Traditional Chinese meals mixed with Nyonya favourites for Chinese New Year

Goh’s CNY table is laden with heritage Nyonya recipes she learnt from her neighbours in Melaka, as well as newer offerings gleaned over the years. Clockwise from bottom left: jiu hu char, abacus shin poon chee, acar and poon choi. — Photos: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

In many ways, home cook May Goh owes her phenomenal cooking skills to her boarding school in Melaka. Having been sent there at the tender age of six, Goh found that even the littlest kids weren’t spared the task of cooking meals for up to 100 of their peers.

“We were trained from very young to be in the kitchen. Even if you were seven or eight years old, you had to start helping by peeling shallots and garlic,” says Goh, a retired school principal.