Nyonya food is also known as Straits Chinese food or Lank Embok Embok. It is an interesting amalgation of chinese and malay dishes originated from the state of Malacca over 400 years ago.
During that time, mixed marriages between chinese immigrants, and local malay produced a unique culture. their descendants, the Straitsborn Chines, were known as peranakan - the ladies were called nyonyas and the men babas.
From the mixed marriages between chinese and malays, they had developed a distinct food such as pork bread, asam pedas, gulai lemak udang, ayam pongteh and chai kueh. They use a lot of spices that make the taste unique and delicous.
In addition, they use traditional tools such as "batu giling" to mix the ingredients. It takes a long time to prepare the ingredients. Today, we just only use blander to mix the ingredients.Usually they served the traditional foods on Lonar Chinese New Year, weddings, and auspicious events. in the past, festive occasions like weddings, birthday and other ceremonial events would provide opportunities for young nyonyas to sharpen their cooking skills. Unwed nyonyas were expected to be well-trained in cooking and sewing. If they intend to increase their chances of being match made with rich and respectable babas.
A fomous nyonya wedding dish is "jantung pisang" made of banana tree buds, coconut cream, chilies, shrimp paste, lemon and "belimbing". Heepew (fish and meatball in a rich sauce) is usually served for lunch.
Special nyonya dishes are prepared to mark auspicious occasions. For example, nasi kunyit (yellow rice) with hard-boiled eggs coloured red is distributed by a nyonya to her freinds and relatives to celebrate when her baby is one month old. This practice also marks the lifting of restrictions imposed on mother and child during the one-month period.
Another special rice dish is nasi lemak (coconut rice), which a nyonya mother-in-law would present to the mother of her son's bride 12 days after the wedding, to acknowledge that the bride was a virgin.
An interesting nyonya dish seved during Lonar Chinese New Year is ayam siyaw ( chicken in tamarind sauce). During the festivities, shops and markets would be closed for four consecutive days. As there were no refrigerators in their homes at the time, the nyonyas would buy several chickens, then cook the chickens with spices and use tamarind to preserve the meat. The ayam siyaow dish could then be served during any meal.
