Our Food Source

Our Food Philosophy

I feel a deep sense of love and a strong sense of respect for the heritage recipes – several of which are long-lost, that my Mum painstakingly taught me, one pestle pound at a time.

Ingredients for our dishes like herbs and vegetables can come from our very own garden whilst rarer ingredients come from further afield.

We source our ingredients from reliable sources of food supplies in Singapore, ranging from small local wet markets to the large supermakets.

With recipes preserved (albeit by the “agak” cooking method) and passed down lovingly over generations, we at Nonyanita are committed in our role as guardians, in ensuring the preservation of long-lost dishes and the authenticity of the dishes towards continuity of a near-disappearing cuisine-culture, for the next generation.

From the Garden

Yes, our very own little food forest which allows us to stay close to the earth, the sun and the rain. We nourish the soil. We sow seeds, graft plants and propagate cuttings. We are motivated by our roles as gardener and guardian. This little garden rewards us with daun kenchoe, daun kunyet and daun kemangi for our dishes, chillies and calamansi for our sambal blachan.

  • Lemons and limes for our drinks. Kumquats for our salads. Bunga kantan for our vases (and Assam Prawn garnish). Banana leaves as our place mats.

  • Potted trees, to bring the forest indoors – when we feel like lazing on the sofa with a book, under overhanging olive branches.

  • We share our chikkus, jambu ayer fruits and buah kedondong with our regular visitors – the squirrels, civet cats, and monkeys – depending on who gets to harvest first!.

  • A grafted daun limau purut (bergamot) sapling that has grown over the roof, over decades. I trim a branch of the leaves and take it with me when I travel, so that I can cook my chicken rendang wherever I am.

  • Sometimes, when dining al fresco, you may catch a whiff of the scented stephanotis in bloom or chance upon squirrels scampering on the wood fence.

  • You may also hear the sweet chirping of the birds as they sit, swinging on a vine, over the pond. They have made this little space their very own.

From the Volcanoes

  • Far away, in remote parts of Indonesia, deadly poisonous nuts from the pangium edule trees lie buried in volcanic ash for forty days. Skipping this fermentation process will make any consumption of the kernel of the cyanide-laden nuts fatal. 

  • Yet, so strong is the draw of these nuts that diners risk their lives just to get a taste of its earthy, intense, umami-rich flavours. 

  • Not to sound alarmist, but when the nuts reach us, from Indonesia, we take another week to soak and scrub away the volcanic ash, before the kernels within are ready to be cooked and consumed. Ayam Buah Keluak is the signature dish of Nonya cuisine. To be savored at least once, in your lifetime.