The Little Nyonya stirring in my tummy

The Peranakan in me is awakening.

I know the show "Little Nyonya" had hit Singapore a while back, sending all the housewives on a crazy buying spree of mini kebayas for their little daughters and all the old folks spilling into Malacca on weekends for a dose of Peranakan culture and food.

Me?  I missed all the fad, of course but I did hear about it when I was back in Singapore in May.  I didn't watch the show then but I ended up coming home with 2 kebayas, hand-me-down serious Kueh-making molds from my dear grandmother, some lovely Peranakan tiles(they are known for their pain stakingly hand-painted tiles decorating their houses) and of course, a Nyonya cookbook.  

Now, a few months later, I am feeling the sleeping peranakan in me stirring slowly as I watch the show on the internet(thanks, Angie for the site!).  I can literally smell the glorious angku kueh and feel the steady rhythm of the pestle pounding the spices in the solid granite mortar.  Hell, this show makes me hungry. 

The 1st trimester always manages to kill my appetite and numbs my cooking abilities in the kitchen.  It probably was not such a good idea to start a food blog when I am experiencing nausea all day long and can't even thinking of eating.  So, I torture myself further by watching people eat and watching them eat what I would LOVE to eat myself but can't.  Self-torture is mandatory in the first trimester.  It helps me pass the time.

After the first 15mins of the show, I can't help but search for my Nyonya cookbook to sieve through the recipes for my favourite kueh(i.e. dessert or cake) - the white and green Seri Muka.  Sometimes, there will be swirling blue weaving through the white glutinous rice layer of the kueh, a striking indigo blue color derived from the butterfly pea flower.   The Peranakan pound the fresh flowers and then mix it with water to extract the natural blue after.  Somehow, it makes the kueh more tasty looking.  

When I visited Katong with my aunt and sister in May, we visited the Baba House and the kind gentleman inside gave us a tour of his family home and we caught a glimpse of him preparing the butterfly pea flower for making kueh kuehs.  I asked him where did he buy the flowers from and he replied that every morning, he just goes to pick them fresh from around the neighbourhood where they will be growing on creeping vines around fences.  Definitely my kind of shopping! 

Obviously, I don't have any butterfly pea flower growing in my neighbourhood here so I will just have to make do with a kueh kueh that is simply white and green and no blue.  

Right now, I will have to swallow my nausea down and get to work.