Aroma of traditional ‘kuih kapit' fills air as CNY draws near
GEORGE TOWN: The aroma of the fragrant and freshly baked crispy kuih kapit (love letters) filled the air around Block 7 of Pelangi Apartment, Gat Lebuh Macallum here, a reminder that the Chinese New Year celebration was drawing close.
An elderly couple in their seventies was seen outside their home making the Chinese New Year goodies the way they had done for the past 20 years.
Lau Poh Kin, 70, was making the batter and pouring it into moulds before placing them over the charcoal fire until the love letters turned golden brown before passing them to her husband Chew Hup Chye, 75, to quickly fold the delicacy into a quarter or triangle shape and arrange them into tin containers.
Chew, who formerly worked as a factory supervisor, said that they had started making the kuih kapit and collecting pre-orders around November last year.
“Since then, we have been making kuih kapit every day, from sunrise until sunset,” he told reporters here, adding that they could fill around 20 tins a day.
Although Chew did not keep track of exactly how many tins of kuih kapit were sold last year, he said that he had received orders coming from all over Malaysia as far as Kuala Lumpur and Johor.
He said his kuih kapit had even made its way to Singapore and Australia for his customers to enjoy.
“However, due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) when interstate travel was restricted, we have narrowed down our scope of customers, selling and delivering in Penang only,” he said,
Because a number of his customers were from outside Penang, he has received calls about the cancellation of their kuih kapit orders.
“Back then we could sell around a thousand (tins of kuih kapit) a year, but I think we could manage to sell somewhere in the hundreds for this year,” he added.
Chew sells two variants of kuih kapit: one that contains pork floss filling, which is sold for RM30 per tin, while the other contains no filling, selling at RM28 per tin.