Newbie Nonya Cooks Laut Pindang
Laut Pindang, the holy grail of Peranakan curries. Whenever Mother makes it, it’s a real treat for me and Anneh.
Here’s why:
1. The longer you keep this curry, the better it tastes. Right around the third day, Anneh and I will be clamouring for the leftovers.
My recommendation: eat a three day old Pindang with prata and break an egg in it. Enjoy the rich spice and lemak flavour in every bite. Thinking about it now makes me hungry. YIKES.
2. It is a lot of work to make it — a lot of time and multiple steps to cook it. I remember Pindang being a regular fixture during parachut prayers when Nenek was alive. She would make a giant pot of it, with two to three ikan parang and about six eggplants, enough to feed 11 families!
Laut Pindang is etched in Mother’s memory because as the oldest daughter, she was my Nenek’s sous-chef and tasked with the preparations for this elaborate dish. This job was far from glamorous, in the Pillay household. Mother’s hands would sting from giling the chili into a fine paste. At 13 years old, this was expected of her. I definitely had it easy.
No gloves, no moisturizer as an after-care solution, not even a soothing word from Nenek. She would grind huge mounds of chili not just for the Pindang curry, but for other dishes as well.
Thankfully, the invention of the blender has saved all of us from such manual labour, amiright?
But if you ask her, she finds that grinding the rempah by hand gives Laut Pindang its depth of flavour. Here’s a quick food science 101, grinding the chili with a pestle releases the oil from the seeds and skin. It unlocks its robust flavour. With a blender, however, it merely chops the chili into tiny pieces. Just imagine a velvet-like gravy with a spicy coconut flavour, along with the delicate aroma of lemongrass. It’s light on the palette but packs a punch on the flavour.
Now you don’t need a traditional batu giling, just a small mortar and pestle will do.
Have I worked up your appetite for the recipe?
Laut Pindang Recipe
1. Grind fresh chili into a paste — a blender works just as well. If you’re lucky to own a pestle and mortar, get ready for a workout. Your taste buds will thank you.
2. Soak tamarind in hot water for about 10 minutes then squeeze out the pulp by hand once it has cooled a little. Use a sieve to filter out the seeds and pulp. Keep the tamarind water.
3. Add the chili paste to the tamarind water. Chop a stalk of lemongrass and add that to the chili-tamarind solution.
4. Add coconut milk till you get an orange colour. Let it simmer on the stove.
5. While that simmers, you will need to prep the rest of the ingredients. You will need green and red chili, two ginger slices, garlic, lemongrass and a lot of shallots. Chop them finely.
6. Remember the pot you had simmering on the stove? HOT TIP: Pass it through a sieve twice. Its silky texture is the key to a good Laut Pindang
7. Add the chopped ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil.
8. Add salt to taste.
How much coconut milk? How do I know how much chili paste I would need? What is your definition of “a lot of shallots?”? I wish I could answer that for you, but Mother does not measure the amounts. She always tells me “you need to cook on your own then you’ll get it right”. Looks like I have to stomach a few bad Pindang the first few times I make it.
It’s exasperating to get her to measure it in milliliters. The best she can give me is a measurement by hand. Her hand. We have different hand sizes!
Here’s a tip from the Newbie Nonya (I feel your pain, I know): add as much chili paste till you get an orange-brown colour. Don’t worry if you think you’ve added too much chili. Just offset the spiciness by adding more tamarind water. As for the coconut, add till you get an orange colour AND remember to taste! I cannot stress that enough. The sourness from the tamarind should be an aftertaste and not the forefront of the dish. As for shallots…well just add a lot of it, okay?
If you’re brave enough to embark on cooking a Laut Pindang, all the best! As Mother says, you’ll get better in time. Happy cooking! I’m certainly looking forward to marinating a hard boiled egg in it on the third day.
Glossary
- Laut Pindang — love at first bite. It’s a coconut-spice gravy
- Anneh — a person whom I fight with for food, a.k.a my older brother (in reality I love him very much and have forgiven him for eating my food when we were kids. Okay I lied, I’m bitter about it but I still love him)
- Lemak — oil
- Parachut prayers — a prayers to give thanks to the ancestors
- Nenek — my Grandmother
- Giling / Batu Giling — a ground stone tool to grind grains, seeds and more
- Rempah — a spice paste
- ikan parang — Wolf Herring fish
