Nyonya Salted Fish Bones Gulai [Recipe]

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When we first tasted Nyonya kiam hu kut gulai (Hokkien for titled recipe) at Baba Phang in Penang, we loved it so much and knew we wanted to cook it at home!

Imagine a thick and rich rempah-based curry with subtle fragrance from the salted fish. The bones really give an additional depth to the popular versions of vege curry.  

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We were genuinely surprised that this Peranakan dish is not as well-known as your lobak or chicken kapitan. So here’s our attempt at this delicious gulai.

As the name implies, this is a true blue Peranakan dish by combining Chinese-style salted fish and Nusantara-style gulai. Apparently this dish was born of leftover salted fish bones which families then used for their vegetable curries. Brilliant! 

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We believe that good quality salted fish bone is key for this dish, as it should be fragrant and not pungent. We used salted ikan merah, but the popular choice seems to be Tan Lau fish (if we recalled correctly when we asked the staff at Baba Phang), or kurau.

In any case, the salted fish bones should be big and not the tiny ones.

KEY TIPS:
* Always fry the salted fish bones first to release the flavours. The smell should be fragrant and not fishy. 
* It’s basically a Chinese-style veggie curry with brinjal, cabbage and French beans as the main veggies. We added prawns for protein – similar to the one at Baba Phang.
* Feel free to experiment with your favourite curry ingredients. Some recipes include pineapple, curry leaves and/or kaffir lime leaves. It’s also ok to use ready-made curry paste.
* We think salted fish would work too for some additional meat. 
* Bear in mind that some types of fish bones may detach itself into the curry, so do be careful if you are cooking for little ones.

Check out our Instagram post here for more videos and pictures.

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