Handmade bak zhang, otah youtiao & taro lava curry puffs by ex-chef & spouse

It takes guts and gusto to leap from one job business to a different. Ken Lee, the proprietor of Kim Lee Hokkien Zhang and Crispy Puff had all that… and extra! He went from a pastry chef to a gymnasium teacher and did that for a strong 15 years.

That went effectively till the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, which compelled him to make a U-turn again to the F&B world.

His spouse, Kim, and he determined to enterprise into their very personal home-based enterprise promoting handmade bak zhang and regularly expanded their choices to curry puffs as effectively. As orders poured in, they struggled with the restricted house, which drove them to open their very personal kopitiam stall in 2022.

Every morning, a complete of about 200 curry puffs are handmade in-house. All the things aside from the otah filling is ready by the couple themselves.

Each different day, like clockwork, the couple rolls up their sleeves within the late afternoon to craft an array of rice dumplings too— I can think about their workload!

What I attempted at Kim Lee Hokkien Zhang and Crispy Puff

We received our engine operating with a couple of styles of curry puffs: Sardines Puff (S$1.90), Signature Otah Laksa Puff (S$2.50), Hen Curry Puff with Potatoes (S$1.90) and Taro Lava Puff (S$1.90).

The Sardines Puff, identifiable by its pink dots, contained heftier items of sardines than another model I’ve tried earlier than. The chunks of fish had been delicately spiced with chilli and adorned with juicy slivers of onion that gave it a stunning crunchy texture.

Ken orders otah specifically from Muar, a Johor district well-known for his or her scrumptious otah (my favorite). He then enhances the style by including laksa seasoning to the filling of his Signature Otah Laksa Puff (marked by inexperienced dots).

The Hokkien Rice Dumpling with Salted Duck Egg Yolk was filled with tender chunks of pork stomach, a complete salted duck egg yolk, mushrooms, chestnut and dried shrimp. I cherished the fatty parts of the pork stomach and egg yolk, which injected double doses of creamy sinfulness to the bak zhang.

In case you’re questioning, the egg yolks will not be frozen. They order complete salted duck eggs abroad, and the couple manually take away the yolks themselves— a lot effort!

Remaining ideas

Should you’re a curry puff lover, Kim Lee Hokkien Zhang and Crispy Puff provides each conventional and uniquely-interesting choices to cater to each palate. I can see the trouble each Ken and Kim put into every providing, and the unparalleled high quality is clear in each chew.

Should you’re across the Jalan Berseh neighbourhood, why not cease over for a bit of snack or deliver house their vary of rice dumplings to share with your loved ones and mates?

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