August 22, 2013

Yams : Big ones, Small Ones, Good ones, not so good ones...

Yam or taro are very healthy food.

There is a yam soup which is enjoyed by the Foochows after the Chinese New Year and it is called Chak Hui. It is actually a mixture of all the good left overs from the Reunion Dinner and to make the soup thick, a big yam is cut and placed in the soup. The resultant soup is creamy and sweet. This dish also helps digestion.

Years ago in Hock Cheu Leu Restaurant in Sibu, the Chak Hui Tong was very popular. And my grandmother would always order that particular soup. Later, corn soup, fish ball soup, salty vegetable soup , bean curd soup became the order of the day.


This is my son showing a huge taro in the Canningvale market in Perth. He loves to cook like his grandmother and great grandmother. In fact the Lau side of my family are good cooks.




Photo: Yam. Haven't bought one to try yet. One day.


More on yams later.





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The leaves and stems of yam plants are good food for the pigs. There were some near our old house and the neighbours used to come to harvest the yam plants for their pigs. However, we never ate the yam from our ground because they never became soft when cooked. Not sure why, perhaps they are of a different type of yams.

Anonymous said...

Sarawakiana,
Do u know of any of the Sarawak shop in the letter. I can see River Road, Miri, Channel Road, Sibu:
http://mynorthborneostamps.blogspot.com/2013/03/sarawak-ship-letters-and-couple-of-tpos.html

Ensurai said...

Yams are of many kinds. The Ibans eat the yams,and the stems cooked like a stew, African style too. The Malays of Sarawak has a very good bubur or porridge made from yams and the yam stems with chillies, dried prawns and other ingredients. The Chinese love the Pinang species, which originally must have come from Fujian of China because I have found them over there during one of my visits. China has many different kinds of yams too. Of course there is a Chinese saying that it is as hard as a hard yam or potato.

Ensurai said...

I will check the names of the shops when I go to town, see if their signboards are still around. Some old signboards remain although the businesses change hands for various reasons.

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