Nyonya Ikan Asam Pedas quite often appears on my weeknight dinner (thanks to my mama’s frozen curry paste). I know I still owe you readers the recipe.. coming soon 🙂 I got intrigued to try a similar Nyonya dish – Gerang Asam  (Spicy & Sour Fish Curry), also a popular Malacca Nyonya dish. This recipe is from “Nyonya Kitchen”, the cookbook by a Baba Nyonya descendant, who is none other than Chef Florence Tan. She has been teaching & promoting Nyonya cuisine for 50 years. Continue Reading →
Steamed fish recipe is one of my go to weeknight dish – it’s quick, healthy and nutritious. I grew up eating Steamed Fish Teochew style almost every day, as mama is of Teochew descent. Teochew (or Chaozhou) people are native to the eastern Guangdong province of China and Teochew cuisine offers a lot of healthy steamed, stir-fried and braised dishes. Using whole fish with tomatoes, salted vegetables and salted plums, the flavours of Teochew Steamed Fish are savoury, sour, spicy and altogether very appetising. Continue Reading →
Kerabu = a spicy, sweet & sour salad.
Beehoon = rice vermicelli
Kerabu Beehoon is a vibrant Nyonya dish of rice vermicelli tossed with sambal belacan, calamansi juice, and lots of herbs. Nyonya is a culture and cooking style, from the influence of Chinese and Malay cultures in areas of what is now Malaysia and Singapore. Continue Reading →
I went back to my hometown Penang last weekend for the Qing Ming Festival. Qing Ming is when Chinese people visit the graves of their ancestors, to give thanks and honour the forefathers. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, joss paper accessories, and “paper gifts” to the ancestors. It is also a time for family from near and far to gather and it was common to see big families having a feast at the grave sites after praying. However over the years, as more young people move to big towns and foreign countries, the numbers of people celebrating Qing Ming have dwindled. Continue Reading →
When I was young, we had a mango tree (with 3 other fruit trees) in our first house with huge land space. After we moved to a house with only enough space for 1 tree, my mama chose to plant a guava tree. Yet, we were lucky to be showered with many variety of fruits (including mangoes) from relatives and friends’ garden. Now staying in high rise apartment, how I miss those days.. that’s one of the trade-offs for living in a metropolitan city.
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