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pensggs
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 155
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 Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 3:41 pm Post subject: Nonya foods |
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| Do you have any tales from your family? |
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slcheang
Joined: 21 Oct 2006
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 10:50 am Post subject: |
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| not my family personally. Know a friend whose mum cooks excellent nyonya food. If you like strong flavours and spices etc then nyonya comes second to none. just wish there's a nyonya restaurant out here in Bristol. |
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luke
Site Admin
Joined: 28 Nov 2005
Posts: 62
Location: London
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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| just came back from eating at a nyonya restaurant (called nyonya) in notting hill. can't really judge how authentic it was, but the food was quite good. lots of dried shrimp, which for some can be an acquired taste! |
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burntbread
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 37
Location: London
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| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 10:29 am Post subject: |
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| What are the main features of nyonya food? |
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pensggs
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 11:38 am Post subject: Nonya foods |
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Nonya cuisine evolved from an organic fusion of the meeting of cultures created by trade, in the former British Straits Settlement of Penang, Singapore and Malacca.
Nonya cuisine, sometimes, also called Peranakan Cuisine; defers slightly at each location. Nonya cuisine charts the history of changing influences on eating habits and tastes in each location.
The main influences in Nonya cuisine are Southern Indian cuisine (e.g Achars); Malay (local spices); Eurasian(Portugal, Holland and Britain); Southern China (Teochew, Hokkein, Hainanese, and Cantonese).
The 'Satays' is a great example of this fusion. The barbeque method of street food existed in Southern China (known as skewered fired cooked). The seasoning is local spices; and the use of soy, spices , chillies and peanuts is a fusion of various cultures.
The 'Jiw Who Char' is the fusion of Fukein (Hokkein) style of cooking, using local ingredients, however served in a lettuce wrap. The use of raw vegetables are a western influence.
The Nonya 'kueh', which is a dying skill, is the range of little bites and cakes. The use of coconut, glutinous rice, long-grain rice, green bean flour, and wheat flour, are all featured here. The combination of savoury and sweet delicacies, illustrated the fusion of the cultures from China, India, Malaysia and European.
Dishes like 'Sambal Udang'; sambal is an Indian word; Udang is a Malay word. Slow cooking and lengthy preparation are features in Nonya cuisine, and being a 'home orientated cuisine', it is not easily translated into 'mass catering recipes'. Therefore, there are very few professional nonya chefs.
The word 'Nonya' is a word for 'the woman of the house'; from the intermarriages of the 'Baba and Nonya', whereby Chinese male immigrants took on Malay wives. These Malay wives tried to provide good home cooked meals for their husbands, mix and match their local cuisines with that of their husbands; thereby the first start of the 'Nonya cuisine' which is a 'home-style' cuisine. |
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pensggs
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:30 pm Post subject: Nonya Foods |
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Examples of Dishes
Sambal: Sambal Udang(Dried Prawn Chillied Pate), Sambal Belachan(Fresh red chillies and anchovy pesto), Sambal Kiam Hu (Chillied Dried Salted Fish Paste); Sambal Ikan Bilis ( Chilled Sun Dried Anchovies)
Kerabus (Salads): Kerabu Hai Tay ( Jellyfish Salad); Kerabu Mee Hoon ( Rice vermicilli salad); Kerabu Kay Kah (Chicken Feet salad); Kerabu Bok Nee ( Black Fungus Salad); Kerabu Kacang Botol ( Wing Bean Salad)
These salads uses aromatic spices, scented leaves, fresh chillies, limes, belachan (anchovy paste) and He Kol ( essense of prawns); Kerabu Timun ( Cucumber Salad); Kerabu Taugeh (Beansprouts Salad); Kerabu Jantung Pisang (Banana Flower Salad)
Main Course Dishes; Jiu Who Char (mixed vegetables with shredded cuttlefish); Chap Chay (Nonya Chop-suey);Jiu Who Eng Chai (Fresh Cuttlefish and Morning Glory); Char Swee ( Nonya sweet and sour dish); Masam Pedas ( Sweet and Sour Fish Curry with Pineapple); Kak Tow Char Huan Cheo ( Lady's fingers fried with anchovy chilli paste) Kam Chai ARk ( Duck and Salted Vegetable STew); Perut Ikan (Pickled Fish Stomach with Herbs and Vegetable Curry); Kari Capitan (Capitan Curry); Kari Kay (Nonya Chicken Curry); Inche Kabin (Nonya Fried Chicken); Belachan Kay
(chicken marinated with anchovy paste); Ayam Sioh ( Chicken with sweet, sour and spicy sauce); Hong Bah ( Pork slowed cooked with aromatic spices); Tau Eu Bak (Slow cooked soy sauce pork); Loh Bak ( aromatic pork rolls); Gulai Tumis ( Hot and Sour Curry)Assam Heh( Grilled Prawns in Shells marinated with chillies and tamarind);Sambal Petai ( Prawn and Stink Bean Curry); Hu Chee Rumpah ( Chillied Stuffed Makerel); Nasi Ulam ( Rice salad with various herbs); Nasi Lemak ( Coconut milk rice ); Rice Kunyit ( Tumeric glutinous rice); Asam Laksa ( Rice noodles in Hot and Sour Fish Soup); Curry Mee ( also known as Singapore Laksa in the West); Char Kueh tueh ( Quick woked fresh rice noodles); Pasembut ( also known as Gado-Gado)
Kuehs : Angku (Soi Kua in Cantonese);Bee Koh (Glutinous sweet rice); Kow Chan Kuih ( Rice flour layered cake); Seri Muka ( glutinous rice with coconut custard on top) Kaya ( jam made with eggs and coconut milk); Kueh Talam ( glutinous rice flour with coconut pandan custard); Ondeh Ondeh ( Sweet glutinous rice balls filled with palm sugar); Pulut Inti ( Fragrant ( voilet stained) glutinous rice with fresh grated coconut jam);Rempah Udang ( Spiced glutinous rice rolls); Kueh Tayap ( Pandan scented pancake filled with fresh grated coconut jam); Chai Tow Kueh ( Delicacies made with grated mooli topped with peanuts and dried prawns); Or Kueh ( grated yam steamed with rice flour topped with chillies, peanuts and chives.); Kueh Bengka ( cakes made from tapioca)
Hope the above gives you an idea of the width and depth of the Nonya cuisine |
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burntbread
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 37
Location: London
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| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Sounds great. Please let us know if you have any recommended nyonya restaurants in the UK. |
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pensggs
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 3:36 pm Post subject: nonya food |
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Cheapest in London; the canteen at Malaysian Hall, somewhere off Marble Arch and Edgeware Road. ( for Nonya kueh).
Apologises, cannot recommend any decent Nonya restaurants as I find most wanting. This is because it is a home style cuisine, and production in a commercial environment losses in quality and authencity.
The use of commercially produced sauces by restaurants also causes the lost of quality.
Recommend a cookery book 'Nonya Flavours' published by The State Chinese (Penang) Asssocaition & Star Publications (M) Bhd. |
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