75. Rempah (Freshly Blended Spice Mix / Paste) - for Nonya & Malay Cooking - My Peranakan Heritage

30 April 2022

although i have forgotten how to make rempahs from scratch with my bare hands... using a stone pounder of course, (and there is an order of which ingredients go into the pounder...)

since i don't enjoy using a blender,

i still want to be able to make my own rempah with my hands.


below: ingredients for my sambal belachan

more here: https://jt-food.blogspot.com/2021/06/75-sambal-belachan.html

below: alow's sambal prawns - recipe

below - good instructions for making rempahs!

Pork Buah Keluak

Rempah paste :

1. Lemongrass 30gm

2. Candlenut 40gm

3. Galangal 16gm

4. Garlic 70 gm

5. Shallots 200gm

6. Belacan 24gm

7. Tumeric 1tsp

8. chili paste 1 tsp 

Buah Keluak Paste 45gm

Oil for saute : 300ml 

500gm pork

500ml tamarind water

1 extra stalk lemon grass garnish

3 kaffir lime leaf

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3 may 2022 ayam lemak chillipadi rempah (spice paste)

for pounding, i pounded in this order... - shallots x6-8 - garlic x3-4 - red & green chillipadi - adjust accordingly - fresh kunyit - 1 inch - ginger - 1 inch 1. fry rempah 2. add coconut milk 3. add - daun kunyit - limau purut - serai (lemongrass) - asam keping or lime juice 4. add chicken (season chicken with turmeric powder & salt) 5. cook chicken - add water if needed 6. add salt & sugar to taste 7. add tomatoes and boiled potatoes 8. garnish with fresh cut chillis serve hot with steamed jasmine rice

reference videos:

https://youtu.be/HjJ99NuixYg

https://youtu.be/uRW_2PzopoA

below: pounding the rempah - in this order

1. shallots

2. garlic

3. combine shallots and garlic - set aside

4. red & green chillis and/or chillipadi

5. combine shallots, garlic, chillis - set aside

6. fresh turmuric and ginger - pound & set aside

in my photos, i added more shallots 

when i realised that i did not have enough shallots

we do the agak agak method 

(estimate the quantity of herbs & spices)

frying the rempah takes a lot of patience.

we need to know when the rempah is cooked enough to move to the next step of cooking.

after frying the rempah, i added the thick coconut milk - this is following a thai method of cooking - the thais say that the coconut milk will have natural oils to flavour the rempah over heat and this technique will add a new dimension to flavours during the cooking process.

enjoy!

reference videos:

https://youtu.be/HjJ99NuixYg

https://youtu.be/uRW_2PzopoA