Malaysian chef offers up a bite of Baba Nyonya culture

KUALA LUMPUR - One weekend in the kitchen of her restaurant during the early hours of the morning, Karen Tee Kwee Ling is busy preparing cakes for her hordes of breakfast customers.

Tee, along with her mother Linda Yau Sew Luan and several other workers, turn out hundreds of traditional cakes and desserts, collectively known as kuih to Malaysians, but the infusion of unique ingredients from her "Baba Nyonya" background makes her handmade confections stand out from the rest.

The Baba Nyonya are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who came to the Malay Peninsula centuries ago and have developed a unique culture, blending Chinese and Malay elements.