Kuih Bangkit is a traditional Nyonya Chinese New Year delicacy. It is a cookie that is hard on the outside but melts away in your mouth. It is made mainly from tapioca flour, eggs and coconut milk. The traditional shape is in oval or circle but to attract the little ones, there are animal figurines like rabbit, chicken imprints and also different shapes.It can be kept for about 2 months if stored in airtight container.
I love kuih bangkit and was so happy to find the location in Queen Street/ Family Home from the Star Newspaper Grandma Cham Ah Moi carefully presses dough into a wooden mould of animal and plant motifs as she makes the kuih bangkit.Her grandaughter Cheah Qiao Hua, 18, helps by putting the dye to dot the “eyes” of the animals, in the shapes of tortoises, fish and roosters.
Cham’s daughter-in-law Tan Ean Ean, 47, prepared the dough, mixing flour with egg yolk, pandan essence and coconut cream before kneading it.“Preparing the kuih bangkit needs a lot of patience and passion to ensure that it’s fragrant and delicious,” said the 83 year old Grandma Cham, who started making traditional cookies for the Chinese New Year celebrations since the age of 12.
Another favourite will be the Honeycomb biscuits or better known in Cantonese as “Matt Fung Dau”. This special looking cookie was named according to its shape and has a special meaning behind it. Chinese said that it symbolises family togetherness.
Grandma Cham, who learnt the art of baking traditional cookies from her mother while growing up in Ipoh, Perak, is proud to stick to the old methods.She bake them over hot charcoal and keeps the cookies fragrant even after they are stored for some period.” Grandma Cham, who passed on her baking skills to Tan some 21 years ago, said the most important step in making the kuih bangkit was the kneading process.
The mother of four said the family also made other traditional Chinese New Year cookies like kuih kapit (love letters), peanut cookies, butter cookies, oat and nestum cookies.
The cookies have been huge favourites among her family members, friends, neighbours and the people over the years.The family made about 4,000 cookies daily.
The cookies are priced between RM17 and RM25 per container, depending on the size and type of cookies. Tan can be contacted at 016-4737208.