The Kristang Canon
Seventy-six entries
Kristang Curry & Spice Pastes
Twelve entries
The rempah is the foundation: a wet spice paste that must be correctly constructed and correctly fried before any curry can proceed. From that base, the Kristang kitchen builds a range of preparations — vinegar-spiked, coconut-enriched, dry-crusted, sour-spiced — each governed by the same four-point calibration of sweet, sour, salt, and heat.
Sambal belacan is the foundational Kristang table condiment, built from pounded chilies, toasted belacan, and calamansi juice. The method that produces it belongs to a broader body of technique: spice paste construction, mortar and pestle work, fermentation, and the rendering of fats that underwrite the cuisine. These are the procedures a cook must hold before the canonical dishes can be attempted.