Baba Zan Ho is a young Peranakan cook with a mission
I started cooking because my grandmother and mother opened Dulukala
restaurant at Beauty World Centre in 1999, when I was 17 years old. I was
helping around the restaurant and became very interested in learning more.
The ingredients, methods, taste and all the skills required to get a good dish on the table fascinated me.
Learning the basics of good cooking is very important. I was taught everything I needed to know in great detail and it has allowed me to create my own variations of Peranakan-inspired dishes. I think Peranakan food and cooking are amazing because we have the influence of so many different cultures. Peranakan cooking bundles a wide range of ingredients and techniques into one cuisine. The art is very tough to learn, but the returns make it all worthwhile. I freely admit I still have a long, long way to go before getting anywhere near as good as my mother and grandmother! I am still persevering.
Since taking over the restaurant business in 2008, after graduating from
university, I have been fully committed to running our restaurants. While
Dulukala serves traditional cuisine, O’nya Sayang at Tampines Mall has more
fusion Peranakan fare. We are opening another O’nya Sayang at Paya Lebar
Square in November. Work is seven days a week, 12 hours a day! There is
little time for anything else. My mornings are spent in the office on business
administration while evenings require all hands on deck to man the outlets
I make it a point to be very involved in the kitchen. My priority is to maintain food quality and also invest some time in culinary experimentation. I am inspired by many different kinds of food including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Burmese and Thai. I try to listen and understand the palates of the younger generation. Knowing what they like means I can create dishes with a Peranakan twist to match. It will always be my goal to spread Peranakan culture to the young. The easiest way to do that is to first attract them through food. In this mission, we have to succeed or the culture will fade away. Here are some contemporary Peranakan-inspired recipes that I hope readers would enjoy trying out at home. Except for Chendol ice cream, none of the others are in our menus!
Heat a big wok, add 120ml rice bran oil. When hot, fry the rempah for 2 mins till fragrant. Stir in 1 tsp salt and 2 tbsp raw sugar, followed by chicken pieces and bamboo shoots (sliced). Add stock and coconut milk. Season to taste with salt and sugar. Stir and simmer for 25 mins.
Keluak Fried Rice
1 tbsp keluak paste (see below)
1 tbsp sambal belachan (see below)
3 tbsp oil
1 egg, beaten
1 handful fresh prawns
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cupfuls cooked rice
1 chicken breast, boiled and shredded
1⁄2 handful cubed onions
1 red and 1 green chilli, sliced
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 tbsp soya sauce
Spring onions and parsley, for garnish
Keluak paste
1 kg buah keluak
50g sugar
50g fresh prawns
Sambal belachan
80g sun-dried fresh red chillies
35g belachan
10g sugar
1 chilli padi (bird’s eye chilli)
Method
Soak the buah keluak for at least 3 days to soften the flesh inside. Break open the keluak nut and scoop out the flesh. Grind the flesh with the sugar and prawns.
Grind the sambal belachan ingredients into a paste.
Mix the keluak paste with the sambal belachan and set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok and stir fry the egg quickly. Add the prawns, garlic, rice, shredded chicken and keluak paste and mix well. Stir in the onions and sliced
chillies. Add the salt and soya sauce. Garnish with chopped spring onions and Chinese parsley and serve.
Asam Pedas (Sour and Spicy) with Crab Tang Hoon (Vermicelli)
300g rempah (see below)
6 tbsp cooking oil
20g asam (tamarind) paste, mixed with 1 litre of water
5 pieces asam skin
2 -3 lemo perot (leprous lime) leaves, sliced finely
1 tbsp sliced bunga kantan (torch ginger flower)
5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
6 ladies fingers, sliced broadly
1 brinjal, sliced into segments
1 Sri Lankan crab, steamed for 7-8 minutes
1 handful tang hoon (vermicelli) soaked till soft in cold water
Rempah (ground spice paste)
1 kg shallots
100g garlic
75g belachan
500g lengkuas (blue ginger)
75g serai (lemon grass)
80g buah keras (candlenut)
45g ginger
150g dried chilli powder
Method
Grind the rempah ingredients, except for the dried chilli powder, finely into a paste. Heat the oil in a wok and cook the rempah over low heat for 1 hour. Add the chilli powder, mix well and continue cooking over low heat for another half an hour. Set aside. To prepare the asam pedas sauce,
remove the asam seeds from the water. Add 100g of cooked rempah
and mix well. Add the asam skin and the lemo perot leaves. Bring the
mixture to boil and add the bunga kantan, sugar and salt to taste. Add
the ladies fingers and brinjal. Boil the mixture for about 10 minutes till
fragrant. Transfer the crab from the steamer to a plate and spread the
softened tang hoon over the crab. Pour the asam sauce over the crab. Serve immediately.
Chendol Ice Cream
Gula Melaka (palm sugar) syrup
Rich coconut ice cream Chendol (green rice flour jelly noodles)
Boiled kidney beans
Method
Melt the gula Melaka in a little water over a slow fire. Leave to cool
completely or chill in the refrigerator. This can be prepared in advance. You
can buy the fresh chendol from the wet market. In a glass bowl, put one scoop of coconut ice cream and top off with one tbsp of chendol and kidney
beans. Drizzle with one tbsp of gula Melaka. Serve immediately.
Bandung Ice
Cream Soda
Rose syrup
Ice cream soda
Vanilla ice cream
Method
Mix one part rose syrup with six parts soda in a tall glass. Add ice and top off
with one scoop of vanilla ice cream. Add more ice cream to make it a float.
Serve immediately.
