Gunung Rapat's Heong Peah - 14 Nov 2015

'189' and Seng Kee are household names for handmade 'heong peah' in Gunung Rapat, Ipoh. '189' has been around longer than Seng Kee, but both are old timers, building their business from their backyards. Seng Kee is one of the very few remaining shops making the traditional 'heong peah' broiled with coconut husks. Most of the other shops, like '189', are using the modern electronic ovens to enable them to produce big quantity of the biscuits. '189' has recently moved out of the residential area to a nearby shoplot.   


If you're not a die-hard fan of 'heong peah', you'll probably not able to tell the difference of the two ways of production. We're so used to buying from the famous Ching Han Guan, handmade using the modern oven, in Ipoh New Town. Only recently, we stumbled upon Seng Kee's traditionally broiled biscuits.

Piping hot 'heong peah' from the traditional barrel oven broiled with coconut husks.

Handmade 'heong peah', a labour of love.


Seng Kee only has a capacity of making 2,000 pcs per day.



Traditional barrel ovens require handling by skilled workers cos it's harder to control the temperature. If the fire is too strong, then the biscuits nearer to the fire will be more burnt, some may even drop inside the burning coconut husks. Heat is also not even, depending on how near it is to the heat source.

Coconut husks, a rare commodity now, give the character and aroma to the biscuits.

The pastry dough is stuck onto the inner wall of the oven, like naan bread. That's why the biscuits made using this traditional way have oblong shape, slanting towards one end due to gravity force.

Both are handmade 'heong peah' from Gunung Rapat. Both have a big fan-following. Seng Kee's biscuits are slightly out of shape and with less molasses filling. '189' biscuits are almost perfectly shaped, and studded with sesame seeds with much more filling and harder crust. I prefer Seng Kee's biscuits especially when eaten fresh, cos the aroma and character from the traditional barrel oven are unique, plus the biscuits are not so sweet and the crunchy and flaky crust is just right. If I cannot consume so many biscuits so fast, I find that '189' biscuits can keep better over a longer time - they're still flaky and crunchy but a tad too sweet for me. Both biscuits deserve the big following, but one thing for sure, the traditional barrel ovens heated with coconut husks will soon be overtaken by the electronic ovens.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's
Read more