Kueh Pie Tee’s Peculiar Past
How did kueh pie tee get its name? Why is it considered a Peranakan dish? Cookbook author Christopher Tan dives into the mystery of this crispy snack as he makes them using vintage moulds.
Episode summary
Join award-winning cookbook author Christopher Tan as he investigates the mysterious origins of kueh pie tee and its connection to American cuisine, while making the snack from a recipe in Susie Hing’s 1956 cookbook, In a Malayan Kitchen.
Using both local moulds and American “patty irons” dating back to the 1950s–70s, Christopher shows us the different shell shapes that can be made, and how the fillings have changed over time – from cream or milk-based sauces in the Western version to those inspired by the local popiah.
Recipe
Susie Hing’s recipe is for “Kroket Tjanker (Java Kwei Patti)”, but according to Christopher, there aren’t any Javanese recipes with the same name. One can only speculate that she got the name “kroket” from “croquette”, a deep-fried roll made of a creamy filling wrapped in mashed potato, egg and breadcrumbs. Perhaps she was inspired by the filling of the Dutch-Indonesian croquette, which is almost identical to the filling for her kwei patti.
Christopher used different moulds to make the pie tee shells, including local modern and vintage pie tee moulds, and American moulds.
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Related Books
Hing, Susie. In a Malayan Kitchen. Singapore: Mun Seong Press, 1956. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RCLOS 641.59595 HIN-[RFL])
Lee, Chin Koon. Mrs. Lee’s Cookbook: Nonya Recipes and Other Favourite Recipes. Singapore: The Author, 1974. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RSING 641.595957 LEE)
Wee, Sharon. Growing Up In a Nonya Kitchen: Singapore Recipes From My Mother. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Cuisine, 2012. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RSING 641.595957 WEE)