Homemade Kueh

It's Qing Ming, a time where the Chinese community pay homage to their ancestors by visiting their graves. It's a big affair, and typically, offering includes lots of food! Examples include roasted chicken, roasted duck, roasted pork, deep-fried fish, fruits, and also local cakes or "kueh".

My family visited the my grandfather's grave, and also my great-grandparents' graves yesterday. They set off early in the morning at 5.00 a.m. Why so early? Cause they wanted to beat the crowd, and they wanted to do their offering while the morning weather was still cool. I did not go with them this year, even though I had the opportunity. My task was to accompany grandma at home.

After the offering, the food would be distributed among the relatives. Mom and Dad makes sure everyone gets equal parts of the duck, and chicken, and pork, and fruits and "kueh" .... Fair and square to prevent any petty squabbling ... ;p

And so, there are lots of "kueh" at home at this time around because of this occasion. Sometimes, we ordered the "kueh" from specific vendors, but this year, Mom made them herself! She made 100 pieces of Rice-wrapped peaches and about 20 "Cai kueh" ...

 My lunch ...

A pan-fried rice-wrapped peach .... 

And a pan-fried "Cai Kueh" or vegetable dumpling ... 

Yummy ... nothing beats homemade dumplings, that are compactly filled with fragrant ingredients. Lunch was pretty enjoyable that day!