bits and pieces of my life.
I was back in Ipoh over the Raya weekend with Frances, with my family tagging along to attend her Granny’s 80th birthday. A gathering of everyone of all 4 generations meant that it is time for the very green dish of Lui Char, a Hakka specialty that i’ve tried once many moons ago, with my only recollection of it being a bit too minty for my liking.
To see the preparation of the meal however, is a testament to the preservation of the Hakka culture, and of our tastebuds in the future.
The dish begins with a preparation of many fragrant greens and condiments
which must all be finely chopped, and calls for a whole clan of knife wielding family members :
The vegetables are then simply fried with garlic. A special stock is made from ikan bilis, sesame seed, peanut, tea leaves and vege all blended together. In the old days, this would have called for some mortar and pestle action, but in these modern days convenience calls for the use of the electric blender, lest we are still grinding for 70 hungry people at nightfall.
All the laborious effort results in a medley of finely prepared vegetables and stock, to be eaten pored over rice with a sprinkle of peanut to taste.
As it turned out, this one tasted different from my first experience, and the authenticity of a home-made lui char meal sure beats the hell out of any you can buy out there. Would you like it? I would say that it is an acquired taste. If you have a liking for mint and fragrant leaves, with a burst of peanut-y crunchiness and slow explosion of taste from the many fresh ingredients, you would definitely want to try this!
The family reunion is not complete without some tong yuen, or glutinous rice balls to end the affair. I didn’t manage to catch my mom-in-law making it like last year, but with her Kaizen approach to cooking, this time round we get all organic BLUE tong yuen made from the natural colors of bunga telang.
NOW that i’ll have to try!
neko-hime
September 26th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Wah finally got post from you. Nice pics! I also belum makan this before …but my mom says it is nice…
Veronica
February 17th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Please share the recipes especially the tea soup….
Gina
March 19th, 2010 at 11:33 am
I was browsing the internet on Typica coffee and stumbled upon your blog. At first, I thought it was the famous Lyrical Lemongrass’ blog because your design is the same.
Anyway, you write really good stuffs here.