I am a homemaker for two years now. To make my family meals more interesting, I have been referring to cook books for good recipes.

One year ago, it suddenly dawned on me one day that I have not cooked any Hainanese dishes for my family, even though we are Hainanese. I began to search around for Hainanese recipes but there were not many around.  At the same time, I was chatting to my mom and some friends about our Hainanese food and their very limited shelf life, because recipes are lost through generations or when the older folks passed on, except for perhaps the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice.

All these chats with my mom did not lead to any action till last Lunar New Year dinner when I saw a colander full of shredded ginger when helping with the dishes. Immediately, I knew my mom was going to make buah dah art. I was really excited and came armed with my barang barang, i.e. the weighing scale, to record all the ingredients measurements and learn to make this dish from her the following day.

Early second morning of the Lunar New Year in 2014, I finally learnt how to make this authentic Hainanese kueh, and officially recorded the recipe of this ‘dying’ Hainanese snack! My mother was naturally very happy that this dish recipe was not going to be lost after all, while I was happy to get some extension for this snack’s shelf life. This propelled my quest to search, learn and record more Hainanese recipes.

My mom started making this snack on either the first or second day of the Lunar New Year as treats for our visiting Hainanese clan a decade ago at the request of my late dad when they moved to this new current place. Though my dad has passed away for a couple of years now, my mom still keeps this tradition alive as a way to remember my dad. Our relatives are more than happy to get such yearly treats, because this Hainanese dish is rarely sold (if at all). The homemade factor also adds to its yumminess!

Although my daughter is young and not interested in cooking right now, I am recording all these Hainanese recipes, so that when she is older and someday when she wants to cook and/or know more of her mother’s or granny’s Hainanese dishes, there will be something she can refer back to fondly as food memories last. To date, I have recorded and cooked 11 Hainanese dishes, mostly from my mom.