I had my mom to bring my grandma over for the weekend, so that she could pass down the ‘tradition’ and more importantly the recipe to me! I felt really unsettled that my mom wasn’t really keen on learning how to make bakchang and was worried that it’ll just stop at my grandma! :/ Not good..
For this, we needed 2 days; 80 bakchangs done.
Day 1 - Frying/boiling the candied melon/chestnut/pork/mushroon filling etc, and of course the tedious frying and grinding of haebi hiam(shrimp). Boiling and washing the bamboo leaves. Bundling raffia strings.
Day 2 - Frying the rice. Assembling, wrapping (oh yea, tricky ",), and tying. Boiling for 3 hours. For the perfectionist, a.k.a. popo, trimming the leaves to a perfect pyramid! I admire her devotion to cooking…
With all my respect, Popo…
Wow, you know when it’s boiling the nice, almost sweet lotus-like smell makes the labourer very very satisfied. But I guess, the downside is, the time it goes down anybody’s mouth does not really justify the effort and passion put into making them! Nevertheless, as long as people appreciate it, I like it, I’m not complaining! (:
Eh… btw, you see the pictures? I’m not in them not because I was slacking, I just took a break to take photos ok?? Haha..
The art of wrapping (: Barely half of them!
Yea! The tradition! I"ll keep it going hopefully! (: Next year, perhaps! Haha!
*By the way!!!! Check out the new link I’ve added under ‘Extra Stuff’! (: Haha! I’ve just created some pages - it’s like my list of worth-checking-out food places!! Yes, yes, I’m rather excited about this! Did this once the common tests were over! Hah! (:
