A Little About Indian Peranakans & Recipe for #AuntieCookalong 4
I first heard about the Indian Peranakans (also known as the Chitty community) right before starting Singapore Noodles. I was asking my friend Sam for her perspectives and, on the note of how Singaporean food blogs/ Youtube channel are largely sinocentric, she lamented about how the kind of Peranakan food we know about in Singapore is almost exclusively Nonya.
Later on, when I released my video on Teochew Chestnut Prawns on Youtube (recipe below), KF Seetoh was talking to me about how there are many lost dishes in Singapore and told me to check out Chitty food. He mentioned that they even had an exhibition in Singapore last year 😲 And just recently, there was a whole Take a Bao podcast episode exploring this community in Malaysia!
My impression from the things that I’ve read online and from what I’ve heard in the podcast was that this community was quite a dwindling one and I honestly didn’t expect to come into contact with any Indian Peranakans… until I was doing research on sugee cake and found the blog of a young Indian Peranakan, Purnima Balraju, living in Singapore! I got on a call with her and she told me about her community’s Facebook group, which you can visit if you’d like to know about Chitty culture in Singapore.
Indian Peranakans are influenced by Chinese cultural traditions and, according to Purnima, Indian Peranakans have their own Qing Mings (tomb-clearing festivals or Parchus to the Chitty community). In Melaka, these are called Bhogi Parchu in January and Parchu Buah Buahkan in July. On Bhogi Parchu, dishes such as nasi lemak, salted fish curry, wajeek (which I believe is similar to what we learnt during the second #AuntieCookalong), pulot tekan (also known as pulut tai tai) and laut pindang. Seasonal fruits will be placed on the banana leaves for Parchu Buah Buahkan. In Singapore, a lot of Purnima’s relatives combine these 2 to a single day, held a week before Deepavali.
Photo from Purnima’s blog, the pulut tekan is the kueh on the bottom row in the centre:
Purnima’s Laut Pindang, which she considers “the holy grail of Peranakan curries”:
Purnima managed to convince her mom to be part of this #AuntieCookalong line-up and I am so excited to get to not only speak with them to learn more about their culture, but also to understand their cuisine. Here’s the recipe that you’ll need to cook along with us. Purnima adds, “Usually with this curry, it needs to be accompanied with veggies. Closer to the date, I’ll let you know what that would be. Pairing the dishes is a big deal at home!”
Prawn Pineapple Curry
Serves 4-5 people
Ingredients A:
3-4 red chillies
4-5 shallots
2-3 cloves of garlic
1” fresh turmeric (or substitute turmeric powder)
2 stalks of lemongrass
5-6 dried chillies, soaked 5 minutes in hot water (or substitute 1 chilli padi)
Belacan (optional)
** Note from Purnima: “You might want to get fish curry powder, a small packet. My mum did mention before that she used it, but she might have forgotten about it.”
Ingredients B:
Coconut milk (Kara brand or whichever that has thickened coconut milk)
3/4 pineapple, skin removed, cut into slices (you can buy the pre-cleaned and cut slices from the supermarket)
500g medium or big prawns, head removed, shells kept intact
Blend and fry (tumis) Ingredients A. Add coconut milk and water to the paste. Add pineapple and prawns.
Laut pindang
From Purnima Balraju (Newbie Nonya)
Serves 4
30g dried chillies, soaked in 400g hot water for 20 minutes
500g water
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
270g coconut cream
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons oil
50g seedless tamarind pulp
1 fresh red chilli, sliced thinly
1 fresh green chilli, sliced thinly
1 chilli padi, sliced thinly
185g shallots, sliced thinly
50g garlic, sliced thinly
20g ginger, sliced thinly
70g lemongrass, sliced thinly
500g fish fillets, preferably Spanish mackerel or threadfin, cut into chunks
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves
Blend dried chillies and soaking liquid until smooth. Add the blended dried chillies to the water, turmeric and coconut cream. Sieve into a deep pot. Add salt, oil, tamarind pulp and sliced ingredients. Bring to boil on medium heat. Simmer 30 minutes on low heat. Add the fish and simmer until cooked. When the fish is cooked, add dark soy sauce and salt to taste. Top with coriander.
Note: It might taste spicy initially but the heat mellows out over the half an hour and when the fish is added. If you prefer, skip the chilli padi and deseed the dried and fresh chillies. If you have leftover gravy, you can use it to marinate hardboiled eggs.
Teochew chestnut prawns
As I grow older, I appreciate having dinner at traditional, family-run Chinese restaurants. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot one or two dishes that are difficult to find elsewhere in Singapore. My in-laws enjoy going to Chao Shan Cuisine in Singapore for reliably good and authentic Teochew food. We make a visit almost every trip back to Singapore, and my grandmother-in-law is such a regular there that the dishes she orders are pretty standard. She knows what she wants and it is always the usual Teochew favourites, like the lor ark (braised duck), heizhou (deep-fried prawn balls), pig trotter jelly, oyster omelette and water chestnut pancake with peanut dust for a sweet finish to the meal.
The last time we went, though, there was something special on the table. It looked innocently like prawn fritters, but one bite revealed a smooth, fragrant sweet paste surrounding succulent prawn flesh. Someone at the table said it was orh nee and it did bear a striking similarity to the sweet taro paste – it tasted of fried shallots and lard and was delicately sweet. But the core of its fragrance was something earthier and nuttier than taro – chestnuts.
I took a photo of it with my phone hoping to recreate it again one day. A bag of chestnuts was gifted to us lately by a friend, who had harvested them from her own tree. Having some caul fat and prawns in the freezer, I thought it felt like now or never to attempt a recreation of the dish.
Caul fat might seem like an exotic ingredient, but it used to be a common ingredient in Singapore before health scares dominated the media. A fatty membrane that acts as a skin to wrap ingredients with, caul fat was used for deep-fried and stewed dishes in the past. The fat functions like a protective layer to prevent the loss of moisture and lends a rich aroma to the final product.
Teochew Chestnut Prawns
Makes 8
100g lard
1/2 large red onion or 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
235g shelled chestnuts (the best kind to get are charcoal-roasted chestnuts)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
8 prawns, shelled and deveined (tails left on)
Cornstarch, as required for dredging
Caul fat, as required (it is good to start with a larger quantity, about 200g)
1 egg
Place the lard and onion in a cold pan and heat over high heat until the onions turn a deep brown. Strain. You will only require 50g of the infused lard for this recipe – save the rest for stir-frying vegetables! Combine 50g of the infused lard, chestnuts, salt and five spice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Divide into 8 portions, before flattening each ball into a flat disc.
Dip the prawns in cornstarch and place each on the centre of each of the chestnut puree discs. Bring the sides of the puree up to completely encase the prawns – leave the tails exposed. Open up the caul fat and dab with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Place a chestnut-wrapped prawn on the caul fat and trim a rectangle large enough to fully enclose the prawn. Wrap the prawn in the caul fat, making sure that the puree is not exposed. Repeat until all the prawns are wrapped.
To dredge, dip the prawns in cornflour, then egg, then cornflour again. Allow to set for 15 minutes while you preheat oil in a wok to 160C. Add the prawns and deep-fry for about 5 minutes or until light golden and set. Remove the prawns from the wok and increase the heat to 200C. Return the prawns to the hot oil and fry for another 3 minutes or until light golden brown. Drain and serve immediately.