Sometimes one has to go on the unbeaten track to discover new things, especially food. My gastronomic adventure this time took me to an unfamiliar territory where soups are served as dessert.
I recently discovered the Chinese community have their own “dolce vita” for tea in the afternoon. The Min Kee Food Court in Taman Gembira in Kuchai Lama was bustling with neighbourhood regulars enjoying the sweet life of soups. Literally translated as sweet water, Tong Sui is a collective term for any sweet, warm soup or custard served as a dessert at the end of a meal in Cantonese cuisine. What coffee and cakes are to most urbanites, tong sui is enjoyed as a treat after lunch or dinner. Noted to have a chilling effect on the body, tong sui comprises of sweet soups made from beans and vegetables.
You can find tong sui stalls in numerous locations in the Klang Valley. Twenty two years at the same location, Mr and Mrs Sie have been dishing up tong sui for the people in the neighbourhood every afternoon from 1 to 6pm. It’s a family run business as their children also help out in the running of the stall.
The Sies prepare five different types of soups everyday – namely red bean, green bean, wheat, sweet potato and a delicious concoction of black glutinous rice soup. The soups, which are boiled for hours to achieve a thick consistency in huge cast iron cauldrons, are not tooth-achingly sweet but pleasant on the palate. You can savour the soups on their own but ideally it is accompanied with the savoury fry-ups like fried poh piah (spring rolls), yau char kwai (Chinese cruller), yam cakes and ham chin peng (savoury pan cakes filled red bean). If given a choice, my favourite was the black glutinous rice (pulut hitam). Swill it down with some warm ham chin peng and you’ve got a winner. The fried accompaniments were delicious and scrumptious without being soggy or stale. As there is fast turnover you can be assured that the food is fresh.
"Delicious savoury fry-ups"
On a Sunday, the people in the surrounding neighbourhoods come in droves for their tong sui fix. I was curious as to how many of those Chinese crullers are sold on a good day. Uncountable was what I was told by Mrs Sie. “We start making the pastries the night before until wee hours in the morning. Everything is hand-made and rolled out for a better consistency and taste. Tong sui is an old school Chinese dessert and even if modern day dessert dictates, the people still like to eat the traditional treats every now and then,” she says.
Tong sui is a Cantonese specialty and is rarely found in other regions of China. Outside of Cantonese-speaking communities, soupy desserts generally are not recognised as a distinct category and the term tong sui is not used.
A bowl of tong sui cost RM1.50 while the accompaniments start at 60 sen each. Now that’s what I call a cheap and filling dessert.
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Wonderful for tea time
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