Malaysian Food Heritage

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)