Nyonya cuisine is eclectically seasoned and different than either Chinese or Malay food. It is fusion cuisine at it's best. As in Malay cooking, a key ingredient in Nyonya cuisine is belacan also spelt belachan or blacan pronounced blah-chan - a dried shrimp paste. It's commonly in the form of a pressed brick or cake. Not overly 'fishy', a tiny amount of this paste adds sweetness to meats, intensity to fish and seafood and a 'kick' to vegetables like Kangkung Belacan. It makes a flavorful base for sauces and gravies, adding depth and an intriguing taste that you can't quite decipher.

When uncooked, the pressed cake has a powerful scent, like "stinky cheese", but don't be put off - it mellows out and harmonizes in the cooking, leaving behind an understated richness that cannot be reproduced. Best described as a natural flavor enhancer, belacan is what gives many of the foods from Southeast Asia - Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam - that authentic zest and flavor underlying the dense fabric of spice and herbs. Nyonya food originating from the North of Malaysia - Penang, and Nyonya food originating from the South - Malacca and Singapore, have distinct differences.

Nyonya cooking in the South has an Indonesian influence. The food is generally sweeter, richer with liberal use of coconut milk and more traditional Malay spices. In Malacca especially, Nyonya cooking is heavily influenced by Portuguese-Eurasian style of cooking. Many Nyonya dishes are indistinguishable from Portuguese-Eurasian dishes, with both kitchens using similar ingredients and methods of cooking. Nyonya food in the North drew inspiration from neighboring Thailand.

Nyonya food in the North, Penang, has a preference for tangy or sour food such as the famous Penang Assam Laksa. Tamarind paste is used as a souring agent as well as green mangoes and Belimbing or Belimbi Averrhoa Bilimbi, a close but sourer relative of Carambola also called Starfruit. Similar to belacan but slightly sweet tasting - a black color molasses-like paste - locally called haeko pronounced 'hey-ko' or Otak Udang, in Malay Prawn Paste, in English is also used in many Nyonya gastronomic creations.

Nyonya cooking is not only about the blending of pungent roots but also the long marinating of meats and seafood before it is cooked. Fresh herbs such as lemongrass, lengkuas galangal or wild ginger and kunyit turmeric root are pounded, more often than not, by hand using a granite mortar and pestle. Chilies, candlenuts, shallots and belacan are a must in most Nyonya dishes. Aromatic leaves such as kaffir lime leaves, pandan or pandanus screwpine leaves, daun salam fresh bay leaves and daun kunyit turmeric leaves add Nyonya zest to it's wonderful cookery. One can easily spot authentic Nyonya food in Malaysia by its cooking style and the word 'Nyonya, sometimes spelt Nonya', as a prefix, such as Nyonya Laksa, Nyonya Chicken Curry, Nyonya Prawn Sambal or Nyonya Fried Rice.

Nyonya food is in a unique gastronomic realm all of it's own - with specific and subtle nuances of tastes and flavors, quite undiscovered still in the international culinary world. Nyonya cuisine is also famous for it's Kuih cake or dessert. Nyonya desserts are varied and extraordinary. They are strongly Malay influenced - made from local ingredients such as sweet potato, yams, agar agar, gula Melaka palm sugar, coconut milk, glutinous rice - and Chinese ingredients such as red beans, green beans or mung beans. The ubiquitous vanilla bean used for essence is replaced by a local plant leaf Pandan or Pandanus Screwpine leaves, giving Nyonya desserts its signature quintessence.