I happened to pass by the Penang Tanjung Bungah Goreng Pisang stall in Tanjung Bungah when I recalled that I have not really tried most of the snacks apart from the banana fritters. This time around, the watch is ticking 4:00pm, so most (but not all) of the choices are available.
Approaching the stall, I ordered the Kuih Bakul, Ubi Keledek and Kacang Hijau. For nostalgic reasons, I also added the good old Goreng Pisang.
Goreng Pisang (炸香蕉, RM1.00), or deep-fried banana fritters, is still uncompromisingly addictive. The fruit has the right level of ripeness, while the crispy batter is a match made in heaven.
Another of my favorite is the Kuih Bakul (炸年糕, RM1.50) which is made using a slice of nian gao (年糕) and a slice of taro (芋头). The two pieces are held together and dipped in batter before being fried. Nian gao is a type of sticky candy made from glutinous rice flour. Popular during the Chinese New Year festival, nian gao is considered good luck because the name is a homonym for “flying high in the year” (年高).
In addition, a folk legend explains the use of nian gao as an offering to the Kitchen God (灶君), whose mouth will be glued shut by the sticky cake and therefore unable to badmouth the offeror in front of the Jade Emperor (玉帝). An alternative explanation is that the Kitchen God can only say sweet things about the offeror after eating such a sweet candy. In our modern society, we have a name for this type of arrangement: “bribery”.
The Ubi Keledek (番薯, RM0.70) or sweet potato is somehow not as tasty as the others. Perhaps this batch of sweet potato has been left out for some time already, therefore losing some of its crispy and fresh appeal.
Last but not least, the Kacang Hijau (绿豆糕, RM0.70) is made using a sweetened green bean pastry. The green bean pastry itself is enjoyable on its own, but I feel that coating it with batter then deep-frying is quite unnecessary.
