From kerabu to vindaloo: There's more to Straits-born cuisine than you think

This Chetti Peranakan dish of lauk pindang requires the use of very, very fresh fish. — Photos: IN A STRAITS-BORN KITCHEN

Straits-born cuisine has long been synonymous with the Straits-born Chinese. The two are indefatigably intertwined in a relationship that often brooks no argument and certainly has few dissenting voices.

For reference, Straits-born Chinese essentially refers to the Peranakan Chinese community (made up mostly of the descendants of Chinese male traders of Hokkien descent who married local women centuries ago) and largely settled in Penang, Melaka and Singapore.