Dying art of making mee suah

THE best mee suah, some would claim, is made by the Fuchow clan in Sitiawan, Perak.

But these long wholesome threads are not all there is to Fuchow delicacies and snacks. It is easier to identify this community by their surname (Ting, Ling or Ding) than by their culinary identity as their signature dishes are seldom found on restaurant menus except for the ones in Sitiawan.

Not long ago, it was still a common sight for racks of mee suah to be hanging under the sun to dry in the backyard of houses. This tedious process of making noodles is slowly disappearing as it succumbs to the usual elements of mechanisation and the inability to interest the youth to learn the art.

Pull it: (From left)Angelreena, Joeland Tzhen Hongwatching howGrandma Ling pullsthe noodles.

Grandma Ling Swee Hiong, 70, is one of the few who we have managed to locate to show us how these noodles are made. It is really the art of pulling, it seems, that makes it unique and it is anything but easy! Her grandson and our local guide Ting Tzhen Hong, 18, admitted that he had tried but failed desperately.

This rare opportunity almost did not happen because it rained the night before we arrived. Grandma Ling had not planned to make the noodles as she was not sure whether the sun would be hot enough to dry them. She would usually get up at 3am to prepare the dough with flour and water before leaving it to rest so that it will obtain its elasticity.

At about 10.30am she would hang racks of the stringy dough and stretch them before leaving them to dry in the sun for about two hours. She would take them in just before they become too dry and hardened. The mee suah is then coiled into small bundles and returned to the sun to be completely dried.

This is how wedo it: Changcooking theFuchow red winemee suah.

Over the years, unless you are a history buff, people would most likely associate the Fuchows in Sitiawan with the clan’s signature dish, mee suah cooked in home-brewed red wine.

Ling’s forefathers from China had arrived in Malaya in the 19th century to eke out a living in the tin mines.As they settled to make Malaya their permanent home, the majority of them went into the transportation business. They became trishaw pullers, bus drivers and bicycle shop owners. On arrival, many had to work at the docks as coolies to pay for their passage to Malaya.

“My father-in-law, who came from China, taught me this art of making mee suah. It is not easy, I cannot tell you how but I can show you. There are several family members from my generation who are still making mee suah in their backyard but our grandchildren are not picking up the skill,” said Ling who makes 10kg of mee suah a day for sale.

From Ling’s backyard we adjourned to her relative Nancy Chang’s kitchen in Ipoh with a bag of mee suah and a bottle of red wine to learn from her the family recipe of preparing the dish. Chang runs a nursing home for the aged and occasionally she would cook up traditional Chinese dishes to treat the residents of the home.

Yummy: Angelreena taking a bite of thecrispy Gong Peah

As she tossed a bowl of sliced ginger into hot sesame oil in the wok, followed by chicken pieces and sediments from the red wine, she reminded us to pay attention as few people could still prepare this dish. “This handmade mee suah is definitely tastier and a bit saltier so we don’t really need to add a lot of salt to the soup,’’ she said.

It took her about 45 minutes before bowls of slippery mee suah in red wine chicken were served to the home residents.

During this journey, Angelreena Lim and Joel Lim of the Young News Network (YNN), also stopped over at a stall that sells the popular Gong Peah, a crispy round biscuit filled with minced barbecued meat or onions that are baked in a clay tandoori oven.

These crispy goodness literally sell out like hot cakes as people buy them soon after they come out of the oven. The recipe for this biscuit has been passed down four generations and are not sold outside Sitiawan because they are best eaten within two hours after they are out of the oven.

For more authentic Fuchow dishes and Tzhen Hong took us to the Bei King Restaurant that has been serving Fuchow dishes for more than 10 years.

They included the sweet and sour fish maw usually served during Chinese New Year or on special occasions, fuchow Loh Mee with its thick sauce and thin noodles, O jian oyster omelette and their famous stuffed fishball.

Watch Angelreena and Joel savour Fuchow in It’s Really All About Food: Chowdown with Fuchows in Sitiawan Part 1 (thestaronline.tv/v/5445) and It’s really all about food: Taking a break in Sitiawan- Part 2 (thestaronline.tv/v/5456)