SIBU: Every morning, a lone figure can be seen, hunched over his work bench under the yellow canopy provided by Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) for traders at the Sibu Jaya Street Bazaar.
Soon, the air around Everwin and Doremon supermarkets is filled with the aroma of You Char Kui, deep fried dough fritters, signalling the start of another day of trading for 65-year-old Wong Chiew Kuo.
His sunny personality is matched only by the crispiness of his savoury fritters which he sells at RM2 for three pieces. Very soon, the queues begin to form and clients from all walks of life and race begin snapping up the tasty fritters.
His clientele transcends race and age and he is proud of it. Mostly, they are drawn to the plain fritters though he does serve up many interesting varieties including those with Chinese chives or even chillies upon the clients’ requests.
Refusing to increase the price, despite the strong demand which provides him the opportunity to do so, Wong says life is tough enough for everyone and we all deserve a break.
“For many people, “You Char Kui” is a comfort food and if I increase the price, then I am depriving people of even that little bit of joy they find in their comfort food,” he adds.
Branding himself as “Master Wong”, this cheerful man does serve up pretty mean fritters that are not just aromatic but savoury and more importantly, devoid of the smell of ammonia that some Chinese fried churros tend to have.
Declining to divulge the secret behind his “ammonia smell free You Char Kui”, Wong said he travelled to his ancestral home town of Min Tching, China and learnt from the pastry masters there how to make the dough.
“I don’t want to say much, but the ammonia smell that you can detect from some of the You Char Kui means there are elements inside, which I don’t want to use for my dough,” he says. Suffice to say that his version will be much healthier and tastier, he adds.
Wong, who has always loved pastries, has also conceived a tandoori type oven for the baking of “Kom Pia”, the Foochow bagel. Though he has the recipe, Wong said he doesn’t have enough help to do both the fritters and the bagel.
Wong also entertains his clients with stories about the 1,000-year-old comfort food by sharing with them the folklores associated with this simple yet filling food.
“There was this Chinese military general, Yue Fei who was staunchly loyal to the Emperor. But as he gained fame for his victorious battles, he also gained powerful enemies, amongst which was Qin Kui, an official with the Song Dynasty,” he often tells amused clients.
“So this corrupt official plotted with his wife and fabricated stories against Yeu Fei, which eventually led to his execution. The people were furious because they knew that Qin Kui was corrupted, yet they were powerless to do anything about it.
“So, what they did was to create this dough to represent the scheming husband and wife and threw it into boiling oil and call the new creation “You Char Kui” which meant using the hot oil to fry “Kui”, the corrupted official.”
Wong says such stories apart from keeping his multi-racial clients entertained also help to spread some goodwill amongst the various races as he is sharing a part of the Chinese culture and stories with other races.
To savour a delectable piece of this “historic food”, drop by at the Sibu Jaya Street Bazaar located between Doremon and Everwin supermarkets and seek out the nice gentleman bent over a hot wok.
