Baba-Nyonya Cuisine: Taking Coconut Milk and Spices to a new Height

Baba-Nyonya cuisine also known as Nyonya or Pernakan cuisine is a delicious fusion of Malaysian ingredients and Chinese cooking. This hybrid cuisine is among Southeast Asia’s finest and pride borne from intermarriages between the two cultures in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Kiki Deere delves into the historical background of this cuisine in the post Baba-Nyonya Cuisine: 6 Dishes You Need to try in Malaysia for Rough Guides. She said:

, “At this time Melaka was was an important Portuguese and Dutch trading route, and the quest for spices resulted in a European community with large plantations growing cloves, pepper and nutmeg. Eager to benefit from these riches, and hoping to escape famine and poverty during Manchu rule, Chinese merchants and entrepreneurs flocked to Melaka. The Chinese settlers, who were largely male, intermarried with Malay women, and so the Baba-Nyonya community was born.”

The Baba-Nyonyas adopted Malay customs and social practices while retaining Chinese traditions and religious beliefs, and over time, developed their own unique dialect, Baba Malay. But it’s their blend of Chinese and Malay cooking that remains the most significant legacy.

Their cuisine marries Chinese wok cooking styles with Malay ingredients and condiments, such as candlenut, Vietnamese coriander and fermented shrimp paste, relying on sour sauces and coconut milk. Added in the mix are Indian and Middle Eastern spices, Javan vegetables such as buah keluak (black mangrove tree nuts) and ulam (a plant native to Asian wetlands), resulting in a truly distinctive cuisine that bursts with flavours. Nyonya cooking simultaneously tastes sweet, sour, salty and spicy.

In the post, Kiki Deere recommends six Baba-Nyonya dishes worth trying:

• Laksa Nyonya (curry noodles with coconut milk): This mainstay of peranakan cooking is a delectable soup made with coconut, curry, chicken, fish, and prawns. It is lavishly presented with lots of garnishes – coriander, omelette, sliced cucumber, fish balls, clams, and fried bean curd (foo chok) with a blob of chilli sambal paste – and served with noodles.

• Ayam Pongteh (Nyonya stewed chicken): This dish of stewed chicken, potatoes and mushrooms are cooked with sautéed garlic and shallot pounded to a paste, palm sugar and dark soy. It is simmered until it has thickened and is served with steamed rice.

• Udang Masak Lemak Nenas (curry prawns with pineapple): This festive fusion of prawns and pineapple is a delight with its fruity, tangy and spicy flavors. The wok sautéed chili paste brings in the heat while the lime, tamarind leaves and other fragrant spices bring the mouthwatering aroma. The coconut milk makes it an irresistible dish, a star in its own right, no wonder it is a star dish in Chinese New Year banquets.

• Ayam buah keluak (chicken with “black nuts”): Those deadly black nuts harvested from the native kepayang tree once processed (soaked for two days and the flesh pounded with sugar and salt) are indeed a “killer” once cooked with chicken in this exotic dish. The “fiery” concoction is made delectable with the tamarind puree and sautéed spice paste.

• Nyonya Mee Siam (fried rice noodles with chili paste): This winner is made with vermicelli noodles that have been infused with prawn flavor. This noodle dish is topped with shredded omelet, boiled egg and fish cake. For some tang and spice, it is served with a good squeeze of calamansi lime juice and a side of chili sambal paste.

• Nyonya Cendol (coconut dessert): Another coconut milk-based dish; this time this gives your meal a sweet ending. It is a dessert almost akin to cendol. This happy conclusion to your meal is made with red beans and jelly noodles mixed with shaved ice. It is sweetened by gula Melaka (palm sugar) and enhanced with the flavors of pandan leaves, and what else, but liberal pour of coconut milk.

There is no other place to have these authentic Pernakan/Baba-Nyonya dishes but in Malaysia. If you get to travel there, check out the suggestions made in The Culture Trip’s post Malaysia’s 10 Best Nyonya & Peranakan Restaurants to Try.