We're preparing to cook Babi Buah Keluak for a house party this weekend for a client. Preparation for this dish starts tonight.
For those that are not familiar with what this is....this Buah Keluak??
I had recalled that I had once invited a Japanese friend to dine at my home, when I had cooked this special Peranakan dish. She thought I had placed little pieces of rock into the curry.
Buah Keluak (click here to get pic)
Buah Keluak is like blue cheese and durian - it's an acquired taste. Buah Keluah is actually the nut of the Kepayang" tree, which grows wild in Indonesia and parts of Malaysia. It's a dark brown - near black nut that's rough like a bark on the outside. The size of each nut is about a small breadroll.
What my grandma taught me.....
we'll break open the buah keluak, check if the nut is good or bad. Bad nuts taste --well bad (actually it's got this rotten taste). Good ones will have the taste that we've come to love. What we do is to check all the buah keluak and then scoop out the flesh from one nut and stuff it into the other nut - to make it 'full'.
Unlike the other Peranakans who do it a slightly different way.
They mince the flesh of the nut, with pork and shrimp, add seasoning then stuff it back into the shell. According to my grandma, that's the 'Hokkien Style' and ours is the 'Penang Style'. Hope to put in some photos in my later postings.
For those that are not familiar with what this is....this Buah Keluak??
I had recalled that I had once invited a Japanese friend to dine at my home, when I had cooked this special Peranakan dish. She thought I had placed little pieces of rock into the curry.
Buah Keluak (click here to get pic)
Buah Keluak is like blue cheese and durian - it's an acquired taste. Buah Keluah is actually the nut of the Kepayang" tree, which grows wild in Indonesia and parts of Malaysia. It's a dark brown - near black nut that's rough like a bark on the outside. The size of each nut is about a small breadroll.
What my grandma taught me.....
we'll break open the buah keluak, check if the nut is good or bad. Bad nuts taste --well bad (actually it's got this rotten taste). Good ones will have the taste that we've come to love. What we do is to check all the buah keluak and then scoop out the flesh from one nut and stuff it into the other nut - to make it 'full'.
Unlike the other Peranakans who do it a slightly different way.
They mince the flesh of the nut, with pork and shrimp, add seasoning then stuff it back into the shell. According to my grandma, that's the 'Hokkien Style' and ours is the 'Penang Style'. Hope to put in some photos in my later postings.
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