The Portuguese and Spanish were among the first Europeans to arrive in Singapore. Eurasian cuisine (cuzinnia cristang) in the past centuries are a strong hearty blend of Malay food with Dutch and Portuguese cooking in, also with a touch of Chinese and Indian spices. These have caused a forge in intermarriages during the sixteenth century. Not all Europeans settlers are seafarers. Some settled in Singapore as traders in search of a better route to new market for outlandish goods by sea .
Eurasian food is an exotic blend of food culture from the East and the West. Eurasians left a colourful mark in the Singapore culinary setting. Many were seafarers from, Scandinavia and Europe (Britain, Germany, France, Huguenots, italy ). They did not return to their mainland and made Singapore their new home ,thereafter, creating the rich Eurasian seafood.
CUSTOMARY EURASIAN INGREDIENTS
Eurasians love to use cinnamon, cloves, fennel, nutmeg, and pepper, bread crumbs for a distinct and sharp taste. They zest up most of their dishes with both dried and fresh chillies. It is indispensable whether the chillies are red, small, or large green ones, grounded into paste or a whole. This love of spice comes largely influenced by the Portuguese. For Eurasian cuisine, these ingredients are vital – tamarind (Assam), belachan, dried fermented shrimp paste, chilli, coconut (grated or squeezed), garlic, onions (sliced or minced), lemongrass and candlenuts. Tamarind can be replaced with vinegar or lime.
EURASIAN INFLUENCES
Most Eurasian food is fusion food of the European and locals Malays or Chinese. The way Eurasians cook is influenced by all the different parts of the world due to traders from Spain and Portugal introducing to them food like tomatoes, peanuts and pineapples. Europeans cuisines are influenced by the Portuguese, Dutch and British as well as the Malay, Chinese, nyonya style of cooking. Seafood is especially popular due to settlements from the coast.
PORTUGESE EURASIAN TASTE
Having been searching for exquisite foods and spices, Portuguese traders who later settled in Malacca have grown a liking for spicy food. They made use of spices they could find in their country and created a signature dish called the devils curry. As the name suggests, it is a dish that will certainly fire up your appetite with its spiciness.
The Portuguese mostly relied on fishing for a living which is a major part of their custom. Thus their cuisine inevitably consists of seafood. Some examples are pickled salt fish (acar ikan), pickled fish roe (cincaluk), tiny baby shrimp sauce (cencaluk), dried thread fish (dried karing-karing) and dried shrimp paste (belacan) .
They too like to use ,Rempah, a herb and spice paste fried in oil is commonly used to season and thicken curries.
Some well-loved Eurasian dishes are fisherman soup (caldu pescador) whereby they traditionally boil it right by the coastline where the fishermen catch. Best ate with brandy liquor to spice up their day.
Some other types of Eurasian Seafood fish dish like Portuguese baked fish are made Eurasian by using local fish and ingredients. Eurasians cuisine is inspired by Portuguese colonist in Singapore during their maritime routes and their other colonies. Dishes like pickled salt fish originated in Portuguese colony of GOA in India. The Portuguese had a strong connection with Benin City, the capital edo state which is also a dominant kingdom in the southern coast of congo (Nigeria). Native Portuguese Eurasian food like pesce fish (French and Spanish), curry mangga (mango in Malay) are named in Portuguese dialect.
EURASIAN TASTE INSPIRED BY BRITISH AND DUTCH
Also there are Eurasian food inspired by the British and Dutch. Fish and chips and tuna mornay are long established recipes of British dishes, but are being educated to local housekeeper during the early British settlement.
Our indigenous, Chinese, Malay, Indian and nyonyas have further more stirred up numerous dishes for our local kitchen serving Eurasian cuisine. As many have known of the satay celup (dip) is a rich influence by the Malays. They are wooden stick skewers of prawns, squid, cockles etc dunked in warm satay sauce.
Even during their high tea, which is a common day tradition the Eurasians from Britain practise, seafood is still present. They would have munchies such as sandwiches with sardine and prawn sambal.
CONCLUSION
Eurasians are wealthy heirs to a mixture of traditions and customs from both the East and West. They are results of fusion, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic. Hence the diverse rich fusion dishes.
http://www.singaporefoodhistory.com/sing-main.htm 2005 . Ai Ling Sim-Devadas
http://eurasiancultureproject.blogspot.com/2007/06/eurasian-culture-project.html June 27,2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristang_people february 2009
http://www.celines-cuisine.com/Cuisine.htm Celine Marbeck.
FEATURED PROFILE
Eurasian food could be something that is so Singaporean, yet so foreign, so old and yet so new. Eurasians, as we all know it, were the result of marriage between the Europeans and local Asian. Eurasian cuisine, similarly, is a result of the fusion between European and Asian cuisines.
A certain individual, who knows a lot about Eurasian cuisine or Eurasian seafood dishes in particular, is Mr. Randolph Steward.
Mr. Steward, 55, is of Indian and Scottish descendant. One of 5 siblings in his family, he inherited his culinary expertise and recipes from the older generation, who catered to different tastes and availability of the ingredients. They were passed down from generation to generation by their ancestors. An example is the very well-known Eurasian dish, the Devil’s Curry. Many different versions of this dish were created for different tastes; some using eggplants while others use cabbages and so on. The main motive was to keep the base similar, thus, keeping the motive of the Eurasian dishes.
Memorable times for Mr. Steward was when his family met each other to try out different dishes many, many years ago.
One secret recipe passed down to Mr Steward was ‘Feng’, a dish consisting of pork, pig liver, or innards and “wonderful”, according to Mr Steward, if eaten with a crusty French loaf.
When asked what his favourite Eurasian seafood dish was, Mr. Steward chose a dish called Fish Moli. This Dish shall be Famous dish that will be elaborated in the next article. This dish, tied with Portugese-style Spicy Fish Stew, is a famous choice for Eurasians. Another dish he chose was Prawn Sambal Bastador, for it’s spicy flavour and the strong taste of basil leaves.
According to Mr. Steward, most of these dishes are just modifications of the other Peranakan-style cooking. For example, Sambal Sotong, which is just made Eurasian because of the base of the dish.
Mr Steward often prepares Eurasion dishes depending on his family members’ moods because there are a lot of preparations to go through. The main motive was to keep the cultural heritage intact in this modern civilisation. According to him, they get to try many different versions of the dishes because each Eurasian family were claiming it to be their own original dish.
Mr Steward’s Eurasian family traditions include visiting relatives during the Christmas season and attending night mass. “We attend, just to feel Jesus touching our hearts. We usually have a post mass celebration and parties all the way till the New Year’s.”
The things that Mr. Steward definitely enjoy about being Eurasian includes, obviously, food, and the bonds between each other and the company of the people he meets. However, he does also admit that some Eurasians have different well being of life. “The wealth is distributed differently because of the lives that were lived before.”
The ‘Rempah’, or Curry Paste, is Mr Steward’s favourite ingredient to use for cooking seafood. “Eurasians must eat food that is extremely spicy or else it wouldn’t be called a Eurasian dish at all. I also love using bread crumbs to fry fish (Fish Cutlets).”
Finally, Mr Steward’s view on getting his own catch at sea and cooking them right after: “This was what usually happens at the Portugese Village in Malacca. That was where the Eurasians live and where they settled in. In the 1920s, my grandmother was raised there and they lived off food in that area. Fish caught fresh from the sea gives a distinct flavour and the flesh is considered firm as well.
FEATURED DISH
FEATURED DISH
FISH MOLEE
Ingredients :
- 2 tbsp oil
- 600 g red snapper, sliced
- 1 stalk lemon grass
- 3 sliced galangal (subtitute it with ginger if unavailable)
- 4 candlenuts or 8 brazil nuts
- 2.5 cm fresh tumeric (or 1/2 tsp powdered tumeric)
- 2 large onions, sliced coarsely
- 10 cm piece ginger, cut into thin strips
- 3 cup coconut milk (from 3/4 grated coconut, extract 1 cup thick milk and 2 cups thin milk)
- vinegar, sugar and salt to taste
- corn flour for thickening
Method :
- Grind the lemon grass, galangal, candlenuts and turmeric together into a fine paste.
- Shallow fry the fish slices until golden brown.
- Drain and set aside.
- Heat the saucepan with oil and fry the onion and ginger until fragrant.
- Add the ground ingredients and fry until cooked.
- Pour in the 2 cups of thin coconut milk and leave to simmer until the gravy boils over.
- Add in the fish and the thick coconut milk, vinegar, sugar and salt.
- Cook for a few minutes and thicken the gravy with a little corn flour mixed to fine paste with water.
- Turn down the heat and cook until the gravy thickens further.
- Remove from heat.
- Serve as a main dish garnished with chopped coriander leaves, fried onion rings, fried garlic, sliced ginger and sliced chillies.
- Best served after allowing to sit for a few hours
Fish moolie is a spicy fish and coconut dish of Portuguese and Indian origin. It is seen frequently in India and Malaysia. During the times of the British Empire , it was expanded to other places of South-East Asia, such as Singapore.
The title Fish Moolie can be related with a kind of curry known among Tamils of Southern India as Moli. The Fish Moolie can be eaten with bread and as well as rice. It’s a delicacy in places where you can find Indian and Eurasian food. Fish Moli, was made popular in recent years by a well known cook known as Greg Monteiro (which happens to be 91.3 DJ Rod Monteiro’s dad) .It has a particular sour taste and is usually served with Ladies Fingers.
Fish Moolie was traditionally cooked in a claypot,on may cook this dish with prawns together with fish. Rich and spicy, this dish might look like fish curry but it isn’t. It has no curry powder although turmeric, one of the spices that make up curry powder, is an ingredient and responsible for the bright yellow hue. Any white fleshy fish can be used. I suggest tilapia, dory, river cobbler, snapper (maya-maya) or grouper (lapu-lapu). The fillets may be cooked whole or cut into smaller portions.
You can head down to The Eurasian Association (EA) founded in 1919 to find out more. It is located at 139 Ceylon Road. There is also a well-known Eurasian Restaurant nearby , named Quentin, do try it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_moolie
http://www.101cookingrecipes.com/eurasian-recipes/fish-moolie.php
http://www.grouprecipes.com/50449/fish-or-prawn-moolie.html
http://www.servinghistory.com/topics/Fish_moolie
