Chinese New Year falls on Sunday, Jan 22 this year, when we usher in the Year of the Rabbit. Traditionally, Chinese families will hold reunion dinners on the eve, which will be this Saturday, Jan 21.
However, many “reunion dinners” are already taking place this week in the run-up to the Chinese New Year: with celebratory get-togethers between friends, work colleagues, or extended family gatherings.
We had one yesterday when a cousin hosted an early CNY dinner at Ceki. Of course, he ordered all our family favourites.
- “Choon phneah” – these are large Nyonya spring rolls, made larger than the “popiah chee” (crisp-fried spring rolls).
Whilst “popiah chee” are individual rolls filled with braised jicama, carrots and bits of meat (either finely-chopped pork, shrimp or both) and served whole, the “choon phneah” has all those, plus shitake mushrooms, crabmeat, tofu, cabbage, glass noodles, and many other ingredients – the composition can vary from restaurant to restaurant.
Each “choon phneah”, because of its size, is usually cut into 4, then served with a dipping sauce which consisted of Worcestershire sauce and cut red chilis.
The version at Ceki is good, though not the best around (Beach Corner and Hainanese Delights both served some of the best in town).
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“Eggs Belanda”
This is a personal favourite of mine – a childhood dish for many Penang Straits-born Chinese, but a very recent discovery for me: my first taste of the dish was here at Ceki back in 2019.
An amazingly simple dish: fried eggs, topped with a tamarind-inflected sauce containing shallots, red chilis and a smidgen of garlic, enriched with a bit of coconut milk.
Its appeal lies in its simplicity – fried eggs with molten centres, and crisp, lacy edges, smothered in a light savoury-sourish gravy. Perfect with steamed white rice.
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“Ayam Buah Keluak” - this is a Malaccan-Nyonya dish, wholeheartedly embraced by Penang-Nyonya food-lovers in the recent 5-6 years.
Processed “buah keluak” is an Indonesian ingredient much used in Malaccan- and Singaporean-Nyonya cooking, but very rare in Penang-Nyonya. “Ayam buah keluak” is probably the most popular dish in the pantheon of Nyonya dishes in Malacca and Singapore, but virtually impossible to find in Penang, until just about a few years ago.
Ceki produces a pretty respectable version, perhaps the best in town.
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“Threadfin Gulai Tumis” – Ceki’s “gulai tumis” is very good, but probably also the most expensive dish on the menu as the owner-chef, Francis Tee, uses only the best cuts of fresh threadfin. His “gulai tumis” is redolent of fresh herbs and spices. The perfectly cooked fish was paired with par-boiled okra and tomatoes, then garlanded with fresh mint leaves and a sprinkle of finely-chopped pink torch ginger.
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“Sambal Goreng”
This dish was another new discovery for me – I had my first taste of it in Baba Phang, another Nyonya restaurant just two doors away from Ceki. Baba Phang actually had a nicer rendition of this dish, but it was off their menu when I was last there.
This mildly-spiced dish: large prawns, large onions and capsicums, cooked in a rich, thick, coconut gravy, with a green chili-based spice mix, topped with cashew nuts, was totally addictive. I was hooked to the dish from the first time I tasted it, and Ceki does a very good version.
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“Huan Choo Heok Masak Lemak”
Sweet potato leaves, chunks of sweet potato and pounded dried shrimps were slowly simmered with coconut milk. Fresh shrimps were added towards the end, so they would be just-cooked and still bouncy. Delish.
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“Jiu Hu Char” – a Penang-Nyonya staple: finely-julienned jicama, carrots, shitake, mushrooms and fried cuttlefish were slowly stewed with pork. The sweetness from the cooked jicama, paired with the distinct cuttlefish scent and taste, gave this dish its trademark flavour. Well done here, but not the best. Bibik’s Kitchen, another Nyonya restaurant down the same street, does perhaps the best rendition here.
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“Nyonya Chap Chye” – Nyonya-style mixed vegetables, which uses fermented brown beans (“taucheo”) as its main flavouring, as opposed to Cantonese-style mixed vegetables (“lo hon choy”) which is flavoured by fermented beancurd.
The “chap chye” here consisted of cabbage, glass noodles, carrots, dried lily buds (“kim chiam”), black wood-ear fungus, and tofu skin (“yuba”). I prefer my own homecooked version where I used pork and shrimps to flavour the dish – restaurant versions tend to be all-vegetables.
Ceki has never disappointed us - Francis’ cooking was always careful and meticulous.
