阿杂(Nyonya Acar)

 Nyonya Acar is a type of vegetable pickle or salad popular in Malaysia. Made from different vegetables like cucumbers, long beans, carrots, cabbage ,pineapple and is cooked with spicy paste and tamarind juice or vinegar. Ground peanuts and sesame seeds are also added to this salad.

My family used to eat this delicious Nyonya Acar (Nyonya Pickles) once a year，during Chinese New Year reunion dinner.  Here comes the question ,why only  once in a year ? Its  because preparing acar is time consuming and a tedious job. However, today I cook again because I demonstrated to a friend how to cook this Nyonya  Acar.

you need to cut a lot of veggie ,peel a lot of shallots that bring tears to your eye. The worst part is the need to separate the seed in the dry chili which always makes your hand feel  like burning.

Prepare the acar one day ahead of serving  so that the spice paste have enough time to develop its flavor and the vegetables  properly pickled as well. Don't ever serve this on the day it is made or you will be disappointed.

This dish is usually eaten as an accompaniment to a main meal or can be eaten as an appetizer or a snack.

Although the preparing process is tough, but when I see my family members enjoy and appreciate it, I feel is worth to do it.

 Look, how crunchy and yummy it is! Once you've started,it's difficult to stop.

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Nyonya Acar

Ingredients :

300g Roasted peanuts (coarsely pounded)

5 tbsp Sesame seeds (toasted)
1tsp turmeric powder
60g  dry chili, seedless and blended into paste
300g shallot, blended into paste
200g tamarind paste + 500ml water,(make tamarind juice)  

cut into 4cm length:
4 cucumber, remove pith
2 carrot
250g long bean
300g cabbage，cut small pieces
300g pineapple, cut small pieces
  
150g sugar
6tbsp oil
some salt

Method :


1.  Rub the cucumber with salt. Drain in colander for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Squeeze excess water from cucumbers and set aside.

2.   Heat up oil, saute shallot and dry chili paste till fragrant. Add in turmeric powder continues saute until oil and paste is separated.  Then add in tamarind juice ,sugar and stir well, follow by 1/3 of the peanuts,stir evenly.

3.    Now, add in carrot ,long bean,cucumber,cabbage and pineapple(according to this sequence). Stir after each addition.  Maintain the medium flame until boiling.

4.    Sprinkle  peanut and sesame on top before serve.

Tips:
1.  Before you add in any ingredients, make sure it is dry, to ensure the concentration of the paste. By this way only  you can get the ideal  Nyonya Acar.
 2.  It is important that your vegetables are fresh to ensure crunchiness and be sure to remove the pith of the cucumbers and salt them to remove excess water.