 CHINESE NEW YEAR is around the corner, and families everywhere are hard at work preparing the traditional delicacies we all love. Chief among them is koay kapit, a thin, sweet and crispy treat that's popular every Chinese New Year. Also known as "love letters", koay kapit is as delicious as it is difficult to make. The process is delicate and time-consuming, involving specialised tools and skills, tolerance towards heat and a lot of patience. But it's worth it; no new year celebration would be complete without them. The key to koay kapit is the steel mould, on which batter is poured before going under the stresses of a charcoal fire. The moulds are often decorated with intricate patterns that would show up on the love letters after baking. Patterns have been known to include cockerels, ducks, birds, fishes and rabbits. Families get together to make koay kapit, alleviating an otherwise tedious job into a fun family affair. The koay kapit itself is made of a mixture of eggs, flour and coconut milk. Typically, the batter would be prepared early in the morning, and the mould would be heated over a fire. The batter would then be poured over the surface of the mould, before it is put over the fire for three to five minutes, at which point the hardened batter would be peeled off with a knife, though some do the peeling using their bare hands. Fold the batter into the desired shape, and wait for it to cool. The process is repeated throughout the day; some claim to have produced as many as 250 homemade pieces in six hours. References Click through pictures for slideshow.
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