Nyona Recipes from Faye in Singapore

Faye is one of the most hospitable people I've ever met. She opened her home Singapore to me while I explored Singapore, but she did more than offer a bed to sleep in—she opened her kitchen and introduced a couple of Nyonya home-cooked recipes. She also showed me where to find the best roast Hainan chicken in Singapore—Leong Yeow Famous Waterloo St. Chicken Rice. Faye is one quarter Nyonya (descendants of Chinese immigrants who came to the Malay archipelago and British Malaya) and three-quarters mainland Chinese. One evening Faye came home early from work to share a couple of her favorite family recipes--kari ayam (Malaysian curry chicken) and tamarind chili pork ribs.

The house filled with the spicy, seductive aroma of curry. Both home-style dishes are easy to make provided you prepare the curry paste ahead of time or buy the instant curry paste. Faye learned how to make tamarind chili pork ribs from her friend's mother. This is how home-style recipes are learned; we learn them from people who love them. Now I get to learn how to make these dishes from Faye who loves cooking them and you get to learn how to make these dishes because I love these two recipes.

This week, I'll share these two recipes. Today, we'll start with Faye's recipe for Kari Ayam—Malaysian Curry Chicken.