Kompia (光餅)

This is another Foochow specialties ~ Kompia (光餅) (the name of the pastry in Foochow dialect). Another must eat item when I go back home to Sarawak. I noticed I posted lotsa Foochow food lately :P (And I'm not Foochow btw but I grow up in Sarikei town; My dialect is Xinhui). There's lotsa Foochow people in Sarikei and Sibu town in Sarawak. So, I ate all these Foochow related products/food since young and I have lotsa Foochow friends. I bought few packets to bring back together with me to Peninsular Malaysia and I finished eating it the next day :P

The bigger kompia shown in the picture is the sweet version of kompia ~ it's bigger, light & fluffy. The smaller kompia in the picture is the salty version of kompia ~ Smaller and harder. There's a hole in the centre of this pastry. It's nice to eat when served hot but hard when the pastry is cold. The pastry can be stuffed with meat/char siew and other ingredients as well. And it can be soaked in gravy as well to give a better taste.

The crispy kongpia stuffed with ingredients (meat)

There's many different ways to eat these kompia. Some prefer it dry, some like it wet or soaked with gravy, some want it to be crispy or stuffed with ingredients.. It all depends on individuals.

These kompia is widely available in towns or cities with Foochow communities, eg. Sibu and Sarikei town in Sarawak and Sitiawan in Peninsular Malaysia. However, nowadays, kompia is available in other town in Sarawak as well due to influx of Foochow communities to those areas.

Some facts about Kompia (I get this piece of info from CooknEngr, my fellow foochow friend) ~ Kompia 光餅, a Foochow special was invented by a general "Chee Sheek Kuong" back in the Ming dynasty. The hole in the center is for the convenience of running a string through so that the warrior can hang a roll of Kompias on their neck. Fighting and taking a Kompia break at the same time.

"繼光餅，這個小名光餅的口糧，傳說是明大將軍戚繼光為打倭寇所發明，光餅中間一圓圈，可串起讓士兵掛於胸前，戰時隨時補充體力"