• In the mid-20th century, there was a famous saying in Singapore and Malaysia: “Teochew kway teow, Hokkien mee, Hainan kopi, Hakka yong tau foo”. From this, we can see that kway teow has always been associated with the Teochews.
• Kway teow is believed to have originated in Chaozhou (also known as Teochew). The locally grown rice (of the Japonica variety) and the quality of the water in the region are ideal for making kway teow.
• These thin, flat noodles are made by steaming sheets of rice flour batter before cutting them into strips. The kway teow can then be stir-fried or boiled, and mixed with various sauces and seasonings. In Singapore, common ways of enjoying kway teow include stir-frying it as well as serving it in soup.

Back when resources were scarce, hawkers would use leaves to wrap their food. When used to wrap a portion of freshly fried kway teow, the leaf wrapper imparted a delicious fragrance that enhanced the kway teow’s taste. Today, in a time of material abundance, kway teow is usually packed in plastic. But while it may stay hot for longer, it has lost the fragrance of the leaves. 

(Lianhe Zaobao, 10/12/2018)

贵刁 (Hong Kong)