Nurain with her baked Chinese New Year goodies at the bazaar in Penampang.
Home-baked heritage delights still shine during festivities.
TRADITIONAL cakes, contemporary Chinese New Year cookies and festive treats remain must-haves for shoppers embracing the season’s joyful spirit.
In bustling Lunar New Year bazaars and night markets leading up to the festivities, stalls offering pork dishes, cookies, and the iconic “nian gao” drew the largest crowds.
These cherished offerings are becoming increasingly rare, especially when crafted using traditional methods or homemade recipes.
Baker Chew Nyuk Chin, also known as Nurain after converting to Islam, has been creating cookies and other treats for over 20 years.
She credits her mother and YouTube for her baking prowess.
Chan posing with a customer at her stall.
“When I was young, I used to watch my mum bake and learned from her. As I grew older, I picked up newer recipes and techniques from YouTube,” said the Chinese Muslim baker.
Now in her 50s, Nurain’s passion for baking remains as strong as ever.
“I have cookie sales every weekend and take custom orders,” she said at a recent Chinese New Year bazaar in Penampang, near Kota Kinabalu. “I bake for Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and other celebrations as long as there’s demand.”
The iconic nian gao drew large crowds at the bazaar.
She added that being a Muslim poses no challenges in terms of “halal” compliance.
While Nurain handles the baking, her children and grandchildren pitch in with other tasks like moving trays, washing up, packing, and selling.
Her bestsellers include Oreo cookies, chocolate treats, seaweed crisps, crab meat crackers and mixed nut sweet snacks.
Another traditional baker, Quinis Chan, 32, is determined to preserve her family’s legacy of making “nian gao” using age-old techniques rather than modern machinery.
“My parents have sold homemade cakes, cookies and kuih at the market in Kota Kinabalu for over 30 years,” Chan said. “Now that they’re older, they can’t do as much, so I felt it would be a loss if no one in the family continued our tradition.”
The bazaar also featured Chinese New Year plants for sale.
Under her mother’s guidance, Chan mastered the intricate details – from balancing sugar and glutinous flour to achieving the perfect dough consistency.
“The stirring process is especially exhausting because it takes hours,” she admitted.
During Chinese New Year and other festive periods, Chan often finds herself burning the midnight oil to meet customer orders.
Among the variants of nian gao on sale were macha flavoured ones.
“Even when my eyes feel like they’re about to drop from exhaustion, I push through to finish the orders,” she said.
Despite the demanding nature of the craft, Chan finds joy in sustaining a tradition cherished by generations.
“There aren’t many traditional bakers left because the work is tough and not glamorous, but it’s satisfying to know I’m keeping a piece of our heritage alive,” she said.
The festive buzz extended beyond Penampang, with other areas like Padang Merdeka in Kota Kinabalu hosting Chinese New Year bazaars from as early as Jan 10 right up to Jan 26.
