Kum Heong Unique Multicultural Flavour of Malaysia 甘香

Kum heong bamboo clam

Kum Heong 甘香 is a uniquely Malaysian sauce. It is an extremely versatile robust, pungent sauce used to flavour seafood like squid, prawns, clams and crab, chicken, pork, and even fried rice. Kum heong crab is still one of the most popular flavours of the crustacean dish in Malaysia. Kum heong crab is Malaysia's answer to Singapore's chili crab.

Kum heong 甘香 is often translated as 金香 "golden fragrance" but I personally prefer 甘香. Kum 甘 is a flavour in Cantonese meaning "sweet and tasty" whereas 金 "golden" in this case is a generic metaphor for excellence.

Kum heong sauce is made by stir frying chopped shallot, chopped garlic, chopped lemongrass, chopped torch ginger flower, dried shrimp, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, curry powder, crushed peppercorn, curry leaf, and chili padi with sizzling oil in a wok till the ingredients are caramelised and their flavours melded and aromas released. Fairly common in Malaysia (most Chinese restaurants have it), it is actually a rather complex sauce in terms of preparation, flavours and aroma.

The flavours of kum heong are robust and pungent. It tastes umami savoury, spicy. Chili padi (bird's eye chili) gives kum heong a rather sharp spicy punch.

Its aroma is pungent with curry leaf especially prominent. When cooking kum heong, the kitchen can be choking pungent and you can smell its aroma from a few houses away.

Kum heong lala clams

Despite its popularity, kum heong's original is rather obscure. It is not known who, when and where kum heong sauce was created except that it is generally accepted to be somewhere in Malaysia, probably the Klang Valley (where Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya are).

Nevertheless, the ingredients of kum heong celebrate multicultural Malaysia with every community contributing something to the melting pot. Oyster sauce and soy sauce from Chinese. Curry leaves from Indians. Chili pepper and chili padi were first brought here by the Portuguese in the 1500s. Curry powder was a British invention though they learned how to cook spice mixes from Indians. Lemongrass is a Southeast Asia aromatic commonly used in Malay cooking. Stir frying spices, vegetables and herbs in spices to release flavours 爆香 is a technique commonly used by Chinese.

Kum heong is a complicated sauce indeed but the flavours and aromas are in beautiful harmony pleasing to the palate and nose.

Written by Tony Boey on 23 Nov 2022