Little Cozy Corner

I still remember the aroma of freshly ‘baked’ kuih kapit or also known as love letters, filling the entire house as chatter and giggles echoed from the spacious kitchen at the back of a semi-detached town house. I also remember recoiling back from searing pain when I burnt my fingers trying to pick up that very hot and thin layer of unfolded kuih kapit from its steel mould. Ah Ma turned to look at me when I yelped and smiled understandingly. She had this look on her face, as though she was reminiscing the time she first started making kuih kapit many decades ago, in an old atap house. I’ve always loved chomping down on these very brittle traditional ‘cakes’ because I love how they crumble in my mouth no matter how ‘gently’ I bite down on them. The sweetness coming from very simple and basic ingredients simply cheers my heart up. Or maybe it’s just me getting sugar high! 

The whole kuih kapit making process is centred not on it’s ingredients but on how fast and neat you are at folding the hot sheet of sweet (rice & plain) flour. The kuih kapit is made up of part rice flour, part plain flour, lots of egg yolks and some egg whites, lots of sugar and not forgetting one of the main ingredients, thick coconut milk which gives it a nice coconutty after taste - which also happens to be why I love chomping down on kuih kapits by the dozen.

It seems like only yesterday that I found myself seated cross-legged on the cement floor in that kitchen beside Ah Ma, Aunty Lucy, Uncle Leong and Aunty Ah Yu, preparing myself for that virgin experience of kuih kapit folding. I was excited and was so sure that it was easy-peasy because Ah Ma made it look like child’s play but how wrong I was, you wouldn’t believe it! Ah Ma may have been old but she was a busy little bee, a fast worker and her fingers were nimble. She picked up the hot kuih kapit off the mould, one after the other, with her bare fingers as though they had some kind of protective substance that kept her fingers from burning. It was amazing. Everyone who was seated around the charcoal grill (some people use charcoal stoves though) had their own role; Uncle Leong fanned the fire, Aunty Lucy poured in the batter while Aunty Yu and Ah Ma folded the crisp kuih kapits at almost lighting speed. It was like a mini production line going on there!

After observing for a considerable amount of time, I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at it - literally. It was certainly harder than I thought. I ruined quite a number of kuih kapits and to tell you the truth, if we were running a business, we would have been bankrupt within a few days with the number of ‘failed’ kuih kapits that came from me alone. Because they were piping hot out of the mould, my virgin fingers could not stand the heat and thus I either ended up dropping them on the floor (and then I would generously offer to eat them as well) or ended up folding the cakes too slow that they ended up ‘opened’ and not nicely folded in quarters, looking like a fan like it should. It really took a lot of time, patience and will-power to withstand the pain to finally be able to produce somewhat better quality kuih kapits, although I still thought they were certainly not festive-worthy.

However, today I’m even further from perfecting what little skill I had acquired. It was at least 5 years ago since I helped Ah Ma and her gang but today, she’s far too old to be sitting down on the floor for long hours. I’ve since resorted to buying my kuih kapits from the shops but these are mostly mass produce thus they do not really taste the same. It’s always that special personal touch which makes it taste better because you know it was a labour of love. Nothing beats making traditional cakes, the traditional way. Only thing is that it’s such a hassle…but it’s still the best and worth the blood, sweat and tears!

This the second article that I’ve contributed to a new site called Memoirs of Malaysia. My other article was written when I first started blogging. It’s called ‘My adventures‘. Here’s calling out to those talented particualrly Malaysian writers out there, join the community and share your experience and heritage with us. It’s gonna be quite fun!