How a 500-year-old Southeast Asian sweet is preserving a nearly forgotten culture
Kim Choo Kueh Chang has been serving bite-sized treats called Nyonya kueh in Singapore since 1945. These colorful snacks are a staple for the Peranakan people — a cultural group prominent between the 15th and early 20th centuries that’s working to be remembered. But as the popularity of Nyonya kueh increases, some shopkeepers fear its Peranakan roots will be forgotten. We went to Singapore to see how Peranakan culture and the art of making Nyonya kueh is still standing.
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00:00Peeling this gelatinous kueh lapis, layer by layer, is the correct way to eat it.
00:07If you chew it without peeling, it means that you are actually shortening your lifespan.
00:12For almost 80 years, Edmond Wong's family has been making these bite-sized treats in Singapore.
00:19Crafting them is part of a culture that goes back about 500 years.
00:24Nonya kueh is historically significant to the Peranakan people.
00:29A cultural group prominent between the 15th and early 20th centuries that's working to be remembered today.
00:36Their varied and colorful snacks are a staple of Southeast Asian cuisine.
00:42But as the popularity of nonya kueh increases, some shopkeepers like Edmond fear its Peranakan roots will be forgotten.
00:51For our business, we see us being not just only a food business, but a heritage business.
00:57People may enjoy to eat them, but they may not know the meaning behind it, and they may lose touch with the heritage.
01:03We went to Singapore to see how Peranakan culture and the art of making nonya kueh is still standing.
01:13Kueh is a broad term for bite-sized snacks or desserts commonly found in Southeast Asia, including cakes, dumplings, and pastries.
01:22Kueh are prepared differently by multiple cultures in the region.
01:26The ones made by Singapore's Peranakan community are called nonya kueh.
01:33The neighborhood of Joo Chiat has long been a center of Peranakan culture.
01:38It's where the shop Kim Joo Kueh Cheong has been located since 1945.
01:43This business started off from my grandma.
01:45She started selling rice dumplings under a banyan tree, and that's how we started.
01:51Edmond still uses her recipes to make all the shop's kueh.
01:56Today, the team is making a batch of one of their most popular items, kueh lapis.
02:02It's a nine-layer steamed cake made with a base of tapioca flour, coconut milk, and sugar.
02:09In Chinese, we also call it jiu cheng gao, which means nine-layer kuehs.
02:14When our forefathers came here, they couldn't use ingredients from China,
02:19so they used local ingredients like coconut, coconut shred, palm sugar,
02:25and then we create something that looks Chinese, but it's not Chinese.
02:30Workers mix the ingredients into a paste and strain it.
02:39Kueh lapis is known for its colorful layers.
02:43In the past, makers would use plants for natural coloring,
02:46like butterfly pea flowers for blue shades or pandan leaves for green.
02:52But today, Edmond uses store-bought dyes to get each layer to the perfect shade of red or green.
03:06Each layer must be steamed one by one.
03:10Then, workers repeat the process of pouring and steaming eight times.
03:19With this step, timing is everything.
03:22Pour in a layer too early, and the colors could mix together, ruining the entire batch.
03:29So workers carefully steam each layer for exactly five minutes at 100 degrees Celsius.
03:35Because it's made without preservatives, the shop only makes about 320 kueh lapis a day.
03:41We try not to sell too much because all these items cannot be kept long.
03:46It's best eaten on the day when it's being produced and best eaten fresh.
03:54There's also a specific way to eat kueh lapis.
03:58You peel it layer by layer.
04:00I've been eating kueh since four years ago.
04:03At first, I would just take it manually and just put it in my mouth.
04:08But after the staff here told me that I'm so good at it,
04:13I started to love it.
04:15I've always loved kueh.
04:17And I'm so happy that I can have this opportunity to try kueh lapis.
04:22There are so many different ways to eat kueh lapis.
04:25put it in my mouth, but after the staff here told me that I'm supposed to peel one by one
04:32and taste the flavour, that's when I realised that I have been eating kueh lapis wrongly
04:38ever since four years ago.
04:42My grandma, before she passed on, she would say that, live your life like the kueh lapis.
04:46You know, even if you're met with difficult times, continue to peel through that layer,
04:51you'll eventually see a bright colour.
04:54Traders believe kueh originated in southern Fujian, China, and were first introduced to
05:00Southeast Asia by Chinese traders who migrated to Malaysia during the 15th century.
05:06These traders married local Malay women, and their descendants, known as Straits Chinese
05:11or Peranakan, preserved their traditions, including making nonya kueh for celebrations
05:16like Chinese New Year.
05:18When the British established a port in Singapore in 1819, many Peranakans migrated there for
05:24trade opportunities.
05:26Their fluency in Chinese, Malay, and English helped them become middlemen between British
05:31and locals during the colonial era.
05:34By the early 20th century, they were among Southeast Asia's most influential people,
05:40contributing their own distinct art, fashion, architecture, and food throughout the region.
05:49But Japan's occupation of Singapore during World War II devastated the community.
05:56Many Peranakans, including Edmund's grandmother, lost their fortunes and had to sell their
06:01belongings to survive.
06:03During the time of war, she had to try and make a living for herself, and the only skills
06:07set she had back then were the culinary skills passed down to her from her maternal grandmother.
06:13It's not meant to be a business, it's really for survival.
06:18The decades following World War II also marked a shift to modernization in Singapore.
06:23Many Peranakans left their traditions behind.
06:27By the 1970s, the community was on the verge of extinction.
06:33For Edmund's grandmother and other Peranakans, selling their nonya kueh was a way to make
06:37a living while keeping their culture alive.
06:40And Edmund is working to do the same in her honor.
06:44My grandma is not educated, but she teach us through the things that she knew, like
06:49kueh-kuehs and the cookies and rice dumplings.
06:54These rice dumplings, or kueh cheong, have been prepared the same way since the shop
06:58opened.
06:59Workers start by filling pandan leaves with rice and meat and wrapping them into a pyramid
07:04shape.
07:07Then the dumplings are tied with a small rope and boiled for one and a half hours.
07:12These days, kueh cheong is the shop's best seller.
07:16During non-festive season, we produce about 1,000 plus a day.
07:20During the festive season, you see us producing more than 1,000, maybe 10, 20, 30 thousand
07:26pieces a day.
07:30Over several decades, nonya kueh has gone from a Peranakan delicacy to a staple for
07:36all Southeast Asians throughout Singapore.
07:39We are a brand that's been around since 1945.
07:42So basically, you will see us as a brand that grew with Singapore.
07:47We are really fortunate that throughout the generations, we have a lot of Singaporeans
07:51and foreigners supporting us.
07:55But because kueh has become more popular, some see it as a Singaporean delicacy instead
08:00of a Peranakan one.
08:02And Edmund worries its Peranakan roots could be forgotten over time.
08:06Some of these Peranakan stories, it tells us how to live our lives.
08:10One of these days, if the stories are not being shared, then my fear is, yes, people
08:15may enjoy to eat them, but they may not know the meaning behind it, and they may lose touch
08:19with the heritage.
08:22That's why he believes it's so important to share Peranakan history with others while
08:26he can.
08:28Kim Chew Kueh Cheong partnered with the Singaporean government to convert a portion of its restaurant
08:32into a boutique shop and museum.
08:37Visitors can attend guided tours to learn about the different aspects of Peranakan heritage.
08:42The collection includes family heirlooms, art, and traditional clothing.
08:47A lot of these items were either from my grandmother, or of which late, you know, a lot of families
08:53who do not wish to keep them anymore, we actually do purchase directly from them if they no
08:57longer want to keep them.
08:59We share stories here.
09:00We teach people how to consume the food.
09:03We teach them about the history, about why we eat certain things a certain way, and it's
09:07really important.
09:08More than the food, you know, we want to be custodians.
09:11We want to promote the Peranakan heritage.
09:14Edmund isn't the only one working to preserve this unique culture.
09:18Since the 1980s, preservationists and the Singaporean government have worked to promote
09:23Peranakan culture.
09:25Today, Singapore is home to multiple government-backed Peranakan museums and exhibits like the one
09:30at Kim Chu Kwe Chong, as well as programs meant to preserve Peranakan architecture.
09:37The Peranakan community, or the culture, is not about the marriage of races.
09:42It is largely about the marriage of cultures.
09:45And if we can embrace this concept and help more of us understand it, basically all of
09:49us in Singapore, even in Southeast Asia, can embrace and share this culture also.
09:54Ever since I found out much about my heritage, it gives me identity.
09:59I know my heritage.
10:00I know my culture.
10:02I will always remember that this is my home, and I always have to come back here.
10:07His hope is that the next generation will get to understand the history behind the kwe
10:11they know and love.
10:14Passing down his grandmother's legacy is the best way to do that.
10:18In the same way stories being passed down to her, she also passed down to us, to this
10:22generation, and we hope that we can continue to share this story with many more generations
10:27to come.