Nonya Buk Zhan
Last week met a couple of my Malacca relatives at my brother’s wedding and I hardly get to see them. I told one of the aunties that I loved the nonya buk zhan with blue flower coloring she made and asked mum to bring back which I never get a chance to say to her all these years. And I was a little astonished to find out that…
Yesterday bought back a few nonya buk zhan and mum immediately told me that I shouldn’t have waste money to buy it as she’s making the ingredients today and will be wrapping them tomorrow. So I explained to her that those that I bought back were nonya buk zhan, not the traditional salty ones she has been making all these years. And I further pointed out that I always prefer nonya than the salty ones. Then she claimed that those sell in local isn’t as good as what she brought back from Malacca, which I couldn’t deny.
Monster: Anyway, tell you also no use, not as if you know how to make it.
Mum: Who says I don’t know how to make it?
Monster: If you do, you would have done it decades ago lah…
Mum: I prefer the traditional one that’s why it’s always the same every year.
Monster: Really meh?
Mum: You know, to make nonya buk zhan, you need to…
Mum started to list out the ingredients needed to make a nonya buk zhan, the process of preparing each ingredient. Then she said that a nonya buk zhan will never be a traditional one if the blue flower coloring is not added, pointing out that they can be found in her cousin’s garden in Malacca. And because I know her well, or sometimes a little too well, I decided to approach further.
Monster: Say say, who also know lor, I just need to surf the net, and the answer can be easily found.
Mum: You wait and see, after I finish the traditional one, I will get the remaining ingredients and make 10 for you.
And I push further as I know sometimes she got this trick when she doesn’t feel like doing…
Monster: So on that day needs a few reminders or not?
Mum: No need, I will remember…
Monster: Then got any other ingredients need to get besides the blue flower as I can forgo with that, else later claim that you shortage of something and can’t proceed lor?
Mum: All will be taken care of…
From what my Malacca relative told me, mum already knew how to prepare, and cook the ingredients for the salty and nonya buk zhan when she was a kid. She and my Malacca relatives learned it from my great grandmother. And usually the Malacca relatives will only make the nonya buk zhan while mum will make the salty buk zhan, then mum will pay a visit to Malacca, and exchange her buk zhan with their nonya buk zhan. Except that the Malacca relatives made the nonya buk zhan according to our family head count, and so each will only get to eat one. On the other hand, mum will also do that, but she will make 10 more extra so that individual can have more than one.
Over the years, mum didn’t reveal that she knows how to make a nonya buk zhan until I found out from the Malacca relative and approached mum. To save the trouble of preparing and cooking two different types of buk zhan, she had been acting ‘stupid’ and pretending not knowing how to make it in order to save trouble, even when she saw me bought back nonya buk zhan in several occasions. I couldn’t help but wonder in a relationship, no matter how smart one can be, and to really maintain it for long run, it’s good to behave stupid at times when needed. Else your smarty and curiosity mixed juices will put you into wild guessing, digging and investigating something discreet, something ugly, something that is probably meant for your good but it’s better you don’t know or left unknown. Hence, if you are ‘stupid’ at times, you will live happier and relationship can continue peacefully and smoothly…
To be continued…