The most significant cuisine from Penang

The Shredded Dried Squid Cuisine of Penang

This is truly the signature cuisine of Penang, the Jhew Hu Char or the cuisine for all occasion. No matter what the occasion is, whether to celebrate, to worship, or to gather, this cuisine is a must have in all occasions in Penang. A fairly simple cuisine to prepare but the significance and importance is beyond the simplicity of the cuisine itself. I have not known any other cuisine that celebrates this kind of significance in the Chinese culture of Penang. Alas, I have not seen this cuisine's significance outside Penang.

Penang Jhew Hu Char

This simple dish is actually stir fried shredded dried squid with shredded jicama, shredded carrot, dried shrimps (or fresh shrimps) and finely slices of pork. The other ingredients that are used in the cuisine are two spoonful of dark soy sauce, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar, and a shake of pepper. Some of the recipes that you will find on the internet also recommend to add oyster flavoured sauce but I don't as the oyster flavoured sauce would change the taste and add too much fish flavour. Also, one more vegetable that was recommended in the Jhew Hu Char is shredded cabbage. I like the taste of jicama, so I do not add the shredded cabbage.

Cuisine for All Occasion

In fact, for that real authentic taste and flavour, I usually add a pinch of sambal belacan on the Jhew Hu Char before wrapping it in lettuce. This same cuisine can also be used to wrap in fried spring rolls (or fried popiah in Penang). When used as spring roll stuffing, it needs to be drained off as much of its liquid first. The people that use this as spring roll stuffings usually do not add as much of the dark soy sauce and oyster flavoured sauce at all. They just increase on the salt. And also, they add a lot more shredded cabbage into the cuisine. Jicama blends well as spring roll stuffings.