Tom Pepinsky

Author: tompepinsky

  • My Goodness

    We don’t think we’ve mentioned this yet, but guess what?  We leave Malaysia on Tuesday afternoon, local time.  It’s almost beyond our comprehension that we have been in Southeast Asia for almost 11 months.  It seems like just the other day we got to Malaysia, and just a couple days before that that we first get to Indonesia.  We travel to Singapore for a night, then on to Tokyo, then we split up to visit our families on the two coasts before heading back to New Haven at the end of August.

    What does this mean for you, readers?  Well, there may only be a few of you, but unfortunately we do not plan on continuing to blog when we return home.  It’s been fun, but we feel that it’s something unique to our time abroad.  We will of course leave the blog online for at least a month or so, but we don’t expect to do any more posts after we leave from Singapore.  So, you’ll have to find another time waster, and so will we.  It also means that you Indonesian and Malaysian teenie-boppers who google the lyrics to "Ada Apa Denganmu" and leave snotty comments about how crappy our translation is will just have to find someone else to bother.  Note to children: translating crappy poetry is hard.

    What it means for us is, we are in the process of getting ready to pack, finishing up research, doing last minute souvenir shopping, re-confirming tickets on United (which, to our pleasant surprise, has not gone under since we left), and deciding where our last meals will be.  We think that we’ll need to get at least one more roti canai from the Central Market, one more order of masala thosai and appam from the roti man in Bangsar after some sate and popiah from the night market, one more gluttonous feast of Lebanese food at the Islamic Arts Museum, one more stroll through the Malay wet market around Masjid India for sweets and nasi lemak, and one more trip to Jalan Alor for Chinese grilled fish and fried kangkong.

  • Devil Curry

    This is, more than anything else, the quintessential Eurasian Malaysian dish.  It is a specialty in Melaka, where we had a delicious version of it, where both Straits Chinese and Portuguese communities pass down recipes from generation to generation.  It shows obvious influence of Portuguese, Malay, and Indian food.  It’s name comes from its heat: simply put, Devil Curry is spicy.  Not “whew, spicy!” like, but full-bore, “I’m going to regret this tomorrow morning” spicy.  Normally when we get it, I (TP) take it as a challenge to finish it off before my entire brain leaks out of my nose, while JM takes it as a challenge to eat as much as possible while continually saying, “OK, just a little more, it’s too spicy.”

    With the heavy vinegar and mustard components, you have a dish that is oddly reminiscent of Carolina-style barbecue.  Indeed, a related Melaka favorite, Curry Kapitan, is obviously related to the Southern dish Curry Captain.  If you make a not-very-spicy version of this, you could easily pass this off as an American curry dish with an interesting flavor.  This is our take on it.

    Devil Curry
    3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
    2 large onions
    8 meaty chicken thighs, well-sprinked with salt
    1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
    1/4 cup rice vinegar, plus more to taste
    3 peeled baking potatoes, chopped into large hunks
    water
    2 Tbsp. soy sauce
    salt

    Spice Paste
    chilies (see note on chilies at the bottom)
    red pepper powder (see note on chilies at the bottom)
    black peppercorns (see note on chilies at the bottom)
    10 shallots
    6 cloves garlic
    2 inches ginger, peeled
    2 inches fresh turmeric, peeled
    8 candlenuts, toasted
    1 Tbsp. mustard seeds, lightly toasted and ground

    In a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients for the spice paste.

    Heat the oil to medium high heat in a large wok, then add the chicken to brown.  Remove and set aside.  Heat the oil again to medium heat and add the onions, cooking until just beginning to turn golden.  Add the spice paste and fry, stirring constantly, for about five minutes.  Add the whole mustard seeds, fry for a minute more, and then add the vinegar, chicken, and enough water to just cover the chicken.  Bring to a boil, then add the potatoes.  Bring to a boil again, then lower the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes, until potatoes and chicken are cooked through.  Add more water as needed to keep the gravy from getting too thick.  Add the soy sauce and cook 5 minutes more, then add salt and vinegar to taste.  Serve with rice, it looks like this, although we let the gravy get too thick so it’s not quite right.

    NOTE ON SPICINESS: We have had some truly volcanic Devil Curries.  For a muted version with a hint of heat and most of the flavor, use 1 tsp. red pepper powder, 5 peppercorns, and two chilies for the spice paste.  For a spicier but not yet authentic version, try 1 Tbsp. red pepper powder, 10 pappercorns, and five chilies.  For an authentic version, we don’t know what you’d do, but you could try adding a birds-eye chili and upping the red pepper powder even more.  We will probably never try this because we don’t want to ruin it, so you’ll have to experiment on your own.