Cktinfluencer

The best Penang ckt Lulu's Char Koay Teow Melbournewith glorious duck egg and juicy blood red cockles. wish there was more chives and beansprouts but the charred wok hey and taste profile was bang on point. Respect! Inspirational. oily but who cares when the entire world stops for a while

23/1. Second day of Cny. Large paella sharing plate. Lovey, cy, chris, eunice, Nancy

19/1. Table for nine. Geraldine, yarni, Kenneth, ron, Eddy, Dorothy, Luke, May

30/11. Table for nine. Bristol friends. Carol. Christina. Yin Ling. David. Michelle. Lovey

18/8. Table for eight. Pauline. Bindi. Ivy. Thomas. Kelvin y. Larissa. Wendy

26/7. Table for five. For Dimpel, Kelvyn, Tan Li lin, Chin plus takeaway for Ping. And Ivan

For mom, my father’s sister, Penang relatives. 18 of them from 18 months to 80 plus. Salted veg duck soup. Kueh pie tee. Ckt. Apple pie. 3/7

Ckt reflections. Heart is full, kitchen and living greasy. Some notes.

1. No one really cares how well you cook. I’m not a natural cook but if you try, people will appreciate.
2. kiam chye Ark tng is overlooked when ckt awaits. Actually that’s all they want to start with.
3. Avoid getting prawns on a weekend. Price surge and supply crunch is real.
4. Honour the people who have cared. Do not delay showing how much you appreciate. Bring your gifts of imperfection.
5. My mom enjoying a plate. She’s the original influencer who has influenced every plate. Priceless 😍
6. Don’t forego a hike, day before the event. Go to market earlier. Time is multi layered with possibility. A happy hiker is a happy hawker.
7. Too many people? Go for it. I have decided. If you are illogical, then you are limitless. Greasy scary aunty squeeeezing 18 month nephew - grab every opportunity to squeeze them before they grow. Your teenagers want to runaway from gatherings? Don’t fret. They are trapped if it’s at home.
8. As always cook what you ❤️ for people you ❤️ . If there is one thing group restrictions taught me is that the best number for a dinner party is one plus five. Six pax. For talking and bonding.

Outrageous combo of ckt and apple pie with vanilla ice cream for 4. 13/5

9/1. For Anch, Adeline, Elaine, Malcolm, Adeline dapao for their family and Angela

3 years

Dapao and eat on boat

17/12. For 8. Christina, Bhaskaran, Min, Cheryl and son, Chongster, Roy, Ariel

25/11. For 5. V action. Sg girl frying Penang ckt for Malaysians. For Pauline, her mommy, Angelina, Mui and John

30/9. For 2. Dorcas and L

26/8. Table for 5. Opus. Jeanne. Janice. Dimpel. Li Lin

15/8. Table for 5. Wen. Jess. Chris. KP. Angela

Table for eight

Fresh big prawn makes a diff

The underground ckt movement is strong, protesting against mediocrity. Decadence on a Tuesday

How d’you do it? Do you even work? Ckt mise en place. This makes a ckt party after work tenable. I get the prawns, fish cake, veg and kway teow from wet market at 6 plus am. Then from 7 to 8 plus it’s preps. Peeling the prawns, frying the pork lard, washing the bean sprouts, cutting up chives, lup cheong and fish cake. A friend might pop in to help slice too. Concocting magic fry sauce. Garlic is also diced and banana leaves prepped for plates. Then everything pops into the fridge, ready for dinner action after work. Fill up empty container with water and freeze to make ice. Double check fridge is shut properly before run carrie run to work. Over lunch, pick up deshelled cockles from tekka and fresh chilli paste. One by one they stream into the cave. Warming up to the one fire source which is the wok. You never know job satisfaction until there is a football team of friends cheering for you in the kitchen. The squeals of childlike laughter as they reveal their innermost ckt dreams and preference for ingredients delivers a magical experience of desire fulfillment. We don’t have to speak, I am in the flow. Nothing says it like ckt 💕

Simple wok station

This is with no chilli. for teenagers with picky palate. Fast to cook, good to eat.

As a kid, I would fry my own char kway teow using vegetable oil, coarse cut garlic (lots of it). Peeling the prawns fresh and delivering it to pan before charring the Kway Teow -almost like a garlic fried Kway Teow and just as the starch got parched in the hot oil add some soya and fish sauce so that it would coat every strand of heavenliness. Then eggs go in. Cracked beside the bed of kway Teow and folded in. A handful of bean sprouts and chives thrown in and just a flash toss in the wok so that they maintain crunch and freshness.

Standing on a stool to fry coz i was too short to look over the stove, i must have been very hungry.

The best reward is to see others enjoy it and tuck in.

Sometimes we didn’t have much ingredients (liao) - no prawn or fish cake but I would fry it just the same. garlic and charred Kway Teow with bean sprouts and egg is yummy enough

What I believe to be true.

After frying more prawns in 6 months than entire my entire life, 10 learning points:

1. If you’re having a dinner party on a Monday or Tuesday evening, go to market on Sunday and secure the prawns coz market is closed on Monday. if you go on a Tuesday morning, before work, there are usually one or two stalls open and you will be time pressed and have to overpay.

2. Only the good fishcake is the best policy. I learned the hard way by getting the cheaper one and being called out by a discerning guest.

3. Yes, I’ve become a lard stasher. It is sometimes not available at the butcher and it is the fundamental pillar. No crackling, means that no one will want to friend you and eat your ckt anymore.

4. Be adaptable and learn to slice fishcake and lup cheong thinner. It will make you look like less of a rookie and it is never too late to
improve on knife skills, even though I’m still a butter fingers and drop ice and food everywhere.

5. Trust in the universe for help. That cooked prawn you dropped on the floor? That garlic which rolled under the cabinet. People will watch your back and help you clear organic waste that they can spot better than you and maintain a hygiene grading of maybe C?

6. People are caring and selfless. Allocated with a responsibility to serve others like be a bar maid, water IC, clear dishes, plate ckt with adequate crackling, concierge dessert, bus plates...they will over deliver and deprive themselves of their own meal to see that others get fed first. True meaning is in serving others. Never mind if ulterior motive is in getting later plate of ckt which is filled with more carbon became the wok hei has been established more fully.

7. Make friends with Sheng siong vegetable staff. Go at wee hours of morning when there is no one there and ask her to tell you the difference between the sweet potatoes and chives. By listening to her, you will get the sweetest veg which last longest in the fridge and achieve the best crunch.

8. Grade A eggs from the egg seller are more than 70 grams. They make a big difference somehow and just feels more shiok to crack a larger egg.

9. Cooking for more is better or smaller ? Cooking for 8 feels a lot less hectic than 30. I could talk to my guests in between the ckt plates and it was nice to be able to bond a bit more and take some photos. I always feel a bit torn between inclusivity (large groups) and having smaller groups which are more intimate and easier to manage. It also made me think more deeply about the purpose for ckt gatherings. Initially, it was just to share and not waste the effort in rendering pork lard; but more important than that is the deeper connection, which happens outside of the wok. For that, some exclusivity and being present, achieves that connection better.

10. Now that I’ve cooked for most of my friends .. it’s time to be thankful for this ckt journey - how it’s allowed me to be brave, real and crazy. Remembering the start point: which is to be real in that space. channel your inner hawker and Shel Silverstein’s giving 🌲

And cook what you ❤️ for people you ❤️

Come get fat with me

I am a Singapore girl of a Penang mom who used to sell Char Kway Teow in a food stall.

I get so frustrated that I can’t get the taste profile of Char Kway Teow that I want, so I decided to make my own at home.

No one should be deprived of good Char Kway Teow.

Use the freshest ingredients and if you don’t have lard oil, vegetable oil is fine. My mom taught me to use the corner of the spatula to “char” and to create air pockets in between the ingredients so that the ingredients don’t clump. Aim is to “char” the individual ingredients and get the wok hei going. For this, hot wok is essential.

https://youtu.be/H2oVwQ661pM

Penang Char Kway Teow recipe I am a Singapore girl of a Penang mom who used to sell Char Kway Teow in a food stall. I get so frustrated that...

Every cube hand cut sliced and diced. I’m not very good with knife skills and slice lup cheong like a rookie but when it’s charred with wok hei and the lard lovingly rendered - every step of the process is a joy