While we were in Malaysia, we had 3 goals we wanted to accomplish: 1) Eat, 2) Eat, and...what was the third one? Something about gastronomy, I think. With a population that is 60% Malay, 25% Chinese, 10% Indian (with 5% being other minorities), the food is eclectic and as flavorful as it gets. And I'm proud to say that 5 days and 5 lbs later, we were able to successfully expand the limits of our stomachs and sample some of the cuisine that makes Malaysia one of my favorite places to have a meal.
One of the unique things about food in Malaysia is that, unlike European cultures who link food with the chef, people in Malaysia link the food to the location. So, if you want the best of a particular dish, you have to go to where it is made best. If there was an Iron Chef, Malaysia edition, people would ask "where does the chef live."
Fortunately, I have an old college friend that was kind enough to take us around to all the best spots around Kuala Lumpur and do most of the ordering for us. All we had to do was open mouth, insert food, chew, swallow, and repeat.
Without further ado, here is some sampling of Malaysian cuisine. (Sorry if we mess up or forget some of the names and descriptions. We were too busy eating to remember everything.)
Tau Fu Fa: Semi-firm tofu with gula melaka (palm sugar).
A soup with duck (maybe its chicken?), dumplings, scallions, tofu, and fish balls (balls of fish meat). Probably some other veggies in there, too.
Sorry, culinary fanatics, for lumping all of the Indian food together, but that's what I'm doing. The thing is, we never really knew what food we are getting as the food is always out in the open, so we just pointed and got whatever we pointed to. On the right, you can see that the food is served directly on a banana leaf where you can eat it with your right hand only or with utencils. All I can say was that it was all excellent and that I want more.
Rice cooked with pork and steamed inside a tea leaf.
Fried chicken in strawberry sauce. A-maz-ing.
Steamed shrimp dumplings on the left. Crab (?) dumplings on the right.
Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice). I know it's just fried rice, but this was seriously good.
This is a bread called roti. It is the offspring of a crepe and Indian naan. Just like a crepe, it can be filled with just about anything from bananas to curry.
Teh Tarik (Pulled Tea). It is a mixture of tea, sugar, and condensed milk. Ya, sure, it tastes like pure sugar, but it's damn good. My favorite way is to get it with masala tea, which adds a bit of spice to the sweetness.
Chicken and beef satay. It's meat cooked over a charcoal grill and served with a sauce that you'd push an old lady out of the way to eat it.
There are a number of fruits in Malaysia that are hard to find in the US and this is one called the Rhombutan. It looks dangerous on the outside, but just split it open and eat the fleshy part surrounding the seed. Sweet and delicious.
Rojak. Rojak litterally means mixture and it really is that. It's an assortment of fruits and tofu mixed with a black shrimp sauce. Excellent for a hot afternoon.
Known as Nasi Lemak, or Fat Rice, this is rice cooked with coconut flesh. It comes with an assortment of items (fried chicken, boiled egg, nuts, cucumber, spicy sauce) that you mix in with the rice and eat together. Probably the best meal that anyone could have invented.
Starting clockwise from the left: fish head curry, fried chicken, green vegetable (maybe kailan) in a white oyster sauce, and squid curry in a banana leaf. Surrounding, you can see clams which have been cooked in a white wine sauce.
Roasted pig leg with a sweet sauce.
Not exactly sure what this is, but it tasted like egg drop soup with a lot of sugar in it.
Shaved ice with mango puree.
Balls of glutinous rice filled with sesame seeds.
Pork ribs stew with mushrooms. There were about 18 different kinds of mushrooms in this broth.
Durian ice cream. For those who have not experienced a durian, it tastes kind of like a smooth onion. It definitely leaves ain impression on the breath for a while. We weren't able to get te fruit itself as the durian sellers were closed for the holiday, so we had to settle for the ice cream version.
Ok, ok. We had to do it. We passed by about 4 A&W restaurants, and eventually we had to give into temptation and get a rootbeer float. I know it's not Malaysian, but how can we resist the combination of root beer and icecream?
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
May 06, 2010
Olivia
May 07, 2010
Kyle
May 06, 2010
Legal Nomads
Looking forward to more pics,
Jodi
May 07, 2010
Kyle
May 06, 2010
Sleepless In KL
The pancake thing is 'apam balik'.
The soft tofu thing is 'tau fu fa' with 'gula melaka' (palm sugar).
The green vegetable's not that clear but it suspiciously looks like 'kailan'.
This is just the tip of the iceberg but you did manage to sample a wide selection ;)
Mimi
May 07, 2010
Kyle
May 06, 2010
Global Granny
Indeed, one of the main reasons I travel is to sample the local foods. E.g. I simply had to track down a dish of "Mopani worms" in South Africa - at one of the finest uppity restaurants in Johannesburg, whoknew? And I managed to politely swallow a few silk worms - boiled via a wooden bucket of hot water at the base of an ancient silk spinning wheel in a Thai village.
But... durian tasting... "kinda like a smooth ONION"? Most interesting. I've had it in a village in Indonesia, as well as buying it at Asian markets right here in Seattle and...
Stinks to high heaven to be sure. But the taste/texture - always seems to me to be akin to delectable sweet cream cheese.
Hmmm... I'm lately smitten w/ my little hand cranked home ice cream maker - maybe I'll try a batch of durian ice cream...
May 07, 2010
Kyle
May 06, 2010
Den C
May 06, 2010
Terry Larke travel agent
May 07, 2010
Kyle
May 07, 2010
hanna
May 08, 2010
Kyle
May 13, 2010
Linda
May 31, 2010
Financial Samurai
Maybe also visit Sarawak or Pulau Penang.