Another mouth-watering Hock Chew (Foo Chow) creation found in Sitiawan is the “Gong Pian” biscuits.

Hard and crispy on the outside, these savoury biscuits are one of the oldest favourites brought by the Hock Chew settlers from China.

Where can you find them?

A hop, skip and jump away from Bei King will lead you to the Sitiawan Cheong Cia Gong Pian shop, located behind Wisma Ganda, on Jalan Tok Perdana.

The age-old family business is just booming. Come rain or shine, the rather unsuspecting looking shoplot is in a constant flurry of activity.

In the midst of this, one will find proprietors Cheong Hiong Koh, 41, and his brother Heong Poh, 33, who took over the business from their granduncle over 10 years back.

The two successfully tweaked the original “Gong Pian” recipe to create what you will find sold at their shop today – biscuits stuffed with sweet “char siew” or slightly salted fried onions.

They may not look like much to the naked eye but take a bite into one the moment it is taken out of the clay oven and your taste buds will convince you otherwise.

“The original recipe is very plain and the biscuits have no fillings.

“People love the new recipe of “Gong Pian” that we have created. In fact, some customers come in and buy over 300 pieces per order to take away,” says Hiong Koh.

The biscuits are made from wheat flour, yeast, salt and lard. The dough is kneaded carefully by hand before it is put into a machine to be rolled. After that, it is flattened and rolled into smaller pieces, stuffed with the fillings and rolled again with a rolling pin.

“Once done, we put them into the heated oven (tandoor) where they are baked for a few minutes until they are hard and crispy,” says Hiong Koh.

The onion-filled biscuits cost 60 sen each while the “char siew” ones cost 90 sen each.

“We make at least 1,000 biscuits a day. The first batch is ready for sale at about 10am every day.”

Three batches are made and every single biscuit is snapped up even before the shop closes for the day in the evening, he adds.

“It’s a bit hard for us to make so many biscuits because the preparation and baking for each batch takes about one and a half hours,” he said.

In fact, business is so good for the family that the shop is closed during public holidays.

“As it is, the orders are for more than we can make every day. If we open during public holidays, I don’t think we can keep up with the demand,” says Hiong Koh.

So when in Sitiawan, do not miss out on the opportunity to feast on Hock Chew food, including the delicious “Gong Pian” biscuits.

Excerpt from TheStar – Hock Chew Specialities

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