Street Food Warms Your Heart: Rumah Sayang at JEM

Friday, November 1, 2013

Rumah Sayang at JEM - Nonya Fried Rice $7.50

The Nonya Fried Rice ($7.50) is served with fried rice, two sticks of chicken satay, fried sunny side up egg on the side, a side salad of onions and cucumber strips. It differs from the Nasi Pattaya because Chef Lo uses Tom Yam paste and Thai chili sauce, lime leaves, onions in the Nonya Fried Rice. The core ingredients used in Nonya Fried Rice are : eggs, onions, lime leaves, Thai white rice, diced prawns, diced chicken breast, chicken ham, cabbage, lemongrass, good grade dried shrimp, Tom Yam paste, Thai chili sauce.

How it is prepared : To make the fried rice, the onion is first marinated with the lemongrass and lime leaf and fried together with the Thai fragrant whole grain white rice, to it is added the Tom Yam paste, followed by other core ingredients : prawns, cabbage, chicken ham, diced chicken breast, onion, dried shrimp.

To prepare the dried shrimp for use in the fried rice, the dried shrimp is deep fried, then pounded, and seasoned with sugar and salt to enhance the flavor.

The Tom Yam paste in the fried rice is made using Thai fish sauce, lemongrass, onion, lime leaf - and fried together with the pounded dried shrimp to form the paste.

The chicken used in the chicken satay is marinated overnight at IMM Central Kitchen with a whole lot of good stuff including key Indian spices : star anise, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, fennel seeds, cardamom, a little pepper, salt, sugar. The chicken pieces are skewed individually on a weekly basis at the IMM Central Kitchen and then delivered to the outlets. When the Nonya Fried Rice order is placed, the chicken satay is first deep fried, then grilled and cooked to perfection, and served immediately.

At IMM Central Kitchen, the peanut satay sauce is made weekly using key Indian spices: star anise, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, fennel seeds, cardamom, a little pepper, salt, sugar and blended lightly with whole peanuts and set to marinate overnight. Chef Jordan shared that the peanut gravy for the chicken satay is specially made with the peanuts blended at low speed for a little while only in order to give a not too smooth texture and a more crunchier bite. According to Chef Jordan : the peanut satay sauce is very concentrated with generous dose of crunchy peanut bits, home made and stewed and is more crunchy than the Tahu Goreng (which is made with Thai Chili sauce). The satay sauce exudes a strong peanut flavor.

Food Tasting Notes : Just as the fried rice is being served, I can smell an intense Tom Yam flavor. The Thai rice is fried with Tom Yam paste, lime leaf, lemongrass, onion, shallots, (a bit of ) fish sauce, - the taste is mildly sweet, not spicy at all as no chili is used. The Tom Yam paste gives a very appetizing bite to it. Core ingredients used in the fried rice are fried egg, prawns (not butterflied, not de-veined, they are blanched 70%, then diced and cooked with fried rice as per order), onions, chicken ham (lends a sweet taste), cabbage, lemongrass, chicken breast meat. The sweet taste of this Nonya Fried Rice differs from the Nasi Pattaya in that the Nasi Pattaya is spicy sweet.
The chicken satay is very well marinated, is tender and juicy. The satay sauce is made using peanut, garlic, onions, shallots, lemongrass, no Ginger flower, has a distinct lemongrass fragrance, tastes very sweet, nutty, due to the generous dose of peanuts used in the sauce, is very flavorful, tastes more sweeter than spicy. I would liken the taste of the peanut satay sauce more inclined to the Javanese style.