Ayam pongteh. — Photos: PATSY KAM
My mum cooked black soy sauce chicken for us all the time when I was growing up. It was one of my favourite dishes as it went so well with rice. Even now, my boys are always happy when they know there’s ayam pongteh on the menu.
I don’t even remember if it was my mother who taught me this dish, or if I picked up the recipe from my other Nyonya friends.
Ingredients for ayam pongteh.
It was only much later that I discovered the Nyonya version (specifically from Melaka) was slightly different. The key ingredient is bean paste, which gives it a deeper flavour and more umami. And by using palm sugar instead of normal white sugar (you can use this), you get a different facet to the sweetness, one that’s more mellow and gentle.
One of the mainstays of Peranakan food, this dish is more common down south rather than Penang (where my ancestors hail from) and pork was more often used, rather than chicken.
But along the way, a chicken dish variation was concocted, probably because it’s easier to accommodate everyone’s palate with white meat.
Towards the end when the dish is cooked over slow fire, this is when the meat and potatoes absorb the flavours of the gravy, giving it a delicious outcome.
The trick is to boil the potatoes separately first until they are half-cooked so that when you add them in towards the later half, they will have softened nicely. Otherwise, some potatoes take longer to cook and you might end up with uneven hard bits.
You can eat this dish immediately after cooking. But it tastes even better if you let the flavours settle for a couple of hours and only serve it later. — Contributed by PATSY KAM/kameatwithme.com
Gula melaka and taucu (bean paste).
Ingredients
Half a chicken (or 300g pork shoulder), cut into small pieces
4 to 5 shallots
5 cloves garlic
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
3 potatoes (cut into wedges)
400ml water
1 tbs gula melaka (palm sugar)
1 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs dark (thick/caramelised) soy sauce
2 tbs taucu (bean paste)
2 tsp salt
Mix the chicken and the sauce thoroughly.
Method
1. Blend onion and garlic together until you get a rough paste.
2. Fry this mixture in 1 tablespoon oil until fragrant, add in the cinnamon and star anise, and give it a couple more stirs.
3. Add in the taucu and mix well.
4. Add in the meat and mix to ensure every piece is well-coated.
5. Add the two different black soy sauces and water, then add in the palm sugar and stir well, and later, the potatoes.
6. Once this comes to a boil, lower the fire and let it simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes or so to thicken the sauce, longer if you’re cooking with pork as you want it to be well-cooked and softened. Add more water if it’s too dry. There should be enough liquid to just about cover the meat pieces.
7. Important: do the taste test! Everyone has different preferences and this is a very personal dish – feel free to add more sugar or salt, or less if that’s what you’re used to.
8. After you’re done, turn off the fire and let it rest for a couple of hours. Heat it up when you want to eat it and serve with rice.
