Ayam Pongteh

Nyonya Peranakan braised chicken with fermented soybean paste, potatoes and whole cloves in a dark, sweet-savoury gravy

Origin: Malacca & Penang, Malaysia

From the journey of Cloves.

Ayam pongteh is a signature dish of the Peranakan, the community of Chinese immigrants who settled along the Malacca Straits from the fifteenth century onwards and developed a hybrid culture and cuisine that fuses the cooking traditions of southern China with the spices, aromatics, and ingredients of Malay and Indonesian cooking. The Peranakan are also called Nyonya-Baba: the women (Nyonya) known for a cuisine of extraordinary complexity and labour, in which the preparation of a single dish might require a morning spent grinding spice pastes in a stone mortar. Ayam pongteh, pongteh is the Hokkien pronunciation of the dish name, is one of the most important Nyonya dishes: braised chicken (ayam) with fermented soybean paste (taucheo, the Hokkien version of the Chinese doubanjiang), potatoes, and, most crucially for the clove story, a generous addition of whole cloves that would not appear in any Chinese dish of this type. The cloves come from the Maluku Islands via the Malacca Straits trade routes that brought the Spice Islands' output to the great entrepot of Malacca, the most important spice market in the world from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. The Peranakan cook who added whole cloves to her grandmother's Chinese braised chicken was not innovating; she was expressing the most natural consequence of living on the spice route. The cloves give ayam pongteh its warmth, its depth, and a faint sweetness that the fermented soybean paste would not otherwise possess.

Ingredients

Chicken

1.2 kg whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or 6 bone-in thighs)

Base

3 tbsp neutral oil
8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
8 shallots, peeled and roughly sliced

Sauce

3 tbsp taucheo (Malaysian/Hokkien fermented soybean paste), or substitute with white miso paste
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
300 ml water or light chicken stock

Whole Spices

6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Vegetables

3 medium waxy potatoes (such as Charlotte), peeled and quartered

To Serve

steamed jasmine rice and sliced red chilli, to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a wok or wide heavy-based pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and fry, stirring, for 4–5 minutes until soft and beginning to golden.
Add the taucheo (fermented soybean paste) and fry for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens slightly and becomes very fragrant: it should smell nutty, savoury, and deeply umami.
Add the chicken pieces and turn to coat in the paste. Fry for 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until the chicken is lightly coloured on all sides.
Add the dark soy, light soy, palm sugar, whole cloves, cinnamon stick, and water or stock. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the potatoes. Cover and braise over low heat for 35–40 minutes until the chicken is tender and the potatoes are cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Taste the sauce: it should be savoury, slightly sweet, dark, and gently spiced with the warmth of the cloves and cinnamon. Adjust sugar or soy as needed. Remove and discard the whole cloves and cinnamon stick. Serve over steamed jasmine rice with sliced red chilli.

Notes

Taucheo (fermented soybean paste, Hokkien style) has a milder, saltier, slightly funkier character than Chinese doubanjiang. It is available in Malaysian, Singaporean, and Southeast Asian grocery stores. Japanese white miso is a reasonable substitute in terms of fermented soybean flavour, though it lacks the characteristic Hokkien character. Palm sugar can be replaced with dark brown sugar or jaggery. The dish is traditionally prepared without any chilli: the heat comes from the table condiment of sliced fresh chilli in light soy sauce served alongside.

The Gastrographer

Name: Ayam Pongteh
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Malaysia
Ingredients: 1.2 kg whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or 6 bone-in thighs); 3 tbsp neutral oil; 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; 8 shallots, peeled and roughly sliced; 3 tbsp taucheo (Malaysian/Hokkien fermented soybean paste), or substitute with white miso paste; 2 tbsp dark soy sauce; 1 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar; 6 whole cloves; 1 cinnamon stick; 300 ml water or light chicken stock; 3 medium waxy potatoes (such as Charlotte), peeled and quartered; steamed jasmine rice and sliced red chilli, to serve

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control