The peranakan chicken stew for non-spice lovers. While many peranakan dishes can be complicated and time-consuming, ayam pongteh, or chicken stew, is a classic stew thats one of the easier ones, and uses a manageable number of ingredients. The key ingredient is tau cheo, a kind of intensely salty, smoky and yeasty fermented soybean that makes everything come together. Gula melaka too, sweetly balances everything. Theres also no spice in this, unusual for peranakan cuisine, so everyone can tuck in.