Masak Lemak Cili Api Nangka Muda

Negeri Sembilan's young jackfruit simmered in a yellow coconut gravy made fierce with pounded bird's eye chillies and fresh turmeric

Origin: Negeri Sembilan & Malacca, Malaysia

From the journey of Jackfruit.

Masak lemak cili api, cooking in coconut richness with fire chillies, is the defining dish of Negeri Sembilan, the state north of Malacca whose Malays descend from Minangkabau settlers from Sumatra, and it is cooked in the north of Malacca too. A paste of pounded bird's eye chillies and fresh turmeric goes into a generous quantity of coconut milk, which the turmeric turns a vivid yellowish green, and in it goes the main ingredient: smoked beef, duck, chicken, prawns, or, as here, young jackfruit, nangka muda, boiled first to rid it of its sap. The chillies are used without mercy, and the coconut milk is there to carry them. The jackfruit has been on this coast for at least six centuries. Ma Huan, who came to Malacca with the Ming fleets of Zheng He in the early fifteenth century, when the port had only lately been founded, listed it amongst the fruits of the place with sugarcane, bananas, and wild lychees. The Malay name, nangka, owes nothing to the Sanskrit of India, and the linguist Roger Blench takes the Thai khanun to be borrowed from it, turned about.

Ingredients

Jackfruit

600 g young jackfruit (nangka muda), peeled, cored, and cut into 3 cm pieces, or 2 x 400 g tins of young jackfruit in brine, drained
1 tsp salt, for the boiling water

Paste

20 bird's eye chillies (cili api), or fewer for a gentler dish
4 cm fresh turmeric, peeled, or 1 tsp ground turmeric
3 shallots

Gravy

400 ml coconut milk (santan)
250 ml water
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 turmeric leaf, torn (optional)
150 g smoked beef (daging salai) or smoked fish, in small pieces (optional)
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Method

Oil your hands and knife before preparing fresh jackfruit. Boil the pieces in salted water for 25 to 30 minutes, until they begin to soften, and drain. Tinned jackfruit needs only a rinse and 10 minutes' boiling.
Pound the chillies, turmeric, and shallots to a coarse paste in a mortar, or blend them with a splash of the water.
Put the paste, coconut milk, water, lemongrass, and turmeric leaf into a pot and bring them slowly to a simmer, stirring all the time.
Add the jackfruit, and the smoked beef or fish if using, and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, until the jackfruit has taken up the gravy.
Season with salt at the end and serve with rice.

Notes

The same gravy is used for smoked beef, duck, chicken, prawns, and bamboo shoots; young jackfruit is one of the classic vegetable versions. A dish of sambal ikan bilis on the side makes it a full Negeri meal.

The Gastrographer

Name: Masak Lemak Cili Api Nangka Muda
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Malaysia
Ingredients: 600 g young jackfruit (nangka muda), peeled, cored, and cut into 3 cm pieces, or 2 x 400 g tins of young jackfruit in brine, drained; 1 tsp salt, for the boiling water; 20 bird's eye chillies (cili api), or fewer for a gentler dish; 4 cm fresh turmeric, peeled, or 1 tsp ground turmeric; 3 shallots; 400 ml coconut milk (santan); 250 ml water; 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised; 1 turmeric leaf, torn (optional); 150 g smoked beef (daging salai) or smoked fish, in small pieces (optional); 1 tsp salt, or to taste

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