If you love cuisines that are a fusion of several cultures and cuisines, then Peranakan cuisine might be your thing. Comprising Chinese, Thai and Malay ingredients and cooking techniques, the resultant meal is a piece of art that will leave you with cravings. Nevertheless, even with all these, what makes this cuisine stand out, and why would it interest you? Read on for more.
A Delicacy for All Times
Many food blogs and magazines feature cuisines that you can only eat at particular times. It gets very annoying when you cannot indulge in a delicious cuisine because it would sound or appear awkward for you to order it at a certain time of the day. Not with the Peranakan cuisine, though. Conceived initially as a cuisine that hosts served to business people when they visited Asian traders at their homes, this is a timeless cuisine. The light nature of the major component of the main dish, rice, makes it suitable for eating at any time of the day. For particular times of the day that require you to indulge in some heavy meals, the meat variant of the cuisine is an addition that will work well to make you feel full.
Interesting Facts about the Peranakan Cuisine
- Original fusion cuisine: Peranakan cuisine is among the first fusion cuisines known the world over. At a time when fusion cuisines were unheard of, the pressure imposed on wives of Asian businesspeople forced them to come up with ingenious ways of hosting their visitors. The Peranakan cuisine came out of the need to be inclusive of all cultures when serving guests.
- The names Nyonya and Peranakan are interchangeable: compared to many other cuisines that primarily have one name, the Peranakan cuisine also goes by the name Nyonya cuisine.
- Highly influenced by region: both the cuisine and the means of preparing it are highly influenced by region. You will find variants of the dishes and the method in which they are prepared as you move from one region to another where people practice the Peranakan culture.
Most Popular Peranakan Dishes
- Ayam Buah Keluak: Ayam Buah Keluak is a spicy chicken dish that has one of the most tedious cooking procedures you can find of any dish anywhere. It is prepared using a native Indonesian poisonous black nut. This nut requires soaking in water for extended periods to make it edible. Once done, it is ground into a paste with turmeric, dried chilli and lemongrass. The cook then pairs the paste with Assam paste juice to make a stew.
- Satay Babi Sum Chan: Another prominent dish that you can find in Peranakan cuisine, Satay Babi Sum Chan is a carefully cooked pork stew dish with one of the spiciest savoury gravies around. Lemongrass and coconut notes make for a prominent distinction in taste when sampling this dish.
Less Popular Peranakan Dishes worth a try
- Babi Pongteh: This dish is usually made with pork ribs or another part of the animal that has significant amounts of fat. When prepared with taucheo and some gula melaka, babi pongteh makes for the tastiest Peranakan dish you’ve ever tasted. Enjoy it with some rice.
- Laksa: At first sight, this may appear like an ordinary dish made up of noodles. However, the use of coconut milk and Assam makes for a finger-licking dish that you will fall in love with.
Final Thoughts
Reading through this Peranakan review is sure to have whet your appetite, and you are probably asking yourself what next? Well, at foodpanda, we’ve got your back, and we recommend House of Peranakan Cuisine on Frankel Avenue. Alternatively, you can try out the Nonya Nonya Restaurant for a delicious serving of Peranakan cuisine.
