NYONYA SEAFOOD CURRY

Cooking Nyonya cuisine is my family tradition that has been passed down many generations. Nyonya (pronounced as "Neo Nia") blends the best of Chinese and Malay traditional ingredients to create a rich aromatic sensation that fuses the best flavours of both worlds into a single dish. You can taste a bit of Chinese, a bit of Malay, a bit of Indonesian, a bit of Hokkien... that's the beauty of Nyonya!

My secret to cooking a great Nyona dish is using belacan. It's dried shrimp paste commonly available in most Indonesian/Malaysian grocery stores here. A little bit of belacan adds a touch of intensity and a little kick to my dishes. The taste of belacan can be overpowering so I always use it with moderation.

Preparing the Nyonya mix of herbs and spices can be an elaborate process. Traditionally, I'll mix galangal, lemongrass, turmeric, candlenuts, chillies, belacan, shallots into a granite mortar and pound the ingredients evenly by hand. For my version of this dish, I'll use a mixture of Trident's Red and Green curry pastes and belacan as a base, which I'm using for this Nyonya Seafood Curry recipe. It's a wonderful dish the whole family can enjoy during the hot summer!

Serves

6

Ingredients

• Splash of oil, to stir-fry

• ½ 50g packet Trident Red Curry Paste

• ½ 50g packet Trident Green Curry Paste

• 1 tablespoon belacan (dried shrimp paste)

• 4 or 5 Kaffir leaves or lime leaves

• 400ml can Trident Coconut Cream

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1 teaspoon of sugar

• 500g mixed seafood (consisting of fish fillet, mussels, calamari and prawns)

• ½ 410g can Trident Baby Corn Spears, cut in half

• 150g okra (or lady's finger), cut in pieces

• 2 tomatoes, cut into quarters

• 3 small chillies, thinly sliced

• Fried shallots, to serve

• Jasmine rice, to serve

Instructions:

• Heat oil in wok, then add the Trident Red Curry Paste, Trident Green Curry Paste, belacan and Kaffir leaves, and stir well for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

• Add Trident Coconut Cream into the wok, then sprinkle a teaspoon of salt and sugar, stir well to produce a wonderful aroma and bring the mixture to a boil.

• Add the mixed seafood, stir well and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Finally add the veggies (Trident Baby Corn Spears, okra, tomatoes and chillies) into the mix and cook for another 3 minutes.

• This dish is best served with jasmine rice, which accentuates the aroma of the Nyonya curry. Add fried shallots on top of rice for presentation and taste.