Home-cooked meals with love

‘The most indispensible ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for.’

Last Wednesday was a busy day for me. I went out for breakfast and shopping with a friend in the morning.

In the afternoon, I was busy cooking some dishes for my daughter-in-law, Amelia, like ‘acar rebung’ (pickled bamboo shoots), fried tapioca leaves with Turkey berries (‘terung pipit’) and chicken with tapioca leaves.

I wanted to give her the home-cooked food when we met for dinner that day.

Amelia loves tapioca leaves. She has cooked fried rice with tapioca leaves and tapioca leaves with anchovies for her family at home.
When I told her that I had been blessed by bountiful harvests of Turkey berries (‘terung pipit’) in my garden, she sent me a Facebook video of a man cooking the fruits with tapioca leaves.

In reply, I told her, “I cooked this for Ah Lan (my younger sister) for her to bring back to Johor Bahru recently.”

I promised Amelia I would cook the dish for her if I had the time.

Actually, last Wednesday, I had to race against time to get the home-cooked dishes ready before our dinner appointment.

The dishes were not for our dinner but for Amelia to bring home.

When my niece, Chai Hong, who is now in Singapore, learnt of the dishes I cooked for Amelia, she wrote in our group chat, ”You didn’t cook for me the other day.”

“Untung (lucky) lah, Amelia,” added her mum, Ah Lan.

Ah Lan did not make matters better by praising the food I cooked for her to bring back to Johor Bahru.

“The ‘terung pipit’ with tapioca leaves really good. ‘acar rebung’ also good. The ‘sambal’ (chilli paste) we cooked really good. Yummy. Finish already,” she wrote on the group chat.

To this, Chai Hong commented, “Oh!”

“Next time, lah,” she added. “The apartment rules did not allow cooking.”

When my niece was back in Sarawak recently, I had no time to prepare any home-cooked food for her.
Instead Chai Hong, her boyfriend, her mum, a few family members and I were busy travelling from Kuching City to Kanowit town.

We stayed in a hotel in Kanowit and apartments in Sibu and Kuching City.

We spent one night in Kanowit and one night in Sibu town before returning to Kuching City on the third day.

In Kanowit and Sibu towns, we grabbed the opportunity to catch up with relatives there. After all, it had been ages since we last saw them and everyone had grown older.

“Next time. If in Kuching, give me time to cook. I will be happy to do so. Just tell me what you want to eat,” I told Chai Hong on the group chat.

“October, lah. We are going back in October.”

And then she proceeded to list out what she wanted me to cook.

“Fried sunny side eggs, ‘acar rebung’, ‘keladi’ (yam stems), salted vegetable pork, ‘sambal’ and beef tripe with chicken feet.”

Many of the dishes she listed used to be cooked by my late parents. I guess she grew up eating and loving these home-cooked food.

Chai Hong also promised to cook fried rice and crabs for us on her return to Kuching. She has crafted her own way of cooking these meals.

My friends, do you know that home-cooked food can evoke powerful feelings of comfort and security and bring back happy childhood memories of the times you spent with friends and family?

Personally, whenever I cook fried tapioca leaves, boiled tapioca and yam stems, I think of my beloved late grandmother and recall the time I used to spend my year-end school holidays with her in Kanowit.

She was a very hardworking lady and would cook these dishes for my siblings and I. She even taught me how to fry the tapioca leaves and it is a recipe I treasure until today.

I also think of my late father whenever I cook beef tripe with chicken feet. He loved beef tripe and would buy lots of it from a supermarket.

I guess home-cooked food also brings Chai Hong happy childhood memories of the times she spent with my mother and I when she was growing up in Kuching City. There is no doubt that she had a happy childhood and many happy memories in Sarawak.

Meanwhile, my best friend, Mee Lan, pointed out that home-cooked food was best because it was healthier.

“Outside just banyak food enhancer, oyster sauce and chicken powder,” she added.

I also think home-cooked meals taste better because they are made with love, not just ingredients.
For instance, recently, I stayed up late on the eve of Ah Lan’s departure from Kuching and woke up early the next morning just to whip up the dishes she wanted to bring back to Johor Bahru. I did it all for the love of my younger sister who had not come home for a long time and seldom cooked in her rented house there.

Knowing that she enjoyed the food I cooked very much in Johor Bahru made me happy for days.