75. Ayam Sioh 2022 - 2023 - Itek Sioh 30 Dec 2025 - My Peranakan Heritage

Ayam Sioh and Itek Sioh 

Ayam Sioh - Dec 2022 & Jan 2023
Itek Sioh - Dec 2025

honest, not my fav dish. 

but since mama, alow and mummy are no longer around, i guess i have to at least try to cook this, being nonya and all... ha. 

i do realise that this is one of the easiest dish to make ever! 

the taste may not be exactly the same as mama's but quite close.

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2025 CNY
this year, i gave up on making the grilled version and just added water to make it like a stew.
Liang said that this year's sioh is very close to mama's sioh! jamie, daddy and Liang love my sioh the most and i think this year's sioh tastes very close to mama's sioh flavours! so happy!! 

Dec 2025 - Itek Sioh 
- scroll down for recipe!

2024 CNY
this year, the sioh taste is very close to mama's sioh!
added gula melaka and last year's sioh rempah/jam,
and roasted the ketumbar for longer... now it has depth in its aroma!
use more ketumbar than what recipe calls for (total around 3 bottles, 20g x3)
also added more water and made it more liquid.

below: 2024

below: 2025

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Recipe - Ayam Sioh (revised)

rempah - blend till fine

- onions x8 medium - chopped

- garlic x4 cloves - chopped

- roasted ketumbar (coriander seeds) x4-5 tbsp 

(USE MORE KETUMBAR!! say 3 bottles, about 60g total)

- sugar x7-8 tbsp & gula melaka

- assam paste x1 tbsp

- tau cheo x1-2 tsp

- white pepper corn x2 tbsp

- coriander roots x4-5

1. fry onions and garlic till soft

2. add sugar and fry until sugar melts and turns brown

3. add tau cheo, assam paste, roasted ketumbar, white pepper, coriander roots

4. fry mixture (rempah) till fragrant and sticky

5. add chicken and fry

6. add water and stir till drier or until preferred dryness or thickened gravy

(griling the chicken is good too!)

7. serve hot with steamed jasmine rice

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bought a bottle of ketumbar from ntuc $1.30

crab brand coriander seeds, 20g per bottle

dry roasted 3 tbsp seeds in the pan,

pound and then add into the rempah

how to cook rempah & put the dish together

- roast ketumbar and pound

- fry onions and sugar, until sugar melts and turns brown

- mix the rest of the ingredients and cook into a paste

- add chicken and fry

- grill till crust forms 

- make a stew and gravy

below: grilled ayam sioh version

grilled chicken with ayam sioh rempah

other recipes online...

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somehow, i managed to eat some sioh.

tastes better when combined with buah keluak and sambal belacan!

Cooking Ayam Sioh

made the dish 1-2 weeks and 1-2 days earlier.

17-18 Jan 2023

making a 2nd batch of rempah.

should have pounded the dried roasted ketumbar seed separate from the wet ingredients. took me a while to get it pounded... and then, realised that using one whole bottle of ketumbar isn't enough! (one bottle 20g, crab brand).

few days later, jamie bought 4 bottles and i used up another 2 bottles. 

and then, the sioh rempah smells amazing!!

below: onion jam... haha

cooked about 2 tiny pieces of chicken to try... ok lah. 

ketumbar really not enough... 

20 jan 2023 fri - cooked the sioh!

so i fried, braised and grilled the sioh.

also roasted like 2 more bottles of ketumbar seeds - this time i used a grinder... so much better!!

turns out really good!!

BUT...

21 jan 2023 sat - reunion dinner

on the actual day of the reunion dinner, i heated up the sioh and kinda burnt my sioh and my pot 😡😡 good thing i managed to save the dish and made it into a gravy instead of a dry version. ugggh

so, the dish got cooked and i had a giant pot... 4kg of chicken!

21 Jan 2023 - cny eve

below: after burning the sioh and my pot, 

cooked it by boiling... 

so the chicken should be more tender.

looks kinda ordinary Lol

but anyway, sioh not my fav 😅😅

2025 CNY Year of the Snake

this year, i make the sioh with gravy, like how mama made it almost soupy.

Liang said my sioh tastes very close to mama's version and he enjoyed it a lot! ok good. i'll make more of mama's version next cny!

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Itek Sioh (Duck)

29 Dec - 30 Dec 2025

bought 2 duck legs (drum and thigh) at NTUC for $4 each.

so excited to try cooking sioh, using a no-fry, oven bake method.

Recipe - Itek Sioh (Duck)

1. my rempah - blend into a liquid mix

- onions x2-3 small to medium - chopped

- garlic x4-5 cloves - chopped

- roasted ketumbar (coriander seeds) x4-5 tbsp 

- gula melaka x1 pc - cylinder type, around 3-4cm ht

- assam paste x1 tbsp

- tau cheo x1-2 tsp

- white pepper or peppercorn x2 tbsp

2. marinate overnight 

in a suitable pot for oven baking

- duck leg x2 pcs - clean

- add rempah liquid to duck and mix well

- add bamboo shoots

3. cooking - oven bake

- place pot with duck and rempah marinade into oven

- bake for 3-4 hours, 100-150 degrees

on 30 Dec 2025, i baked my 2pc duck leg 

for 5-6 hours, 150 degrees

best to eat it on the day of baking!

4. (next day) remove layer of oil - if needed

- very thick layer of duck oil!
- will refrigerate overnight and remove the oil when hardened.

- duck is sooooo tender but really needs to be soaked in the gravy for overnight! 

5. serve hot with steamed rice 

ref: Baba Ben's Itek Sio | Woking with Sunshine Ep 2 (recipe at 3:50min)

https://youtu.be/Hm4kYy5jmyE?si=LShjxhLEY-Aq4OZc 

below: ingredients for sioh rempah

below: marinating the 2 duck legs with sioh rempah (overnight). 

also added bamboo shoots

after baking duck for 6 hours, 100-150 degrees...

below: last, grill uncovered duck for 180 degrees, 5-8min

below: added water for the gravy version