Chinese New Year in Malaysia

Chinese New Year is a time of Reunion, some families travel a long journey to be with family. I recall when I was living in Singapore, many people in my neighbourhood went back to their home towns, a term in Malay "Balek Kampong". When we got back to Singapore, the first question was how was the traffic jams? There were times when we were stuck in the jam for six hours. At times, we traveled at the wee hours of 3am, the trouble was everyone had the same idea. In the tropical heat, and road rage, tempers are bound to flare up.




Hong Baos, are generally thought of as gifts given by the elders to the children. In some families, the grown adult children also given to their parents, as a sign of respect and filial piety.



Yu Sheng, the raw fish salad that has become very popular, especially among businesses. With evolution, the custom of Yu Sheng crept into our culture. Apparently it was common among the fisherman of Hong Kong. But now is in a big way. Tiny slivers of fish are decorated beautifully in a big platter of salad and nuts. Before the meal, everyone has a pair of chop sticks, stand up, and mixes the Yu Sheng by raising the ingredient upwards, and do the Lo Hei, and say all the auspicious words. Christians add Christian messages.



Friends of different nationalities enjoy Yu Sheng.




Tonight at the Mt Albert Baptist Church, Chinese Fellowship Lunar New Year celebration, I will be giving a short talk on Chinese New Year in Malaysia.

There are 22 provinces in China, most of the immigrants in Malaysia come from the 2 southern most provinces, Guang Chow and Foojiang. They came to Malaya and Sarawak and Sabah. Even though they came from the same area, some of the customs and traditions are different. Some have evolved through cross regional marriage and ease of transportation.

I grew up in Sarawak, in a Christian influence state. So a lot of the non Christian rites were done away with. In West Malaysia, on the first day, they go vegetarian, and it was hard for me to get used to it.

Oranges/ mandarins represent Gold/Kam, and people in West Malaysia go visiting with 2 oranges. This is for exchange. You give the host family 2 oranges, and they give you 2 back. This happened to my sisters. Eldest sister is married to a Sarawakian, younger sister is married to a West Malaysia. Oldest brother in law couldn’t understand why younger sister is staying for so long. Younger brother in law couldn’t understand why older brother in law is not giving then the 2 orange. Even when older bro in law said, I have to go out. Then younger sis realized it is the 2 oranges.

I was in Singapore, the kids here more straight-forward. My daughters’ friends tell me, “ Aunty, my mummy said you must give me two oranges in return.”
Traditionally we visited our relatives, and the custom was to visit the senior ones. In the old days, the relatives lived quite near to each other, you suffer the consequences if you were seen paying your respects to a younger relative. The kids love this, as we receive Hong Baos or in Malaysia, we call them Ang Baos.

The best thing that evolved in Sarawak, and then to West Malaysia is the Concept of “Open House.” We visited our neighbours and friends. And we offered them mum’s best baked cookies. There was a time, when the Malay Hari Raya /New Year coincided with the Chinese New Year. We mutually visited each other.


Things like pineapple tarts, pickles like achar are evidences of how people have changed because of their environment. My mum used to serve curry chicken 40 years ago. Now, my friends tell me because of our cultural differences o




The rest of the customs are common. New clothes, new shoes for children, lots of red and gold decoration. Certain foods to be eaten and not to be eaten, do not sweep the floor, be careful with your language, parents try not to scold your kids.
Firework works were banned, but nobody really cares. In my home town of Sibu, it was a joke that if the police was going to lock up those who set up fireworks, the town town would be locked up.

Afghanistan food.

My Afghanistan student cooked this ethnic lamb dish for one of our ESOL function. She was very happy to have her photo taken, but I don't feel comfortable post it.

Today, we farewelled Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell, our first war casualty in a decade. Lt O'Donnell, 28, died when his patrol was attacked in Afghanistan a week ago during a routine patrol in the Bamiyan Province where New Zealand has a provincial reconstruction team.

A-Z food fun: Z for zucchini

For more A-Z Food fun, visit Jen @ http://unglazed.blogspot.com/
A-Z on Monday~~Letter W

Welcome to A-Z on Monday
where the alphabet gets tastier
every week!

The Thai people do not only eat the zucchini, The also eat the flowers and young shoots. These were for sale at the Thai King's birthday at Rocket Park in Mt Albert. Flowers can be deep fried like tempura.

A-Z Food fun: Y for yam

d

In my Kwong Liang dialect, we call yam HU TOU. We eat them different ways, and there are different types and sizes. We eat the leaves and stems as well.

The Polynesians have some very big ones, and by the time they ship to Auckland, they are very expensive. They also eat their leaves. Often at parties and pot luck dinners, they will bring a big pot of boiled taro with corn beef, or leaves.

During the reunion dinner, I met S & R for the first time. S is a Foochow, E. is a Teo Chew. We started talking about Teo Chew food and the Teochew restaurants I have been. I was describing their famous teo Chew dessert ORH NEE. It's literally a glob or lump of white paste. Everyone just spoons froom the communal dish. S. explains that it is yam made with lard and ginko nuts. It is very sweet and you don't have to chew the paste. It is a dish that you have to get used to. But the Teo Chews like it, because when ever they have a function, they always serve it.

A friend brought some Yam fritters and some fried NIEN GAO. She sliced the NIEN GAO very thinly and sandwiched it between two thin slices of yam, then put in a batter of glutinious rice flour. This is a New Year goodie. For nostalgic reasons, and knowing how much work has been put into making it, I tried some. I don't normally like NIEN GAO, but I like yam. My friend K. back in Singapore knows this, and gives me raddish/daikon cakes instead.

When I was in primary school, the school tuck shop operator was a Foochow Family. They sold yam cakes or ORH KUEH. They were big slabs and we ate them with chilli sauce. years later, I was in Kuching, where there were mainly Hakkas like the water engineer. The yam cakes were dainty and I voted with my legs.

In my junior secondary school, my teacher Mrs. T taught us beef puffs with a yam pastry. I took some home and everyone liked it. Mum was very smart, and in no time, she learnt to make it. You can eat this at restaurants serving HU KOK during the Dim Sum.

In some restaurant, they have a yam basket. Thin strips of yam are sandwiched between two Chinese sieves, and deep fried. The result is like a basket or bird's nest. Fried veg and morsels of meat are served inside the basket.

Then for a sweet watery dessert, there is the Bobo Chacha. It's a concoction of tiny cubes of yam, sweet potatoes, sago pearls in coconut milk. I don't like this because it is very sweet and the coconut milk makes it very rich.

There is a smallish red yam which comes from China, and they eat it during the Moon cake festival. I first saw them in Singapore.

I actually prefer the yam boiled, and eaten with some salt and a little butter. My Grandpa used to grow them, he also had a smallish ones, but are brown and bigger than the China red ones.

***The yam here is what people in the West call Taro. In South Est Asia, they call it yam***

Another thing mother made was abacus, it was the 1st time I ate it and super nice, it was not like the abacus I see in Singapore. Maybe mother wasn't successful, hers was very spherical, but it was better than the sticky and chewy ones here. It is not easy to find it here, so every time I see it, I buy and I remember mother's. Grace

My dad didn't like Yam, it reminded him of when he was living under the Japanese War. There were no rice, and they had to eat yam, sweet potatoes and tapioca. When I tell him it like yam with butter and salt. He said," Wait till you have to eat them day in and day out without any salt or oil, then you will tell me that you still like it."

For more A-Z Food fun, visit Jen @ http://unglazed.blogspot.com/
A-Z on Monday~~Letter W

Welcome to A-Z on Monday
where the alphabet gets tastier
every week!

xylogenous :Chinese Wood Fungi

The normal fungi, a single growth,

Dried fingus, this is unusual size as it is a tiwn.
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Reconstituted after soaking.


xylogenous means growing on wood, so I take it that the Chinese Wood Fungi is xylogenous.

I went for a walk to a park next to Mt Albert Grammar school. I came across this tree stump which has some Chinese Wood Fungi growing. I have never been here, so I walked rather slowly and clicked as I went along.

This fungi is eaten by the Chinese and has a rubbery texture. You can buy them in dry form, soak it to reconstitute and it expands about 5 times its size. Not many people like it as it feels slimy and rubbery. I used to pick them when I was a child in Borneo.

Wood fungus is prized in Chinese cuisine for its crunchy texture and therefore added to dishes only for the last few minutes of cooking. It is good in spring rolls, soups and stir-fries, and in stewed pork or chicken.

I remember reading how this Chinese man made his fortune in New Zealand by shipping them to China. The Kiwis, Pakehas and Maoris laughed at this China man, but he had the last laugh. He laughed all the way to the bank.

So now, I will be keenly looking at tree stumps and hope to make my millions.

Wood ear fungus

The first commercial sale of edible fungi in New Zealand was in the 1870s, when Taranaki merchant Chew Chong sent bags of dried wood-ear fungus (Auricularia cornea) to his homeland, China. The fungus was in demand for the crunchy, chewy texture it added to food.

Wood ear fungus grows naturally on dead trees in lowland forest. Tonnes were harvested as settlers cleared forest for farming, and exports to China continued until the 1950s. In the 2000s, the fungus is now mostly imported to New Zealand from China, in dry form. Taiwanese growers had started cultivating a closely related fungus on sawdust blocks in the 1960s, and it became uneconomic to harvest it in the wild. A small quantity is now grown in New Zealand for the domestic market.

For more A-Z Food fun, visit Jen @ http://unglazed.blogspot.com/
A-Z on Monday~~Letter W

Welcome to A-Z on Monday
where the alphabet gets tastier
every week!