Foodelicious

Nyonya Main Cuisine

12:21 AM |

Juliana Foo Li Lynn

0111251@kdu-online.com

Last week, we have introduced a delicious Chinese cuisine which is called the Poon Choi. As for continuing the Nyonya dessert, we will be introducing some extraordinary yet known by all Malaysian, which is the Nyonya Cuisine.

Now, I will be starting off by introducing one of the famous Nyonya main dishes in Malaysia which is known as Ayam Pongteh, a soybean-based chicken stew with mushroom and potatoes. Ayam Pongteh is a Malacca Nyonya dish that is made with chicken, potato with fermented soy bean sauce, mushroom and also Gula Melaka. This dish is definitely a heartwarming and delicious dish, especially for family occasions.

Second on the list, we will be introducing a dish that is one of the most popular dish in the Nyonya cuisine. Nyonya cuisines are always known for their strong aroma in their chili paste. This dish is widely known for its spiciness yet delicious and mouth-watering chili paste. This dish is called Sambal Udang. It is cooked with a mixture of chili paste that is flavoured with Malaysian shrimp paste and also shrimp itself. As alternatives, it can also be cooked together with petai or squid as well. This dish is best served with steaming hot white rice.

Next is another spicy dish from the Nyonya Cuisine. It is called Gulai Tumis or in other words, tamarind fish curry. This dish is cooked with spice paste, ginger flower, ladies fingers and most importantly, stingray. As stingrays are sometimes hard to find, we can replace it with other fishes such as ikan tenggiri (Spanish mackerel) or squid. The curry in this dish is practically hot and sour and it is traditionally famous amongst the Nyonya and Hainanese household in Malaysia. This particular dish can also be served with only rice. In fact, most of the Nyonya dishes are suitable to be served with only steamed hot rice.

Coming up is a dish that every one of you must try if you haven’t got a taste of it. This dish is so mouthwatering that just by looking at the picture itself, you couldn’t resist in having it. It is called the Otak-otak. It is steamed with moist fish custard that is wrapped with banana leaves. It is also one of the famous and iconic Nyonya dish that is filled with the taste of various aromatic herbs, exotic spices and sweet fragrance of rich coconut milk. But one of the secret ingredient in this delicious dish is known as the wild betel leaves or called daun kaduk by the local people.

Lastly is a dish that no Malaysian don’t know of. This dish is especially famous in Penang therefore, some people may mistake it as one of the Chinese Cuisine, but it is actually from the Nyonya Cuisine. This main dish is called, Asam Laksa. Sounds familiar, right? Well, to all Malaysian, if you do not know about it, you are not a true Malaysian. Asam Laksa is so famous that you can almost have it anywhere. But, as the origin of Asam Laksa is from Penang, therefore the best one to have is at Penang itself.

Do you feel hungry now? Well, these are just a few of the most famous Nyonya Cuisine and there is still a whole lot more mouthwatering Nyonya food out there to explore and taste. As for now, thanks a lot for staying with us throughout these few weeks. We sincerely hope that the information and knowledge about the variety of food we shared has opened a whole new world for you, our readers to experience.

Low, Bee Yinn. RASAMALAYSIA. (2015). Nyonya Receipes. Retrieved on 17 October

2015, from http://rasamalaysia.com/recipes/nyonya-recipes/

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The Wonders of Nyonya Cuisine

8:33 PM |

Choo Kar Man

0111524@kdu-online.com

Have you guys ever watched “ Little Nyonya”?

It is a Singapore drama series with the culture of Nyonya as its background. After I completed watching the series, I started to take interest in Nyonya cuisine and began trying out all the dishes. Hence, Nyonya kueh had become one of my favourite food today among the Nyonya cuisine. Have you ever wonder how Nyonya cuisine came by? Baba Nyonya group is the result of the intermarriage of Chinese people from China with the native people of the region settling in Peninsula Malaysia, mainly situated around Malacca in the early 17th century. Therefore, the descendants of these settlement sparked a whole new culture which is the peranakan, also known as the Nyonya.

Same as every culture, food plays a very important role in it. The Nyonya cuisine is influenced by the local Malay cuisines and spices and at the same time incorporates both Malay and Chinese recipes to create an array of delightful dishes and desserts. So now I bet you know how Nyonya cuisine would be. But how about Nyonya Kueh? Nyonya kueh is made from multifarious type of flavourful ingredients such as sweet potatoes, tapioca, palm sugar, coconut milk and pandan leaves. Coconut milk and pandan leaves are considered the main ingredients when it comes to Nyonya kueh as most of the Nyonya kueh will be using both of it. With all the ingredients presented together, the outcome of the Nyonya kueh will be a delightful one when placed on a platter, and can be served during tea time as a sweet dessert or as a part of the menu at festive occasions.

When a Nyonya is cooking

During the old days, the Peranakan girls, also known as Nyonya were trained to sharpen their skills in the culinary art, because they believe that this will lead to a better marriage. So, after the short introduction of the Nyonya culture today, I would like to introduce to you one of my favourite Nyonya kueh, which is the kueh Bingka Ubi Kayu(cassava). Traditionally, the top of the kueh would normally become dark brown and a little bit crusty. This is because in the past, there was no electricity and they have to use charcoal to bake the kueh. In the present day, you can still get the same crusty effect if you bake it in a fan forced oven. The kueh will be light yellow in colour and has a sweet hint due to the coconut milk used. You can even bite into the grated coconut. I would suggest that you use the wooden coconut grater to grate the coconut in the recipe that I am going to share with you all later. “Ahh! That is so troublesome”. I know that this will pop up in your mind immediately but there is no doubt that fresh grated coconut will taste better than the frozen one. Anyhow, the choice is up to you and can still use the frozen one as stated in the recipe.

After the brief introduction of the Nyonya culture and also my favourite kueh Bingka Ubi Kayu, here is the easy recipe for your all. I hope that everyone will have a try at it and have fun!

Kueh Bingka Ubi Kayu

Ingredients:

1kg of finely grated cassava (tapioca)

4 cups of sugar

1 tin of coconut milk and add water to make 1 litre in total

3 heap of tablespoons plain flour

250g of freshly grated coconut

Method:

Mix the grated cassava, grated coconut and flour in a large mixing bowl.

Heat up the coconut milk together with sugar. When the sugar starts to melt, add this mixture into the combined cassava mix. Use a balloon whisk to stir thoroughly.

Lastly pour into a 8”X 8”X 3” tin, either lined with grease proof paper (baking paper) or banana leaves.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 2 hours.

Bee Yinn Low.(2010). Kuih Bengka (Tapioca/Cassava Cake). Retrieved 6 November 2015 from http://rasamalaysia.com/kuih-bengka-tapiocacassava-cake/2/

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Chinese Dessert

4:40 AM |

Lavanya Yong Tze Chung

0111606

Last week, we discussed about how fantastic Indian cuisine was. For now, we will be focusing on Chinese desserts and share to you readers about the mouth-watering and fascinating yet simple Chinese desserts.

This time, we will be kicking off with one of the most famous desserts which is the Tang Yuan. Tang Yuan means re-union and is a Chinese dessert made from glutinous rice flour mixed with water that is shaped into little balls and then served in sweet liquid. Nonetheless, Tang Yuan is a 'must-to-be-eaten' dish during Yuan Xiao, which is also known as the Lantern Festival, Winter Solstice Festival that is called Dongzhi in Mandarin, and also on pre-wedding days for those who are getting married. Moreover, in this 21^st century, Tang Yuan is created using different fillings. Besides, some people still make their own dough during Winter Solstice Festival as it consists of only three simple ingredients and can be done easily. Glutinous rice flour, water and oil are mixed together to form the dough which is then rolled into little round balls and added into the sweet liquid. Different types of filling can be used according to the liquid or soup used such as chocolate, peanut, red bean paste, or sesame paste.

Coming up on the menu is a traditional sweet potato soup cooked with ginger which is beneficial and healthy as ginger contains nutrients that help to keep our body warm, eliminates digestive problems, reduces pain and so forth. Even though the texture of the soup is light, it has a strong tangy taste due to the combination of sweet potato and ginger. Moreover, it is quite easy to prepare this soup at home. Firstly, peel the sweet potato and ginger, and then dice it into small cubes. Later, depending on how sweet is the soup wanted, add in white rock sugar and Pandan leaves accordingly. Let it boil for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the potato are soft enough.

Third on the list is one of the most traditional and popular Chinese desserts, which is the red bean soup. Red bean soup can be served either hot or cold according to the seasons. It is a sweet soup that has different tastes as the result of the mixing of sun-dried tangerine peels, sago, lotus seeds and white rock sugar. Sago and lotus seeds are also frequently found in other Chinese desserts to thicken the texture of the soup. Red bean soup can also be turned into a drink called “hong dou bing.” It is made from red bean soup, sago and ice, and originates from Hong Kong.

Lastly is the Nian Gao which is another dessert eaten during Chinese New Year and DuanWu, also known as the Dragon Boat festival. Nian Gao is made from glutinous rice so the overall texture is a little sticky. The word Nian means ‘gummy’ and Gao means cakes, but it also means tall. Therefore, the Chinese believes that eating Nian Gao during special occasions signifies that you are raising yourself higher in everything you do each year and hoping for a good life ahead of us in the future.

There are many more varieties of delicious and unique Chinese desserts which are really amazing and these are the most popular and iconic ones that we have chosen to share with you, our readers now. Please stay tuned as we strive harder to bring you even more tasty and succulent dishes next week.

Ellen L. (8 September 2013) Red Bean Dessert Soup. Retrieved 10November 2015, from

http://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2013/09/red-bean-desert-soup.html

Foo, Jasmine. (2013) How to Cook Potato Sweet Soup (Chinese Dessert). Retrieved 10 November 2015, from

https://snapguide.com/guides/cook-sweet-potato-soup-chinese-dessert/

Wong, Sharon. (19 February 2015) Lunar New Year: Try This ‘Nian Gao’ Recipe. Retrieved 10 November 2015, from

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/lunar-new-year-try-nian-gao-recipe-n303566

Wiffy. (24 February 2013) Homemade Tang Yuan. Retrieved 10 November 2015, from

http://www.noobcook.com/homemade-tang-yuan/

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Chinese Cuisine: Poon Choi

12:14 AM |

The Poon Choi, which is also spelled as "Pun Choi", is a traditional dish that was once very common in China. It is a dish usually served in large wooden, porcelain or metal basin due to its communal style consumption. The name itself translates to a "big bowl feast".

According to tradition, its origins was invented when the Mongolian army invaded china causing it's young emperor to flee the area. In order to serve the Emperor and his army, the people collectively gathered their best food and cooked it in a large wooden basin due to insufficient serving containers.

The Poon Choi slowly became a traditional dish among the villagers. Furthermore, due to it's large quantity, it is suitable for a communal meal and is served whenever there were celebrations like weddings and festivals.

The ingredients usually used in the Poon Choi are pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, abalone, ginseng, shark fin, fish maw, prawns, crab, and squid. According to the villagers at that time, vegetables are not highly valued ingredients therefore the dish usually includes mostly or only meat and seafood.

When preparing the dish, special attention is given to the layering of the ingredients as it contributes to the taste as it is composed of many different ingredients and the ingredients that absorbs sauces the most are placed at the bottom while the middle is usually filled with the meat and at the top, seafood and other rare ingredients are placed. This allows the sauces at the top to flow to the bottom as the top is eaten.

As the preparation and cooking is tedious work, it requires multiple people to work on the dish which ultimately cultivate teamwork and unity among its chef.

The modern day Poon Choi represents the creativity of the chefs as ingredients change as time passes by to suit the people's taste. This dish is extremely popular during Chinese New Year as it is gimmicked as fortune and unity.

Daryl Justin De Rozario

0106775@kdu-online.com

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Indian Dessert: Putu mayam

6:49 PM |

A Peek into Indian Dessert - Putu mayam

Hi there! Today, I will be continuing last week's topic, which was based on Indian main dishes here in Malaysia. This week, we will know about their dessert. Well, we all know that their desserts were not bad and actually taste good as well just like other dessert that are available here in our home nation, Malaysia. We will start off with one of Malaysian's favorite, Putu mayam.

As we all know, Putu mayam is actually a malay word. It is known as Idiyappam in Tamil and it is a tamil dessert from southern India. It is commonly known in southern India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and also Singapore. The process of making it is rather simple than expected. It mainly consists of mixing rice flour or known as idiyappam flour with water and/or coconut milk. Then, you are required to press the dough through a sieve to make vermicelli-like noodles. These are steamed, and usually it is added with juice from the aromatic pandan leaf or known as screwpine as flavoring. The noodles on the other hand are served with grated coconut or preferably, gur which is date palm sugar.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, it is known as putu piring which is Malaysian version of the same thing. The rice flour dough is used to form a small piece of cake around a filling of coconut and gur or juggery. Same with putu mayam, they are commonly sold as street food from market stalls or carts here in Malaysia and also Singapore. In Indonesia, it is called as Putu mayang and is served with palm sugar added with coconut milk.

It is totally different if we compare it with the ones that in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Right there, it may be eaten for breakfast with the addition of vegetable stew or aviyal, fish curry and so on. But here, it served with some additional things too but we serve it with other sweet stuffs such as gula melaka. Putu mayam or Idiyappam is a typical dish in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other southern Indian states. Sri Lanka were also famous with this dish. It's no surprise that commercial Iddiyapam is sold as a sort of instant way to make all of these dishes came true.

Well, that's all from me. Make sure you tune in to this blog from now on to know about Chinese's main cuisine next week, right here on foodelicious. Ciao!

Putu mayam. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1749_2011-01-05.html

Irwan Nazreen bin Azroie
0110942@kdu-online.com

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Indian Cuisines

10:10 PM |

Muhammad Amir Hakim

0111623@kdu-online.com

A Peek Into Indian Cuisine – Chapatti

In Malaysia, there are many types of races that can be found such as Malay, Indian and Chinese. When it comes to Malaysian cuisine, there are thousands of super fabulous food that we could find in this beloved country. During these times, we have been exposing to all our readers about the wonders of Malay cuisine on both sides which are the main course and the desserts. Those food that were being posted seems to be so delicious. As for this week, we will be highlighting on the main course that is related to Indian cuisine which is the very well-known flatbread, Chapatti.

Chapatti is originally from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Chapatti is also known as Phulka, Roti and Poli. It also spelled as Chapathi and Chappati. Some people said that each country has their own style of making Chapatti. Basically, Chapatti is made up of wheat. For the Indian people, Chapatti is an important dish as rice for us. One of the oldest versions of Chapatti came from the North India. Next, the word “chapat” in Hindu means ‘to slap’. This is because the traditional way to make rounded shape is by slapping the dough between the cooker’s palms of the hands. With each slap, the round of dough is rotated.

In the Indian country, Chapatti is mostly served with curry. People in Malaysia eat Chapatti in many ways. Normally, the ‘mamak’ stall will serve the customers as the traditional way in which the Chapatti is served with curry or dhal. In the other way, Malaysian people also eat Chapatti with red spicy sauce or we called it as ‘sambal’. As we all know that Chapatti is a nutritious and low calorie food, people that are on diet are usually advised to have Chapatti as their breakfast or snack. The way the Chapatti is cooked made it more healthy compared to other types of bread as it is cooked in a dry way without having to use cooking oil.

Notice that all of the ingredients being used to make a Chapatti are very healthy and easy to get in most supermarket here in Malaysia. The main ingredient that you should have is the whole wheat sieved flour or ‘Atta’ wheat. ‘Atta’ is made from Indian wheat and it is more fine compared to the western-style wheat flours. Next is a cup of water; it depends on the quantity of Chapatti that you want to make. Optionally, you can put a pinch of salt if you want the taste to be slightly salty.

Besides of not using cooking oil in its cooking process, Chapatti is also cooked traditionally without using any pinch of salt. The reason that it is prepared this way is to ensure the taste of Chapatti which is to be served with spicy gravy such as curry. It is easy to prepare and to cook Chapatti. Firstly, after the dough is completely prepared, they will be formed into round balls. The balls were formed by pressing the dough between the palms of the hands as mentioned earlier. After this stage is completed, the rounded balls will then be turned into disc shaped which are then dipped into flour and rolled out on a circular rolling board using the rolling stick. After that, it will turn into a perfect circle. Then, at this stage, the perfect circle dough will finally be thrown on the preheated griddle and cooked on both sides.

Finally, the Chapatti is ready to be served. If one wants to make it more delicious and moist, the Chapatti surface can be brushed on with ghee or melted butter. However, it is best to eat them using the old style which is without having to put on the ghee as to preserve its traditional taste.

Tune in next week as we will be bringing you more about the wonderful and mouth-watering Indian cultured food.

[1] Dash, M. (2015). Food Story: How India’s favourite flatbread Roti was born.

The Indian Express. Retrieved from

http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/food-story-how-indias-favourite-flatbread-roti-was-born/

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Malay Desserts

5:14 AM |

Kong Lian Jiek

0111539@kdu-online.com

Title: The Wonders of Malay Cuisine ( Desserts Edition )
Last week on Foodelicious, we have shared about the iconic Malay main dish which is the Nasi Ulam and of course; that is not the end of it certainly. I have lived with this very principle for as long as I can remember and now, I wish to share it with all of you guys out there who is reading this blog. "There is no such thing as a complete meal if there is no dessert on the table". Many of you would have agreed with me and can relate to it well as desserts is a must in our daily lives. Hence, here are some of the most popular desserts or 'kuih' in the Malay culture that we can savor and feast upon in Malaysia.

Ais Kacang

Ais kacang, literally means "ice beans" are also commonly known as ABC throughout Malaysia, which stands for Air Batu Campur. This dessert is also well-known in Singapore and Brunei. Ais kacang is usually prepared traditionally by using an ice machine which churns out shaved ice and is operated through hand cranking it although many has seems to move on with the technology era and most of the ice machine now are often motorized.

During the old times, it was originally made out of only shaved ice and red beans as the toppings though the number of ingredients has now expanded. The ais kacang that we can see today has brighter colours and it comes with a variety of fruit cocktails and dressings to accompany it. In Malaysia, almost all ais kacang is served with :

attap chee (palm seed)
red beans
sweet corn
grass jelly
agar-agar (jelly/nata de coco)
ice-cream

After that, it is topped with the final dressing of evaporated milk, condensed milk or coconut milk drizzled along with red rose syrup and sarsi syrup. There are also different versions of ais kacang that are served with gula melaka syrup instead.

Apam Balik

Apam balik, translated into English which is "Turnover Pancake" is a type of griddle pancake that is common in the Southeast Asia. It is usually sold at specialist roadside stalls and is available throughout Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.

The pancake's batter is made from a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, baking soda, coconut milk and water. After preparing the the batter, it is then cooked upon a thick round iron pan which is covered plenty with palm margarine to avoid the batter from sticking onto the surface of the pan during the cooking process.

After the batter is poured in, other ingredients will be sprinkled in as the fillings which includes :

sugar
peanut granules

The ingredients above are the main and most common of all though more and more people are starting to put in chocolate sprinkles and cheese as the alternate flavours nowadays. Apam balik also has another name, which is called the "terang bulan" due to its shape which is big and round before it is folded. After folding, it is then cut into several pieces before sold. In Malaysia, the apam balik has been declared a heritage food by the Malaysian Department of National Heritage and is widely enjoyed by all who loves its crispy texture.

Dodol

Dodol is a sweet toffee-like confection that originated from Nusantara and is popular in most of Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. In these countries, dodol are commonly served during festival like Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as sweet treats for children and to those who came to visit. In Malaysia, dodol is quite popular especially amongst the Javanese-influenced eastern states, such as Kelantan and Terengganu.

Dodol is made from coconut milk, jaggery and rice flour hence its stickiness, thickness and sweetness. Dodol also consists of many other flavours such as dodol durian which contains durian. There is also dodol that has soursop and jackfruit in it.

The process of cooking dodol is absolutely not an easy task as it requires a lot of attention and patience while preparing it. It takes up to 9 hours for the cooking and the dodol must always be stirred while in the big wok. Even a brief pause can ruin the taste and aroma of the dodol or worse, causing it to burn. When the dodol is completely cooked, it is firm and does not stick to one's fingers when touching it.

Process of cooking dodol

Join us next time as we, the writers of Foodelicious continue to bring you more mouth-watering and savoring food posts all across the states.

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Nyonya Main Cuisine

The Wonders of Nyonya Cuisine

Chinese Dessert

Chinese Cuisine: Poon Choi

Indian Dessert: Putu mayam

Indian Cuisines

Malay Desserts