10 things I miss about my mother’s cooking

I have been tagged by starry nights @ Across the Miles.

No matter how lovely the restaurants serve a variety of dishes, there’s nothing like a home cooked food, especially when it mother’s cooking. Just like appa, I love home cooked food more than eating out.

I know how to cook.. just simple cooking, and it has not reached anywhere near amma’s standard of cooking. I started missing amma’s cooking once I left home after marriage.

1. I love the cakes and cookies she made. She baked us birthday cakes and cookies using the conventional oven. She also made so many types of ‘kuih’ by trying out recipes from newspapers and magazine. It was real fun eating those ‘kuih’ you get at the stalls right at home.
   Amma has trained me to bake simple cakes and cookies. In many of my efforts, they don’t turn out as beautiful as when she was next to me telling me what to do next.



2. I love the red bean and green bean deserts (sweet porridge) she makes. She prepares it quite often as she knows I love it. She taught us how lovely it is to eat it cold. She made enough to store in the fridge and eat the next day (or even few more days). She made red bean and green bean ice-creams in those transparents ice cream plastic bags (same as those sold for just 10 cents with milo, lychee, asam flavours.. those days). It was just lovely!
   I have taken this habit and cook it at home myself.. as of now, only apps and I enjoy it. The boys are yet to love it, just a few spoonfuls and they’ve had enough.



3. I miss the simple daily dishes she prepares for dinner.. rasam, spicy ikan bilis with potatoes, vegetable curry (e.g. spinach dal), ‘pulchakire’ (nice and sour). *mouth watering*



4. I definitely won’t be able to make ‘urka’ (pickle) the way she does. Though I have not learnt the trade, I am very sure that nobody can beat her to it. She does both mango and lime ‘urka’, but I like the lime ‘urka’ the best. Nice to eat it with the vegetable curry *yum, yum*
   My in-laws loves the ‘urka’ she makes. When the mango tree in front of their house bears fruit, they bring some for my mother to make ‘urka’ and mango ‘paccidi’. Their grandchildren love to eat the ‘paccidi’ with plain rice!



5. I miss the ‘chang’ that she learn to make herself. At first she didn’t know what the leave used to wrap it was called in Chinese, and appa had to hunt it down. Finally they got it. She made it a few times, but no more since I was married.
   I love to eat ‘chang’. When I was at home, amma will buy for me whenever she goes to ‘pasar malam’. Now, if they are at a ‘pasar malam’ and is going to visit me, amma or thambhi will buy the ‘chang’ for me. They fondly remember my liking.



6. I miss the potato ‘chutney’ she makes to go with ‘thosai’.
   I would just more and more thosai just to eat the ‘chutney’. I don’t prepare this dish at home since apps doesn’t fancy potato dishes *sigh*
   Ma, I haven’t eaten the potato ‘chutney’ since...



7. I miss the corn beef dish that she made to go with ‘chapatti’.
   Again, we finish the ‘chapatti’ to eat the corn beef :)



8. I miss the luncheon meat dish that she prepares.
   I don’t get that much around.. actually, not at all!



9. I miss the onion ‘paniyaram’ she makes. MIL makes the sweet types. I don’t prefer sweet dishes. The onion ones are the best!



10. I miss the steamed ‘bawal’ fish with garlic and sweet and sour ‘bawal’ fish you prepared for us during weekends. I know I helped her decorate the sweet and sour fish with thinly sliced fried potatoes. I also missed the sting ray ‘bakar’ she does served on banana leave.
    These were our weekend treats.

Yum, Yum, Yum
The list goes on and on and on...

Who doesn’t miss mother’s cooking?!