By V. Sivaji
Two sisters Jane and Joyce Choo managed to make 10,000 pieces of traditional Peranakan cookies in time for the national level Chinese New Year celebrations 2020 which was held at the Esplanade in Penang recently.
Despite the short notice given to them, they prepared kueh kapit, bahulu, kapit goreng, kueh bangkit, kueh bakul goreng to name a few.
The Choo sisters are the third generation in their family to carry on the tradition of making these cookies.
The kueh bakul goreng preparation alone takes more than 20 hours of mixing the ingredients, steaming and the finals process of hardening.
“Many of these cookies have some taboo in preparing them. True enough according to these beliefs, the cookies do not come out well if the beliefs are not followed.
“Among them include being keeping oneself clean and not arguing in the family,”said Jane Choo.
“In preparing some of the cookies, we had to invent fast track measures to complete the task without losing their quality and taste,” added Jane Choo.
She also added that nowadays, not many people want to make these cookies as they are time consuming and “tricky”.
Their stall was among the popular stops for both local and foreign visitors who wanted to sample their products.
Penang Hyperlocal congratulates the duo on their amazing dedication and feat.