Nang Chong Stories : Chilli and Tomato Sauces

A lot of chili sauce manufacturers changed their labels or went bust because of the need to get halal certification.


In the 1950's and 60's wedding banquets were often held at home, downriver in the villages.

The popular chefs would be asked to help out and an able bodied team of helpers were rounded up to do the cooking and serving. Most banquets would have 10 to 15 tables for close relatives and immediate neighbours. And for four or five days the house would be full of people, coming and going.

One of my best memories of attending a banquet in Nang Chong was to see each table being served with two of my favourite dishes - sweet and sour fish and the peas with chicken innards.

these two dishes would call for tomato sauce and a tin of pineapple. My uncle who was a chef, told me secretly that the lovely sweet and sour fish sauce came from a bit of chili sauce, a bit of tomato sauce and a bit of pineapple syrup and a bit of vinegar. Years later I realized that most of us Foochows actually loved our food sweet.

but interestingly it was my love for the sweet and sour fish that introduced me to the eating of tomatoes.

Many of my cousins did not like to eat tomatoes because of the Foochow aversion for Chow Chang (green smell) and perhaps it is for this reason that many Foochow women in those days did not like to eat raw food e.g. raw cucumber, tomatoes and onions. I was different because I liked what they did not like and therefore I was considered an "alien" or a jin gee lek person. I suppose I was changing with time without realization.