Come the 5th Day of the 5th Month of our Chinese Lunar Calendar, my wife would diligently get herself busy to make the Nyonya Bak Chang every year. She would run around the shops and wet market to buy all the ingredients for the tedious preparations that would use up all the big & small containers and space of our entire kitchen and dining room. She would put in all her heart and passion to wash, cut and cook everything for many long hours to prepare the ingredients. Being an OCD Chef, she would make sure that I stay away from her as she is worried and superstitious that I might accidentally utter some nonsensical and silly words that might dampen her cooking spirits. LOLOL. This is true to the customs of the olden days when the Bibiks and Nyonya Makciks would even choose the auspicious dates and time to cook festive dishes or cakes. That's what my OCD wife did exactly!
Being an OCD Chef, she would use her scales to measure for perfect proportions
as the agak-agak method is not in her books.
My wife had been making her signature and authentic Nyonya Bak Chang using the Blue Telang flowers glutinous rice to blend with the white portion glutinous rice with generous assorted ingredients before wrapping them in bamboo leaves. She could easily tie them perfectly well, probably due to her skilled hands in Wushu.
She had made hundreds of Nyonya Bak Chang and delivered them all to our relatives and closest friends. This year will be another different story with the current MCO and social distancing. We thought that we could forgo this dumplings for this year and resume next year.
Somehow our friends and relatives joined wagon in her FB to pester her to make the Nyonya Bak Chang again this year. Their jokes and banters turned into serious talks that encouraged her to sell them online, so that it could be delivered and reach them safely, no matter how far they live away from Klang Valley!
All are happy now. Stay tuned.
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