So my darling brother has hopped onto the baking bandwagon and boy am I ever so happy. You know the why 
Tall, strapping, with more muscle than flab, he is not your typical baker, in all sense of the word. Not only is he super stringent but very dedicated when it comes to baking. Last Christmas, he baked hundreds of gingerbread men while experimenting various recipes & ingredients. When a stroke of genius strikes him, I’ll get a call, with interesting questions like “should I put tabasco in my gingerbread men”, or “should I put curry powder to get a zing in my cookies? or black pepper?”
His recent endeavour makes me very happy. Only because it concerns Nonya pineapple tarts. He toyed with the idea of baking them in January so we could have some for Chinese New Year. Since then, he has been baking them at least twice a week.
I have no complaints. My brother is still tweaking and perfecting his recipe so I won’t be able to share with you just as yet. But what I will do, is to share my insights and sights, so enjoy!
The mise en place – a beautiful thing. Especially since we got a gorgeous die-cast pineapple tart mould from our aunt. Apparently it is hard to find. It will be our Chia family’s heirloom I told him. Dad’s beeen really encouraging, sharing his fair share of opinions when it comes to true authentic Nonya methods. He says Planta margarine is de rigeur for Nonya tarts. I disagree. I much prefer SCS butter, with some milk powder added to the dough.
The steel mould makes for some very precise, and pretty tart shells. Amazing. You can also adjust the depth of the hollow area where the jam goes in.
And there you have it. Another peek into the Chia family’s kitchen.
More to come, real soon!
Mastering my Dad’s fantastic Kong Ba & Ayam Buah Keluak has always been a life-goal for the simple reason of wanting to pass these recipes down to my own children. I believe in this one simple equation, that Heritage = Food = Togetherness.
In a bid to learn, I thought I’d start with the simplest way – observation. Last Christmas, dad cooked Kong Ba and Ayam Buah Keluak for us and he encouraged me to do a pictorial and record videos. So I did. Here’s a basic step-by-step photo book of how Kong Ba and Ayam Buah Keluak is made. Do note that I do not have metric measurements as yet. My dad does not measure his ingredients. He’s that good. This Lunar New Year, we had the usual suspects – tantalizing kong ba, ayam buah keluak, udang belado and pork bone soup. As you can tell, we love our pork.
To all of you who celebrate this festive season, I would like to wish you a very very happy lunar new year! May this year of the water dragon bring you plenty of blessings, good health and prosperity.
And now, here’s a wee little exclusive peek into our kitchen.
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Kong Ba
Step 1: Buy ‘gor huay ba’ (pork shoulder) from your market. About 1kg+ is fine. Make sure that it has enough fat on it. Lean pork leads to tougher bite. Marinate in Soy Sauce for a few hours before you begin cooking.
Step 2: Heat oil and throw in star anise, leng kuas (blue ginger), and chopped shallots. Sauteed till golden brown.
Step 3: Once the aromatics are ready, add in your beautiful piece of pork shoulder. Let it cook on one side for a while. When that side is seared properly, turn it over.
Step 4: Drizzle a good amount of dark thick soy sauce. I think my dad uses Tai Hua. I think any brand works.
Step 6: Add some honey.Honey adds a tinge of sweetness to the Kong Ba.
Step 7: Let the pork braise in the pan for approximately 1 hour. (note that this really depends on how big your piece of pork shoulder is)
The dark soya sauce aroma that engulfs the kitchen, the first few seconds that Dad removes the lid off the pot that holds the glorious braised pork shoulder – that’s one of my favourite smells.
But nothing beats the moment it is time to devour those fatty slices of pork
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Ayam Buah Keluak –
Step 1: Fry your rempah (spice paste). It is made of just 5 ingredients: dried chillies, onions, lemon grass, blue ginger and candle nuts. *Note: My dad prepares his rempah in big batches and keeps in in the freezer for convenient usage.
Step 2: Prepare your chicken. Clean it, and chop it just the way you like it. Prepare your assam juice (tamarind juice) in a bowl. Set aside.
Step 3: Prepare your buah keluak. This is an Indonesian nut, known for its earthy texture and taste. Those who hate it, feel like it tastes like soil (not that they have ever tasted soil. probably their guess of what soil would taste like).
Dad prepared these before hand so I did not capture the process of cleaning the shell, cooking the filling and restuffing it. Note that the best way to have buah keluak is NOT adding any pork or additional ingredients. I like mine pure & unadulterated.
Step 4: Add the chicken to the cooked rempah. Saute it for a few minutes.
Now add in the assam juice. Assam is one of my favourite ingredient. Adds a tangy kick to every peranakan dish. Assam Pedas! My fav!
Cook it for a few minutes.
Step 5: Now add in water, so it is not so thick. Add in however much you want. My dad doesn’t like his Ayam Buah Keluak too diluted so he adds only a fair amount of water.
Now let it simmer till it cooks. My dad boils the potatoes last and adds them in, so they stay firm.
To me, Dad’s ayam buah keluak is H-E-A-V-E-N. I want this to be the last dish I eat before I die
There are so many other dishes I want to learn from my dad. But that’s for another time.
Me with darling papa and youngest sis.
In the meantime, happy feasting this lunar new year!
With love,
Cheryl & Family
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