Satay Babi

When I began studying the techniques of cooking Nonya food, I started with satay babi. The ingredients make up the foundation of most Nonya dishes. Besides, the dish provides an opportunity to learn how to pound these core ingredients in the right sequence, beginning with the tough sinewy rhizomes, such as galangal, and ending with reconstituted dried chilli and belachan.

I sought the tutelage of my dearest 90-year-old kohpoh (grandaunt) Beng Neo, then, who insisted