Sleepless nights for glutinous rice cake maker

Dedication: Khoo and his wife Ch’ng preparing the ‘thnee kuih’ at their home near Khye Sian Ong Temple in Jelutong. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: This time every year, septuagenarian Khoo Khay Guan endures sleepless nights as he puts his granite stone miller to work to make thnee kuih (Hokkien for sticky glutinous rice cake) for Chinese New Year.

With the help of his wife Ch’ng Wew Wew, 66, who prepares the containers that hold the rice cake batter, the couple will spend most of their days and nights in a shack in Jelutong near here to slow-cook the cakes in large steamers.