What is Nyonya cuisine?

The fusion of cultures in Malaysia has led to the birth of a unique group - the Baba and Nyonya community.  Generally known as Peranakan or Straits Chinese, they have assimilated the Malay way of life especially in terms of speech, dressing and cooking, while preserving ancestral Chinese traditions.  The colorful culture and customs of the Baba and Nyonya also has traces of Dutch, Portuguese, British, Indian and Indonesian influences.

Over 600 years ago, Parameswara, the founder of Melaka, developed a close alliance with the Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho. When the Admiral visited Melaka, he encouraged his people to stay and marry the locals, resulting in the first generation of Peranakan people.  The assimilation of cultures continued when the Chinese Princess, Hang Li Po was betrothed to Sultan Mansur Shah (the Fourth Sultan of Melaka) in 1459 AD as a tribute to good diplomatic relations between Melaka and China. 

The Peranakan men are called Baba, while the ladies are known as Nyonya.  They have developed their own unique dialect called Baba Malay, which is similar to Malay but is influenced by Hokkien Chinese. 

Nyonya cuisine, also called Lauk Embok Embok is one of a kind.  This luxuriously flavored fare is a marriage of Chinese cooking style with Malay ingredients and condiments.  The cooking method utilizes a variety of spices, coconut milk, tamarind and belacan. 

There are many differences between the Penang and Melaka Nyonya cuisine.  The former is influenced by Thai cooking, which results in tangy and more piquant dishes, while the latter is largely inspired by Malay and Indonesian styles of cooking.  This makes the food taste sweeter, richer and spicier.  Nyonya kuih or cakes are popular Malaysian desserts.

Sample Nyonya dishes include:

• Curry Chicken Kapitan - as the story goes, the dish got its name when a Dutch sea captain asked one of his Indonesian crew what was for dinner and the answer was "Curry, Kapitan".
• Ayam Pongteh -chicken cooked with preserved soy bean paste, dark soy sauce, palm sugar and potatoes.
• Assam Curry Garoupa - This curry gravy includes ingredients such as tangy tamarind juice, shallots, garlic, galangal, candlenut, lemongrass, torch ginger, laksa leaf, chilli, turmeric powder, belacan, and chicken stock.
• Bubur Cha Cha - a sweet dessert porridge.

 

Try these dishes such as:

• Curry Chicken Kapitan at Cafe Asean in the West Village of Manhattan
• Burbur Cha Cha dessert at the Brooklyn or Chinatown branches of Nyonya
• Nyonya Sambal Chicken at Forbidden City, Middletown, CT.

Click here to access a full list of Malaysian restaurants in the Tri-State area and here for a slideshow about Nyonya cuisine.

Material courtesy of Culinary Delights brochure from Tourism Malaysia.

 

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