This is our take on the popular Peranakan dish – ayam pongteh or chicken and potato stew.
The classic pongteh dish has four main ingredients – chicken, potatoes, tauchu (fermented yellow bean paste), and gula melaka (palm sugar).
Originating from Melaka, pongteh has its roots among the Peranakan community. A perfect pongteh dish should have tender flavourful chicken and soft potatoes with a yummy sweet-savoury gravy.
While still soy-based, I find the pongteh’s gravy to be very distinct due to the addition of tauchu, and gula melaka providing some sweetness. Pongteh dishes served outside can sometimes get too sweet (and cloying) – so I toned it down a bit for my recipe (I used brown sugar) and added star anise and cinnamon stick as aromatics.
This dish can be cooked on the stove top as well (instructions in recipe) – I’m just cooking it with the pressure cooker to save time.
As with all stews, pongteh should taste even better the day after. Pongteh can be cooked with pork too. I based my recipe on Betty Yew’s Rasa Malaysia cookbook, first published in 1982.
Find videos and step-by-step process on our Instagram post @thokohmakan.
![Chicken pongteh [Pressure cooker recipe]](https://thokohmakan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200430191451_IMG_7235-683x1024.jpg)
Chicken pongteh [Pressure cooker recipe]
Course: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: Chinese, Peranakan, MalaysianDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes20
minutesPressure cooker recipe for this favourite Peranakan dish.
Ingredients
800g chicken
3 potatoes, quartered
4-5 dry shiitake mushrooms, sliced (soaked to soften)
- Chicken marinade
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp tauchu (fermented yellow beans)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- Aromatics
4 shallots, minced
2 garlic bulbs, minced
1 star anise (optional)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
- Sauce
2 tbsp tauchu
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp gula Melaka (or brown sugar)
1 litre water
1 tsp salt
Directions
- Marinade chicken with the marinade sauces and set aside. Soak dried shiitake mushrooms to soften them.
- Mince and ground the shallots and garlic with pestle & mortar or food processor. If you do not have these, just mince until they are fine.
- Set pressure cooker to saute/bake mode and add cooking oil. Add ground shallots and garlic, cinnamon stick, and star anise. Saute until fragrant.
- Add the mushrooms and chicken. Stir-fry for about 1-2 minutes until chicken had slightly turned colour.
- Add water, sauce, and potatoes. Seal the pressure cooker and cook for 20 minutes. When done, let it sit for about 5 minutes and release pressure manually.
- Taste and season with additional salt or soy sauce if necessary. You may use saute/bake mode to reduce the sauce further if you like. Garnish with Chinese coriander and serve.
Notes
- For stove top, after STEP 5 (without potatoes) – just cover the pot/wok and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken softens. Then add potatoes and let it cook until potatoes soften and meat is tender.
