Traditional recipe: Lee showing the rice dumplings she made for the recent Duan Wu Festival. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: Lee Li Ting was a chartered accountant in Singapore, but when her father died nine years ago, she gave up the job to home and continue his kuih business.
The 38-year-old said she decided to return home and become a kuih maker in 2014 as she did not want to see her family’s legacy gone with her father’s passing.
Armed with the kuih-making skills she picked up from watching her father since she was a child and with her mother’s help, she managed to upgrade the business from a stall to a cafe in Taman Sentosa, selling more than 30 varieties of Teochew kuih.
“My late father took over the business from his mother and sold kuih at the Taman Sri Tebrau hawker centre in the 1970s.
“My elder brothers and I used to help out when we were kids.
“After my dad died, I told myself that I could not let his hard work go to waste, so I decided to give up my corporate job.
“I also managed to learn traditional kuih-making from him before he left us. My mum has been a big help in ensuring that the kuih I make is up to my father’s standards,” she said in an interview.
However, in December last year, Lee met a stumbling block that forced her to wind up her shop after eight years of operations.
“I had no choice but to close on Jan 31 as the landlord wanted the building back. I had to let my employees go and move all my equipment home.
“I initially decided to take a hiatus but my customers, many of whom were my late father’s regulars, requested that I continue making kuih.
“Many of them have known me since I was a child.
“I could not bear to let them down, so I opened orders for rice dumplings for the recent Duan Wu Festival in May and June and sold more than 3,000 pieces of the glutinous rice dish with my mum’s help,” she said.
Lee said she had to limit the number of orders compared with previous years due to space and manpower constraints as she had to make them from scratch at home.
She added that she had to wake up at 2.30am to start preparing the ingredients and to cook the rice dumplings to meet her customers’ collection time.
“I still make everything from scratch the traditional way as taught by my father. I hope to be able to continue this.
“Now, I am in the midst of looking for a suitable place to rent to reopen a shop this year in time to make kuih and cookies for Chinese New Year next year.
“I would like to continue our family’s tradition and keep my father and grandma’s spirit alive through this trade,” she said.
