RECIPE 1 | Siput Masak Singgang | ila

Preparing Snails

Cage the giant African land snails without food for at least seven days to make sure their stomachs are cleaned. Boil them thoroughly to sterilize parasites and bacteria. The snails will continue secreting slime after their death and wood ash or, in Taiwan, the leaves of indigenous paper mulberry trees are usually used to remove the slime. There are two ways to get the snail meat out of its shell. You either smash the shell or place the snail into a big pot of clean water and boil it. After the water cools, then cool it down and pick the meat out with a tooth-stick. Remove all the intestines and only keep the forepart(s) to eat.

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Ingredients

100g snail meat (only foreparts)
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
5cm blue ginger, sliced
1 stalk lemongrass, lightly bashed
3 pcs chilli padi, sliced half
2 pcs green chilli, sliced half
5cm fresh turmeric, sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
50g assam paste, mixed with 600ml water
5cm ginger, sliced
1 pcs red onion, sliced
2 stalks coriander leaves
50ml water, salt to taste

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Method

① The treated snails are cooked in boiling water.
② Chop all ingredients and prepare assam water.
③ Heat up the pan.
④ Stir fry the ingredients and add the assam water.
⑤ Add the snails.

Preparing Buah Keluak

The buah keluak fruit, or biji kepayang in Bahasa Melayu, grows on the kepayang tree. The whole tree all contains a deadly glycoside compound that can convert to cyanid. You have to strip off the flesh of the fruit and soak, boil, or bury it in ashes for seven days or longer. Alternatively, you can also buy the fruit commercially processed and detoxified. Soak them in water with tamarind for at least four days, scrub the seeds, change the water daily, and then break the shell to get the fruits.

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Ingredients

6 butterfly pea flowers
1 bag buah keluak
6 shelled snails
1 teaspoon ginger juice
Lime zest
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Rempah (Spice Mix)
3 slices lengkuas
1/4 thumb size tumeric
5 pcs candlenuts
8 bulbs shallots
2 pcs red chillies
2 pcs dried chillies
1/4 teaspoon coriander powder
1 stalk lemongrass
50g assam paste, mixed with 200ml water
Gula melaka

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Method

① Prepare spice mix by blending together, fry the spice mix until fragrant, mix buah keluak in, and add assam paste and gula melaka to balance.
② Cook snails, and separate the meat from the shells
③ Brush marinade of the soy sauce and ginger juice. Add a sprinkle of lime zest to the snails.
④ Spread buak keluak soil, place butterfly pea flower petals.
⑤ Place the snail meats on the petals, and decorate it with the shells behind.
⑥ To eat: scoop buah keluak soil with snail shells, and eat with the snails.