MELAKA, Nov 14 — Cooking is a labour of love. For many Peranakan families, this is doubly true with recipes passed down through generations, painstakingly prepared ingredients and indelible flavours. 

But what happens when the person behind that cherished cooking is no longer around? 

For siblings Isabel and Darien Lau, that very question was on their minds when they decided to turn their family recipes into a business, ensuring their late mother’s culinary legacy would live on.

BibikJee’s Nyonya Flavours is named after their mother, Jeanie, affectionately known as Jee. More than just a food brand, it is a tribute to a woman whose cooking bound their family together.

“Our mum, Jeanie, was the fourth of seven siblings from a humble Peranakan family,” Isabel says. “From a young age, she chose cooking over household chores and learned from her mother and aunts.”

A nurse and midwife at Melaka’s government hospital, Jeanie was equally accomplished in the kitchen, with specialities ranging from pongteh and asam prawns to sup itik tim and chap chai.

Her children particularly remember her cili garam and sambal tumis. Isabel recalls, “We could never find anything quite like hers, so we knew these would be the best products to start with.”

Isabel made a vow to her dying mother that would eventually become the foundation of the business.

She shares, “I promised my mum that we would never forget her, especially my two children, who were only five and two then. By using her name for the business, I hope they will remember what an amazing cook and person she was.”

The siblings come from different professional backgrounds. Isabel is a pharmacist who has worked in hospitals, chain retail pharmacies and multinational pharmaceutical companies, while Darien, the youngest of three siblings, is a professionally trained chef who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu.

Darien first ventured into the food business during the Covid-19 pandemic, running The Native Cook, a Peranakan food delivery operation from their family home in Melaka. 

Serving their mother’s recipes, it eventually led to the opening of Nenijee’s Nyonya Kitchen in February 2024, a venture Darien established with their father.

“Our mum inspired our move into F&B. We grew up watching her cook for people, and a food business was the best way to honour her,” says Isabel.

When customers at Nenijee’s began asking to purchase their sambals to take home or give as gifts, the siblings saw an opportunity to bring their mother’s cooking to a wider audience. They started jarring the cili garam and sambal tumis, which received a positive response from locals and tourists.

To make their products accessible to Muslim consumers too, they sourced ingredients from halal suppliers and rented a halal commercial kitchen in Melaka.

The two sambals offer distinctly different flavour profiles, Isabel notes, although both reflect their mother’s preference for savoury flavours rather than the cloying sweetness found in some commercial brands.

(This particular point makes the Malaccan in me rejoice; I’ve spent years trying to explain to my non-Malaccan friends why most sambals are just far too sweet!)

BibikJee’s Nyonya Cili Garam combines fresh red chillies, bird’s eye chillies, onions and seasoning. Its chunky texture makes it a versatile accompaniment to rice, noodles and bread, or something to drizzle over fried fish, chicken and vegetables.

Their Nyonya Sambal Tumis has a rich, savoury flavour from a blend of dried chillies, onions, belacan and santan, with a hint of tanginess from tamarind. 

Isabel enthuses, “With plain white rice, it tastes like nasi lemak. It can also be used as a base for sambal sotong, sambal petai udang, rendang, Nyonya laksa and otak-otak, without spending hours preparing the chilli base.”

Yet translating the flavours of a home kitchen into commercial production was far from straightforward. Traditional Peranakan cooking relies on intuition, not precise measurements, which proved challenging when scaling up their mother’s recipes.

Isabel says, “Like many Nyonyas, my mum based her cooking on ‘agak-agak’, measured by a handful, a pinch or a splash. Darien learned from her and managed to get everything right, just the way she cooked it.”

For the siblings, preserving authenticity meant paying attention to more than just the quantities of ingredients. 

“The methods matter too: what goes in first, when to add the next ingredients and the heat. That is why we still cook the sambals ourselves in small batches to maintain their quality and taste.”

Isabel recalls how her late mother was always a perfectionist in the kitchen.

“For her cili garam, my mum removed most chilli seeds for better taste and texture. Deseeding is costly, but we cannot compromise on this step. We also preserve her chunky texture and use good suppliers for dried chillies without additives or fillers.”

The learning curve has not been limited to product development. Running a food business also means contending with fluctuating ingredient prices and the additional expenses of commercial kitchen rental, filling and retort services.

To keep costs manageable, the siblings compare suppliers’ quotations and undertake the labour-intensive work of deseeding and chopping chillies themselves.

Isabel oversees administration, supplies, packaging, marketing, social media and events, while Darien handles production and quality control alongside his responsibilities at Nenijee’s.

Isabel says, “Doing so much can be overwhelming, with new things to learn and mistakes that cost money. But with a clear purpose, I know it is worth it.”

BibikJee’s reaches its customers predominantly through bazaars, Shopee and its website, while its sambals are also available at Nenijee’s and selected Top Catch outlets in OUG and PJ.

Their longer-term plans include reaching more retail shops, particularly those specialising in artisanal food, as well as introducing Peranakan cooking pastes such as pongteh, rendang, asam and laksa — all signature dishes from Jeanie’s repertoire.

Isabel says, “Our priority with future products is to ensure the flavours match what we grew up with. We want to balance authenticity, accessibility and modern lifestyles while staying true to our recipes and values.”

Building BibikJee’s has also given the siblings a deeper appreciation of their mother’s cooking. What once seemed like everyday meals now represent countless hours of preparation, instinct and accumulated knowledge.

“Food was her way of bringing family and friends together, and now that I am a mum, I understand this more than ever. Recreating her flavours commercially has shown us how much skill went into her cooking. It is not just about the recipe, but understanding ingredients and balancing flavours.”

Ultimately, the siblings hope BibikJee’s will become more than just another Peranakan food brand. By introducing their mother’s recipes to other households, they hope to share the same warmth and love that Jeanie once expressed through her cooking.

“By telling her stories,” Isabel says, “I feel she is still here with us.”

Learn more about BibikJee’s Nyonya Flavours at https://bibikjeesnyonyaflavours.com/

For more food fables and café chronicles, visit Life for Beginners.