Taste & smell

Asam keping is used to lend a sour taste in curries and sambal. It’s used in cooking, not for eating raw.

It smells like salted dried plum to me. At my cooking class, Japanese students told me it smells like Japanese ume (plum). Some Americans thinks it smell like mushrooms.

photo credit: wikiwand

Other names of asam

• English name: Tamarind slice
• Malay name: Asam keping/ asam gelugor
• Scientific name: Garcinia atroviridis

Where to buy

It’s available at the spice and dried goods section at the supermarket or morning market.

Asam gelugur vs Asam Jawa

When mentioned tamarind, most people know of tamarind paste (asam jawa) and have not seen tamarind slice (asam keping/gelugur). These two tamarind comes from different tree.

Tamarind paste (asam jawa) comes in paste form. Whereas, tamarind slice in dried slices. The latter can be used immediately in cooking. Whereas tamarind paste need to be diluted in water.

Replacement for asam gelugur

Asam jawa can generally be used to replace asam gelugur/keping. When making sambal for nasi lemak, I alternate between these two. While they are both sour agent, they taste quite different.

Asam keping is more sharp. Whereas asam jawa has a more sweeter, rounded flavour.

How to choose good quality asam keping

My Mom went to a small town in Terengganu and got a packet of newly dried asam gelugur. It’s lighter in colour. Normally, at the supermarket the asam keping is dried and dark.

Perhaps, for freshness, choose lighter and softer ones. Though living in the city, I only normally see dried dark ones and that’s fine too.

Storage

Store in a dark and dry place.

Recipes

• Jamu Drink For Health And Beauty
• Overnight Jamu Tonic in Thermos

The post Asam Keping / Asam Gelugur / Tamarind Slice appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Belacan is raw and need to be cooked. At supermarket, you can also find those that are pre-toasted in sliced and powdered form.

You can learn more about the different type of shrimp paste, health benefits, storage, etc in another post that I have written (Read: Belacan Shrimp Paste).

In this post, we’re going to talk about how to cook shrimp paste.

How to toast belacan

Belacan must be cooked before eating; dry toast it until it is crumbly.

1. SLICE
Slice belacan into small pieces of about 0.5 cm thick. The thinner it is, the faster it cooks.

2. TOAST
Dry toast it on medium fire until the belacan is dry.You can see that it is cracked and no longer sticky. It takes about 15 minutes. In between, flip the slices.

3. DISH OUT & LET IT COOL
Place toasted belacan on a large plate. Let it cool before storing.

When do I know it’s ready?

It’s ready when its dry, hard, and crumbled easily.

Turning belacan slices into powder

At this stage, belacan is cooked, dry, and easily crumbled. If you like, you can crush it with a spatula to turn it into smaller pieces.

This is why my Mom likes to use a wok, its easier to crush the belacan into smaller pieces. However, because of the small surface area, we can only toast about 1 block at a time.

Tips when toasting belacan

1. Cook in somewhere with good ventilation Belacan has an extremely strong smell in itself. When cooked, it emits an even more pungent smell that Europeans had mistaken for a corpse! (Read: French Neighbour Mistake Grilled Belacan To Be Rotten Corpse). So do make sure the kitchen has good ventilation. As I have a garden and a portable stove, I toast belacan in my garden.

2. Cover belacan to protect it from flies Make sure you prepare a food cover or a container with lid to keep the belacan. When toasting belacan, it will attract a lot of flies.

3. Use a flat pan. My Mom traditionally use a wok. But I prefer using a flat pan has more surface area; it allows me to place all slices from 1.5 blocks of belacan.

3. Don’t wear your best clothing You will smell of belacan after cooking. I normally schedule to do it before my bath time.

4. Crush toasted belacan into smaller pieces. I suggest doing this. It’s easy to measure with spoons and it dissolve quickly when cooking.

Toasting belacan in the oven?

I have tried and it makes my oven smell of belacan for days! But if you live in an apartment without good ventilation, perhaps it’s a better way to keep the smell from bothering your neighbour.

In that case, using an oven make sense. To lessen lingering smell of belacan in your oven, perhaps wrapping the sliced belacan in aluminium foil before putting it in the oven helps.

Storage

I like to put crumbled, cooked belacan in an empty glass container. In my cooking class, this is what I use for cooking things like rojak sauce and nasi lemak.

Recipes

• Asam Laksa
• Sambal belacan
• Ladies fingers with dried prawns sambal
• Dried shrimp sambal

The post How To Toast Belacan Shrimp Paste appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Belacan is a fermented cooking produce used in Asia. It's made mainly from shrimp and salt, then fermented for a few weeks. It's then sun-dried and cut into blocks for sale.

It is normally made commercially. However, some families at fishing villages makes it themselves too. I have bought one from the Portuguese-Malaccan community at Melaka

In Malaysia, it plays a major role in our food. It is used in a lot of our important dishes like nasi lemak and also made into salad dressing and dips

So important it is that when Malaysians leave their country to work or study, this is something that they will bring along.

---

Taste & smell

The smell of belacan has been compared to a decaying corpse! (Read: Malaysian French Neighbour In Paris Mistakes Belacan For Stench of Dead Body)

But I believe fragrance lies in the nose of the beholder. For me and other Malaysians, belacan smells good and we use 'fragrance' to describe the smell of this pungent seafood produce.

As it is made with salt, it's very salty. The prawns/shrimp and fermentation process gives is a deep umami taste.

Many Americans and Europeans that come to my cooking class dislike the smell, but love the taste of it.

---

Substitute for belacan

Some people likened it to fish sauce and suggest using that as a substitute. Korean guest that came to my  Nasi Lemak Cooking Class mentioned that they love the nasi lemak sambal (which contains belacan) because they are familiar with fish sauce.  

I did read in cookbooks written by Malaysian overseas (such as Norman Musa) use fish sauce as substitute. It's a clever idea if you really cannot get belacan.

Both belacan and fish sauce are made from fermented seafood and has similar umami taste. However, it is not the same. Belacan has a very distinct taste (and smell).

---

Other names of belacan

• English name: Shrimp paste
• Malay name: Belacan
• Indonesian name: Terasi
• Cantonese name: Ma Lai Chan (马来棧)

---

Belacan vs Petis Udang

In Malaysia and Singapore, this fermented shrimp paste is called belacan. However, fermented shrimp paste in english can also mean petis udang, another entirely different product. Do not be confused.

Belacan and petis udang are both different, and cannot be used as substitution for each other. However, in English they are both called shrimp paste (source: Wikipedia).

Belacan is hard and normally come in blocks. Whereas petis udang is in liquid form. At my cooking class, I refer to belacan as shrimp paste powder and petis udang as shrimp paste sauce.

---

Where to buy

Belacan is a very important ingredient in Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine. So it's available everywhere that sells fresh produce e.g supermarket, market, convenience store, or independent grocer.

---

How to choose a good quality belacan

The smellier, the better! I think that's the easiest way to see it. I have bought some belacan in powder form that barely smell and another that makes the whole kitchen smells. The latter tasted really good.

Note that you can buy both raw and toasted belacan. Raw belacan need to be cooked or toasted before used.

---

Types of belacan: raw, sliced & toasted, powder

You can get belacan in the raw or cooked (toasted) form. Cooked belacan are either sliced or blended into powder.

---

Should I get raw or toasted belacan?

If you value taste more than convenience, I suggest buying raw belacan and toast it yourself. This way, you can get the best quality belacan and make it fresh. After toasting, I like to crush it into smaller pieces so that it's easier to use.

(Read: How to Toast Belacan Shrimp Paste)

However, toasting belacan will release a very strong smell. If you don't have a kitchen with good ventilation or live very near to your neighbour, your kitchen will smell and your neighbour may not be pleased.

In that case, I suggest buying toasted belacan in sliced rather than powdered form. I found that powdered belacan is not as fragrant (or smelly, depending on how you see it).

 

---

Health benefits

The Malaysian Chinese believe that prawns and things made from it is 'toxic'. When recovering from a cut, they believe that this is something that we shouldn't eat as it will slow/interfere with healing.

Google research led me to a study that show that shrimp paste can reduce the enamel erosion by acidic food and re-harden softened enamel.

Shrimp paste, like other fermented food also shows that 'habitual (nātto and/or) fermented seafood consumption could support BCFA intakes similar to dairy consumption.' (source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) BCFA is branched chained fatty acid which may help develop develop out gut bacteria (source: wikipedia)

---

Storage

Store in a dark and dry place.

---

Recipes

I believe in eating everything in moderation. While belacan is not seen as a superfood in my family, we use it occasionally to make delicious Malaysian dish like:

• sambal belacan
• ladies fingers with dried prawns sambal
• dried shrimp sambal

The post Belacan Shrimp Paste appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

For my cooking class, I was searching high and low for high quality palm sugar in Kuala Lumpur for making Peanut Sauce of Satay and Sago Gula Melaka (Sago Pudding and Coconut Milk).

I went to the wet market as well as a few supermarket. Alas, nothing beats those that I get from Melaka sundry shop. Finally, I found it at Jaya Grocer. It’s called Gula Melaka Comel.

*NOTE: As of early 2021, I noticed that the company changed their recipe. I believe sugar is added although the company denied it; it’s no longer as soft and as pure as it was originally. I used to be able to slice through it easily. Not anymore.

WHY I LIKE THIS?

1. Pure

This gula melaka, as indicated on the packaging, is made from pure palm sugar.

2. Easy to slice and crumbles

I can easily cut this block with a sharp knife. Grating is easy too as this palm sugar is rather soft.

3. Small blocks

I like that it comes in small blocks of about 55 g each. Normally other gula melaka comes in larger blocks; I only use a little of it and store the rest. For Gula Melaka Comel, I normally use up at least one whole block for making Sago Gula Melaka.

WHERE TO BUY PALM SUGAR

I always get this gula melaka from Jaya Grocer. I have been to a few supermarkets such as TESCO, Aeon Big, and Jusco. At the time of writing, this brand of gula melaka is not available at those supermarket.

Although the price is slightly higher than the other palm sugar, it’s definitely worth every cent in my opinion.

The post Where to buy good quality Gula Melaka (palm sugar) in Kuala Lumpur appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Tear the leaves slightly and you’ll whiff a unique citrusy scent. The leaves has essential oil that is used in perfumery, the same scent from the leaves and rind of the fruit add fragrance to dishes. In Malaysian cuisine, Kaffir lime leaves are normally added into curries such as the Nyonya Kapitan Curry.

Unlike other trees where the fruit takes the centre-stage, Kaffir lime leaves are more widely used. From what I gather from botanist, there are true kaffir lime leaves which stems has obvious thorns and the hybrid one which doesn’t. The former is much more fragrant, but takes a much longer time to grow. I have tried but failed to buy true kaffir lime tree. Fortunately, I have access to it through my neighbour’s trees.

Other names of Kaffir Lime

• English name: Kaffir lime leaves
• Malay name: daun limau purut
• Chinese name: 泰国桔叶 (Tai kwok kam yip)

How to julienned the leaves

1. Cut away the thick and tough centre pine

2. Stack the leaves

3. Roll

4. Slice thinly with a sharp knife

Kaffir lime leaves powder

I discovered dried and grounded Kaffir Lime Leaf while I was writing 3 Ingredient Recipe, where only three fresh ingredients are allowed in a recipe. Kaffir lime leaves powder is not as common as ground cinnamon or turmeric. Most people use the fresh leaves.

The powder looks a like green tea powder with citrus fragrance. I was please to find that it contains to addictives; just pure dried kaffir lime leaves powder.

Most recipes only calls for a few pieces of kaffir lime leaves. However, in the supermarket, we have no choice but to buy a whole packet full of them and ended up with more leaves than we’ll need.

So having kaffir lime leaves in powder form is truly handy for home cook. You can use any quantity that you like and keep them for a much longer time.

Where to buy

Fresh Kaffir Lime Leaves – Get it from any supermarket or wet market. I’m fortunate that a few of my neighbours have this plant, I just pluck them whenever I need them.

Kaffir Lime Leaves Powder – This is not a very popular product. I haven’t seen it in many supermarkets. I got mine from AEON Jusco.

Storage

Wrap the leaves in paper towel and keep it in a plastic container or ziplock bag. It can last for 2 – 3 weeks.

You can also wrap the leaves in cling wrap and freeze it for up to a few months. However, the aroma will not be as intense (I normally do not bother freezing herbs due to this reason)

Recipes

• Thai Fish Cakes

The post Kaffir Lime Leaves & Powder appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

The post 25 Chinese Herbs in English and Chinese appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.