A Friendly Gift - Mother Brand Sesame Oil, Soya Sauce and Oyster Sauce

A few weeks ago, while waiting to pickup my son from school, I met a friendly elderly man who was there to pick up his grandsons. This down to earth elderly man started a conversation with me and we began chit chatting away. We started talking about children’s schooling, current issues and shared a little each about our life. When we exchanged business card, I found out that he is the owner of a Chinese sauce factory and he came to Malaysia before World War II to look for his dad when he was a young boy. It is very inspiring to know that someone who came all the way from China without anything on his back can become a successful owner of a sauce manufacturing factory. I went over to the website written on his card, Eng Hup Seng, and it was written on the main page that they are also bulk food manufacturer for top brands like Lam Soon, Yee Lee, Nestle and etc. Wow, I am speechless! Before we part, he opened his car boot to pack a bottle of Mother Brand’s Sesame oil, oyster sauce and light soya sauce in his company give away bag for me. At first I declined his generous offer but he insisted that I take it. So, I happily took the free sauces home. LOL!

Yong Tau Fu with Tnee Cheow (Sweet Bean Paste Sauce, Gochujang, Kochuchang, Hangul 고추장, Hanja 고추醬 )

Tnee Cheow (in Korean, Gochujang, Kochuchang, sweet bean sauce) is made from glutinous rice flour, red chili pepper and soya bean paste. Sugar is then added and the mixture is left for fermentation in earthen jar for a certain number of years. Thee cheow is also widely used in Korean cuisine and as a dipping sauce for Bulgogi or other Korean style barbecue meat. It contains Vitamin B2 and Beta Carotene. This versatile sauce is often mistakenly identified as the Sichuan spicy fermented red bean paste (Toubanjiang), which is virtually different in texture and taste! The Tnee Cheow is pungent but full of taste and it is one of the most important ingredients in Penang Chee Cheong Fun sauce beside the ‘heh ko’ (prawn paste) and ‘or cheow’ (black sauce). It is quite hard to find this type of sauce in KL. Most of the food vendors here made their own chee cheong fun sweet sauce. KL chee cheong fun vendors uses the brown coloured sweet sauce which is lack of the pungent and unique taste of the original Tnee Cheow (Sweet Bean Paste Sauce, Gochujang, Kochuchang, Hangul 고추장, Hanja 고추醬 ). There are a few factories in the northern states making thee cheow but you can hardly find one in KL. Anyway, I came across one old man in Kepong Baru market who sells a variety of sauces in his mini bicycle basket. He normally parks his bicycle in the alley next to an aquarium shop. I bought this container of Thee Cheow from him and happily took it home! I like to use it as a dipping sauce for my Yong Tau Fu and vegetables. The sauce is a little bit pungent and sweet but taste real good!

Steamboat Dipping Sauce for Chinese New Year Reunion Steamboat Dinner

I guess everyone would be busy preparing to welcome the year of the Ox. Families would gather around this time of the year for steamboat reunion dinner. This is one of my favourite dipping sauce recipes and it is great companion for Steamboat. Enjoy it! Ingredients Oyster Sauce, 3 table spoons Garlic, 1 bulb, chopped finely Bird Eye Chili (Cili Padi), 5 pcs, chopped finely Light Soya Sauce, 5 table spoon Lime, 2 pcs, remove seeds and use the juice Sugar, 1/3 teaspoon Mix all the ingredients together and stir until well mix. Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year!