Monday, May 29, 2006

from bak chang, with love

spent the weekend helping my mum with the making of...........the dumpling. she must have made more than 200 and my hands reek from the oily familiar stench. kind of puts me off dumpling for a little while. hence, also the absence of visual to share with you. to enrich your imagination, go to the nearest market and buy one, steam it for 20mins, unwrap the leaves and place it next to you, whilst you read this entry.

you know when the game tetris was previously in fashion, and you spent the whole day trying to make the blocks fit the puzzle, then you dream of it when you close your eyes? yes, that was me and the dumplings on saturday. after trying to fold the leaves in such and such a way so that i can get the 'socially-correct' triangular shape, i can see it happening in front of me when i close my eyes. give me a break. :-) by sunday, i have gone over the deep end.

i never knew how to wrap those little pyramid-shape things for the longest time. i could only see my mum slave over them year after year, while i stand by helplessly. one year, as my mum got older, i figured that if i can conquer an mba, i can conquer this! and with a very technical mind, i applied the science of logic, physics and domestic dexterity. i tried and tried and tried. finally, they looked semi-triangle and the most important of all, they didn't fall apart. triumph!

that was then. the next year, my grandad passed away. so, we stopped making the dumplings for 3 years. erm, don't ask me why. the higher authorities deemed so and we, the small fries, follow. after the required 3 years of intermission, we continued, only to have my grandma pass away the year following that. so, another 3 years of refrain. this is my first year back again.

come dumpling time, i seem to be full of theories and philosophies. i guess it's because it's a time-old culture that is fast becoming a dying art. i may have learnt the very basic skill of wrapping them but i have never picked up the process of preparation; the ingredients-shopping, the cooking, the frying and the marinating. without the core process, the skills i have acquired is as useless. it is something that i would love to pass on to my children. a food and skill steeped in culture and ethnology.

hubby has the time-old opinion that women are more perfect if they have mastered this art. chauvinistic? *shrugs shoulder*. he's entitled to his opinion. but you will find that almost all dumplings are made by women (except for those made by restaurants). why? most men will claim that the most renowned chefs are male, yet why is this a women's domain? because it requires patience, endurance and lots of love. much like motherhood. it is also back-breaking and thankless.

so, when you pop that warm piece of glutinous rice in your mouth, have you thought of all the love that went into making it? (er....except for those who have bought theirs from the market). the warmth from the dumpling as it makes its way down your throat reminds you that there is still someone out there who loves you.

13 comments:

Ianfluenza said...

Just when I recalled that Duan Wu Jie is around the corner, I realised that I have not had a bak-chang for quite sometime coz I don't think I can get them easily here. However, when I visited my aunt last week, her friends made some and I managed to eat one (the salty one) with sugar. Loved that...

Anonymous said...

I think my grandmother and great-granny made their own bak chang too, but unfortunately the art of making them never got passed down...

mmmm... now I feel like having one for lunch!

Robin CHAN said...

I like Bak Chang.. and anything with glutinious rice in all shape and flavours..

hehehe

Anonymous said...

I agree with your hubby's opinion. But, I would say 'chinese woman' instead.

Helen said...

I love Bak Chang too!! Unfortunately, I dun know how to 'wrap' the thiing!

Wuching said...

yes please! i'll have some bak chang..love them!

me said...

dear ian: *wrinkles nose at idea of chang with sugar*

dear may: yes, go for it. yummmmmmy!

dear robin: how about curry bak chang? made some with curry chicken over the weekends

dear lickoholic: hmmm, another 'chauvinistic' man? *grins*


dear helen: lucky we can get it so easily from everywhere. or is it unluckily?

dear wuching: *smile* unfortunately australia's immigration law is too strict for me to send you a few.

seefei said...

thankless? i will marry any damsel that offer me a chung made by her own hands....alamak, dreaming again!! where to find?

in reality i will settle for any girls that allow me to eat chung... and not lecture me on the fatty meat and how badly our stomach cope with the glutinous rice.

family is about compromise...sigh...

me said...

dear fei: oh, oh! tell see you so naughty, complain about her lack of chung making skills *grins* (i'm assuming that she doesn't make them, from your way of speech). a chung doth not a person make.....*grins again* sounds like yoda from star wars or not?

Admin said...

i wan mine with a big piece of fat pork inside!!! faster make and give!

titoki said...

My family prefers the pillow shaped one (i.e., the one from my blog), it's easier to make, big enough for the stomach and it looks traditional. *wink wink* Did you put salted egg yolk in your chang? Did you darken your rice with soy sauce? :)

me said...

dear ah pek: made already. you come up and take lah *grins*.

dear titoki: *putting both hands in the air* ok, i'm guilty of all 3 things. they are triangular, have salted egg and is darkened by soya sauce. don't shoot me, shoot my ancestors; recipe passed down for generations :-)

Min Chan said...

lenglui, at least you have a recipe passed from generations. When my mother was around, I never bothered to learn. Now that she's gone, have to consult Amy Beh (kuali.com). Don't ask me why but last year, I decided to try making some. If tak jadi, tak jadi lah. Result? Lost only 3 which unravelled in the pot.

Ianfluenza, I like my chang eaten with sugar too!