Fortune buns? What are they? The Hokkiens call these buns Mee Koo (Steam Tortoise Buns). Tortoise is believed to have long lives and thus Mee Koo symbolized longevity. Mee Koo were originally made to celebrate birthdays, or given as an offering to the deities and to the King of the Hungry Ghosts during the Hungry Ghost Festival. It usually comes in the shape of a pink tortoise or peach. Sometimes, they do produce yellow ones for the birthdays of deities.
Initially, Mee Koo were produced in abundance during the 1st and 15th of the Chinese lunar calendar as an offering item. Nowadays, you can purchase them anytime throughout the year. It has become a delicacy amongst the locals, whether it is eaten plain, toasted or fried with eggs like French toast. Some of the Mee Koo are filled with groundnuts mixture or lotus seed paste. However in this modern era, these traditional Mee Koo have evolved into something different.
Yesterday I bought some “new breed” along with the famous round pink ones from Taiping, Perak. It is about 14” in length and pandan flavored. Moreover it has either kaya (caramel coconut egg jam) or red bean paste fillings.
Another version of Mee Koo found in the Taiping’s downtown “Pasar” is the long yellow Potato Mee Koo with chocolate filling. By the way, these long Mee Koo are called “Huan Chu Leng” amongst the locals and are fast to be sold out at RM3 each. They can only be purchased after 4.30pm daily.
Guessed what I had for tea? Pandan Mee Koo with kaya and my favorite Old Town White Coffee.
4 comments:
Those buns look delicious and I never eat mee koo before.Thanks for sharing the pics.
I never got a taste for red bean. I always enjoyed the colours of some of these types of baked goods when I lived in Singapore.
O.O I love miku so much... now I'm missing it...
Ahh, mi ku, my favourite. Taste good if fried in flour batter.
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