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Saturday, 14 March 2015

An Introduction to the Classic Peranakan Food

There is a misconception among many non Asian that all curries are fiery hot, and needs glasses of cold water to subdue the burning sensation on your tongue.

If you would really like to consider some oriental dishes yet afraid of the spiciness, then Kapitan chicken should be the option for you. Kapitan chicken is a dish that is comes from Malaysia, due to the cross cultural impact of culinary skills of the Malay towards the local Chinese society. This is one of the most renowned dishes served in most Nyonya restaurants.

Many people believed the origin of the name chicken kapitan was dated back to the period when the Portuguese was settled in Melacca in the 15th century.During the colonial period of Portuguese, the leader of the Chinese clan was recognized for the involvement to the society and was conferred the title called Kapitan. The intermarriage between the Chinese and Portuguese especially at the area of Melaka has produced the followings new generation called Peranakan. Chicken kapitan is among the popular Peranakan dishes that contains the title Kapitan, which literally means captain. Peranakans dish is also known as Nyonya food as Nyonya means granny or Madam of the strait borned Chinese descendents




The best kapitan chicken are available in Penang and Malaka which were colonized by the British and Portuguese from 15th to 19th centuries.Right here, most of the cuisine will always be have a bit of local flavor, whether it is western or chinese cuisine. For instance, kapitan chicken is created from a Malay curry dish but has been improved by the Chinese and prepared by using a different group of herbs and spices. The chicken used must be fresh and marinated overnight to ensure it is tender and succulent. It is done by first deep fried the chicken, and then cook with coconut milk.

Kapitan chicken is different from the classic Malaysian curry not merely it is less hot, but is also cooked with different set of spices. It has a unique Nyonya flavor as a consequence of the combination of lemongrass, galangal (a kind of ginger, also all blue ginger ), turmeric ( the local terms it as yellow ginger ), coconut milk and belacan (local shrimp paste).The result is a curry that is more acceptable to the taste bud of the Chinese who does not normally consume hot and spicy food as much as the Malays. Some of the less frequently used spices among the Chinese such as fenugreek, cumin and fennel are left out from the recipe. Rather, belacan is added in a tiny amount with large quantity of coconut milk.

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