MIRI – Our primary school years are considered the best time of our lives as we did not have to worry about anything in the world. Most of us would spend our free time playing games with friends or watching cartoons. However, a 12-year-old Sarawakian boy followed his father’s footsteps in preparing nasi lemak and helps to sell it too.
As Malaysia’s signature food, nasi lemak is loved by locals and foreigners alike. However, it requires a high skill ceiling to cook its main ingredients right, especially the sambal and fried chicken.
Feng Jun Jie (based upon pronunciation), who hails from Miri, adored his father’s cooking skills very much and often sneaked into the kitchen to cook instant noodles. Under his father’s guidance, he slowly mastered the art of cooking and soon became a skilful chef himself.
In addition to fried rice, he can also fry noodles, Kuetiau, and ladyfingers with sambal.
Mastering the art of cooking
Since the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) last March, classes were temporarily suspended, and students were forced to study from home. Jun Jie used his spare time helping his father pack and sell nasi lemak at the family restaurant, which comes with a dollop of sambal, anchovies, egg, an a piece of fried chicken. As he familiarised himself with the preparation process, he was then tasked with frying the chicken. He has become an expert in controlling the cooking temperature and time, resulting in crispy and tender fried chicken.
On an average day, Jun Jie can sell more than 20 packets of nasi lemak and that figure doubles when business is brisk. He has also won a legion of fans in the process who admire his cooking skills. Now, his daily routine consists of him going to the restaurant at 7 a.m., cooking the rice, and frying the chicken before packing it all up into individual boxes and selling it to hungry customers. He is also required to make the sambal sauce every two to three days.
Although his childhood years may be different from the rest, Jun Jie is determined to become a renowned chef in his own right. Besides cooking, he also loves to play games on the Internet and humming along to his favorite songs.
Sources: (Oriental Daily)
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
