One of the most revered ingredients in Asian cooking, ginger (halia) has graced kitchens for centuries with its warm spice and medicinal benefits. While its root is commonly used to flavour broths, stir-fries and rich spice pastes in cuisines from Chinese to Indian, in the cooking of South East Asia, ginger is indispensable and is an essential kitchen arsenal of Peranakan households.
Distinct from its ginger cousins, galangal (lengkuas) is bold, peppery, and fragrant, lending its unmistakable aroma to our most treasured dishes. Essential in rempahs (spice pastes) and slow-cooked stews, it carries the depth of Peranakan heritage—warming, healing, and flavourful all at once. Traditionally used for its medicinal benefits, galangal is believed to aid digestion and reduce inflammation, making it as nourishing as it is delicious. Lengkuas is also called blue ginger.
This fragrant, finely textured curry leaf (known as daun kari in Malay) is indispensable in Indian cooking and feature in the Indian origin dishes of Chicken Curry and Fish Curry of the Peranakan kitchen. With their rich, aromatic, and citrusy curry leaves distinguish every dish they feature in. At Violet Oon Singapore, we use curry leaves to perfume our signature curry dishes with a flavour we are proud to showcase.
(Bird’s Eye Chilli)
Some like it hot. The fiery Chilli Padi (bird’s eye chilli) is not for the faint of heart. Known for its intense heat and vibrant red or green colour, this tiny yet mighty chilli is essential in Peranakan cooking. At Violet Oon Singapore, we embrace Chilli Padi’s boldness, using it to infuse heat into our signature sambals and sauces. Its explosive, lip-tingling spice adds excitement to every bite. One of the hottest dishes on our menu is the beloved Udang Goreng Chilli, a fan-favourite for those who crave the fiery heat of Chilli Padi. The butterflied prawns are fried with a fragrant (and potent) Chilli Padi garlic rempah.
(Calamansi)
That fragrant sour tang so beloved of Peranakan food comes mainly from the small dark green lime called Limau Kasturi, more commonly known as calamansi. It is a cross between the kumquat and orange and possesses more dimensions of flavour than lemons or limes. Many Peranakan dishes are ‘lemak’ which means rich with coconut milk and spice. Balance is always provided in a meal with delicious sour dishes that take away that ‘jelak’ taste where the food feels over-rich. Limau Kasturi is always served with Sambal Belacan, that essential condiment of the Peranakan table.
Known for its striking deep blue colour, the Blue Pea Flower is as much a visual delight as it is a culinary one. Native to Southeast Asia, this vibrant flower is used for its colour which features in Peranakan kuehs (steamed cakes), and it is infused into beverages to create alluring blue to pink hues. At Violet Oon Singapore, we embrace this beautiful flower and it colours our kuehs, most famously the traditional classic of Kueh Sarlat, where it imparts a stunning blue marble-streaked glutinous rice layer. This is topped by the layer of rich pandan leaf green coconut custard kaya.
A principal ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisine, Lemon Grass, known as serai in Malay, grows in tall grass-like clumps of vibrant green leaf blades and is cherished for its bright, citrusy aroma and versatile flavour profile. It’s used for cooking, medicine, and even traditional ceremonies. In our kitchen, this fragrant herb brings a fresh, zesty note that elevates every dish it touches. From the fresh, citrusy aroma infusing our Satay and Gado Gado sauce, to the tangy brightness in our Garam Assam Fish, lemon grass also adds a bright citrus lift to the coconut cream-infused spice gravies of our signature Beef Rendang and Sambal Belimbing.
