Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh 李老三传统水粿 – Chwee Kueh Made According to a 60-Year-Old Recipe

I was telling my boss that I’ll be in the west to cover some places and asked if she has anything that she wants me to cover. After thinking for a good 30 minutes, she exclaimed “GHIM MOH CHWEE KUEH!”. With that, I found myself at Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre on a quiet Wednesday morning trying this highly raved chwee kueh.

As it was a solo mission, I couldn’t afford to go big on the quantity of the chwee kueh. Hence I got the minimum order of four chwee kuehs ($2). Each Chwee Kueh is $0.50 but if you struggle to do the math like me, just refer to their sign on the side to know how much to pay for how many pieces you order.

Once you have placed your order, Mrs Lee, the friendly lady boss of Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh will begin the process of removing the chwee kueh from the aluminium mould. She does it very swiftly and tops it with cai por that sits in a pot on a mini charcoal fire stove. The chwee kueh is then stacked nicely on a small brown paper, and held in place by a stick.

Although the portion of cai por given was not as generous as I expected, I can understand why. It was super salty and savoury! Even though I am someone who loves salty food, it was still quite overwhelming for me. It took a few bites with just a smaller portion of cai por to get used to this level of saltiness.

It’s interesting to note that there are very few chwee kueh stalls that have this type of savoury cai por. If you prefer salty or savoury food, the chwee kueh here might be a more enjoyable option as compared to others.

When I first ordered the chwee kueh, there were only Mrs Lee and her son-in-law in the stall. After the meal, I decided to head back to enquire more about their history and process behind this simple dish. It was then that I bumped into Mr Lee San Ba (李三峇), the owner of this famous chwee kueh stall.

Mr Lee is a friendly uncle who was very eager to share about his chwee kueh. He shared how they would come to the stall daily to prepare the mix for the chwee kueh along with the cai por and chilli sauce. It’s a taxing and long process to prepare each component of this dish by hand and few people are willing to stick to it, given the advancement in technology and the rise of factory-produced ingredients.

He was showing just one out of the many layers of the rack used in the chwee kueh steamer which can hold up to over a thousand pieces of chwee kueh. Taking over the business from his older brother, and inheriting the recipe that was passed down from their mother, he hopes to keep this business going strong especially with his son-in-law now stepping up to learn the ropes.

As the chwee kueh here is made with an over six decades-old recipe, it definitely tastes different. The kueh was very smooth and soft and it came apart very easily. I was struggling to hold the whole piece up without breaking it!

In essence, this chwee kueh really stands out not only because of its unique taste, but also the long history behind it. It makes a very shiok breakfast to start the day with, or a delicious snack in the afternoon.

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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Esther Yeon

She loves walking and taking photos. Through her adventures, hidden gems are found.