'Secrets of Nyonya Cooking' cookbook by Malaysian celebrity Chef Florence Tan

Inspired by TV Cooking Show called "Poh's Kitchen", I searched Florence Tan's cookbook and I found it on e-bay.  Ordered it on 15th July and I already received it today afternoon.

Besides Margareth Fulton cookbook that I got from my husband, this is the first cookbook I bought by myself since I live here.
  

I am so excited when I got it :-)  Open it immediately and check out her cookbook.

This book has been reprinted twice in November 2002 and September 2005 after first printed in July 2001 .  That popular, heh? :-)  It total has 82 pages with 78 pages of recipes and the photos.   This cookbook mostly has savory recipes and only 10 sweets recipes.

What are The Table of Contents?

OK, there some recipes that I am familiar with like :

Nyonya Fried Rice, 

Gerang Asam/Spicy and Sour Fish Curry, 

Sambal Cencaluk/Chillied Preserved Shrimp, 

Otak-otak Panggang/Grilled Spicy Fish Paste, 

Acar Ikan/Fish Pickle, 

Pong Taufu Soup/Fish and Bean Curd Ball Soup,

Jackfruit Curry,

Spicy and Sour Fish Head Curry,

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce,

Apam Berkuah/Pancake with Rich Banana Sauce,

Putugal/Banana-filled Tapioca Rolls,

Tai Bak/Nyonya Cendol, and

Popiah/Spring Rolls.


The recipes are similar to Indonesian food perhaps only few different ingredients.


Like Nyonya Fried Rice, with similar ingredients in Indonesia we call it Nasi Goreng Ebi (Ebi is dried shrimp and Nyonya Fried Rice used dried shrimp too).

Gerang Asam/Spicy and Sour Fish Curry, I think it is similar to Padang* Food called Ikan Asam Padeh, I did make this dish but I used Prawns: Udang Asam Padeh/Spicy and Sour Prawns Curry.

Sambal Cencaluk/Cincalok/Chillied Preserved Shrimps. I know it as "He Koi".

I did buy a bottle of Cencaluk/Cincalok and made Cincalok Chilli Sauce ala Mum and Cincalok Omelette.

Otak-otak Panggang/Grilled Spicy Fish Paste is a bit different with Indonesian one. The difference is Indonesian one, have peanut sauce to go with it. We call it Otak-Otak and some call it Otak-Otak Panggang too. As far as I know there are two types of Indonesian otak-otak, grilled and Fried fish paste/Otak-Otak Goreng.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, Indonesian have this dish too. I honestly don't know the original recipe of Indonesian Chicken Satay but I did make Chicken Satay before.

Acar Ikan/Fish Pickle is similar to Ikan Pesmol in Indonesian Dish. It is fried fish covered with yellow gravy and pickle (cucumber, carrot and shallot).

Pong Taufu Soup/Fish and Bean Curd Ball Soup, this one is similar to Mum's recipe but Mum's one is simpler.

Jackfruit Curry, is similar to Padang Food's we have Gulai Nangka. I have not found any young jackfruit yet here, from Poh's Kitchen I learnt that young jackfruit is available in canned. I can't wait to go to Newcastle Asian Grocery store soon, which is 1 hour from where we live.

Spicy and Sour Fish Head Curry, again in Padang Food we have this dish too and it's called Gulai Kepala Ikan/Fish Head Curry.

Apam Berkuah/Pancake with Rich Banana Sauce, it is similar to Kue Serabi. I never make one before but you can see the picture on AyoMakanMakan Blog.

Putugal/Banana-filled Tapioca Rolls, in Indonesia we have Kue Nagasari or some people call it Kue Pisang.

Tai Bak/Nyonya Cendol, the cendol color is white while in Indonesia we have Es Cendol and the color of cendol is green (from pandan/screwpine leaf).

Kuih Bijan/Sesame Puffs, is similar to Pastel Goreng in Indonesia. Kuih Bijan is baked while Pastel Goreng is fried. What similar is the shape but the filling is totally different. Filling for Kuih Bijan is roasted finely ground peanuts, roasted sesame seeds and sugar, while for Pastel Goreng is normally potato, carrots, a little bit of vermicelli, minced, and some people add a small part of boiled egg in it. Indonesian have this Pastel Goreng either with Peanut Sauce or bird-eye chilis. This Pastel Goreng is already in my cooking list, this is one of my favorite childhood food that Mum used to buy for me besides Kue Bolu Kukus. OMG my mouth is watering now because of pastel goreng and kue bolu kukus hahaha....

Popiah/Spring Rolls, in Medan** we also have Popiah Medan. I love this dish!

While for Basic Chili Paste/Stock/Garnish/Sauce/Fish Paste/Colouring are very similar to Indonesian.

In this book, it has:

Spicy Shrimp Paste,
Chicken Stock,
Crisp-fried Shallots,
Crisp-fried Chopped Garlic,
Sweet Sauce,
All-purpose Sauce,
Fish Paste/Fish Balls, and
Butterfly/Blue Pea Flower Juice.


For Garnish we have Fried Shallots and (My Mum used to make this too) Fried Chopped Garlic.

For Chili Paste/Sambal we also have Shrimp Paste Chili using fresh chilis this one is using fresh chili and Sambal Terasi using Sambal Oelek. I like both but I prefer the one with fresh chili better.


The last three pages of this book are :

Glossary,
Cooking Tips for Apam and Talam making, and
Weights and Measures.

I really want to put the pictures from this book on my blog but I am worry it is illegal. 


*Padang is the capital city of West Sumatera, Sumatera Island, Indonesia.
One of thousands -could be more :D - review, I found this one (Eating Asia - Padang Feast) is quite complete.

**Medan is the capital city of North Sumatera, Sumatera Island, Indonesia.


For sure after this, I will try some of her recipes from her cookbook ;-)

Hope you all have a great weekend.


Oink!
Miss Lucky Piggy