Ordering in: A home cook's heirloom recipes inherited from her 92-year-old grandmother

The beef rendang is rich and flavourful and very, very good. — Photos: CHUAH JAY MEE

As a child growing up in a Peranakan household in Penang, Chuah Jay Mee recalls the wonders of savouring the family’s heritage meals and learning how to cook under her 92-year-old grandmother Lim Chew Lan’s watchful eye.

“All our family recipes have been passed down through the generations because my grandmother learnt from my great-grandmother who was also a proud Nyonya.

“I myself have been exposed to authentic Peranakan food from a very young age because my grandmother lived with us and she is a very good cook. I learnt by watching her cook as a child and then helping her when I was a teenager,” says Chuah.

When Chuah grew up, got married and moved to Kuala Lumpur, she continued to cook these heritage recipes for her own family.

Professionally, she also started her own public relations and events company, but in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit, things took a surprising turn.

When work completely dried up at her company, Chuah realised that “things were really bad”. It was also around that time that she decided to convert her grandmother’s recipes into a home business.

Chuah learnt to cook all the heritage recipes from her 92-year-old grandmother Lim, and says her home business is a tribute to her.

“When I first told my grandmother about it, she was so happy and proud because her food was going to be tasted by so many people,” says Chuah.

Before starting her business, Chuah consulted her grandmother and collected more recipes from her. After this, she spent time turning her grandmother’s agak-agak (guesstimation) recipes into solid measurements that could be used in a business.

“I needed to make sure everything was correct when I started the business, so I couldn’t cook the agak-agak way anymore,” explains Chuah.

“I started with beef rendang tok, which is my signature dish. And response was amazing. It was my first time selling food but business grew from word of mouth.

“There is a very good market for old-fashioned Nyonya food. Older people especially love it, but I am trying to promote it more so that the younger generation can learn to enjoy it too,” she adds.

Since launching her home business, called Herba & Rempah, Chuah now has over 30 menu offerings. In the beginning, Chuah cooked at home with the aid of only a single helper, but as business has grown, she now has a team of four people working with her. But she still continues to make everything the old-fashioned way to ensure authenticity.

To have a true idea of what Chuah is capable of, definitely try her beef rendang with pulut kunyit (RM19). The highlight of this meal is Chuah’s aromatic, rich beef rendang tok, which features pliable, melt-in-the-mouth beef against a rich backdrop of spices like cinnamon and star anise and coconut milk. The beef is cut into small, bite sized pieces and slow-cooked for six to eight hours to achieve a rich potpourri of flavours and textures. It is a very, very successful version of beef rendang, so prepared to fall in love at first bite.

The rainbow roti jala was devised after Chuah decided to add an inventive, fun spin to the conventional roti jala.

For a colourful, joyful meal, try the rainbow roti jala with chicken curry (RM26.90 for 10 pieces of roti jala). This Instagram-able dish features roti jala tinted with natural vegetable and fruit pigments like strawberries, purple sweet potato, blue pea flower, turmeric and honey dew melon.

It’s an incredibly clever idea that doesn’t compromise on flavour as the roti jala still has a lovely velvety soft texture and neutral taste. This is buoyed by the chicken curry paired alongside it, which is really yummy and reminiscent of those old-fashioned chicken curries you might have had at tea parties or children’s birthday parties of yore.

“I like to do creative stuff, so I thought why not make roti jala more fun and creative? So I tweaked it to give it a colourful spin and now I have a younger crowd that loves it because it’s Instagra-mable and they can post it on social media,” says Chuah, laughing.

Next, definitely try the salted fish bone vegetable curry (RM33), a classic Nyonya curry made up of vegetables like long beans, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes and tofu puffs juxtaposed alongside salted fish bones. This is a Penang dish that is almost impossible to find in the Klang Valley and is a surprisingly light curry that conversely also delivers a multi-layered depth of flavours.

The pungent salty hit of the salted fish bone is countenanced by the vegetables in this medley, lending a yin-yang balance that forms the basis of a strong addiction.

Salted fish also has a prominent starring role in Chuah’s sambal ikan masin (RM19 a bottle). Here, a thick, quietly fiery sambal is laced with the punchy flavours of grated salted fish, in a combination which comes together surprisingly well and is best paired with hot, fluffy rice.

Moving forward, Chuah is already hard at work developing new items to her menu, such as a Nyonya-style pineapple lychee prawn curry and kerabu pineapple and cucumber with dried prawns and torch ginger bud.

As a purveyor of Nyonya culture, the ambitious Chuah is also hoping to expand her brand further to include a range of Nyonya fashion, household items and accessories in the near future.

The salted fish bone vegetable curry is not easy to find in the Klang Valley and very flavourful.

But ultimately, Chuah says the food that she makes is a tangible way of paying tribute to her heritage.

“I do this as a tribute to my grandmother – she is just so proud of me and this business. That’s why I continuously strive to maintain high standards to satisfy customers.

“It is very fulfilling when customers sing praises and have positive reviews about my family’s food, so I hope to share the love of Peranakan cuisine with more people,” says Chuah.

Order from Herba & Rempah on herbaandrempah.com.