According to Khir, bahulu made in brass moulds and baked over charcoal fire has a superior taste and crust to any other iteration of this sweet treat. — LAW SOO PHYE/The Food of Singapore Malays by Khir Johari
The Malay culinary universe serves up a gamut of wondrous dishes – from gulai to rendang to a range of grilled meals like ikan bakar and fermented temptations like tempoyak. The cooking methods and processes that make up all these multi-faceted meals are in themselves multi-faceted.
In his ground-breaking book, The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through The Malay Archipelago, Singapore food historian Khir Johari outlines the whats and whys behind many of these long-standing techniques and processes in a chapter devoted to the subject.
“I think to be able to put together a chapter on cooking techniques and processes, you cannot be a keyboard person. It’s hard if you haven’t been in a kitchen and mingled with all the elders, because then how do you write that with conviction?
“I have always been a curious kid, so this has been a result of figuring out things that I wanted to put together,” says Khir.
In this feature, Khir and other local food personalities outline the culinary know-how and steps that define and underscore some of their favourite Malay meals.
Ulam (raw, local herbs) are a mainstay in Malay cuisine and are often a facet of a daily meal, typically accompanied by sambal. In many kampung homes, an abundance of ulam grows in backyards and forested areas surrounding villages, and many people simply pluck what they need in order to form a meal. Common ulam include pucuk gajus, ulam raja, daun pegaga and even curry leaves.
Ulam can also be seasoned with elements like lime or chilli or even grated coconut to form kerabu, urap or pencuk.
Kerabu bunga betik is an example of local herbs that are typically mixed together in their raw form, with chilli, lime or grated coconut. — Filepic
“My late grandmother was into natural remedies, so in our household, we always had asam pedas with sambal belacan and ulam. For the ulam, we had ulam raja, pegaga, petai, pucuk manga, pucuk gajus and curry leaf stalks.
"She had a garden in her home in Ulu Yam, so she would make us go out and pick these herbs, so we always had it in the house,” reminisces food personality and television star Ili Sulaiman.
Television host and chef Anis Nabilah meanwhile says that her mother’s signature dish of nasi goreng kerabu is filled to the brim with all sorts of fresh local herbs.
“My mum normally makes nasi ulam or her own unique nasi goreng kerabu during Ramadan or during the week of Hari Raya. She will often use lemongrass, bunga kantan, ulam raja, daun pegaga, daun gajus and sometimes curry leaves for her own twist on it,” she says.
Ulam is often eaten raw and can either be eaten as whole leaves or julienned and absorbed into nasi ulam. — Filepic
Sambal is another example of a dish that can simply involve mixing ingredients like chillies, belacan and lime together without any cooking involved or as in the case of sambal manis, mixing molten gula Melaka, tamarind juice and sambal belacan together.
According to Khir, there are two words in Malay for frying: ‘goreng’ and ‘rendang’. Although rendang is now commonly accepted to be the name of a separate dish, goreng is the term used to describe frying.
In his book, Khir also talks about menumis, which is one of the most common methods of cooking in Malay cuisine and basically involves “cooking at low fire with little oil over a long duration to the point of sweating or caramelisation”.
'Sampai pecah minyak' is a term used to describe cooking ingredients until a layer of oil emerges. — Filepic
“When we talk about cooking techniques, what is really big in the Malay world is menumis – because sautéing is a short period but menumis can be for a prolonged period.
"For example, when a sambal requiring frying is made in factories, sometimes it doesn’t taste quite right and that is because the period of menumis is too short so the chilli or onions haven’t reached a point of caramelisation.
“Menumis also lends itself to pecah minyak which is quite unique in Malay cooking. Often recipes will say ‘sampai pecah minyak’. What does it mean? With menumis, you will get pecah minyak when it is aromatic and you see the oil coming through,” he says.
Grilling over charcoal fire is a common way of cooking Malay dishes like satay, ikan bakar and ayam panggang.
The charcoal emits a rich smokiness that embeds itself onto whatever is being grilled, which is what gives these dishes such a rich, unforgettable quality.
To top this off, the meats, seafood or vegetables are often marinated in tropical spices and herbs like turmeric and lemongrass, which give it distinctly Nusantara flavours.
In the past, charcoal grilling was very common in many Malay households. — Filepic
Nurliyana Rusli, the chef-owner of Bangsar eatery Arang, which pays homage to the charcoal grilled food of her Javanese heritage, says charcoal grilled meals have formed the foundation of her fondest food memories.
“I think my love for charcoal grilled food comes from my grandparents. My grandmother lived in a traditional wooden house in the kampung and there was a section of the house outside that served as an outdoor kitchen and this is where she had her charcoal grill stove (dapur arang).
“I remember watching my grandparents and older female cousins cook on the charcoal grill during Raya or for kenduris and that’s when I got my first exposure to charcoal grilled food.
“My grandmother used to make delicious ikan bakar and ayam percik but she also grilled everything from pineapple to corn and sometimes even whole mandarin oranges! It was really interesting to eat, because I have never tasted it anywhere else,” she says.
Liyana grew up with grandparents who had a chargoal grill in their outdoor kitchen and used to grill everything from chicken to mandarin oranges! — ARANGAccording to Khir, baking was the last cooking technique to penetrate the Malay culinary world.
Kuih bangkit for example is the earliest known example of a biscuit made in an oven, although these days, many kuih like kuih bakar and bahulu are made in conventional ovens. Of course, back in the day, these ovens were often fuelled by charcoal.
“As a kid, the whole idea of baking used what I call the micro oven that is the brass mould with the top lid where at the bottom you have charcoal or wood.
"If you think about it, necessity is the mother of invention and something like kek lapis which is cooked layer by layer is because people are so ingenious, they take a little scoop of batter, add a layer and control the heat manually and cook each layer evenly with a charcoal oven.
"And the aroma that comes out of it cannot be recreated by the best modern ovens!” he says.
Khir also adds that kuih bahulu made in brass moulds over charcoal heat have entirely different textural qualities compared to the ones made in other moulds.
“For me Hari Raya is about making bahulu in brass moulds. And I have done experiments with this, I have baked it in silicone, aluminum and brass moulds and the result is so different even though the batter comes from the same mixing bowl,” says Khir.
Anis meanwhile says that the tradition of making traditional Malay oven-baked sweet treats is something that her mother still does – and which she too does when she can.
“My mum is famous for her bingka ubi kayu, hers is absolutely delicious – she makes it out of flour, eggs, gula Melaka, shredded tapioca and her secret ingredient is lots and lots of butter!” says Anis.
Khir examines the ins and outs of cooking techniques and processes that define Malay food in his seminal book on Malay gastronomy. — KHIR JOHARISteaming is a component of Malay food that surfaces in dishes like ketam kukus and ikan kukus and more specialised dishes like botok-botok, which features fish that is marinated, peppered with fresh herbs and steamed in coconut leaf parcels.
But steaming is perhaps most prominently used in steamed kuih like kuih talam and pulut dishes like pulut kuning.
Rice is also of course a staple steamed course that is a must-have in all Malay homes.
Boiling is a method that is probably most popular with dishes like ketupat, which involves rice wrapped in palm leaves and boiled till it is fully cooked. These diamond-shaped packets are traditionally eaten during Hari Raya with rendang.
“In our house, three or four days before Raya, the ketupat will be hanging already. This year, I’m going to have a crack at making it. I’ve got cooking tips from various different aunts.
“They have told me that the type of rice I am using cannot be too perfect, there has to be some broken rice. And when boiling the rice, apparently you need to keep topping up the water level to dilute the starch so the ketupat stays fresh after being hung up to dry.
:According to my aunts, even if you think you’ve added enough water, add more!” says Ili, laughing.
Fermentation
In Ili's family home in Kampung Baru, making ketupat for Hari Raya is a family tradition. Ketupat is made by weaving banana leaf parcels around rice and boiling this until the rice is cooked well but remains soft. — ILI SULAIMANFermentation is very common in the Malay culinary world and is employed in staples like belacan and cincalok (both made using fermented shrimp) and tempoyak.
Tempoyak is essentially a fermented durian dish that is made by placing durians in a sealed earthenware pot, which is left to ferment for a few days, before being eaten on its own or turned into sambal tempoyak.
“My dad is from Perak so he loves tempoyak, so we make our own tempoyak. I make it when he wants to eat it, it doesn’t take long to ferment tempoyak – just a couple of days because you cannot let it ferment for too long.
“And after becoming a chef and travelling to different states, I have learnt about a lot of dishes that utilise tempoyak like sambal kayu tempoyak, which has seven to 12 different julienned herbs cooked with tempoyak, cili padi and ikan bilis,” says food personality Anis Nabilah.
Tempoyak daun racik is made using fermented durian and many different kinds of local herbs. — Filepic
Drying
Before the advent of refrigeration, drying was very big in the Malay Archipelago and was actively used to preserve the shelf life of food. Ikan kering for example was very common before the 19th century. To preserve the fish, it was crusted in salt, according to Khir.
Sun-dried keropok is also another example of dried foods, as is ikan bilis which involves salting, which removes moisture when it is dried in the sun. Then there is sugar-curing, which is omnipresent in the ubiquitous dried dish of daging dendeng, the Malay equivalent of beef jerky.
Keropok is sun-dried to remove moisture, so that it lasts longer before it is fried. — Filepic
Smoking
Smoking is also a feature of Malay cooking, although its popularity is less widespread and often limited to certain regions or areas. In Negri Sembilan for instance, daging salai is a common feature and can be seen sold in roadside stalls throughout the state.
“I make a dish called masak lemak daging salai. We don’t have coconut trees in our home in Subang Jaya but through my travels, I learnt how to make this dish the traditional way by smoking utilising coconut husks for added flavour.
“Cooking that dish requires going to the kedai runcit to get the coconut husks. I normally smoke the meat in old school plant pots and add water, so the wood produces more smoke.
When we make this, our family takes turns to smoke the meat, because it takes four or five hours of really slow smoking to get the desired result,” says Anis.
Pickling
In Anis' family, everyone takes turns smoking the meat to make masak lemak daging salai. — FilepicIn Malay communities, achar is essentially anything that is pickled in vinegar. In the past, traditional fruits like cermai used to be pickled as well as any unripe fruits or limes that would otherwise go to waste.
“I love nutmeg (buah pala) pickle. It is one of my favourite snacks that my family used to make when we were growing up in Penang. It is also something you can find a lot in Penang.
To make the pickle, we remove the skin of the nutmegs and then pickle it with vinegar, sugar and salt. You can also add turmeric and coriander powder or colouring to it, depending on your preference,” says Nurliyana Rusli, the chef-owner of Bangsar eatery Arang.
