Nyonya cooking reflects the adaptation of early Chinese immigrants, and their culinary techniques, to the Malay Peninsula and its indigenous ingredients.
Otak-otak (rm 3), fish cooked with eggs and spices, then steamed in a banana leaf, had a mousselike consistency (but an unphotogenic sheen). The dominant flavor of the curry called perut ikun (small; rm 10) was also provided by fish — slightly chewy fish stomach, in fact — balanced by intensely sour greens. Sambal goring udang (small; rm 15) immersed chili-fried prawns in coconut milk seasoned with lemon grass, topped by cashews and fried garlic for crunch. I capped off my meal with bee koh moy (rm 3) by pouring coconut cream over black sticky rice.
Mama's
31-D Lorong Abu Siti
Penang, Malaysia
(From a December 2006 visit)
