Me Love Affair with Arrow Head

No. I didn’t acquire meself a boyfriend with the name Arrow Head. I mean, seriously, which maniac would name him/herself after vege anyway?? [well yeah, it’s a type of vege to me. It sure does look n taste like vege.]

If you don’t know [I doubt many people would. I myself only came across the name 10 days ago], arrow head is what “Ang Moh” people call “Ngaku” in English. Well, according to Carrefour anyway.

Arrow Head……hahahaha

Ok, back to me love affair.

WARNING. Long post ahead.

I love “Ngaku Beng” [fried ngaku, that is]. It’s just so delicious. Hohoho ^o^ Definitely much better than Mr. Potato n Pringles. Plus, it’s much healthier. Err….no??

Think about it… no preservatives, no colouring, no artificial flavouring, no MSG whatsoever.

Purely homemade. I think.

Well, at least I eat homemade “ngaku beng”. Yeah, I fry my own. An exhausting process, if u ask me.

In fact, my whole family is “utilized” in producing the ever-so-delicious ngaku beng.

Hahahaha…utilized….hahaha… it’s true though.

Based on previous years’ experience, we decided tht we would fry less. No kidding man…it really is exhausting.

CEH…Fry ONLY mah…

*sarcastically* Yeah…fry only……

Let me tell u how I – or rather, my whole family – fry ngaku.

1st, go somewhere where there’s a mountain of ngaku on sale. Pasar boleh, Carrefour boleh, Jusco pun boleh. [checked the price, Jusco offers the cheapest price in the vicinity. Though it’s only 8 cents cheaper than Carrefour PER KG]

Grab 2 plastic bags. One for the arrow heads, the other? your hands. [but if u r in Carrefour, 1 bag is enough. Coz there’s water for u to wash ur hands later]

Then, start selecting the perfect ngaku. To u, at least.

When u’re done, proceed to the weighing counter n weigh your selections. If u want, u can weigh your plastic-bagged hand as well.

Then……then what? Pay lar!

Buy arrow head. Check. Ok, now we proceed to the kitchen.

1^st, skin the arrow head.

Wash the skinned arrow heads. In water lar….of course.

There, u now have beautifully skinned, cleanly washed arrow head.

The peeled skins?? Buang.

Nice......

Ok...next comes one of the fundamental steps in ngaku-beng making.

Slice it into pieces of equal optimum thickness.

[optimum thickness: ngaku’s natural taste spreads in your mouth when u happily chomp on it]

Ok, u can fry now.

1^st, get the wok “red”. Meaning, the oil is cooked.

Arrange sliced ngaku nicely. [not for display lar..of course.] so that u can “fly” the ngaku slices into the wok smoothly.

Now u “fly” the ngaku slices in. [“fly”: good speed when putting ngaku slices into the wok would produce delicious n nicely-coloured ngaku]

Stir them lightly. [to make sure they fry nicely. no ngaku slices sticking together…no black-black ngaku (overfried)…]

Fry until golden brown. [or when it doesn’t bend when u stir it (stiff)]

Scoop them out of the oil.

Put aside to drain oil.

Transfer to oil-absorbent paper to get rid of more oil.

Lastly, keep in containers.

Ceh…very simple mah…sap sap sui lah……

Yes…Wet Wet Water…

It’s Wet Wet Water, sitting there skinning arrow heads for 2 hours non-stop.

It’s Wet Wet Water, slicing arrow heads into equal thickness using bare hands.

It’s Wet Wet Water, “flying” ngaku slices into the wok at constant speed.

It’s Wet Wet Water, stirring the ngaku slices carefully so it won’t curl.

It’s Wet Wet Water, frying them ngaku until golden brown, not orange-brown.

It’s Wet Wet Water, STANDING in front of the BURNING HOT wok for the whole hour doing all that frying.

Sap Sap Sui lah……

Hell yeah.

3-4 hours ONLY mah…

Yeah, it’s just 3-4 hours only MAH……

People...that’s just for 1 KG.

Imagine me…doing all that almost everyday last week.

Everyday…last week…

So how much in total did I fry ah??

Oh yeah…7 KG.

Last year…we fried almost 4 kg.

*laugh dryly* n we thought to fry LESS...

Oh yeah…the time estimates i did….not that accurate. Coz I had help skinning the arrow heads from me sis n once from me dad. the frying...I can say is at least 1 ½ hour.

Plus…I wouldn’t have managed to get such lovely fried ngaku if it weren’t for the ngaku-flying machine.

^^^The hand…belongs to me sis. Bless her.

Now, our house has a store of 6.5 kg of “ngaku beng”…at most.

The other 0.5 kg?? oh we ate them already.

What’s the point of all that hard work if we don’t reward ourselves n put them into our stomach? Isn’t the whole point – to eat them all...??

Lelong! Lelong!

Really...You’d think we’re selling them.

Hell no.

No amount of money can compensate for my time n hardwork. Not to mention the soreness n stiffness I still now feel on my lower back n shoulder muscles.

Well, if u wanna give me rm20 for 1 can……I may consider it. [5 cans of rm 20 n I can get me mom, me sis n meself a full body massage…hehehehe]

Now I know y ppl sell rm10 for a medium can of ngaku.

If u think rm10 is not worth the money, fry them yourself. Or rather, just don’t eat them at all.

Will I fry them again next year? Yeah…I think I would. I’d have to.

Coz our family…enjoys eating wat we make ourselves.

Hey…me dad even makes “wax meat” (腊肉) – dried, marinated meat. It’s similar to “lap chiong” (腊肠). Difference is…it’s belly meat (三层肉). It’s really good. My grandma’s recipe ler……don’t play play.

Plus…rm10 a can of ngaku is just not worth money. Well…to us…at least.