Recipe: Beef and White Carrot Soup and A Story of family feuds & Old School Food

My father reckons he knows the best places in Kuala Lumpur to eat. The criteria for selection goes beyond just tastiness to include the authentic. His curry laksa place, for example, is located under an old tree in the heart of Pudu . He tucks his handkerchief to the front of his shirt, much like you would at a lobster restaurant, and proceeds to tuck in. Funnily enough, he always seems to get some laksa onto his shirt. But he is a happy man. We have tried to introduce him to new places to eat, that we have discovered on our own. But he usually tells us that our restaurants serve "young people's food," thus, they are not authentic. To him, his "best eats" places have sentimental value - he's been going there for years and years, and has seen the business pass from one generation to the next. I guess you can't put a price tag on that.

There is a famous chain of chicken rice shops that are now found in almost every mall in KL. I don't need to reveal the name here, but according to my father, the original was founded many years ago in Petaling Street. The story is that there was a family feud and one of the brothers (or uncles, I can't remember) decided to leave the family business and start his own stall, two or three shops down. The latter's stall eventually became the chain that we see in malls today.

I remember the joint being stuffy, hot with sticky tiled floors. But on most Sundays, we would go there as a family for lunch, where my father would order the same thing - half a chicken, a bowl of choy keok (or chai boey as it is known here) and unlike other chicken rice stalls which give you MSG-laden chicken broth with a couple of spring onions floating in there, this place serves you white carrot soup with beef chunks. I once asked my father why we couldn't just go to the other stall which at least appeared cleaner and had air conditioning. He said simply, "that one not authentic."

I was thinking of that old chicken rice stall the other day and wanted to recreate the soup which we as a family once shared on Sundays. Here is my approximation.

Ingredients:

1 beef shin

300 g beef tendon (optional)

1 white carrot, cut into chunks

1 3 inch slice of ginger

1 small slice of dried squid

A handful of red dates, soaked before hand to soften

1 tiny piece of tangerine peel (optional)

1 litre beef stock

Salt and pepper

Chinese parsley (optional)

Skimming the scum of the soup produces a clearer soup

Blanch the beef shin and tendon in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a deep pot, bring the beef stock to boil together with the beef shin and tendon. Boil on high heat for ten minutes, skimming off the scum from the surface. Lower heat, cover and boil for about an hour. Using a pair of thongs, take out the meat and when cool enough to handle, slice into large chunks. Return the meat to the pot and add all your other ingredients, season, and boil over low heat, covered for an additional 45 minutes to an hour.

Garnish with Chinese parsley leaves, if desired, and serve hot.

This one is for you, dad.