Trader’s banana plants provide fragrant ‘thnee kuih’

Sweet treats: (top) Hui Mian lining the tins with banana leaves while Cheang wipes the leaves at their house in Lengkok Burma, Pulau Tikus. (left) Neoh cutting the leaves from the plants behind his house. — CHAN BOON KAI / The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Most farmers grow banana plants for the fruit, but Neoh Aun Kean just wants the leaves. This is because banana leaves are a valuable commodity in themselves, given the robust demand from the Indian banana leaf rice and nasi lemak trade.

For Neoh, 50, the banana leaf is a crucial element for thnee kuih – or nian gao.