Munching on shrimp chips that we got from our recent trip to Costco, I mindlessly stared at the huge bag as I savored the last couple chips in my mouth, pressing them between my palate and my tongue. They are so light, fluffed, and buttery — so non-threatening — they almost melt in my mouth, though honestly not much taste that conjures up the notion of shrimps can be detected. Well, this is not exactly an unpleasant false-advertising so happily munching on I was.
As my mindful-less mind continued to roam the mind-space without an aim, as non-threateningly as these mild chips were, yet something triggered, and all of a sudden my mind shifted to the thinking of a faraway version, much more pungent in flavor, much sturdier in texture, and much more unforgettable, everything considered.
Keropok, krupuk, kerupuk, or kropek, depends on where you are in Southeast Asia. These deep-fried briny shrimp chips are inexpensive and are popular accompaniment to the region’s ubiquitous plate rice or noodle dishes of all kinds (which mostly only vary in the type of proteins chosen or sauces drizzled), as a great and quick way to add some desirable crunches to those normally mushy plate meals with some equally softly cooked vegetables on the side. Or they are enjoyed simply as snack all over Southeast Asia.
Keropok, as they are called in Singapore and Malaysia, was also a favorite snack of my former loving nanny Auntie Linda who stayed with us for years in Singapore and took care of my twin boys since they were born. She loved to get a bag or two from her trips to local pasar, or wet market, where the sundries stores carry all kinds of sun-dried Asian food ingredients and goodies from the region. As the boys got bigger, she started to share the yummy chips with them, when all of them hanged out with other kids and their nannies for play dates in the community playground. These shrimpy chips carry the memory of not just oceans, but also of humid afternoons and occasional tropical downpours, giddy play dates and all the days and years they munched on keropok together.
When the boys joined me to have some shrimp chips I was munching on, I was already deep in my memory lane for a good 15 minutes, I decided to quit. Curiously, I sneaked a peek at them as they crunched on the chips. I could tell from their face not just that they like the chips, but that they were also remembering, via eating, some precious memory retrieved from their still relatively young life.
