Uncle Hon Tin Long is a daily fixture among the hawkers of Petaling Street. He pushes a trishaw cart onto Jalan Hang Lekir, and sells freshly made apam balik and nyonya apam balik under a colorful umbrella. Uncle Hon is always jovial, and can chat with passersby. Now over 70 years old, he has been in Petaling Street for almost six decades, running his own stall for over 40 years.
A cast iron pan with a diameter of about two feet is preheated, filled with pancake batter that immediately fluffs up and bubbles. Uncle Hon scatters sugar across the surface, and covers it with the lid for a while. Upon lifting the lid, the sugar has caramelised, then he scatters crushed peanuts onto the pancake. Using a metal scraper, he carefully peels the pancake away from the pan, moving in a circular motion until the center point, folding the pancake over and removing it from the pan. Such is the making of a favorite street food — Ban Jian Kuih, also known as Man Chian Kuih, Ban Chang Kuih, Dai Gau Min, or Apam Balik in Malay.
At the age of 15, Uncle Hon left his hometown Seremban to make a living at Kuala Lumpur. He worked at one of the “Four Greatest Restaurants of Petaling Street”, Seng Kee, for quite a few years, becoming experienced in making dim sum and pastries. After having a family, he found it hard to make ends meet, therefore he decided to start his own business. Uncle Hon did some market research within Petaling Street, and found out that nobody was selling apam balik in the vicinity, the closest stall would be at Bukit Bintang. Therefore, he underwent research and development, and mastered the making of apam balik after a few attempts. With satisfactory results, he started his own business.
Uncle Hon used to rent a room in a shophouse on Jalan Hang Lekir, storing his trishaw stall in the back lane, pushing it onto the streets to do business during daytime and put it back at night. After the year 2000, the shophouse was rebuilt into Tang City Food Court. He moved to Cheras, but still stores his trishaw stall in the same back lane. Every morning around 7AM, Uncle Hon takes the LRT to Petaling Street, enjoys breakfast with his friends at the food court, and opens his stall at 8AM. Procedures such as boiling pandan water and mixing the pancake batter are carried out beside his stall, so that he can always replenish throughout the day.
In recent years, Petaling Street has become a famous tourist spot in Kuala Lumpur, Uncle Hon’s business is flourishing. Mrs Hon used to work her own job and take care of their children. After they have grown up, then only she starts to help Uncle Hon selling apam balik at the stall. As she has problems walking, she rides a taxi to and fro, returning home around 1.30PM, a Myanmar helper takes over her duty at the stall. With their assistance, it’s easier for Uncle Hon to concentrate on making apam balik, and he also gets to chat jovially with friends, passersby, and customers.
Despite being busy at work everyday, and even keeping the stall open during Chinese New Year, Uncle Hon is optimistic and cheerful, and never feels tired. He enjoys interacting with people on a daily basis, and has no plans for retirement at the moment, continuing to work as his health allows. Slices of apam balik and nyonya apam balik, cheers and laughter, his life is full of sweetness and aroma.
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【Apam Balik Info】
The origins of apam balik dates back to 1855, during the Qing dynasty, when General Zuo ZongTang (also known as General Tso) led his troops to FuJian to repel the Taiping Rebellion.
“In order to feed the army, he (Tso) gave them salty pancakes improved with cane sugar and peanuts that were plentiful in Fujian, making it easy to carry and eat.
This pancake gradually spread in Fujian, becoming an affordable and convenient street snack, and was brought to Nanyang (Southeast Asia) with the early Hokkien immigrants,” – Xie Yanwei, food writer, as translated from Hong Kong Economic Journal
The Peranakan (Straits Chinese) improvised using local ingredients, namely rice flour, coconut milk, eggs, and dessicated coconut, familiarly known as Nyonya apam balik.
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