Peranakan Cooking

The Peranakans in Singapore are distinct from their Malaccan cousins in both culinary and social-linguistic cultural practices. Below is a recipe from Okto's airing of the Way of the Matriarch, showcasing Singapore Peranakan culinary culture.

I was quite impressed with the easy and simple recipe for Sotong Sambal, Sambak Kangkong, Nasi Lemak, Sambal Timun, and Sambal Telor -- I had expected Peranakan cooking to be both laborious and tiring !

Unfortunately I was unable to record the series, and a search for the recipes on its website proved futile. Seems that the site is not updated with the recipes yet.

Anyhow, except for the sotong sambal recipe, which I had jotted down hurriedly while watching the program, the other recipes were culled from past episodes at the site:

Sotong Sambal: 4 spice items - candlenut, blachan, shallots, red chillies, made into a paste in a blender, then fried in hot oil until fragrant. Add the sotong, then 1 tbl assam or tamarind juice in 1/2 cup hot water, finally add 1 tbl sugar and salt to taste. How easy is that, huh ?


RECIPE for GOURMET HUNT Ep 3 - Satay

Chicken Satay

Ingredients:
900 grams boneless chicken
200 grams palm sugar
One tablespoon sugar
One teaspoon tamarind pulp
Half cup water
One-and-a-half teaspoon salt
Three-and-and half tablespoon coriander seeds or two-and-a-half tablespoon ground coriander
5 tablespoon vegetable oil

To pound:
2 stalks fresh lemongrass or one teaspoon powdered lemongrass
60 grams galangal (or blue ginger)
One fresh read chilli
150 grams of onions

Method:
1. Cut chicken into small one-cm cubes.
2. Melt palm sugar over low hear with quarter cup water. Strain and discard grit. Mix tamarind pulp with quarter cup water, knead and sieve to discard fibres and seeds.
3. Toast coriander on medium heat in an oven till fragrant.
4. Peel galangal. Use only the bottom 5cm of the lemongrass. Pound or grind the galangal, lemongrass, chilli and shallots.
5. Mix with the palm sugar, white sugar, salt, tamarind water and coriander powder.
6. String three pieces of meat to a skewer and marinate in the spice for at least 10 hours.
7. Barbecue over glowing coals till cooked and browned.


Peanut sauce

Mixture to pound:
15 grams fresh galangal
15 dried chillies
3 cloves garlic, peeled
one tablespoon shrimp paste
30 grams shallots or onions, peeled

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
3 quarter teaspoon salt
one stalk lemon grass
1/2 tablespoon curry powder
One cup toasted peanuts, pounded fine
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
60 grams tamarind
2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Sauce Preparation:
1. Mix tamarind pulp with water and strain for juice
2. Pound or grind spice mixture till fine
3. Fry spice mixture in hot oil till fragrant. Add remaining ingredients, stirring well.


RECIPE for GOURMET HUNT Ep 8 – Fish Head Curry

Ingredients:
4 tbsp fish head curry
salt to taste
1 sprig curry leaves
1 red chilli
1 green chilli
½ onion – slice thick
1 clove garlic – slice
1 medium sized fresh tomato – to be used whole
½ cup water
2 tbsp tamarind – add 3 cups water, mix & strain to get tamarind juice
8-10 ladies fingers – slit lengthwise
1 medium sized fish head weighing about 900g – rub with salt & wash thoroughly
1 cup grated coconut (optional_ - add ½ cup water & extract equal amount of milk

Ingredients to be fried:
2 tsp fish curry spices
1 sprig curry leaves
1 medium sized onion
3 tbsp cooking oil

Method:
1. Put in curry powder, salt, curry leaves, chillies, onion, garlic and tomato in a medium sized bowl. Add water.
2. Using a spoon or your hand, coarsely crush the chillies and tomato, then add tamarind juice to get a watery mixture. Set aside.
3. Heat oil, add ingredients to be fried and fry 1-2 seconds then add ladies fingers and fry till fragrant.
4. Pour in curry mixture and keep pot covered till it is boiling. This is important to prevent the curry from tasting uncooked.
5. Add fish head. If coconut milk is used, add when curry is boiling then bring back to the boil before adding fish head. Boil fish head till it is cooked.

RECIPE for GOURMET HUNT Ep 8 – Laksa

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of oil
2 cups of coconut milk
100 grams of prawns, shelled
100 grams of squid, cleaned, skinned and sliced
6 fresh scallops (optional)
6 cakes dried deep-fried beancurd
Salt and pepper to taste
200 grams of fresh rice-flour noodles, blanched in boiling water, or dried rice
vermicelli, soaked to soften
1 cup of beansprouts
2 sprigs laksa leaf, chopped roughly
6 quail’s eggs or 1 hen’s egg, hard-boiled and peeled
2 tablespoons of fried shallots

Spice Paste:
12 shallots
4 cloves garlic
6 candlenuts
5 cm ginger
4 red chillies
2 tablespoons of dried prawns, soaked to soften
1 teaspoon of dried shrimp paste
2 stalks of lemongrass

Method:
1. Prepare the spice paste. Chop the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ginger and chillies coarsely.
2. Blend or process with the dried prawns and a little of the oil until fine.
3. Mix in the curry powder and dried shrimp paste, blend for a few seconds longer, then set aside with the lemon grass.
4. Heat the remaining oil in a wok.
5. Add the spice paste and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes until the paste is fragrant.
6. Add coconut milk and chicken stock and bring to the boil, stirring.
7. Put in all the seafood and the beancurd and simmer until it is cooked. Then, season to taste. To serve, divide the noodles and beansprouts among 4-6 bowls. Top with the coconut milk gravy, eggs and sprinkle with laksa leaf and fried shallots.

I can't wait to try out the recipes ! Unfortunately I am behind schedule in my website design and development for the launch of my photo gallery. As the gallery will also feature photo album layout story book-style I am delving into the intricacies of photo album layout and design. I hope to keep a collection of resource materials and artwork so that laying out photo albums in future will take precious little time.

Meanwhile, instant noodles and canned food for me na until I have time to whip up delicious nonya meals.