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The shortest day, the longest night. The Winter Solstice is upon us.
Time has come for gathering near to the home, to the hearth, to warm ourselves with fire and food, wholesome soul food, made to rejuvenate and replenish the emptied stores of tired spirits.
This year, I fly home the day after the Winter Solstice Festival. I am a day late for Dōngzhì (冬至). You had shared with me the night before how you took some frozen tong yuen from the freezer, left over from another meal long ago, and cooked those instant dumplings for dinner. It is not right, eating winter’s dumplings by yourself.
You may never know how sad that news made me.
I hid my dismay, and you didn’t notice if ever I did slip, for you were excited at the prospect of me returning. A reunion. That’s what Dōngzhì is really about, after all, is it not? You are cheerful. I say, let’s make tong yuen by ourselves. You tell me you think that is a brilliant idea, you do.
Do I know how to make them? No clue. Neither do you, but you are sure it will be easy. It’s just dumplings, right? Flour and water, is all. I’m not too sure, but I forget my misgivings as the smile you’ve given me breaks across my lips too.
.
.
It’s Christmas Eve. Pre-recorded yuletide carols repeat in all their alternating muted and brash splendour in shopping malls, in grocery stores, in koptiams, everywhere. Cotton-wool draped carelessly and liberally stands in for sprinkle of fresh snow on assorted sizes of Christmas trees (none of them real, naturally).
‘Tis the season for plastic being swiped and lots of last-minute shopping.
Somehow we find ourselves joining in, though we avoid the crowds. We hop into smaller stores and find what we need – packets of glutinous rice flour, red food colouring for some of the pink dumplings (to contrast with the white; a tradition, this), the raw peanuts with their skin still on, old ginger, gula Melaka.
We tell ourselves if we get the ingredients right, we can figure out the rest by ourselves. We have to.
.
.
Once home, you start on the peanuts. Skins still on, they are tossed into a dry work without oil, and stir-fried as is. You keep at it till a heavenly aroma fills the entire kitchen and our humble home. The scent is something one ought to be able to devour on the spot, and perhaps, this we already do.
Meanwhile, I pour out some flour from the packets we bought into a large mixing bowl. Then some water into the same bowl. No measurements, no recipes, no need. We are gonna figure this out as we go along, are we not?
The dough is too wet, more like slop, more like an albino Hollandaise sauce. You tell me to add flour. I tell you I already did; it’s still wet. Add more, you say. I do, and then I add some more. Somewhere along the process I must have added a smidgen too much for now the dough is like waves of cracking brick in my hands.
More water, you tell me. You think?
.
.
The roasted peanuts have cooled. You pour them into the mortar, newly bought and cleaned, and you start pounding gingerly with the pestle, then as you get into a regular rhythm, smoothly and surely. The aroma that was released during the dry wok-frying returns, stronger perhaps.
It is a delicious fragrance, a promise of sweetness that will burst like treasure from the hearts of our first dumplings, our first home-made tong yuen.
You look at the dumplings I have made, folding and rolling the dough in my palms, pinching them flatter to be vessels for the ground peanuts mixed with sugar. You tell me the skin looks too thick. I tell you the skin is just fine. Any thinner and the filling will fall out. You join me at the table and try to better me at dumpling-making.
It’s a ritual, a tradition, this. Making dumplings together. It means something.
Once we are done, we gently drop the balls of tong yuen into boiling water. They sink, and then as they are cooked, they return to the surface. None of the dumplings crack and spill their contents prematurely. A success!
.
.
The roundness of the dumplings is a symbol of family togetherness, all through the years, the centuries. We have made dumplings only for two this winter, but they are enough. For even two make a family, a good one at that, and we are together. Good fortune to be together, on this shortest of days and longest of nights.
We sit at our table in our home, our palms and our spirits warmed by the steam from the bowls of spicy ginger soup. We spoon our dumplings, our tong yuen made by our own hands, from the soup and we bite into them. You are right, the skin is too thick, the peanut filling too meagre. It’s alright. It’s only our first try, after all. We will learn. We will get it right the next time.
We have all the years, all the winters to come, to get it right.
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Copyright © 2010 Kenny Mah Ying Fye. Photography by Devil Wears Prada & Kenny Mah.
Kenny Mah believes in the good in people. He has been blogging for over ten years. No, his hands aren't tired. Yet.
Yay for balls and happiness! :)
@J the chocoholic: Haha, some might even say balls of happiness, ja?
*winks winks*
Now is a good time for us to be still, quiet and rest – a time to reflect on the passing year and as the light begins to return after the shortest day – a time to renew our inner light and focus.
And you did just that by conveying so much LOVE for your sweetheart in this post.
May your LOVE grows stronger with each passing day.
*HUGS to both of you*
@jemima: Really, I couldn’t have said it better myself, dear —
“Now is a good time for us to be still, quiet and rest — a time to reflect on the passing year and as the light begins to return after the shortest day — a time to renew our inner light and focus.”
Thank you also for your kind wishes. May you have more love in your life each day also.
*hugs back*
wow.. i was waiting for this post ..and here it is! well worth the wait – u must teach me how to use my hands and roll the balls one day :P ahem!
@ciki: Oh, I’d imagine you are very good with your hands at rolling balls already… Sure you need me to teach you?
*winks, grins, runs away before ciki slaps him*
ah !!! atleast this i can eat… and the winter dumplings reminded me of an indian sweet dish which looks like this…
http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/rasgulla.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasgulla
and hey kenny a belated merry christmas to u and devil and also have a great new year…
@vimesh: Yup! This is perfectly vegetarian/vegan – and one can make it from scratch! Degree of beauty of the end results may vary, haha.
Rasgulla looks yummy… and I may have had it before, at an Indian friend’s home.
May you have an excellent new year, my friend!
Should photoshop a bit, so the dumpling skin wont look that thick! Hahaha :P
@Devil: *fainted!*
Aiya, I strive for The True, er, The Truth in my pictures ma… So while I may photoshop them a little to improve the lighting and colour, I won’t change the sizes of dumplings or shrink waists or increase bosom measurements…
*guffaws*
Awww…Souch a heart warming post. Pretty decent first time effort. Me thinks the tumbuk needs to be seasoned. Mom used to make me pound grain after grain of rice to smoothen out the surface of the mortar ;)
@unkaleong: Ya, ya, I wiki-ed and read about seasoning it with dry rice grains/husks too. But we were just excited and in a hurry to make our first tong yuen (and with Devil’s fave peanut filling) that we figured there’ll be time for that the next round.
Of course, knowing us, the next round may not be for another six months, hahaha…
oh i need to disclose that i clicked on devils profile above and it opened his blog and it was in chinese… and thank god for auto google translate in chrome… voila it got transformed into english and his blog is also cool….
thought its better if i disclose it :))))
speed read the post about the book shelves… :))
hope u did not mind kenny :)
i never knew he wrote such an awesome blog… and have not seen him comment here :))
@vimesh: Ah, I think the Devil’s more open about his blog these days – in the past when he very rarely updated it, it was mostly meant for close friends.
Nowadays, as Jemima put it recently, Devil updates far more regularly than I do! Oh the shame! *chuckles*
And hurrah for Google Translator! (Or whatever it’s called.) Of course, I don’t mind – hope you enjoy reading Devil’s blog!
*beams*
Gosh such a nice heart warming bowl of tong yuen. We missed the festival this year too cos we were away on holiday with the entire family. Even though we did have dinner but there wasn’t any tong yuen to complete Dong Zhi.
@babe_kl: Even without the tong yuen, what matters is that the family is together, right? That’s true spirit of Dōngzhì.
seems quite nicely shaped wat. B+ for the admirable presentation! they look like fish balls, rite, before you slice them open. but yeah, i think i’d prefer the thinnest skin possible and maximum stuffing. ‘see ham’ tong yuen next year? :D
i didn’t eat any tong yuen during winter solstice last week. actually i had gnocchi that evening. gnocchi’s like a distant cousin of tong yuen in the food family, rite? :P
and yes, i too agree that making homemade tong yuen together is a brilliant idea! though i’m not sure what i’d think if you and devil decide to make homemade yee sang from scratch in a few weeks time :D
@Sean: B+ only ar? I would have thought we’d get an A- at least, for effort and last-minute preparation. And no recipes! Don’t forget that!
As for your regular suggestion to add cockles to any dish we make, the answer remains the same: No, thank you.
*shivers at thought of ‘see hum’ tong yuen*
Gnocchi? Hmm, maybe an Italian Winter Solstice, then?
And making yee sang from scratch is easy – the ingredients are easily found, just a lot of labour to slice and julienne everything up. And to slice the raw salmon into carpaccio-thin pieces may be quite a challenge…
chantek nya. Jealous lah. Why never invite one? I would have gotten you guys a pack of unroasted shelled peanuts for Christmas. LOL
BTW, the year’s coming to an end d, and we’ve yet to do our cooking/makan session lah. :(
@alilfatmonkey: Hahaha, we had our replacement Dōngzhì on Christmas Eve ma, when everyone else was busy celebrating and spending time with their families.
Also, Devil has a certain QS requirement – he must try everything a few times till perfect else dares not present it for our friends to consume ma.
And unroasted shelled peanuts won’t work – that was part of an earlier attempt when we realise the skin/shells impart a lot of the aroma to the roasted peanuts.
Oh ya, when are we gonna do our makan session? Bila McCutie tu free?
so, the devil wears prada, AND make tong yuen too. nice. ;p hope u had a wonderful xmas, dong zhi and new yr with the devil!!:)
@Jun: Ya, what can I say? This devil has expensive tastes… but is rather talented too, hehe.
Happy New Year to you, m’dear!
if i give you an A- now, then what do i give you next year when you manage to craft a near-perfect tong yuen? :D
after a few more years, you’ll actually be able to compile enough blog posts for at least five or six books of various subjects/categories. this one would fit nicely into the ‘cooking and eating at home’ volume (but you’ll need to think of a catchier title for the book, of course) :P
re yee sang: maybe you could skip the salmon and replace it with … need i even say it? and as a full-fledged, card-carrying rabbit, i’m authorized to ask other people to serve me special recipes this coming chinese new year, since it’ll be the beginning of my year! wheeee! :D
@Sean: Given my rather limited attention span, by this time next year, I’d probably have moved on to gnocchi or some other dumpling from another cuisine around the world.
The ‘cooking and eating at home’ volume? Five or six books? Uhm, I’ll gladly settle for even just one book published. At this rate, the Devil would probably be a Great-GrandDevil before any tome with this author’s name embellished upon its cover sees the light of day.
RE: Yee sang – rabbit sashimi? Wouldn’t that be a tad gamey for a refreshing Lunar New Year dish? Ain’t yee sang a sorta salad, after all?
oooh, maybe you can try to make xiaoloongbao? that should be a worthy challenge. i suspect you’ll need quite a few rounds to perfect it though :D
oh well, maybe one of your silent fans is reading this comment thread, and he/she might turn out to be a wealthy benefactor who suddenly surprises you by offering to compile and publish your entries in a limited-edition hardcover. unlike unicorns, werewolves and smurfs (is the plural of smurf spelled smurfs or smurves? hmmmm), it’s definitely within the realm of possibility :P
not rabbit sashimi yee sang lah. cockle yee sang. though i’d advise you not to serve the see ham raw, unless you want to take the risk of all your guests/friends dying :D
@Sean: Make xiao loong bao/XLB? Aiyo, those dumplings are super-difficult what with their 13 or 111 folds to ensure the soup does not spill out and all.
Don’t XLB chefs require ten years of hard training before they master the skill? I don’t think my gluttonous tummy can wait that long…
Silent readers cum wealthy benefactors, eh?
*considers for a moment*
I wish! (And methinks it’s smurfs lah.)
Haha, so Devil was right after all. He was convinced it odd that you didn’t suggest ‘see hum’ yee sang, the way you suggest ‘see hum’ everything.
Shite. Left a half written comment…hopefully it didn’t get thru.
I was saying that this is definitely a food blog. Such enticing pictures. Got recipe somemore. Yup yup yup. Definitely a food blog. :-P
@Lyrical Lemongrass: Hmm. Lemme consider this.
Approximately 30% of my posts are travel-centric. Another 30% of my posts are meandering thoughts about love, life, and whatever else I pull out of my backside at a given moment.
About 30% more is just me bitching and complaining about how unjust the world is. (Well, the posts from 2003-2004 seem to follow this pattern, anyway.)
And another 10% of recent posts is just me sharing old stuff I’ve written that no one really wants to read…
… which leaves nada for food posts. Nope, not a food blog lah. Your eyes deceive you, m’dear.
*chuckles*
there must a beginner’s version of XLB that only requires two or three folds. i’m sure it can’t take 10 years to master, since the XLB chefs that you see toiling in the open kitchens at dragon-i and crystal jade seem quite young. and some of them are also as, ermmm, hot as the soup they put in their XLB.
hehehehehehehe. i can never resist lame metaphors, puns and comparisons :D
cockle XLB! now why hasn’t anyone thought of that yet? :P
brief message to the devil: stop reading these comments in the office and go back to work! your company is not paying you to read your bf’s blog! (do i sound convincing enough to be his supervisor?) :D
@Sean: Hmm, maybe they start training really, really young, like them kiddie Shaolin monklings?
And oh yes, I have noticed these youthful XLB chefs and taken many a steamy photograph of them toiling away in their glass cages, er, glass-enclosed kitchens.
Ahem.
Cockle XLB? I think they tend to go for classier ingredients (such as the truffle XLB offered by Din Tai Fung) rather than the common, lowly, possibly bacteria-infested see hum.
*guffaws at your admonishment of devil*
oooo….
ah……
yum……
@keropokman: Okay, you win the award for the Briefest-Yet-Most-Appropriate-Comment… *chuckles*
I prefer black sesame filling tong yun but the making is more complicated than this I think >.<
@mimid3vils: Yeah, I think it would be. Trust me, the peanut filling was challenging enough for beginners like the two of us!
talk about steamy kitchens … did you know that in the chinese city of dalian, xlb chefs are forced to prepare the dumplings dressed in exactly the same fashion as, ermm, certain visitors to englischer garten. the rationale is that clothing attracts moisture away from the xlb and adds unwanted scents to the dumplings :D
i haven’t tried those truffle XLBs yet. let me know if nice. but i bet they don’t pack as much potency in one bite as a cockle XLB would. as some might say, you haven’t experienced a true explosion of flavor in your mouth until you’ve had a cockle in it (well, at least that’s the family-friendly version of the saying for your blog) :P
@Sean: You. Are. Kidding.
Wholesome and lithesome chefs in Dalian making these ecstasy-inducing XLB dumplings in hot, sweaty kitchens whilst completely… nude?
Brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘naked chefs’, dunnit?
And thank you for taking such care to be family-friendly here on my blog. *guffaws*
doesn’t that warrant a trip to dalian for your next vacation? i think i saw it on an episode of national geographic.
hmmmm. or maybe i dreamed up the whole thing. but even if i did, i’m sure it was a sweet dream :D
maybe you should conduct a census of your readers. you might discover that there are actually NO families reading your blog. imagine your newfound liberation then at being able to display ALL your photos from that marvelous munich park :D
@Sean: Hehe. I think it most certainly does warrant a trip to Dalian. If only to taste authentic xiaolongbao made by true masters in the nude, er, I mean in their prime. Ahem.
It best be real though, and not a dream, Mr. Yoong! *chuckles*
Family-friendly does not entail entire families reading my blog together; merely that members of a family may perchance peruse my humble writings. So ja, no nekkid Englischer Garten pics of me sunbathing shall appear… not on this blog, anyway.
*winks winks*
Happy 2011 to you & devil ^^ *Love ya*
@mimid3vils: Happy 2011 to you too, my dear. It’s gonna be a good one for all of us; I can feel it in my bones!
now isn’t that a great idea for a business venture! a restaurant where all the cooks wear nothing but their smiles while whipping up, ermmm, sausages and meatballs in an open kitchen. would you agree to fund that? :D
now don’t use your ‘family-friendly’ excuse to reject that idea. families can just go to mcdonald’s instead :P
@Sean: Oh I’d totally fund this most interesting venture, if only I had the money and if only I could be certain the authorities wouldn’t wind it up within a day of its opening…
Whipping. Now that’s another idea…
ya true, cannot open in kl. where’s the nearest country which would allow that restaurant? thailand? oooh :D
hmmmm, i suppose a whipping-themed restaurant would allow its customers to choose what they wanna be whipped with. on the ‘severity of pain’ scale, i suppose it would range from being flogged with a wet noodle to being beaten with a floppy swordfish :D
@Sean: Thailand sounds like a pretty decent bet. Maybe we can open one in my fave Thai getaway – somewhere along Ao Nang beach in Krabi?
Think of it, supervising the naked chefs in the kitchen by day, sweet-scented massages by night… Sun, sand, surf and all the fun one could want… Sounds like Paradise to me!
Re: Whipping restaurants. “The Floppy Swordfish”! Sounds like a seafood place right out of one of Monty Python’s sketches or Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Hehe.
i love these balls!
ermmm…
but really, i do.
can’t believe you made them; that’s really cool.
@mr sekimachihato: Haha, I believe you, I believe you. It’s a compliment when folks tell me they love my balls, uhm, my dumplings, I mean.
Ahem.
But aye, trust me. We really made them. The thicker-than-normal tong yuen skin is the best possible proof, haha.
hello kenny, just stumbled upon yr blog. i have to tell you that i just love what you’re writing .doesnt matter if the dough is thick, doesnt matter if it’s just the 2 of you, most importantly is that you are able to be with the person that you love and appreciate all those special moments together.
@lena: Firstly, thank you dropping by – stumbling is how I discover new blogs too, so it can be an adventure at times, ja?
Secondly, thank you for taking the trouble to leave a comment and sharing your thoughts – and such heartfelt sentiments too! You’ve brought a big smile to my face, you have.
May you have a great week ahead – it’s the last one of the year! Cheers!
Eeks, I dun like the sun (keep me in the air-conditioned indoors please), the sand (just icky) or the surf (I share the same sentiments as cats toward water).
But ok, if we open the restaurant in krabi, at least we could call it Ao Nang Au Naturel. Sounds glamorous AND exotic, no? Wonder if we can lure any chefs from KL to work there? Perhaps one Mr Elfwing from KL Hilton? :D
@Sean: You don’t like the sun or the sand or the surf? Oh dear. How very rare.
I guess then all and any experiences you may have with ‘Sex on the Beach’ would be in the form of a cocktail, huh… Hehe.
Ao Nang Au Naturel does sound both glamourous and exotic, and if we can lure Chef Elfwing over… well, let’s just say that’s something even I’d pay to watch… the culinary performance, I mean. Ahem.
Winter dumplings. I made them for my mother last year when she had a craving for ‘em – lots of glutinous flour, and knead, knead, knead till it’s stretchy and lovely and…well, glutinous.
What a lovely tradition for both of you. :) This year, I’m going to cook our new year’s dinner for the family. My grandparents are no longer here, so we’ll have to find our own tradition, and it’s never too late. Never too late for my parents to say, ‘…but you can’t eat that, it has flour in it’, or hear my mother go, ‘No better not, that soy sauce wouldn’t work. Can you get some you can eat?’
Love. That’s what it’s all about, in the end. My parents, realising that some foods really make me ill. Friends like you, taking time to make sure I can eat. And time for me to feed the people I love so they too can have joy in the belly.
*HUGS* Welcome back m’dear. I’m so glad to know you’re home again.
@Spindle Girl: I’m sorry to hear about your grandparents no longer being around, but I believe that a new tradition that is created together will be as wonderful and meaningful as an old one.
An gluten-free family meal cooked by you would be very, very tasty indeed! (And healthy, no less!)
Here’s to more joy in our bellies…
*HUGS*
It’s good to be home indeed.
ya, i’d make an ideal vampire! sleep away the day, then wake up when the sun sets, prowl for prey and feast! and u’d never catch your garden-variety vampire trying to get a tan at krabi :D
i have been curious about people who’ve actually done the deed on a beach. i’d imagine it wouldn’t be very comfy. but i haven’t met anyone so far who’s been able to confirm my suspicions. ahem :P
yeah, offhand, i can’t think of any other kl-based chef whom i’d hire at our au naturel restaurant. as much as i love chef max chin’s cooking, i’m not sure he falls in line with our outlet’s theme. and i’m wondering: should our restaurant have a dress code for customers as well. or maybe the maitre d’ can decide which customers should come in with suits and ties, and which ones can do, ermmm, without :D
@Sean: You’re a strange vampire with expensive tastes for foie gras and truffles and hairy crabs… and odder tastes yet for cockles and mangosteens. *shudders*
Re: Sex on the Beach. Let’s just say two words: Sand. And. Butt-crack.
Hmm. How about only the ones that look good au naturel come sans attire? Oh the challenges of a clothing-optional restaurant!
Very nice photos, dude! Though i do find making tong yuen fun, these days, i’d prefer to buy the frozen one, which are surprisingly pretty good! Now, someone should think of making fried tong yuen! Or tong yuen with lotus paste and salted egg!
@Nic: Haha, the frozen ones definitely have thinner skins and more peanut filling than ours! But we’re game to try and try again until we churn out some professional-looking tong yuen.
Do drop by our place the next time you’re in town and join in the fun (or fumbling, as it were, haha).
Whoa! We have similar snacky drink! We call it ronde. Forgive me for not actually reading the text as I was interested in the cool looking photos, but our ronde is basically rice balls filled with crushed peanuts with warm ginger water in the bowl. Actually looks exactly like what you just made… Although by just I mean like 12 months ago! :p
@Rad: Wow. Ronde is exactly what our tong yuen is. When do you have ronde? Is it a seasonal dish, something for a festival, or do you have it all year round?
Oh it’s also seasonal… like, only at night, it exists :p
It’s drunken for night/cold temperature
@Rad: An evening dish, then? Something one can have every night is hardly seasonal, young Padawan. *chuckles*
Hehehehehehe it is! Like during the day it normally gets so warm but when the night comes it tends to get cold! Like summer and autumn
Hmm yes its more of an evening dish
@Rad: This entire discussion about food is making me wanna spend more time cooking food next year and later writing about it. Hmmm.
Oh! Does it mean you will be another Sean?! Except for not eating at restaurants but at home
@Rad: No one could replace Sean – we certainly don’t have his wallet/bank account! Eating out EVERY DAY is very expensive. So let me rephrase that – thank goodness we aren’t Sean, haha.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw Sean on TLC!
@Rad: Me neither.