Possibly The Best Soon Kueh We’ve Had Comes From This Noodle Stall

With their customers forced to stay home, the couple needed a new means to generate income. Apparently, Da Shan Jiao (named after the town in Penang where Angeline is from — she came to Singapore 30 years ago to find work), has a bit of a cult following. The stall has a loyal clutch of regulars who make the schlep to Jurong just to get a taste of the authentic Penang noodles. But while their Penang-style noodles are popular, they are unsuitable for delivery since they would become soggy on the journey from the stall to customers’ doorsteps.

Enter the soon kueh that Teochew ah nia Angeline has been making for her family for the last 16 years. Unlike the noodles, the Teochew dumplings can be made and transported without fuss. They also knew that their soon kueh was good since customers always had something positive to say about them. With help from their 23-year-old son Koh Wei Jie, the family created House of Kueh, which now sees them selling soon kueh for pick-up and delivery islandwide. The dream is to one day open a kueh shop in a mall or have a franchise, but there are no concrete plans for now.

Angeline’s soon kueh is no run-of-the-mill stuff. A self-professed experimental cook, she began making soon kueh directly on a special steamer custom-built just for making their soon kueh. The process is a bit like how one would make chee cheong fan, “because it’s less troublesome,” she says. The traditional method usually involves rolling and shaping the dough into circles by hand, filling them and then pinching them shut before placing them in a steamer. It’s somewhat akin to shaping curry puffs. With Angeline’s method of pouring the rice flour batter onto the steamer tray, allowing it to set like a crepe and then placing the filling in the middle before wrapping each parcel up using a spatula, it eliminates the need to shape the dumpling before steaming it. “It also takes up less space, which is something I don’t have at the stall,” she adds.

The other upside of making soon kueh this way is that she is able to make her skins thinner and silkier because there’s no need to transport the dough from countertop to steamer (and risk breakage). The downside is that the dumplings cannot be frozen as the delicate skins would snap.

Today, besides traditional soon kueh filled with bangkwang (jicama aka Mexican turnip) and dried shrimps, House of Kueh also offers a lovely spinach skin version filled with minced pork, bamboo shoots and black fungus.

Now that the Circuit Breaker has lifted, the family’s stall is back to serving their delicious Penang prawn and pork noodles on top of their new soon kueh business. Wei Jie goes to Singapore University of Social Sciences next month to read Business Analytics, but before that, is working on integrating the ordering and delivery process so that his parents can continue to run House of Kueh seamlessly. “I’m working on an online platform that will allow the orders to be linked to our delivery partner so that my parents only have to make the soon kueh without having to worry about organising the orders and delivery,” explains the lad, who also takes care of the kueh biz’s social media account.

Unlike mass-produced soon kueh, these loosely packed dumplings boast diaphanous, glossy rice flour skins. They may look more like homely origami bundles versus their traditional crescent-shaped counterparts, but they are delicious. The filling is yummy too — a robust, peppery mix of dried prawns and julienned bangkwang (jicama). Besides the satiny skins, the standout thing about these kueh is the accompanying chilli sauce. Punchy with garlic, piquant with Japanese rice vinegar, and tempered with just the right amount of sugar, the spicy sauce is essentially an amped-up version of Nonya chilli cuca.

One of the best soon kueh we’ve had in a while thanks to its well-balanced crunchy filling of thinly sliced black fungus, chunky bamboo shoots (super fresh with no pong) and minced pork that make for a full-bodied contrast to the thin, smooth skins dyed a pretty shade of green. We love the delicate skins, but they tend to be a bit fragile and break easily. Still, all very tasty and shiok with that punchy chilli sauce. Fun fact: Soon kueh was originally made with bamboo shoot, which is where it got its name (‘soon’ means bamboo in Teochew). However, in eras past, bamboo shoots were expensive and more difficult to find, hence bangkwang became the filling of choice. Rather ironic that bamboo shoot is now considered a novel filling, huh?

If you find yourself in the Jurong area (they still don't offer delivery for the noodles as they don't travel well), do yourselves a favour and order a bowl of these authentic Penang noodles, which is pretty hard to find in Singapore. The soup, made with bangkwang, chicken and pork bones, has a lovely complexity and a unique depth of flavour thanks to the bangkwang. The smooth, slippery kway teow comes generously strewn with well-seasoned slivers of tender pork, pork balls and pig liver. All this is tossed in a full-flavoured chilli sauce made from dried chillies and garlic.

We didn’t try the prawn noodles, but Angeline tells us that the difference between Penang-style prawn noodles and their Singapore cousin is the soup. “Penang-style prawn noodle soup is thicker and more robust. Our soup base is prepared by frying chillies and using prawns that have thicker shells, so it is richer and more expensive to make,” she explains. Diners can choose a standard bowl of prawn noodles for $5 (small) or $6 (large), or $8 for a bowl with pork ribs.

Everything is extremely well-made, with just the right edge of umami and lashings of garlic. The soon kueh, in particular, is great because it tastes home-made, yet delicate and quite unlike those we’ve had elsewhere. Plus the spinach version boasts rare bamboo shoot filling — which is exactly how traditional Teochew soon kueh is meant to be made.

House Of Kueh’s soon kueh only available via pre-order on Instagram @houseofkuehsg or Whatsapp at 8119-9538 for islandwide delivery (flat fee of $7).

Da Shan Jiao is at ICON@IBP, 3A International Business Park, #01-06. S609935. Open Mon-Fri 10am-2pm. Last orders at 1.30pm.

Photos: Kelvin Chia