Baba and Nyonya – Cultural Anthropology Essay Example

mix of cultural traits. Written records from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that Peranakan men usually took brides from within the local Peranakan community. Peranakan families occasionally imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands.

In the 15th century, some small city-states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as those of China and Siam. Close relations with China were established in the early 15th century during the reign of Parameswara when Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), a Muslim Chinese, visited Malacca and Java. According to a legend in 1459 CE, the Emperor of China sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to the Sultan of Malacca as a token of appreciation for his tribute. The nobles (500 sons of ministers) and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in Bukit Cina and eventually grew into a class of Straits-born Chinese known as the Peranakans. Due to economic hardships at mainland China, waves of immigrants from China settled in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Some of them embraced the local customs, while still retaining some degree of their ancestral culture; they are known as the Peranakans. Peranakans normally have a certain degree of indigenous blood, which can be attributed to the fact that during imperial China, most immigrants were men who married local women. Peranakans at Tangerang, Indonesia, held such a high degree of indigenous blood that they are almost physically indistinguishable from the local population. Peranakans at Indonesia can vary between very fair to copper tan in color.

Peranakans themselves later on migrated between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, which resulted in a

high degree of cultural similarity between Peranakans in those countries. Economic / educational reasons normally propel the migration between of Peranakans between the Nusantara region (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore), their creole language is very close to the indigenous languages of those countries, which makes adaptations a lot easier.

For political reasons Peranakans and other Nusantara Chinese are grouped as a one racial group, Chinese, with Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia becoming more adoptive of mainland Chinese culture, and Chinese in Indonesia becoming more diluted in their Chinese culture. Such things can be attributed to the policies of Bumiputera (Malaysia), mother tongue policy (Singapore) and the ban of Chinese culture during the Soeharto era in Indonesia.

Peranakan food is a wonderful combination of Malay and Chinese cuisine with influences from Indonesia, Thailand, India, Holland, Portugal and England. Nyonya food is clearly unique and Malaysian/Singaporean in identity, according to Tan Chee Beng (1993). This cuisine is the original fusion food before the word was even invented. Using ingredients such as galangal, serai, tau chew, belachan, buah keras, gula Melaka, tumeric, ginger, chillis, tamarind, lime juice, spice such as star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, leaves such as daun kesum, daun kaduk, daun cekok, daun limau perut, pandan leaves, the Nyonya concocted a unique cuisine, with predominantly spicy and piquant flavours.

A Nyonya’s cooking ability could be assessed in the old days from the rhythm of the way she pounded the rempah to make sambal belachan. Peranakan eat the way Malays do, with their fingers. Chopsticks are however used during elaborate festive celebrations and festivals. Some well-known Peranakan dishes are Otak-otak, Ayam Pongteh, Assam Laksa,

Roti Babi, Itik Tim, Buah Keluak, Perut Ikan, Achar, Sek Bak Hong Bak, Cheng Chuan Hoo, Cincalok Omelette and Pork Liver Balls.

The cuisine comes from the Peranakan, the descendants of the original Chinese immigrants who had settled in Penang, Malacca, Indonesia and Singapore and inter-married with the local Malays. It’s also referred to as ‘Nonya’, an old Malay word which was used as a term of respect and affection for women of prominent social standing. Peranakan believe that the distinct flavour of their recipes owes itself to the ‘rempah’, a combination of spices with a very specific texture and density that is pounded into a paste with a pestle and mortar.

Small wonder that Peranakan recipes involve a time-consuming and lengthy preparation and are handed down from one generation to the next. Interestingly, a Nonya was supposed to be able to judge the cooking ability of her new daughter-in-law merely by listening as she prepared the rempah with mortar. Nyonya food is popular and they used the principle of ‘Agak-agak’ in their cooking method. Agak is Malay word which means something like ‘guessing’.

Buah Keluak is one of the signature dishes of the Peranakan community, mainly because of the use of buah keluak. This dish is a staple Peranakan favourite that is truly memorable for its acquired yet robust flavour and taste. Strong traditions have resulted in this golden recipe being passed down from generation to generation, making it a truly authentic Peranakan Dish. Consider a delicacy, this dish is basically chicken and buah keluak in a thick spicy gravy. Buah Keluak is the nut of the Kepayang tree which is

found in the wilderness of Indonesia and certain parts of Malaysia. Dark brown or black in colour, it is about the size of a golf ball and has faint striations on its shell, much like a brazil nut.

The dish isn’t a simple one to make, the rempah alone is made of seven ingredients and takes half a day to fry. Then, each nut have to scrub, soak it in the water for one week, chop off one end of the nut and dig out the black flesh inside. After that, it have to be pound or blend it with some spices. Neaten the nut’s opening with a cutter so that it’s presentable before putting the flesh back in. Finally, put he stuffed nuts, chicken and rempah on a simmer for another half a day until the sauce thickens. This great dish usually serve in Chinese New Year celebration with others special dishes.

Ayam Buah Keluak

Pongteh is another delightful Peranakan dish and were serve during Chinese New Year festival. Some call this ‘Miso Soy Chicken’ although miso is actually only a substitute if preserved soy beans or ‘Tau Cheo’ is not available. It is this preserved or aged soy beans that give pongteh its distinct flavour. This stew usually has mushrooms and potatoes and usually eaten with rice. It sounds simple but actually is not that easy to make. To get it right, one needs proper guidance, patience, skill and an inherent understanding of Peranakan cuisine that is not so easy to teach. The pongteh comes in both chicken or pork and sometimes both. For those Peranakans, they usually prefer the

ones with pork, as it sweetens the dish.

Ayam Pongteh

Itek tim has some roots in traditional chinese duck soup, but differentiated by the use of spices and belachan mix when cooked the traditional Peranakan way. It is an evergreen Peranakan cuisine, and its also offered for ancestral worship and chinese new year celebration. Stewed duck made in three kinds of assam, belimbing fruit assam, plum assam and assam puay (dried tamarind assam) with a giam chai (salted vegetable) marinade. Normally this dish will be serve with rice on any celebration festival.

Itek Tim

Laksa is curry noodles. It sounds simple but one could not be more wrong. If done properly, this dish is just sublime, especially to lovers of chilli and spice. As expected of the Nyonyas, a lot of care and attention, not to mention effort, goes into making the laksa paste, which consists of chillies, galangal, candlenut, onions, dried shrimp, belacan and tamarind paste among many other secret ingredients. The paste is then fried in oil until it breaks and then cooked in broth and tantalising creamy coconut milk. Other than the noodles, it usually comes with bean sprouts, slices of fish paste or balls, prawns, tofu or tau pok (deep fried tofu), and delicious blood red cockles. The Nyonya laksa is known for its creaminess and satisfying curry. It is recommended that one adds the Nyonya’s sambal into the curry even though it is already spicy, it tastes better that way.

Nyonya Laksa

Bubur actually means porridge or congee but this is really a popular Nyonya dessert. It is soupy sweet dessert with fruits like

yam, sweet potato, sometimes with black eye beans and sago pearls in rich coconut milk infused with the aroma of daun pandan (pandan leaf). As always, nothing is ever simple with the Nyonya and each fruit has to be steamed individually and anything hot then has to cooled in iced water because this dessert is best served cold. Even Peranakan families don’t have this everyday due the effort required to make it. Mostly it will be served during the festival celebration like Chap Goh Meh (the 15th and last day for Chinese New Year).

Bubur Cha Cha

Pineapple tart is one of the famous biscuits during Chinese New Year celebration. The tart is basically pineapple jam on a buttery pastry. Another variety is where the pastry is wrapped around the jam filling. The jam is made from grated pineapple cooked in sugar and spices like star anise and cinnamon, which results in a textured fibrous jam of sweetness. Today, it comes in different shapes and designs such as the open tarts which is popular in Malacca and among the Peranakan (Baba and Nyonya) culture. For an instance, pineapple rolls (Nastar), pineapple shaped tarts and many others but all of it are addictive.

Pineapple Tarts

Chap Chai is a Nyonya style mixed vegetables which uses preserved bean paste. This dish is normally served during Chinese New Year and is associated with festive dishes. The Nyonyas have a knack for making dishes that have simple names but actually take a lot of effort to make it. Some say way too much, but that’s just how much pride these ladies take in their cooking.

Some recipes for this require an hour or more simmering the broth, sometimes extracted from pork shoulder and ginger, some other recipes get their broth from frying prawn shells with ‘tao cheo’ and there are numerous secret recipes out there. The variety of vegetables that go into this include dried mushrooms, black fungus, dried lily buds, white cabbage, carrots, along with prawns, dried bean curd skin and glass noodles (Tang hoon). It is best served with home-made ‘sambal belacan’ if there’s meat in it.

Chap Chai/Chap Chye

Acar is a type of vegetable pickle/salad popular in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Made from different vegetables like cucumbers, long beans, carrots, cabbage and is pickled with spicy paste and vinegar. Ground peanuts and sesame seeds are also added to this dish. Acar is commonly served as a condiment to be eaten with a main course. This is a great vegetarian dish too. It is also religiously for celebrations or prayers to our ancestors.

Acar (Acar Awak)

Cincaluk or cincalok are made from fermented shrimps or ‘gerago’ or ‘geragau’, as the locals call them. Found along the shores of Malacca, these shrimps are less commonly available today as more beaches are being reclaimed. Fermented with salt, water and sugar, cincaluk is an acquired taste even to many Malaysians. One Nyonya favourite using this shrimp paste is the cincaluk omellete, whose taste is fully enhanced with a squeeze of kalamansi lime. This cincaluk omelet is aromatic, with just a tint of the saltiness and pungent taste from the cincaluk.

Cincaluk/Cincalok

Angku is a small dark orange oval nyonya delicacy which is made with

glutinous rice flour wrapped with green bean filling. Angku has a high ritual value and it is commonly used for Chinese prayers and served during baby full moon parties. Angku has a sticky sweet texture and usually eat it with a cup of Chinese tea. Its filling is oftentimes sweetened mung bean paste. Originally the filling is made of crushed roasted peanut-sugar mixture. The Baba and Nyonya believe that eating these long-living creatures would bring longevity to the person eating it.