Sibu Tales : Mi Turn Gui

My mother was not a maker of cakes and local snacks.  And if we liked anything, we would just buy a bit from the night market.

Phyllis Wong's mi turn gui

My maternal grandmother was the one who would make zongzi, mi turn gui, wor gui, tong gui from scratch. So whenever she came from Ah Nang Chong, she would bring some of these kuih for us as Ming Neng (presents or buah tangan). My Third Aunt therefore learned to make them too. One very important reason why my grandma and Third Aunt would make these kuih was because they had a stone grinder and plenty of rice, from their farm. Since freshly harvested rice or freshly milled rice would make the best of these Foochow kuihs.


the mi turn guih is slightly savoury so we loved it very much. Sometimes, we just ate three or four slices as a meal.

When we were small we did not know how much effort went into making them.

As my mother would say, "Just open your mouth when you want to eat..but never know how much has gone into the making of the rice snacks..including the planting of rice..."

Now we appreciate those who made them in the past like my grandmother, my third aunt and others.