My culinary journey

Photos: Passport & Plate - Flavourful Nasi Lemak

tulip80 — Tue, 3 Mar 2015 23:00:00 GMT

Ingredients
This recipe is proportioned for 2-3 persons

For the curry:
400g of chicken breasts
180ml of thick coconut milk
30ml of water (this amount depends on how thick you want the curry to be)
2-3 sticks of galangal (to give the sweet nodes to the curry)
2-4 candle nuts (to thicken the paste and give it a smooth, silky texture)
8-10 red chilies
7-8 shallots
3 tablespoons of peanut oil
Salt and sugar to taste

Garnishing:
2-3 hard boiled eggs
1 cup of peanuts, fried or roasted
1 cup of anchovies (ikan bilis -local Malay term), fried until crispy
1/2 sliced cucumber
2 slices of pineapple (optional)

For the rice:
2 cups of basmati rice
21/2 cups of water
2-3 Screwpine leaves/Pandan leaves (optional)(This gives a fragrant smell to the rice)

How to prepare this recipe
Method:

For the rice:
--Rinse your rice and drain. Soak for about 10-15 minutes before putting on fire to cook.
-Add the water, a pinch of salt, and the pandan leaves into the rice.
-Cook on low heat for about 30 minutes until fluffy white.

For the curry:
-Slice the onions, galangal and red chilies finely
-The diced onions, galangal, chilies and candle nuts are added together with a little water to be blended. Put the paste away after blending in the food processor.
-Heat the pan with oil and fry the paste until fragrant.
-Slowly add in the coconut milk and stir until the mixture is thick.
-Add the slices of chicken meat into the gravy and let it simmer until the meat is tender.

Garnishing:
-Slice the hard boiled eggs into halves and put aside
-For the anchovies, rinse and drain the water. In a clean pan, pour some oil and fry the anchovies until they turn light brown. Put them aside.
-For the cucumber, cut it thinly into slices

Once the rice is cooked, serve with chicken curry, cucumber slices, fried peanuts, pineapple and hard-boiled eggs.

The story behind this recipe
Most of the world's greatest cuisines arise from the principle of mélange, just as this dish which I share. My flavourful "Nasi Lemak", Malaysia's national dish, is essentially a mix of Indian & Thai curries, deliciously dribbled with local ingredients such as roasted peanuts and fiery red chilies, although surprisingly, each garnishing is separated on the big plate. The cauldron of flavors, from the spiciness of the chilies, to the nuttiness of peanuts is rounded with the sweet nodes of coconut milk. The structure of the fragrant rice is memorable. It is slightly sticky and its smell from the screwpine leaves, distinctive. You eat it with your hand, taking a scoop of rice and mixing it together with the thick, spicy, gravy of the chicken curry. When a tingling sensation is felt on your tongue or throat, quickly take a bite off the smooth, cool hard-boiled egg and cucumber slices. As a child, I used this technique of gobbling eggs to extinguish the spiciness to great effects. It was a phenomenon: my first experience of "Nasi Lemak"

My infatuation with "Nasi Lemak" is more than this because there is an intimate relationship between food and man. I remembered arriving in Belgium on a cold autumn evening. This was my first time spending 18 months and more than 10,000km apart from family. After some days in Ghent, classmates decided to do the pub crawl to get to know the city better. It was during that night, that I met Jonathan. It was a cordial encounter, so I invited him over for dinner. I soon realized that with my limited culinary skills, I needed a dish to impress . "Nasi Lemak" is best eaten in autumn and winter. Hearty food to see optimistic misanthropes through to spring. The curry with rice was a glorious combination to make it to a man's heart! We are now married and "Nasi Lemak" is still as desirable as ever. I have to eat now, because thinking about "Nasi Lemak" gets me hungry....

Photos: Carolyn

tulip80 — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 00:05:00 GMT

My photos

Photos: Passport & Plate - Nyonya Babi Pongteh

tulip80 — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 07:12:00 GMT

Ingredients 800g pork shoulder/chicken breasts (cut into cubes) 15 pieces of shallots
8 pieces of cloves
2 cinnamon sticks (approximately 4cm each)
4 tablespoons of fermented soya beans
10 pieces of potatoes (each cut into quarters)
50g palm sugar (Gula Melaka)
2 tablespoons of dark soya sauce
6 tablespoons of peanut/sunflower oil
200ml of water
10 Shiitake mushrooms
Salt to taste
Spring onions (as garnish)

How to prepare this recipe
This recipe serves 4-6 persons

Method:
1. In a wok, stir fry blended shallots and cloves in vegetable oil over low heat till translucent and aromatic.
2. Add fermented soya bean paste and stir fry until mixture is semi-dry, intensely aromatic, and golden brown. Reduce heat to low to prevent burning.
3. Add pork marinade with dark soya sauce into the wok. Increase heat slightly to medium. Stir-fry for about 10 minutes until the meat and mixture is semi-dry and intensely aromatic.
4. Deglaze wok with 200ml of water.
5. Add Shiitake mushrooms and potatoes. If using dried Shiitake mushrooms, they must be soaked overnight so that the mushrooms expand in size.
6. Finally, when the mix is simmering, add in the palm sugar and stir gently.
7. Cover the pot and let the stew simmer, adding more water when necessary, until pork is tender but still has some bite. This should take about 2 hours. Serve hot with rice.

I am a Chinese Straits born from Melaka, a sleepy hollow city, south east of Kuala Lumpur. When I was young, Babi Pongteh was one of my favorites as my Grandma was a great cook, always stirring up mouth-watering delicacies. If you are from Peranakan descent, cooking skills are most valued in a woman and it is the duty of the mother to impart these skills to her daughter. Recipes are almost family heirlooms and every family will have their own style of cooking a particular dish, and these methods are often closely guarded secrets. As a child (at the age of 7), I was taught how to prepare the ingredients for the Peranakan dishes (just like a sous chef) but the main task of cooking was always done by the most experienced member of the family. Until I was 20 years old, I was still performing the task of the sous chef. Fast forward to 8 years later, I was given a scholarship to do a Masters in Food Science, Technology & Nutrition in Belgium, Portugal and Germany. Before I left home, I always took my culture and heritage for granted. However, being 10000 km from home made me rediscover my own culture and intricate cuisine. Having no one who knew how to cook Babi Pongteh drove me to learn how to cook this dish. I called home every time I attempted to cook the Babi Pongteh, making it now a dish I can say that I have learnt to cook to perfection. From the cut of the meat to the intense smell of spices, every bite of this dish yields a burst of flavor so good that it triggers a flood of memories and make me remember all my childhood days with my grandmother in the kitchen. And now, Iam sharing this recipe to ensure that this food is known, enjoyed and the culture preserved for many years to come. Italy amazes me because of its long lasting culinary history and rich food culture. As the Peranakan clan is getting smaller and smaller, I would like to explore and understand how the Italians’ traditions are preserved. In a culture where people live to eat, I am certainly intrigue to experience the various senses, marrying my mixed Peranakan culture with Southern European congeniality.