Chicken and pork pongteh

Babi pongteh or ayam pongteh are popular Nyonya dishes of any Peranakan family from Malacca. In the old days, being able to cook this dish also serves as a test to the culinary skills of any young nyonya who wishes to marry well. Unlike many other Nyonya dishes which are laden with spices pongteh uses fermented soya bean paste (tau cheo) another essential ingredient in Peranakan cooking. I used to eat this dish at my best friend’s house when I was a teenager. (We are still best friends). The last time I had this dish was at her house a few years ago and my daughter loved it so much she kept pestering me to cook it for her. I kept putting it off thinking it is too much hard work. Finally, I decided to give it a try so here it is. I also decided to use both pork and chicken in this dish.

Ingredients

2 chicken whole legs cut into bite size pieces and 1 strip pork belly

Blanch the pork to remove the scum

3 to 4 potatoes cut into bite size pieces

A small piece of cinnamon bark

3 tbsp fermented soya bean paste

2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tsp thick dark soya sauce
20 gm gula melaka (palm sugar)

Garlic, shallots and a small piece of ginger

Pound them into a coarse paste

Fry the pounded paste and cinnamon until fragrant

Add the soya bean paste and fry until fragrant

Put in the chicken and mix thoroughly

Add the pork and palm sugar

Stir until sugar has melted

Add the potatoes and some water. Mix thoroughly

Cover and simmer on low fire or transfer to a slow cooker and cook until the meat is tender

Dish up and serve

I added the water before deciding to use the slow cooker so it ended up too watery. 

Anyway, the taste was not bad for a first attempt