PETALING JAYA, Dec 28 — In an era where machines and high productivity rule, some artisans like Ngo Pek Soo and his wife Ang Sew Eng prefer to uphold the old ways, like making their handmade or sau kung pau.
For them, the traditional way makes the difference in taste. Both of them are a dying breed since making the steamed buns by hand is arduous work. “Sau kung pau is very hard work so no youngsters want to do it,” explains Ngo.
Moreover, machines can churn out perfectly formed pau in mere minutes.
For about 28 years, the Foochow couple have been making pau at their small house located in Petaling Jaya’s Kampung Cempaka or Tai Kwong as it’s popularly known in Chinese.
They make a variety of pau stuffed with all kinds of fillings like red bean paste or tau sar, pork or sang yuk, char siew, vegetables or choy and kaya.
There is also the large or tai pau filled to abundance with goodies like pork and hard-boiled egg. In addition, they also make dim sum items like siu mai and loh mah kai.
What’s the difference, you may ask between the handmade pau and the mass-produced version? In terms of appearance, Ngo’s hand-shaped pau’s colour is off white versus the pristine white commercial pau.
Moreover his pau has a thinner and not overly smooth skin. Sometimes the filling may even leak out since the dough is not enough to cover it. You will notice that the handmade pau is not perfectly shaped and slightly flatter than the mass-produced version. People often judge a pau by its looks. “It cannot be as flat like a biscuit as it’s not nice.”
According to Ngo, each pau maker has his/her own different technique and secret to produce their signature pau. He prefers to make his pau without any yeast, proofing it overnight to slowly develop the gluten. This produces a tastier pau skin that is not overly fluffy but has more bite. Moreover, when you bite and chew the pau, the skin does not stick to your teeth.
The next day, once the dough is proofed, a little kan sui or alkaline water is added to improve the elasticity. Ngo also adds shortening into the dough, which makes it easier to handle, as it won’t stick to the hands.
The addition of fats in the dough also gives it flavour and the skin is easier to peel. In the old days, lard or even cooked oil was used for better flavour, but nowadays, it has been replaced with shortening due to health issues.
Once the dough is ready the next morning by 10am, it’s all systems go for about 1½ hours as the dough is kneaded in a machine and wrapped to form the pau with different fillings.
Time is of the essence to finish wrapping the pau quickly since the dough will dry out after a period of time, making it harder to handle. “You need to be fast to use the dough up or else it will get chau pei or bubble up and the skin will no longer be smooth.”
Sometimes intense heat and high humidity levels can also speed up the deterioration of the dough’s suppleness. During their non-stop intense pau making session, the couple is assisted by a part-timer, Ng Wah Cheong. The retiree used to run a small grocery store or kedai runcit in the village.
He’ll pop by alternate days to lend them a hand when they make pau.
Before the dough is used, it will be flattened in a machine a few times to smoothen the skin. Usually you can omit this step, if you’re making pau at home but this means you get a slightly rougher skin. According to Ngo, commercial pau makers put the dough through a pressing machine many times to smoothen it.
Once it’s smooth, the dough is placed on a long wooden table and kneaded till it’s smooth. Moving as fast as he can, Ngo uses his instincts to equally divide the smooth kneaded dough into smaller pieces. There’s no need to measure since he is guided by his experience.
Each piece of dough is first flattened with the palm of the hand. A small wooden pin is swiftly rolled over the dough starting from the sides while the middle is left puffed out like a dome. The middle part is kept thicker to hold the filling better.
The first variant they make is the overstuffed tai pau filled with lots of goodies — meat filling, a piece of chicken and hard-boiled egg. Ang had cooked the meat filling a day before as it needs to be refrigerated. “You need to cook it the night before and refrigerate it to harden for less liquid when you fill the pau.” The filling, which is also used in char siu pau is a mix of yambean, shallots, lard, pork meat and chopped onions.
Even though the pau makers’ hands are weathered and old, you find that each pau they make is deftly folded. Each flattened piece will hold the filling in the middle as nimble fingers pinch the dough to wrap around the filling and pleat it on top to seal the pau. The experienced couple and Ng work at lightning speed, neatly and evenly folding the pau.
Ngo tells us with a smile that the kaya pau is the hardest to wrap. “It’s soft as a balloon,” he tells us as he shakes one to show us. Since the filling has a softer consistency, a longer time is needed to slowly shake it a little before folding the dough around the filling. There’s no such issues with the red bean or tau sar pau, since the filling is the hardest, making it the fastest to wrap.
Once the pau are all wrapped, they’re placed with the folds facing upwards on paper squares in wooden steamers. Just before they go into the hot steamer, each of the paus are straightened upwards manually since the heat will sink the pau and no one likes a flat pau. Usually, customers prefer savoury paus versus the sweet variants, hence they produce a larger amount of tai pau and char siu pau.
Currently, the couple only make pau and dim sum for a mobile peddler who goes around Kampung Cempaka and the nearby area around Taman Mayang to sell the dim sum at night. Without any helpers, they just make what they can. “I’ve only got two hands,” laments Ngo. Occasionally, they do take small orders for their pau, as long as the customer books at least two days in advance.
With regards to passing on their legacy of pau making, it’ll be a dying trade as the couple have no children to inherit their skills.
For small orders of the pau, you can contact 016-6961132.
