Cook with Pearly Kee

Pearly Kee (6 April, 2013

Pearly Kee is a cooking teacher of Nyonya cuisine. I have known her for many, many years, though in the beginning I didn't know that she was into local cuisine. It is with much joy that I learned that she is going starting cooking classes, to share her knowledge of Nyonya cooking.

"Honestly I love all kinds of food," Pearly told me. "The food I will always love to eat are Japanese food, Italian food and French food. They inspire and encourage me very much."

Pearly Kee's Curry Kapitan
Author: © Pearly Kee

According to Pearly, most of the the traditional food are slow cooked. That's what she loves about it. Her memories of cooking when she was young are bitter sweet. She and her sister were staying with an aunt who made sure they did their share of household chores. These included grinding rice flour to make tapai, bedak sejuk and laksa noodles. It was a tough regime for a 7-year-old whose weekends and school holidays were filled with chores instead of opportunities to go out and play.

"You thought you were being punished," she reminisced. "It was one chore after another. I remember having to fold the kuih kapit until I burned my fingers, and being scolded for not properly dotting the kuih bangkit. I remember having most of my kuih bangkit rejected for not being properly dotted.

Pearly's friends often asked her whether she was done with all the cutting, cooking and cleaning. She found it to be a strange question because the love for cooking has somehow completed seeped into her.

Pearly Kee's Cooking Class
Author: © Pearly Kee

By the time I approached Pearly to be featured on Penang Travel Tips, she was already six years into teaching cooking. In that time, she had the chance to deepen her research to learn more about the various ingredients she uses in her cooking. These she shares to learners attending her classes, stressing on the importance of consuming fresh roots, herbs and incorporating them in the daily diet.

"Cooking is about love for your family, the indulgence to add or minus the ingredients to suit your family," said Pearly. "I love using fresh ingredients which is abundant in Penang, enabling me to showcase our capability in using these local herbs and spices to lovingly create meals that heal our body."

Pearly Kee's Kerabu Beehoon
Author: © Pearly Kee

Pearly's Recipe for Kerabu Beehoon

Marinating Sauce

1 teaspoon sambal (blend or pound 6-7 chillies with 30gm of roasted belachan)
1 round teaspoon caster sugar
2 teaspoons soysauce
2 teaspoons calamansi lime juice
½ teaspoon salt
Mix till sugar dissolved in a bowl

Ingredients

300 gm beehoon (vermicelli noodle), soaked in hot water and drained
2 teaspoon toasted ground nut, chopped fine
2 teaspoon grated coconut, toasted
150 gm steamed prawns, sliced
60-70 gm shallot, sliced
1 sprig of coriander, stalk only, cut into thin strips

Method

In a big bowl, pour sauce and mix till all beehoon is well incorporated.
Add in steamed prawns.
Garnish with toasted groundnuts, coconut and thin slices of coriander strips.

Enjoying Penang Food with Pearly Kee

Dining
Let Pearly whip up a dinner for you. Once a month, she invites twenty or so paying guests to sample a variety of her dishes.

Cooking Class
Pearly conducts a cooking class to teach people who are interested to learn from her. She started the cooking class after people started to write to her asking where they can learn cooking.

Cookbook
Pearly has also written a cookbook entitled A Nyonya Inheritance, providing you with a selection of her favourite recipes.

List of Penang Cooking Teachers

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