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- Chinese Food
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- Places where you can find good food
- Survey
- Introduction of the six chefs
- Acknowledgements
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A true Baba family is addicted to sambal belacan, a pounded condiment of chilly peppers and prawn paste mixed with lime juice, served with almost every meal. Every Nyonya is supposed to master this ceremonial dish; ceremonial because it is obligatory in a spread of food offerings to gods and ancestors.
The Nyonya cuisine also consists of several dishes served only on specific occasions.
The following are some examples of such dishes.
Nasi kunyit or yellow glutinous rice is steamed and coloured with turmeric. Yellow, the royal colour, is added to enhance
the life-giving qualities of the rice, which is supposed to have a soul. Its traditional accompaniment is chicken curry. This meal of yellow rice and curry is even more colourful when served with a
sweet red rice dumpling filled with mashed green beans, which are auspicious in their colouring. The dumplings come in different shapes and designs, especially during religious festivals. Their symbolic forms, which include a turtle, a mussel and a marble, have evoked some Hokkien proverbs. One of these verses attributes a windfall to a red marble. To obtain a good husband, one should choose a red mussel, while a red turtle will make one a landowner.
Koey ee, the dessert of glutinous rice balls, a traditional food for marriage ceremonies, is also a ceremonial fare to welcome the Chinese New Year. The rice is symbolically coloured bright pink or red for good fortune. Other staples for sweets are bananas, yams, tapioca, whole or powdered green beans and various types of seaweed. Desserts contain a lot of coconut cream and brown palm sugar. Sometimes, if a clear sauce is preferred, rock sugar is used instead of palm sugar.
One special feature of Nyonya dishes is that food had to be in bite-sized pieces when served. All cutting and chopping are to be done on the kitchen, not at the dining table. Also, the Nyonyas consider it refined to cut foods into dainty decorative shapes.
 
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