Childhood food memories- Nyonya food.

Nyonya dish

Eight years have passed since my mom's passing. Lately, I don't know why but I suddenly miss her so much, that I dreamt about her a few days before "Ching Ming" day.  Maybe because "Ching Ming" (4th April 2025) was round the corner.😄 

Ching Ming ( just like the Christians Old Souls Day but falls on the 1st week of November each year) ) is a traditional Chinese Commemoration Day for All the Faithful Departed that is on the 15th day after spring equinox of the Chinese calender which is normally on the 1st week of April in a Georgian calander every year.

I missed her food especially the Singapore Laksa and her stories of the Nyonya lifestyle of her mother which she repetitively talked about before Our Good Lord called her home.🙏

In Sabah there are a few varieties of Laksa ( Kuching Laksa and Penang Laksa is most popular) available in the coffee shops, but not Singapore Laksa. I have not tasted any good Singapore Laksa here in Kota Kinabalu, apart from my mom's. 

No matter how old we grow, we never forget our childhood memories especially happy ones and one of them is food.😂

Iced Milo is also in my childhood memories. In the 70's, we used to line up in front of the Milo van in school just for a small cup of free ice Milo😂. Some of us lined up for the 2nd time just for another cuppa🤣🤣🤭

Year 2025.

My Ex School - Shan Tao High School now became SMJK Shan Tao (Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Shan Tao). Students getting their shares of Milo in this era, from 

a bigger truck!🤭

I guessed the teachers shared the same childhood memories of milo like me😄.

   

This happy "Milo" occasion for students and teachers in Shan Tao school still continues.😂

Human being is a  complex organism. From birth, we already have the strong sense of smell and taste.

Our childhood foods are often our adult comfort food, which is not just about the taste, but also memories of who prepared them and where they were eaten, especially happy delicious and memorable meals.

When I was a child, I liked to go with my grandma visiting my grand aunt ( all in Singapore) who loved making Nyonya food. Because of that, I had the privilege of tasting authentic Nyonya food such as Pandan Kaya, Ondeh-Ondeh or helping  to make pandan leaf boxes for the selected kuih and other dishes with the rest of our family members - aunties and cousins. 

Nyonya means married woman in Malay and Indonesian honorific. In history Nyonya came to light when the Chinese men married the Malay ladies thus the ladies are called Nyonyas and vice versa . It was also well known that Nyonya cuisine is a fusion of Chinese,  Malay, Thai and Indonesia.

 Whenever I missed my late mom or grand aunt's food, I will try looking for those foods. If I can't get them, ( some of these food are not available in places where I live), I will start hunting everywhere through U-tube or Google for their recipes and I tried to make them. Even if I couldn't get the perfect taste, the "almost similar" is good enough  but if I did manage to get the same taste as mom's, I could feel the satisfaction flow in me, which I believe you would agree when I say , "It's hard to describe in words". 

It evokes memories when I was making them or eating such foods, connecting us with people and places we hold dear. One of my friends, Antoinette said, "Memories keeps us going" and I agree with her completely😂

There are many Nyonya favourites that remind me of my childhood food but I will only choose my top 6 favourites:

1. Singapore laksa
2. Nyonya Pandan Kaya
3. Black Glutinous Rice (Pulut Hitam)
4. Ondeh- Ondeh
5. Banana Hoon Kueh
6. Pulut inti

I took the initiative to search and explore through Google and U-tube, experimenting those recipes to find the perfect or if not the "almost similar " taste to share with you.

At the same time, I am also making this topic as my cooking experience journals of childhood food memories which I hope to share with everyone who loves Nyonya food too.

If anyone is interested, you can try making them as well.😁

 A typical Nyonya recipes has at least one of these ingredients Pandan leaves, coconut milk, glutinous rice, gula melaka, blue pea flowers and banana leaves.  

When we use Pandan leaves during cooking, you can smell the breeze of aroma in the kitchen and the whole house, or the kuih wrapped in banana leaves which gives off a pleasant aroma, making it a traditional method of wrapping, while natural colours from blue pea flowers and Pandan leaves give vibrant colours to the kuih and rice

From garden to table.....

Certain plants that are available from my garden for the Nyonya cuisine and Nyonya kuih such as .....

Pandan plants

Pandan leaves

Banana trees

Banana leaves

Blue pea flower plant

Blue pea flowers

I have coconut trees but it's still a young plant, no fruits yet so still need to buy fresh grated coconut from shop 🤭. 

Industrial coconut grater in the shop

Freshly grated coconut ready for use. 

Lemon grass plant

Lemon grass

Ginger plant

Fresh ginger

Galanga plant

Galanga

mop on 

Tumeric plant

Tumeric

Laksa leaves or Daun Kesum plant

Laksa leaves 

1. Singapore Laksa by Meatmen cooking channel

I remember my late mom used to garnished with omelette slices instead of hard boiled egg, fish cake slices instead of fish balls, prawns, shredded chicken meat, blanched beans sprout and freshly chopped laksa leaves on the bowl of bee hoon before the laksa broth with tau pok was poured in.

Ingredients as shown in U-tube to make the laksa paste 

 The only thing I didn't add is the shrimp paste (belachan) because  of allergy reasons. 

Singapore Laksa paste & coconut milk from freshly grated coconut.

Stir- fry the paste with oil.

Add in the coconut milk, tau pok and seasoning to our taste.

My Awesome home made Singapore Laksa Bee Hoon ,

with various toppings 😋prawns, omelette, shredded chicken, fish cake, beans sprout and chopped Laksa Leaves.

Can't find such in town with lots of condiments😁.

My late mom was the 1st to introduce Singapore Laksa and the prawn noodles in the 60's in Sabah. Initially she rented a small stall at the coffee shop in Gaya street. Later when their business bloomed, they stopped selling in a stall and opened a coffee shop where they sell like any one else sells in a coffee shop. In those days the water was boiled using charcoal not electricity. 

Customers usually came to the coffee shop mainly for some light breakfast which has kopi O (local coffee), toasted bread with butter and kaya known as "Roti Khawin"(normally caramelised kaya) and 2 soft boiled eggs seasoned with black soya sauce and white pepper. 

I still prefer my grand aunt's Pandan kaya compared to the caramelised kaya.

Nowadays, I can't find any authentic Nyonya kaya and even if they were available, they were never the same as Grand aunt's. I missed it so much that I decided to make them again. I looked into U-tube to make a few attempts from different people on U-tube . It's trial and error for your information.😜

To be honest, the nearest to my grand aunt's recipe is from Huang Kitchen.

Pandan kaya  is a simple and easy jam, made from Pandan and coconut milk. The pandan leaves give its aromatic fragrance and natural beautiful green colour .

2. Nyonya  Pandan Kaya - video from Huang kitchen

6 pandan leaves, 4 eggs, 200gms sugar

200 to 250mls of coconut milk from grated fresh coconut.

 I add a pinch of salt to the Santan ( coconut milk).

Cook over low heat , stirring continuously with a wooden spatula until the custard turns thick, smooth, glossy and has a spreadable consistency.

Two perfect soft boiled eggs with Roti khawin (coconut jam and butter) plus a hot cup of Kopi O kosong. 😋

Perfect breakfast 🤩

High school classmate Richard feeling so lucky to be able to taste these freshly homemade Authentic Nyonya kaya 🤣

3. Black Glutinous Rice Dessert (PULUT HITAM) 

Video from Angel kitchen.

I made this Pulut hitam dessert,following the U-tube by Angel kitchen. 

The ingredients are the same except there is slight modification, such as I used slow cooker instead of stove to cook the dessert. And since I used the slow cooker, I just cook the washed Pulut rice straight away in the pot at night and let it did it's job cooking the porridge slowly overnight. By morning,  the porridge is ready for breakfast served with warm santan (coconut milk).

Black Glutinous Rice Dessert (PULUT HITAM) 

Mom also started introducing black glutinous rice dessert with santan but was not successful because at that time Sabah people don't know how to eat those yet in the 60's.😅

Black glutinous rice or pulut hitam or O Chu bee in Hokkien was one of my mom's favourite. The black glutinous rice is cooked over in a low heat for a couple of hours with pandan leaves and rock sugar until  the porridge is bubbling away, leaving a nice pandan smell in the whole kitchen and the rice splitting away releasing the starch from the rice where the porridge become smooth and soft.  Before serving, santan is added onto the porridge making the porridge very tasty😂

4. Ondeh - Ondeh  : video from meatman channel

I followed this recipe from here👆. 

Ondeh Ondeh. Is one of my favourite childhood Nyonya kuih. I also learnt how to make this during my Domestic Science class at my Stella Maris junior High school. 

When I grew up, I was so busy working and prioritised my time pursuing my career, and taking care of my children when not at work, therefore i never had a chance to make them. 

Buying outside, very rare to find the exact taste that I wanted from childhood experiences. So when I retire, I had the opportunity to try and make them again,  which brought back the memories of my previous efforts.

Ondeh - Ondeh means little balls. 

It's name originates from Indonesia which means round. 

5. Banana Hoon Kueh  by Inn Ping

My little garden has abundance of fresh Pandan plants so I decided to make this recipe.

Ingredients for Banana Hoon Kuih.

My 15 leaf boxes made from Pandan leaves 

The mixture of Hoon Kwe flour, santan(coconut milk) and pandan during cooking in the rice cooker  , brings out the familiar nice aroma, filling the whole kitchen house.

Mission accomplished.
This dish was left in the chiller to be chilled before eating.

Another favourite childhood snacks : Banana Hoon Kuih.
My review : It was so yummy especially served chilled and my family members loved it.😁 

The Pandan leaf boxes were easy to make but takes time. Now I understand why I never made them again until I retired because even though it's easy to make, it's a tedious job and time consuming but the end result is very satisfying. A home made kuih without substitute. All original ingredients 😁.

 6. Pulut Inti from Mykitchen 101.

Banana leaves, Pandan leaves, Blue Pea flowers are easily obtained from my garden 

Banana leaves

Pandan leaves

Freshly plucked blue pea flowers. 

My experiment:

Instead of glutinous rice, I am experimenting with Calrose rice. I know glutinous rice is more sticky and softer but it is not compatible to my tummy which after taking it, I will start getting stomach cramps.

Outcome of the rice cooked in the rice cooker with Pandan leaves, coconut milk and blue pea flowers

Lovely outcome of my Pulut Inti - Simple yet elegant 😁

Review: So yummy. Of course Pulut rice is softer 

The aroma and taste is so authentic. 

I remember my mom once told me about authentic Nyonya kuih being worth making only if it's for families, or giving to good friends as gift. Because of the effort and time spent on them just to make the kuih look so pretty and taste good.  I came to understand what she meant after making those kuih.

Sharing my Home made  Pulut Inti with my High School Classmate, David  who in return shared with his family. They commented that they were delicious and good.

While another classmate, Richard brought it to his yacht club by the beach. Nothing beats a quiet sunset by the beach with a warm cup of Kopi O kosong (local coffee without sugar)  and a delicious "Kuih".😍 He said the "kuih" satisfied his sweet tooth tremendously😂.

References:

Nyonya

Ching Ming

A taste of Nostalgia : How food takes us back to childhood.