Mixed Pickled
Fruit Chutney, also known as ‘Acar Buah’ is a traditional Malaysian food that
is popular among the Malays especially during a wedding ceremony. Nowadays,
Malaysians consume this food on daily basis. ‘Acar Buah’ is best served with
white rice on daily basis, and with ‘Nasi Minyak’ on a special occasion such as
a wedding ceremony or an open house event.
Originated from the India, Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney is a very
authentic food with an extraordinary taste. As a Malaysian, I am proud to have
this dish as one of the Malaysian food heritage.
In my Malaysian
Food Heritage subject, I was required to do a recipe for Mixed Pickled Fruit
Chutney. The recipe that I am doing must be based on a real cook’s or chef’s
recipe that I have known, and then I have to compare it with an online recipe. So,
in this post, I will compare my mom’s recipe of Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney
with an online recipe that I have found from the RecipesCooks website on the
internet. The online recipe can be obtained from this link: http://recipescooks.info/malaysia-cooking/mixed-pickled-fruit-chutney-acar-buah-recipe
The person that I am interviewing
for this assignment is my mom, Miss Noriah binti Ujang. She is an experienced
cook with 40 years of experiences in home cooking. With her recipe, I will
prepare a traditional dish of a Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney. I will then
compare this traditional recipe based on culture, region, skills level, availability
of ingredients, budget, time constraints, and the presentation of the dish.
First of all, I need to prepare the
ingredients for this food. The ingredients are:
1)
3 shallots (thinly sliced)
2)
2 cloves of garlic (thinly
sliced)
3)
A quarter-cup of chili paste
4)
1 piece of ginger (thinly
sliced)
5)
A quarter-cup of white sugar
6)
A tablespoon of vinegar
7)
A tablespoon of curry powder
8)
A quarter-cup of cooking oil
9)
Pickled fruits (bought in
hypermarket)
From the list of ingredients above, I can
already said that it is slightly different than the recipe in the RecipeCooks
website. My mom’s recipe is simpler and the portion is smaller than the recipe
available online. This is because the targeted consumer of the food is
different. The recipe from RecipesCooks prepared a dish of Mixed Pickled Fruit
Chutney for an event or occasion while my mom is preparing for my family which
is consist of my dad and I. This shows that we can’t really follow the recipe
available online because the recipe might not be suitable for a portion of a
smaller family. Altering the ingredients is important. This alteration will
surely reduce the budget in preparing the dish and also will saves time as the
volume of the food is less and easier to cook.
After preparing the ingredients, my mom
shows me the step-by-step in cooking ‘Acar Buah’ using her recipe. The steps
are:
1)
Heat the frying pan and pour
the cooking oil.
2)
Sauté the shallots, ginger and
garlics in the frying pan.
3)
Put the chili paste and the
curry powder into the frying pan.
4)
Put the sugar and also the
vinegar. Mix it up, make sure that the taste is a little bit sweet, sour, and
spicy all together combine.
5)
Lastly, put all of the pickled
fruits in the frying pan. Mix it well, then turn off the heat and wait for the
food to cool down.
(the final product: Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney or 'Acar Buah', best served with white rice)
The steps are easier using my mom's recipe compare to the online recipe. This is mainly due to the absence of water in the
ingredients. My mom said that she does not use water (unlike the online recipe) to cook this food mainly because the food will expire faster when water is
presence. Although the ‘Acar Buah’ will be less dry with water in it, it is
best to keep it dry as storage is limited in my house. The online recipe
suggested that the dish should be keep in the refrigerator because it will be
rotten if it is not keep in the refrigerator. This will be a problem for my
family as my mom does not like to store food in the refrigerator and also the spaces
in my home’s refrigerator is limited. This shows how crucial a recipe is, even
with only one ingredient, it change a lot of things such as expiry date,
storage, and also personal preference.
Besides water, my mom also did not put
sesame seeds or mustard seeds in her Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney. The reason is
because the sesame seeds and mustard seeds do not play that much of a role in
the taste of the food. This is different than the online recipe as the recipe
insert both mustard and sesame seed. This may be because of the presentation of
the food. With sesame seeds and mustard seeds, the food will be more attractive
and presentable compare to the absence of it. However, this may not be
necessary for my mom’s recipe as presentation is not prioritize in preparing
this dish.
Other than that, the replacement of brown
sugar with white sugar. In my mom recipe, she uses the white sugar rather than
the brown sugar used in the online recipe. The reason is because of the price. Since
my mom put a lower budget in preparing the dish, my mom preferred the white
sugar instead of the brown sugar. The price of brown sugar is slightly more
expensive than white sugar. However, the taste of both sugars does not differ
that much with each other. Without interrupting the sweetness of the food,
there’s no reason why my mom should not use white sugar instead of brown sugar
in her dish.
Besides ingredients, there are a few things
that differentiate my mom’s recipe with the online recipe. First of all is the
culture. Imagine a 6-foot-tall white man from Canada arrive in Malaysia, and he
wanted to eat the ‘Acar Buah’. It might not be appropriate to serve him the
portion similar to mine. It is known that Malaysians have a smaller physical
compare to the Canadians, this might also change the portion of the meals and
dishes consume per day. So the online recipe creates a recipe that is universally accepted in terms
of portion and presentation so that the whole world can try it. However, my mom’s
recipe is more accepted among my family members (which consume a smaller
portion of food a day).
Region is also one of the factor that
differentiate my mom’s recipe from the online recipe. The online recipe is more
suitable to be prepared for guests and customers while my mom recipe is more suitable
for home cooking for family. This shows that different places have different
ways of cooking the same dish.
Last but not least, the skills level.
Although I do believe that my mom is a very experienced cook, I do admit that
she might not have the theory or depth of knowledge in cooking compare to a
professional chef. Hence, the recipe will for sure be a bit different. For example,
the online recipe might be post by a professional chef that knows brown sugar
is a better and healthier ingredient for the food rather than the white sugar.
While my mom only focus on the taste of the food. This proof that skills level
affect the recipe of a food.
In conclusion, I can say that my mom
personal recipe of Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney is a bit different than the
online recipe, but still, it was delicious and the taste is still as authentic
as it is. Although the portion is smaller than the online recipe, the taste
does not change that much. I can proudly say that the food was a success and
the heritage of it will always remain unchanged because of the authentic taste and the
identity of the food. Mixed Pickled Fruit Chutney will always be a Malaysian
traditional food that unites the whole Malaysians.
(1380 words)
