If you have lived in Penang before you may know, Pulau Tikus Market which has quite a wonderful surrounding.
From what I can remember, it has a Post Office, a Police Station and many shops straddling both sides of the road that sells almost everything you may want or need to buy.
Behind the row of shops, opposite the Police Station on the left side if you are driving from Immigration Road through Burmah Road is the Pulau Tikus market.
When I first visited it, as a curious young boy, following my Nonya Grandma, Mdm. Law Saw Kin, to market in the 1960s, because I can see and learn many new things.
I particularly liked the Char Kueh Kak, which were fried on a flat round frying pan. The hawker was a thin man, who normally spots a white round Tee shirt, with a pair of sky blue pants or shorts.
As I stood there, I watch him, cut up the fresh 6 x 4 inch slab of Kueh Kak, very swiftly, into several regular lengths across the slap. He then further makes further cuts diagonally on the previous cutting, in a clean basin. The resulting pieces then looks like a diamond shaped parallelogram.
Once the stove is fired up, and noting that the pan is hot enough, he starts to scoop a ladle full of peanut oil, and spreads it over the heated pan. As the peanut oil started to sizzles, he will scoop a ladle full of finely chopped sweet Chai Por and a ladle of finely chopped garlic into the hot pan.
He pauses for a while to observe, for the chopped contents- garlic and Chai Por to practically start jumping in the pan. He quickly gives it a good stir with both ladles so that the mixture gets a good spread.
Then he will pour the prepared basin of white, diagonally cut Kueh Kak, into the pan. He turns up the heat, and again with quick whisks of both hands holding the ladles, stirs the contents, a couple of times.
He then reaches for a bottle of Chuar Cheng and dark Soya sauce, light and dark Soya sauce, and shakes it all over the pan, to give it a slight shade of light brownish tint. He gives it a good stir for a minute or two.
He turns down the heat gradually. And the he asks my Grand ma, “Lu ai Kui Pow?” literally “How many packets you want?” My grandma replied 5 packets, two with chillis and eggs - Neng, three without any Huan Cheo - Red Chillis
He then pushed a large quantity of the brownish Kak Kueh to one side, leaving a smaller portion to the left side pf the pan. He then throws in a handful of Tau Geh - Bean sprouts, into the pan and started stirring again, the small portion of Kak Kueh.
After a while, he spreads out, the small portion on the left side of the pan to make a small opening, in the middle of the Kak Kueh. As fast as I could see, he reaches out to take 2 eggs, and cracks the 2 eggs, using the flat part of his ladle.
As the eggs, dropped into the small enclosure in the left side of the pan, he sprinkle some light Soya sauce into it. He then quickly turns up the heat again and gives the whole mixture a quick stir again.
He asked my Grandma again, "Koo Chai ai a si mai?" My grandma replied "Ai - Tau Geh Kah Chay". The man then reaches for a small bowl, and sprinkles some Chives into the mix and gives it a good stir again.
He then turns down the heat and reaches for a wrapper, made of 1 piece of banana leave and a square piece of newspaper rolled into a cone. He then starts to pack the contents into the cone wrapper. This he repeated twice more. After that, he dips his ladle and into a bowl, next to the pan and scoops some Chilli paste, and spreads it into the remaining mixture. After a while he packs the last two packs of Chilli Kueh Kak, into a paper bag.
Those days we do not have plastic bags. My grandma paid for the Kueh Kak and we continue to buy fish and vegetables in the market.
The man I wrote about would be more than 70 years old today. I believe, his offspring are probably running the business these days.
Assuming that the man's son is now the cook, and all the Kang Hoo or skills are passed onto his son, I will grade this food stall 5 stars - for quality, taste and nutrition.
Kak Kueh as a breakfast food, have the 3 G components [Grow, Glow and Go] like carbohydrate, protein and green vegetables - Tau Geh - Bean Sprouts and Koo Chye / Chives.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little piece of my memory and I would encourage all readers to go and try this Kueh Kak, which I liked very much as a Penang Kia in the 1960s and 70s. This Sunday will be a good day to try this breakfast item.
Let us know if you like the Kak Kueh here. Give us your recommendation, so that we can share with other readers.
Write some comments and share - each one of us have different taste and fancies.
I believe that, we will accept all ideas and proposals or contributions without any prejudice.
