Delights

Finally I uploaded the pictures into my computer! When one is not savvy about computers, and not technically inclined, it takes a long time to learn something and to make it worse, it is so easy to forget. I know I have uploaded photos into my computer from my camera but somehow I manage to forget how I did it the last time!! So the learning curve is not a simple upward one in my case, but a very convoluted one. Each time I succeed in uploading a picture, I want to stand up and cheer!!

I would like to share the delights of our local cakes, the nonya cakes made by those good at making them. Yes there are "pretenders". if you know what I mean, those who make these cakes and pass them off as the real Mcoy. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

First, there is the kuih lapis ( nine layer cake ), coloured pink and white and the top layer is red. This cake is steamed layer by layer so it takes some effort to make it. The cake mix has to be of the right consistency and of course the coconut milk gives it that lovely fragrant flavor. The layers have to be thin so as to be pleasing to the eye. I don't know about you but I like my cakes to be small and dainty rather than big portions.

Then there is the tapioca cake which can be either steamed or baked. The baked one has a brown layer on the top and the coconut milk also gives it a distinctive flavour. The baked cake tastes better than the steamed one.

Another favourite is the oonde-oonde which is made from sweet potato or green pea flour. The dough is rolled into little balls which have a filling of gula melaka or palm sugar. Then they are dropped into boiling water. When they float ( this shows that they are cooked ) they are then dipped into freshly grated coconut. Well made oonde-oonde melts in your mouth and the taste is simply divine.

Curry puffs ( savoury pastries with a filling of curried chicken and potatoes ) and pulut udang ( sticky rice with spicy prawn filling ) are another two savoury finger food that are popular for morning or afternoon tea.

I mustn't leave out the kuih dada or pancake filled with sweet shredded coconut cooked with palm sugar. This pancake is like the crepe suzette and it is rolled into a tube with the sweet coconut filling. The pancake is green, and the colour comes from the pandan leaves. You pound the pandan leaves and squeeze out the green juice which is used to colour the pancake batter.

The other tasty morsel is the pulut inti which is sticky rice often coloured blue with the sweet shredded coconut filling piled on top and shaped like a miniature pyramid. Experts use the blue gentians ( a blue flower ) to colour the sticky rice a pretty blue. However, these days, many people leave the rice white as it is no longer easy to get these flowers.

These cakes are readily available in Kuala Lumpur and can often be found outside the supermarkets, hawked by small time vendors who get their supply of cakes from somewhere. In Kota Kinabalu there is a lady who makes these cakes from home and she has a small lot in a shopping complex. Her cakes are tasty and are always snapped up by tea time.

I can never resist the temptation of these cakes whenever I'm in Kuala Lumpur. Firstly they look so pretty and I usually end up buying a couple of each type of cake, much to the amazement of my daughter who goes..."mummy, are you supposed to eat those? They're very sweet, you know..." I'm a diabetic and my doctor would have a fit should he know that I'm taking these sweet cakes. But then what is life if one has to be ultra careful and restrictive in what one eats? The flavor of life would certainly be very bland, if not tasteless. I guess throwing caution to the winds every now and then is forgivable.