Melaka Mix-Up

The words 'Chinese' and 'curry' rarely appear in the same thought bubble. But here in Malaysia, a country whose cuisine is a glorious mish-mash of influences Indian, Indonesian, Malay, European and Chinese, Malay cooks fry halal char kuey teow, a noodle dish of Chinese origin, Indian nasi kandar vendors cook up duck, a fowl not often associated with Indian cuisine, and, as we found in Melaka, Chinese cooks prepare a mean pot of curry.

Ji Chang Jie Curry Rice has been in business for around fifty years. A decade ago you would have found it on Jonker Street, right in the midst of Melaka's historic center. That was before the lifting of rent control and city-sponsored 'beautification', in the form of a project dubbed 'Jonker Walk', drove it and most of the street's other old occupants out. Now the establishment sits well beyond the reach of tourists on foot, but original customers and their offspring still crowd its tables at lunchtime. We were lucky enough to be introduced to the place by S, his wife S, and their daughter S. S remembers driving into Melaka every Saturday with his father to indulge in Ji Chang Jie's pork curry and go-withs.

Fatt, the current owner-operator, told us that the restaurant was started by his father, who'd labored in various eateries before starting his own. His father's curry recipe is Malay-, rather than Indian-influenced, and includes plenty of lemongrass and chilies and only a bit of coconut milk.

Two big pots greet arriving customers - one for the curry, and one for the black soy and star anise-stewed eggs, tofu, and pork bits that accompany it. All the meal's components - curry, tofu, eggs, and braised napa cabbage - are served in separate dishes (along with an extra bowl of curry sauce), to be mixed to taste with rice on the diner's plate. The compatability of red curry and sweet, herby soy sauce might not be immediately apparent, but here at Ji Chang Jie the Malay and Chinese flavors blend seamlessly, and lusciously. This is Malaysia, after all.

Ji Chang Jie's tofu is memorable, so fresh that a pronounced soy bean flavor steams right over the top of the hearty soy sauce braise, its texture firm and substantial but wonderfully, sauce-soppingly porous.

Fatt grinds the curry paste himself.

Its bright spices and subtle heat are complemented by deliciously fatty and perfectly falling-apart pork pieces and mashable potato chunks.

Having survived its move to less central premises with patronage intact, and growing, Ji Chang Jie looks set to stick around for a while. Fatt tells us he's teaching his daughter's boyfriend, a computer science graduate, to cook. Someday, he might want to take over the business.

Good reason to hope for a long-term downturn in the IT industry.

Ji Chang Jie Curry Rice, G-11 Malim Jaya, Melaka (look for the row of shophouses on your left if you're heading in from Melaka center), 8a-2p. Closed Monday.

Comments

[Nate]

Argh! kill me now, that looks so heavenly!

[Fulltime Mom]

I remember this from my younger days..... It was heavenly....

[nisha]

"Good reason to hope for a long-term downturn in the IT industry."

That last comment was so mean!! But accurate. ^_^ I love this blog. For a Malaysian living away from home, it's a life-saver. Keep blogging!

[Rasa Malaysia]

I love love braised soy sauce hard-boiled eggs and bean curds...they are simply the best with plain white porridge. I tried making them at home but somehow they just don't taste the same.

[Robyn]

Nate, Fulltime Mom - yes, this was an excellent find.

Nisha - kidding, of course! Thanks for stopping by, glad you enjoy it.

Rasa - I agree re: homemade versions. Never quite as tasty. I wonder what the secret is (can you get really good tofu in CA?).

[nicster^]

I'm going back to Malacca tomorrow to go taste this. We've been eating there since I was a kid, so yes, the food is a yummy as the picture shows. :)

Keep up the good stuff :)

Fulltime Mom's Brother :P

[CM]

May I know how to get there? I'm thinking of include it in my food hunting in the coming trip to Melaka.

Thanks.

[sarah & gan]

oh wow, this posting brought back some of my best memory from childhood. this was "kali peng" as i knew it when i grew up. even when i was a kid, i loved that there's always 2 versions to choose whenever i had breakfast at the old jonker street location (now host to the geographer cafe). there's the spicy and the non spicy version when you have a meal here, the non spicy being the soy sauce pork (tau yiu bak) with rice, and later, they started serving hainanese style chicken as well. the highlight for me was always the soy sauce soaked tao pok and the sang chang bak. the kopi peng in the old kopitiam was pretty decent as well. thanks for the posting.. well written piece on the mix-up of the culture and the food.

[Robyn]

sarah and gan - it's rare that we get comments on such old posts. and we'd almost forgotten about this place. Thanks for reminding us....