Cincaluk

Cincaluk is made of fermented tiny shrimps (or known as geragau)  in brine and sold everywhere in supemarkets in Malaysia. I've always been intrigued by the pinkish hued bodies with black dots of little eyes still intact packed tightly inside the yellow capped glass bottles. I've never had cincaluk before and  had no idea on how to use it until  I did some searching on the web. Apparently Cincaluk is a Melaka Baba Nyonya specialty. The Nyonyas use the cincaluk as condiment by mixing it with chopped fresh chillies, shallots & lime juice. Other popular ways of using cincaluk is to cook with omelette and also with chicken or pork. The cincaluk is very pungent smelling somewhat like Thai fish sauce but not as stinky, and it is very salty too, so one must be careful not to add salt or too much of it when using cincaluk for cooking.   

So far I have whipped up 2 dishes with cincaluk.  Here's  a pic of  Cincaluk Omelette I made. Very salty!   Best eaten with plain white rice or porridge.  



I can still see the tiny black eyes!

Recipe for simple Cincaluk Omelette:

3 eggs

2 Tbs Cincaluk

1 Large Onion

1 tsp sugar

dash of white pepper

chopped chillies

salt to taste (optional)

Method:

1) Heat up a tablespoon cooking oil in a pan. Brown onions.

2) Beat eggs and mix with cincaluk, chopped chillies, sugar and a dash of white pepper . Then pour on the onions in the pan. Cook both sides on medium heat for a couple minutes. Done.

Here's the second dish, Stir Fried Pork with Cincaluk.



Tasty! Similar to the dish 'Pork with salted fish'.
  

Recipe for Stir Fried Pork with Cincaluk.
300g Pork (Cut into strips)
1 Tbs finely sliced Ginger
1 Tbs minced Garlic
1 chopped Chilli
1 Tbs Cincaluk

1 Tbs Soy Sauce

1 tsp sugar

a few drops sesame oil

1 tsp cornflour mix with a little water

Method:

1) Marinade pork strips with soy sauce, sugar & sesame oil. Set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour.

2) Heat up oil in pan and saute garlic, ginger & chilli till fragrant. Add in the marinated pork. Pour in a half a cup of water and the cornflour mixture. Let boil and keep stirring till sauce is thicken. Dish up, garnish with more chopped chili if you like & serve.