The Food Canon

It is a joy to be able to get back to "community cooking" in this new church I am serving in. As I have said elsewhere, it is a familiar environment that I grew up with where I am very much at home.

We ran the Alpha Introductory Dinner recently and made a decision to offer "home-cooked" dinner. This article serves as cooking notes for  myself and the team and I am sure, you will find helpful as well.

As I have recently learned to prepare Nasi Ulam, I thought a Malay or Nonya themed dinner will be nice for the occasion.

And if you check your Nonya cookbooks, including the magisterial "Cooking for the President," (a great cookbook!) you may drop all considerations of making it because at first glance, it sure looks complicated and redoubtable.  

"Nasi" means rice and "ulam" means salad. The key is to dial it down to something you will consider making for your daily dinners. Bear in mind that for the humble Malay Kampung home, their Nasi Ulam basically uses herbs and dried seafood that are available off their larder or garden. Sometimes, it is just using leftover herbs. Eat it with some sambal belachan and it will be sedap all the way.

There are many types of Ayam Goreng and I hardly stick to a fixed recipe, apart from being consistent with a few basics behind a good fried chicken Malay style.

This latest recipe is quickly becoming one of my favourite for its simplicity and great results.

I have been making it as a side dish with Nasi Ulam, a recipe which I will be blogging soon.

I have always been curious about the "crispies" that I see on the Ayam Goreng which is served in Malay stalls in Malaysia. After some conversations with makciks (they are always friendly and willing to share their tips...some will even let me see who they cook them in their kitchens!) I finally figured out that it came from blended or pounded ginger. The blended ginger sticks to the chicken when fried and adds texture and flavour.

I have already blogged the Sambal Udang recipe.  

Many of you will know that belimbing goes very well with it. Belimbing is a sourish fruit that grows well here. Being a pastor, I have no shortage of belimbing as there will be a some members out there who have one of these trees in his/her garden.

Knowing that their pastor like to cook, I get plastic bags of them regularly. After all, belimbing goes to waste pretty quickly after they are plucked or when they ripen. And gifts from your garden to the pastor makes a lot of sense, though I have yet to declare such gifts on my annual tax returns.

Belimbing cooks very quickly and I normally add them within the last few minutes of the dish. I cook the sambal first, and then the prawns and the last thing that goes in are the slices of belimbing.

As for preparation, salt the belimbing in a colander beforehand to draw out the liquid.

This dish is appetising. Eat it with mint leaves, cucumber and steaming hot white rice.

And somehow, it always tastes nice eaten with hands.

Lemon grass and belimbing (right)

Bringing our overseas guests for Fish Head Curry can be an amusing experience.

Few of them expect just a single head and pair of eyes staring at them from the dish.

As there as as many type of curries as there are Indian, Malay home and Nonya homes, you can imagine the countless ways you can cook this dish.

It is as the name says: just fish head in curry. Cook your curry paste or sauce and add the fish head in. As fish cooks quickly, it is a dish that can be assembled just before serving.

I will share here what I usually do, including some alternative ways of cooking it.  I find this dish easy to cook but tedious to explain, as is often the case for curry dishes. I seldom use a fix recipe for this and it does not bother me if the dish turns out differently each time as long as it is delicious and the basic rules are observed:

• a well-balanced aromatic curry
• fresh fish which is not overcooked 
• veg that is not mushy. 

I believe in Yesterday

... and chendol, for the matter.

Melaka is a convenient for short getaway for Singaporeans. I was there for a short break recently. It is a haven for Nonya food but I did not have any of the usual dishes.