Food has a powerful ability to evoke memories. We can recollect past events while eating a certain meal or tasting a particular flavour. Sharing his journey, Sim Aik Jeng talks about the idea and concept of Sinang Food.
Carrying on the cherished family recipes
Our palette has the power to evoke emotions and bring back memories. It is when we take a spoonful of a particular food and remember the first time we had it and how we felt about it. It is the craving for food that allows us a passage through a message from the past and present, thus creating a story for the future.
Sim Aik Jeng remembers watching his grandmother and mother in the kitchen as a child, preparing bowls of laksa using their special recipe. He recalls the taste of the broth and how everyone was always together, enjoying their bowl of laksa.
“Food brings back memories that money cannot buy. When the recipe is passed down, it can last for generations,” said Sim, who is inspired to retain memories from the taste buds through the preservation of homemade recipes.
His foray into the food industry was motivated by a number of factors, one of which was witnessing his friend’s mother, who was always cooking in the kitchen as early as 2am.
“I went to visit a friend in Mukah at the time. His mother was preparing laksa paste to sell, which she had to brew for three hours before selling it at 6am at her store. She can sell a maximum of 100 bowls in a single day, but what about the days when she is unable to finish? She had to dispose of the remains,” shared Sim.
An innovator, the native of Miri attempted to help his friend’s mother by exploring ways to reduce her preparation time.
“I wanted to lighten her load. So I got her recipe and tweaked it so that I could preserve it. After that, I was able to create a laksa paste base for her. With just a few simple steps — heating it up, adding coconut milk, water, and other ingredients — she was done within 20 minutes.”
With experiences in the food and beverage industry, Sim has seen that chefs spend more time getting ready for the day than actually cooking the food. Because of this, the chefs are required to be in the kitchen before the restaurant opens.
As a result of the two occurrences that inspired him, together with the motivation to preserve recipes for the future generation, Sim founded the local food brand Sinang Food under KTL Sdn Bhd in order to help the chefs in the kitchen and to continue to evoke memories of the past.
To him, carrying on the family recipe is part of the culture and heritage that he intends to preserve.
“If the recipe is not preserved, so sayang, especially if it is not passed on, then the food legacy will be lost. That is why we strive to preserve it while keeping it simple and straightforward. We want everyone to enjoy it, not just the current generation, but also future generations.”
In Miri, Sim said that he has been working with two prominent food brands — Annie Little Kitchen and Tai Ge — to preserve their respective food pastes. With the former, Sinang Food had released the cook’s famous buttermilk paste, while the latter has his assam king, assam curry, and assam tom yum preserved.
With over 10 pastes under Sinang Food, each one has its own ‘auntie’ behind it. With the stories of how a paste came about and his motivation to maintain the taste from generations, Sim admitted approaching old school ‘aunties’ for recipes to preserve.
Breaking boundaries
Sim was recently invited to enter the international market, mainly in Hong Kong and China, with his homemade Sambal Tahai recipe. With the fish originating in Lawas, he believes that it is crucial to showcase Sarawak to the world through food that is indigenous to the state.
“For this sambal, I used ikan tamban, which I obtained from Lawas. It is a unique fish that can only be found in Lawas. Even if this species exists in Terengganu, it is not the same. Sarawak’s Sambal Tahai is uniquely ours, and it is this that I wish to offer on a global scale,” he said proudly.
Emphasising on food that sparks memories, Sim hopes to be able to import his special Sarawak products to the Hong Kong and China markets. With that, Sarawak’s people and gastronomic culture would be introduced to a wider audience on a global scale.
Apart from that, he wants to see his company give back to the community by offering jobs to single mothers.
“It is difficult for them to find work when there is no one to watch over the children. We would thus approach them to offer them a job helping us prepare our ingredients.”
