In their spacious family home in Subang Jaya, 68-year-old Soh Lay Choo reigns supreme. She bustles about with purpose and chats animatedly with everyone around her, often poking fun of herself in the process.
Beside her is her son Chong Yu Cheng, better known as YC, the renowned chef-founder of Kuala Lumpur’s salubrious Michelin-starred progressive Malaysian restaurant Terra Dining.
In so many ways, YC says it was his mother who was instrumental in forging his chosen career path.
“Yeah, I often joke that I became a chef because my mother’s food isn’t that great,” says YC, who, like his mother, is witty, with a great sense of humour.
To this, the irrepressible Lay Choo responds, “I am actually learning a lot from him now, you know.”
In many ways, Lay Choo’s culinary tutelage started considerably later in life, when her mother passed away when she was 38.
“My mum was a very good cook. I used to help her in the kitchen, but I never learned the ingredients and all these things. So when my mum passed away, my parents were staying with me.
“So every day I would buy economy rice for my dad. And I felt so bad. So I started to learn how to fry veggies. When I did that, I would call my husband and say, ‘Come and look at the veggies – are they good?’ You know, that is how I eventually learned,” she says, laughing.
Lay Choo’s father, the sprightly, sharp-witted 93-year-old Soh Kim Yew, continues to live with the family and has grown to love his daughter’s food.
“My father loves all the dishes that I cook today. Like the chilli sauce that I make to go with homemade popiah – he won’t take chilli sauce from other places; he only eats mine,” says Lay Choo proudly.
Lay Choo also says that her kids were very kind to her when they were growing up and never complained about her cooking, even though she was learning on the go and figuring things out.
“Oh, I mean, when you don’t have a solution for it, you don’t say anything. You give feedback when you have solutions. Which is what I do now,” says YC cheekily.
While Lay Choo’s culinary skills have evolved over the years, her son has clearly surpassed her cooking abilities – something she says she never saw coming because he was so hesitant in the kitchen when he was younger.
“You know, I never dreamt that he would be a chef. When he was in secondary school – if he had to turn on the stove, he would cover his hand with a cloth because he was so scared. And the way he held a knife – that’s not how a chef would do it. But then he totally transformed,” she says, giggling.
YC and his mother share an easy, convivial relationship that means that the lovely, charming Lay Choo is always eager to learn new tips and tricks from her talented son.
Many of the heritage recipes she picked up over the years, for instance, have recently been given new leverage, techniques and strength because YC has figured out different ways to elevate each dish.
Perhaps one of the family’s favourite traditional recipes is Terengganu lor mee, a staple among the Hokkien community in Kuala Terengganu where YC and his mother hail from.
“It’s very rare. You can’t really find it anywhere,” says Lay Choo.
The dish boasts a rich, riotous infusion of flavours and features noodles and toppings like beansprouts coated in a rich, savoury-sweet gravy enlivened by crab meat, prawns, pork and chicken and bolstered by Terengganu kicap manis, a sauce that has budu (fermented anchovy sauce) at its core. It’s rich, hedonistic and utterly delicious.
YC and Lay Choo say it has become increasingly hard to find Terengganu kicap manis even in Terengganu, as it is a cottage industry that is dying out.
Although Lay Choo has her own way of making the dish, YC has added his own touches to the dish and improved it by adding restaurant techniques designed to impart more flavour to the dish.
“It’s a very decadent dish – you have crabs, prawns, pork, kampung chicken and, of course, the Terengganu kicap manis, which is very umami-rich.
“So I actually sauteed the prawn heads and shells and made a prawn oil so the dish is more prawn-forward. Then we cooked the chicken stock for close to eight hours to extract the collagen, so for me, it’s just about adding little steps that compound the end result,” says YC.
The family’s Terengganu Hokkien-style stuffed crab, meanwhile, is a labour of love that features crab shells packed to the brim with the flesh of mud crabs. It’s a rustic winner that highlights a distilled aquatic experience that YC has refined by adding some pork lard into the amalgamation.
“I noticed that sometimes the mix was a bit dry, so I added a bit of pork lard to emulsify into the mix. It’s not traditionally part of the recipe, but I thought it would enhance the dish,” says YC.
Lay Choo agrees and says, “The stuffed crab is really moist now – it’s so good. He even taught me how to make a pork stock concentrate to add to the mix if I want.”
Lay Choo’s fried popiah (spring rolls), meanwhile, is one of her father’s favourites and is a crispy log filled with ingredients like jicama, carrots and dried cuttlefish floss. It’s a fabulously homemade concoction that is a firm favourite in the family.
“My father really enjoys this. And whenever he wants to eat popiah, he won’t say, ‘I want to eat popiah.’ He’ll say, ‘Where did you get this popiah skin from?’ And then I know he wants me to make it,” says Lay Choo, laughing.
Lay Choo says she continues to learn new things from her son and never ceases to be amazed that he has become such a good chef.
“When he first opened the restaurant, I was so worried because I wasn’t sure he knew what he was doing. And I used to look at Terra’s Instagram account and when there was a nice compliment from a customer, I would screenshot it.
“And when I had time later in the night, I would go over it, feeling proud inside. It took me years to accept that he wanted to become a chef. But now I know – he was destined to be one,” she says, smiling adoringly at her son.
- a few clean crab shells
- 50g pork lard
- 750g crab meat
- 50g shallot, diced/chopped
- 5g fried shallot
- 4g salt
- 1 pinch white pepper
- 25g corn starch
- 2 eggs, whites and yolks separated
- 1 salted egg yolk, steamed and crushed
To make
- Blanch pork lard for 3 minutes in boiling water. Let the pork lard chill in the fridge until it hardens.
- Cut the pork lard into cubes. You need to be fast here. It is more difficult as it warms up.
- Mix the crab meat, pork lard, shallot, fried shallot, salt and white pepper in a mixing bowl.
- Add in corn starch followed by egg white. Reserve the egg yolk for later. If the mixture looks dry, add pork stock or water.
- Stuff the crab shells with the mixture.
- Steam the stuffed crabs. Timing will depend on the size of the shells.
- While the stuffed crabs are still hot, brush the egg yolk over the top. Try to avoid the shells to keep it aesthetically pleasing.
- Sprinkle some crushed salted egg yolk on top and serve.
