A Tiger in the Kitchen
EAT, SLIDER Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Book cover for Cheryl Tan's Tiger in the Kitchen
Singaporean author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan celebrates food and family in her new book, A Tiger In The Kitchen. In this new memoir from Hyperion books, Tan explores the intersection of culture, tradition and cuisine. Inspired by her paternal grandmother, Ma Tanglin Ah-Ma, Tan describes a favorite delicacy consumed for Chinese New Year in this excerpt:
“Among the Chinese New Year cookies she would make was a tiny white cookie called kueh bangkit. Now, this sweet, tapioca flour cookie is not easy to execute; when done right, it’s supposed to have such an airy consistency that it virtually melts on your tongue. But most versions you buy in stores are so dense that they’re not going to disintegrate unless you start chewing.
My Tanglin ah-ma’s kueh bangkit, of course, was perfect. In the kitchen that day, I learned that each year before Chinese New Year, she would haul her charcoal stove out of her tiny high-rise apartment kitchen and into the corridor. To nail the consistency, Jessie said, you’ve got to make sure the tapioca flour is super dry. Some bakers spread the flour out on a baking sheet and stick that in a hot oven to dry out. But this easy method was beneath my Tanglin ah-ma. Instead, she did what she’d always done. She’d fill a large wok with tapioca flour, light up her charcoal stove, squat over a lot stool, and just start frying, tossing the flour high into the air in the narrow hall that she shared with her neighbors. “Aiyoh, the neighbors use to get so angry,” Jesse said, laughing. “She would get flour all over the place!” The flour, the walls, the doorknobs would be covered with white powder by the time she was done. The neighbors would yell—oh, they would complain. Unfazed, Tanglin Ah-Ma would just keep on frying.”
Short URL: http://blogs.aaja.org/ourchinatown/?p=8
Posted by Cindy Tapan
on Jan 27 2011. Filed under EAT, SLIDER.
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I just got Cheryl’s book and can’t wait to read it! I am so glad Cheryl wrote this book because as I get on in age, I too have begun thinking about all the comfort food dishes my mother makes and my grandmother used to that hopefully will find a way to live on in my kitchen endeavors.
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