Jiu Hu Char | Stirfried Jicama with Dried Cuttlefish | Nyonya recipes

During this Chinese New Year, Mum taught me how to make the Nyonya dish jiu hu char, or stir fried jicama (bangkuang) with dried cuttlefish. 

As usual, she will say, "Very simple only!" 

Only when I tried to recreate it in Penang did I realise, so many skills and invisible elements go into making a good jiu hu char.
Starting with cutting the jicama into fine strips; handling a vegetable of that size and shape was unexpectedly tricky.

Peranakan friends tell me that the best cooks don't even add water, but rely entirely on the natural juices from the jicama and carrots to create the gravy.

Well Mum definitely didn't add water :) 

And in the tradition of classical Chinese cooks who use minimum ingredients to create maximum flavour, she only seasoned the dish with salt. 

The results? A beautifully complex, balanced dish that's restaurant worthy. 

Ingredients:
50g dried cuttlefish (you can get the machine-cut floss from wet markets)
1 big jicama or 2 small ones
1/2 small carrot
6-8 big prawns
3 shitake mushrooms, presoaked
Few cloves garlic
Salt
Oil
Shallots (to fry and eat later with the jiu hu char)
Lettuce leaves
Sambal belacan

*For the record, the original dish uses pork lard, but Mum has swapped it out for prawns in this version, which I find sweeter and nicer.

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