PENANG NYONYA GULAI TUMIS
(Penang Nyonya Fish Curry)
This recipe is from my dear mother-in-law, Sucy Lee, who is more of a friend to me than my mother-in-law. The credit should go to her. After I was married and had my first child, I moved back to Kuala Lumpur to live with her and my father-in-law for number of years. She taught me all I need to know about Nyonya cuisine.
Gulai Tumis Curry Paste:
5 medium purple onions, peeled and cut into chunks
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 lemon grass, slice thinly*
8 fresh chillies, seeded and sliced
2 tbspn dried chilli paste or sambal olek
3 knobs 1"length fresh turmeric*
2 square slices shrimp paste (belachan) of about 3mm thick each
1 cup cooking oil
In a mortar and pestle, pound the turmeric and lemon grass until fine. Alternatively you can use a food processor: with the motor running, put the sliced lemon grass through the feeder tube, followed by the turmeric root.
Add in the other fresh ingredients (onions, garlic and fresh chillies) into the food processor and grind until fine. Lastly add in shrimp paste and the dried chilli paste and grind until well combined.
Heat up oil in a wok and fry the paste in medium fire until oil separates.
Pack the cooked paste into clean glass bottles until read to use later. The paste can be kept frozen for up to 6 months. Makes about 4 cups of paste.
Penang Nyonya Fish Curry
(Serves 2-3)
2 pieces 1/2"thick red snapper cutlets or threadfin cutlets or 1 medium whole white pomfret
4 tbspn Gulai Tumis Curry Paste
2 tbspn tamarind paste mixed with 1 cup water, strained
3-4 tspn sugar or to taste
5 sprigs polygynon leaves (Daun kesom), use leaves only
4-5 okra/ladies fingers, remove stalk but leave whole
1 small length of brinjal/aubergine, cut into 2"length and quartered
salt to taste
In a pan, heat up the curry paste. Add in the strained tamarind juice. Bring to boil and add the vegetables. When curry boils again, add in the fish and the herb leaves. Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add sugar and salt to taste. Remover from fire and serve immediately.
*Notes: Its important to grind the lemon grass finely.
When frying the paste, use medium fire and stir frequently to avoid burning or the curry will have a bitter taste.
Dried chilli paste or sambal olek can be store bought. If you make your own, remove the stalks and seeds of the dried chillies using a pair of kitchen scissors. Snip them into short legnths and soak them in cold water overnight in the fridge. Drain and grind the soaked chillies until fine. Heat up some oil in a wok and fry the paste until the oil turns a deep red colour. Bottle the cooked paste until ready to use later. Paste can be frozen for up to 6 months.
You can substitute the fresh turmeric for powdered turmeric. Use about 3 heapful teaspoons of turmeric powder.
Shrimp paste or belachan in the Malay language can be store bought. They comes in rectangular blocks or in round flat cakes. Cut it up into slices with a dry knife and cutting board. Keep them inside a bottle in the fridge.
Polygynon leaves is a herb. In here they are used to flavour the curry and they are discarded after cooking. Alternatively you can grind the leaves together at the final step when preparing the paste. Save you the hassel to buy a batch of leaves every time you need to cook the curry. Use about 10 sprigs of the herbs for the 4 cups of paste.
The okra and the aubergine can be microwaved to cook and added in later just before serving.
