Having watched Wild Rice's play "Emily of Emerald Hill", I've always been curious about buah keluak dishes, which are quintessentially Peranakan~ 🌸 The raw seeds contain deadly poisonous cyanide ☠️ and the complex process of curing the seeds is becoming a dying art. It's not common to see eateries serving this Peranakan specialty (I think the other veg eateries I know of are Botanict and Whole Earth), so I finally decided to give it a try! We were given teaspoons to scoop out the contents from the 4 buah keluak seed shells. The dense, oily, and creamy paste was earthy and umami, somewhat reminiscent of black olives or fermented black beans. 🖤 Definitely an acquired taste (my non-veg family members were completely divided over whether they liked it 😂), but I could see why it's called the truffle of the East! The other ingredients swimming in the gravy were shiitake mushrooms and puffed gluten mock meat; would have liked a slightly more generous serving of these ingredients given the price tag. 🍄 (Allium-free, $26 Regular) #sgvegan #chinesefood #peranakan #nyonya #buahkeluak
Nonya Buah Keluak Cuisine
