Oats chang a better alternative

By KOW KWAN YEE
kowky@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: Bak chang has been given a “healthy makeover” by housewife Choong Kim Tin.

Choong, 66, uses oats instead of glutinous rice to make the delicacy, which is a must during the Chang Festival that falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (next Monday).

“I first stew pork with mushrooms for about an hour and then mix the gravy with oats until the mixture becomes sticky like the texture of cooked glutinous rice,” she said.

She said the filling was usually made of salted egg yolk, dried shrimps, pork and chestnuts.

Choong said she became interested in making oat chang after a friend told her about it two years ago.

Oat-ally awesome: Choong showing how to wrap the oat chang at her home in Changkat Minden, George Town in Penang, in conjunction with the Bak Chang festival which falls on June 6.

“I managed to come up with the right combination after numerous attempts,” said Choong, who is from Sungai Gelugor here.

She said her friends and relatives found the oat chang delicious, adding that she eventually started selling them at the Jelutong market and still does so every Friday and Saturday.

“I feel happy to see my customers eating healthy chang as oats can help reduce cholesterol,” the grandmother of seven said.

She is busy meeting orders and has roped in family members, including her husband, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, to help out.

The Chang Festival honours scholar-poet Qu Yuan who took his life by jumping into a river in ancient China.

Legend has it that Qu committed suicide as he was saddened when the king refused to listen to his advice, which resulted in a war.

Fearing that fish would eat his body, Qu's friends and supporters made chang and threw it into the river so that the fish would eat the chang instead of Qu's body.

The Chinese eat chang during the festival every year to commemorate Qu's patriotism and loyalty towards the country.

A change for the better Choong Kim Tin (right) wrapping oat chang with the help of her family members at her house in Changkat Minden, Penang, in preparation for Monday's Bak Chang Festival. Choong's healthy version uses oats instead of glutinous rice but it has all the typical fillings of the traditional chang - salted egg yolk, dried shrimps, pork and chestnuts.