At a block in Singapore, Teochew kueh evokes roots, rebuilds lives

Searching for comfort food, the writer discovers a social enterprise that is using kueh to create jobs for a marginalized group.

- Chua Mui Hoong

In Singapore on a short break from my life in Perth, I went in search of my Teochew food fix and chanced upon a cafe selling Teochew kueh that turned out to be about a lot more than selling kueh.

Yoon's Social Kitchen at Block 4, Upper Aljunied Lane, is a striking-looking cafe in a Housing Board block, with dark-framed sliding doors, concrete floors polished to a shine, and wooden tables and chairs.

While I walked in as a customer to enjoy their Teochew kueh, I walked out in awe after learning it is a social enterprise that sells and makes Teochew kueh as a means to raise money, provide jobs, and act as a halfway house, for mature female former drug addicts and offenders.

It is a cafe, a kitchen studio, a halfway house, and above all, a place of hopes and dreams.

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Living in Australia had reminded me of what my palate missed: Teochew food. There are Singapore and Malaysian food options aplenty in Perth, and it's easy to get my fix of chicken rice, nasi lemak, mee goreng, or roti prata. But I've not been able to find Teochew muay, where rice porridge is eaten with a smattering of simply cooked dishes like omelette with bitter gourd/onion/or preserved vegetable, braised egg and tau pok, and steamed fish. I also miss Teochew kueh such as soon kueh and png kueh.

Looking for Teochew kueh online in Singapore led me to this cafe in Aljunied, where I learnt about the Yoon mother and daughter team out to make kueh popular in Singapore again.

Ms Qara Yoon, 46, grew up in a Teochew-speaking household where mum served up delicious Teochew dishes. On festive occasions, the household would become a kueh-making factory as the family got together to make kueh, using recipes passed on from great-grandma, who came to Singapore from Puning county near Shantou city, in Guangdong province, China.