IPOH, Sept 3 — Give home baker Jennifer Chung some stink beans (petai) and chances are she can whip up some delicious food for you.
Her latest creation is petai mooncake that she started experimenting with last year.
“As my father loves to eat petai, I decided to surprise him with petai mooncake in conjunction with the Mid Autumn Festival,” said the 55-year-old.
Speaking to Malay Mail when met at her home at Bercham here, Chung said it did not take her long to come up with the recipe.
“I use potato, sambal dried shrimps and petai as the ingredients for my mooncake,” she revealed.
After getting positive feedback from friends last year, Chung decided to share her creation with others this year.
“My mooncakes are sold at RM15 for two pieces,” she added.
Chung’s day starts as early as 3am when she starts preparing the mooncake skin.
“After mixing the dough, it needs to be put aside for four hours to rest before the ingredients are placed inside,” she said, adding that the other ingredients are prepared the night before.
Once the ingredients are incorporated with the skin, the mooncake is ready for baking.
“I bake for 10 minutes before removing it from the oven to cool it down. After placing egg wash on it, the mooncake goes back into the over for another 10 minutes. So all in all each mooncake needs about 20 minutes to be cooked,” she added.
Chung’s culinary experiment with petai began seven years ago when she decided to turn to baking to take care of her special needs grandson.
“From petai pau, my choice of food has grown to petai chang, petai cucur udang, petai pulut panggang rice and now petai mooncake,” she added.
“I have received orders from Pahang, Melaka, Penang and Kuala Lumpur. While I will send the mooncakes to Penang and Kuala Lumpur, orders to Pahang and Melaka are picked up by distributors.”
She can only make up to 100 mooncakes daily as she does not have any helpers.
For vegetarians, Chung’s petai mooncake comes without onions.
So if you want to try the petai mooncakes, her last order will be on September 11.
For details, contact Chung at 011-33834667.
