Peranakan cuisine Facts for Kids

Chicken with keluak nuts, a special Peranakan dish

Peranakan cuisine is also called Nyonya cuisine. It comes from the Peranakan people. These are descendants of early Chinese people who moved to places like Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and Indonesia. They married local Malay people. In Baba Malay, a Peranakan woman is called a nonya (or nyonya). A Peranakan man is called a baba. This special food mixes Chinese, Malay, Javanese, and South Indian cooking styles.

What is Peranakan Food?
List of Nyonya Dishes
Images for kids
See also

What is Peranakan Food?

Nyonya cooking mixes Chinese ingredients with special spices and cooking methods from Malay and Indonesian people. This makes Peranakan food taste tangy, aromatic, spicy, and herbal. Peranakans also adopted some Malay dishes, like assam fish and beef rendang.

Key Ingredients in Nyonya Cooking

Some important ingredients are coconut milk and galangal. Galangal is a root like ginger but with a mild mustard smell. Candlenuts are used for flavor and to make dishes thicker. Other key items include laksa leaf, pandan leaves, belachan (a shrimp paste), tamarind juice, lemongrass, and torch ginger bud. You'll also find jicama, kaffir lime leaves, and cincalok. Cincalok is a strong, sour, salty shrimp sauce. It is often mixed with lime juice, chilies, and shallots. People eat it with rice.

Regional Differences in Nyonya Food

Nyonya cooking changes a bit depending on the region. Dishes from Penang, in northern Malaysia, have Thai influences. They use more tamarind and other sour ingredients. Food from Singapore and Malacca shows more Indonesian influence. They use more coconut milk.

A good example is laksa, a spicy noodle soup. Penang has asam laksa, which is sour. Singapore and southern Malaysia have laksa lemak, which uses coconut milk.

The Secret of Rempah

The taste of laksa and other Nyonya dishes comes from the rempah. This Malay word means spices. Different spices are pounded together into a paste. This is done with a mortar and pestle. The paste needs a very specific texture. People say a Nyonya mother could tell how good a new daughter-in-law was at cooking just by listening to her prepare rempah.

Nyonya recipes are passed down through families. Preparing these dishes takes a lot of time. So, this food often tastes best when made and eaten at home. Laksa is one of the few exceptions that is also popular to eat outside.

Popular Nyonya Dishes

Some famous Nyonya dishes include otak-otak. This is a mix of fish, coconut milk, chili paste, galangal, and herbs. It is wrapped in a banana leaf. Ayam buah keluak is a special chicken dish. It uses nuts from the kepayang tree to make a rich sauce. Itek tim is a classic soup. It has duck, tomatoes, green peppers, salted vegetables, and sour plums cooked slowly together.

Nyonya desserts are often colorful cakes called kue. They are also known for sweet, sticky treats.

List of Nyonya Dishes

Achar: Pickled meats and vegetables. Examples include achar keat-lah (honey lime) and achar timun (cucumber).
Apam balik or terang bulan: A bread-like puff with sugar, corn, and nuts inside.
Asam laksa: A sour and spicy noodle soup. It has fish (usually mackerel), tamarind, and daun kesum. Toppings include onion, mint, and pineapple. A dollop of sweet fermented shrimp paste is often added. This is a signature dish of Penang.
Ayam buah keluak: A chicken or pork rib stew. It is cooked with nuts from the kepayang tree. The nut's contents are taken out, cooked with spices, put back in the nuts, and then braised with the meat.
Ayam/babi pongteh: A stew of chicken or pork. It is cooked with tauchu (fermented soy beans) and gula melaka (palm sugar). It tastes salty-sweet. Pork is often used, like a Peranakan version of Chinese braised pork belly.
Babi assam: A pork stew cooked with tamarind juice.
Bak chang: Nyonya-style zongzi (rice dumplings). They are similar to Chinese zongzi. The filling is usually minced pork with candied winter melon and roasted peanuts. The blue butterfly pea flower is used to color the rice blue.
Bubur cha cha: A sweet dessert made with sago, sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, and coconut milk. It can be served hot or cold.
Cap cai or chap chye: Stir-fried vegetables. The Nyonya version adds tauchu and dried shrimp.
Chendol: An iced sweet dessert. It has green rice flour jelly, coconut milk, and palm sugar syrup.
Cincalok: A Malay sauce made from fermented tiny shrimp, salt, and rice.
Cincaru: A small fish, deep-fried and stuffed with spicy sambal belacan.
Enchi kebin: Deep-fried chicken pieces. They are marinated in coconut milk and rempah (spices).
Itek tim or kiam chhai ak thng: A soup with duck, preserved mustard greens, and cabbage. It is flavored with nutmeg, Chinese mushrooms, tomatoes, and peppercorns.
Jiu hu char: A dish with shredded vegetables like turnip or jicama, carrot, and cabbage. It is fried with thin dried cuttlefish.
Kari kapitan: A Penang Nyonya chicken curry. Key ingredients include kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk.
Kerabu bi hun: A salad with rice vermicelli. It is mixed with sambal belachan, lime juice, and chopped herbs.
Laksa lemak: A type of laksa served in a rich coconut gravy. It comes with prawns, cockles, lime, and a dollop of sambal belacan.
Lam mee: Long yellow noodles cooked in a rich gravy made from prawn and chicken stock. It is often served at birthdays to wish someone a long life.
Lumpia: A fresh spring roll with a thin pastry skin.
Masak titik: A vegetable soup that uses a lot of white peppercorns. One version uses watermelon rind. Another uses green or semi-ripe papaya.
Mee siam: A dish of fried thin rice vermicelli with a spicy gravy.
Nasi kunyit: A sticky rice dish seasoned with turmeric powder, coconut milk, and asam gelugor. It is often served with chicken curry and pink-dyed hard-boiled eggs as gifts for a baby's one-month celebration.
Ngo hiang: A fried meat roll. It is made from spiced minced pork and chopped water chestnuts. These are rolled in soya bean curd sheets and deep-fried. It is usually served with a thick broth and chili sauce.
Otak-otak: A dish with fish pieces wrapped in banana leaves. There are two main types: one is a mix of fish and spice paste wrapped in banana leaves and grilled.
Pempek: Deep-fried fish balls. There are many kinds, like kapal selam which has an egg inside.
Perut ikan: A spicy stew. It mainly has vegetables and herbs. Its special taste comes from fish bellies preserved in salty water and daun kaduk (wild pepper leaf). This is a classic Penang Nyonya dish.
Pai ti: A thin, crispy pastry tart shell. It is filled with a spicy, sweet mix of thinly sliced vegetables and prawns.
Rendang: A spicy meat stew. It comes from the Minangkabau cuisine and was adopted by Peranakans.
Seh bak: A dish of pork loin. It is marinated overnight with herbs and spices. Then, it is cooked slowly until very tender.
Swikee: A Peranakan frog leg soup. It is popular in towns like Jatiwangi and Purwodadi in Java, Indonesia.
Tu tɵ́ thng: Literally "pig stomach soup". This dish needs a skilled cook to clean the ingredients well before cooking. Its main parts are pig stomach and white peppercorns.
Udang masak lemak nenas: A sour and sweet shrimp dish with various spices.