Laksa

Man... Vancouverites sure know how to eat! Am enjoying this blog immensely, btw. Daddy-A, your enthusiasm for coffee had me craving the stuff. I hardly ever drink coffee -- can't take the caffeine -- but I found myself enjoying a half-caf half-decaf today. Blog on!

I see no reason why you shouldn't post lontong pics in this thread. I just ate some when I was in KL. So you have lontong in Indonesia, too? Fancy that!

Lawak-lawak is my middle name. It's also where I'm from... Sa-lawak, as the Chinese say it. Not to get too far off-topic, so far I've seen yao tieu dunked in coffee, soy bean milk, congee, and spaghetttttti is now showing us what looks like chili sauce. My dad taught me to eat yao tieu dipped in a slurry of fermented bean curd (foo yu) and the juice that comes in the jar.

Aiyah... I didn't know you were talking about these, lah! Looking at the packet, the Chinese characters say dan hua su, so I should've made the connection. Brain doesn't fire on all cylinders sometimes... most of the time actually.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned these yet: They taste sweet and eggy. Started buying them recently for nostalgic reasons. Never thought much of them as a kid, but can't stop eating them now. What do you call these things?

I was going to suggest a cake shaped like a white peach but Shiewie beat me to it! I saw a near-spherical cake that looked like giant white peach at a Chinese bakery once. I think there might've been some airbrushing work done on it too.

Oh TP, I am so sorry! I feel so embarrassed Of all the examples I could've used, I had to use that one!

Hmm... haw flakes.... do they taste anything like corn flakes?Actually, I saw haw flake layer cakes in many stores in Bintulu, but I had no idea Sarawak is famous for them. It'll be interesting to find out how well the tart haw flakes work in a sweet cake. Haw flake cake is now on the top of my to-try list.

hzrt8w, I'm with you on this. I eat yau tieu dunked in a big cup of soy sauce. Speaking for myself, I shy away from mixing sweet and savory foods. That could get really tricky... who knows what might happen once you start? I could end up putting apples in fried rice...

Dejah, you come up with a lot of good ideas... let's form a business plan. We could make millions! TP, thanks for pointing that out. It all makes sense to me now! Did I ever mention that I was colorblind? Actually, I have never seen anything like the round fritters in the picture you linked to. I've had flat crispy pancake-like deep fried dough-thingy with one or two whole shrimps in each piece, head and shell included. Usually eaten with a sweet and spicy sauce. Is that also cucur udang?

kew, you must forgive me but I'm one of those completely hopeless people who simply cannot tell what something is like by reading a recipe. So is cucur udang anything like a cheesecake?

hzrt8w, I'm surprised that you would find this unusual. Isn't it very much a Chinese thing to eat yau tieu dipped in hot (and sweet) soy bean milk? It's not such a great leap to do the same with coffee... Maybe I'm confused.

What are some good Chinese (preferably non-American Chinese ) restaurants near Basking Ridge? I did a search here and found Noodle Chu which is about 15 miles away. Does anyone know of any others that are closer? Failing that, what other restaurants would you recommend? Thanks so much.

annoy_ken, would you care to share what your mom said about how soy and oyster sauces were once made, and how they're differnt from current production techniques? I'm quite interested to know... Thanks.

That's a deeply personal question, but I'll be happy to answer it. Her rambutans can be rather temperamental. Only if enough care is taken to coax the flesh from the seed, will it come loose with just the tender outer layer of the seed attached. This, needless to say, calls for gentle and highly experienced fingers.

I've always wondered about this... does Islamic law make allowances for the use of alcoholic beverages in cooking or baking? I mean, by the time the food is cooked, all the alcohol would have evaporated, right? And what about things like listerine mouthwash?

Many tropical fruits in Malaysia are still very much seasonal. When a fruit is in season, there tends to be such an over-abundance that you couldn't pay people to eat it. At least, that's been my experience in the more rural parts. When Ms Congee's rambutan tree was bearing fruit, every Tom, Dick and Ali's rambutan tree was also bearing fruit. Those who didn't have a rambutan tree received bucketloads of rambutans from friends and family who did. At the Bintulu market, rambutan prices fell through the floor. All that suited me just fine, as I had been deprived for five years. As a civic minded individual, I thought that, for the common good, I had to do something about the rambutan oversupply. I worked at a furious pace, I really did. But alas and alack, there's only so much one person can eat!

Dang! Is this blog ending already? The week sure went by fast... Thanks Q and TP, I've had a lot of fun. Almost felt like I was blogging too. One last question, would you happen to have a recipe for that ginger sauce that goes over the steamed fish? Is it trendy now in KL to steam fish with ginger sauce? I had an almost identical dish at the Hakka Restaurant and loved it. Though their sauce had a green tinge to it -- could it be kacangma? I have a picture of that around here somewhere....

kew, which Carrefour is that? I think I recognize the security guard who escorted me out of the store during the ais potong incident.

Ooooo, how extravagant! You have excellent taste, TP. The Bario rice from Sarawak are a native variety grown in the highlands by the Kelabit people. The beras hitam (black rice) is closer to purple in color, as you may be able to see from this photo: Because Bario rice is much sought after, it commands a significant premium over regular rice. At the Bintulu market, it sells for 16 ringgit a kilo (US $4), which is 4 times what I pay for Thai jasmine rice in NY.

kew, while I await your confirmation, I could've sworn that the bottom right is a pic of halved buah salak or snakeskin fruit.

Won't serving that cigar with the ice cream make it difficult to light? By the way, aren't your kids a little young for cigars?

A guy could live in an apple orchard, but if he sucks at baking apple pie, he makes do with Sara Lee's from the grocery store... unless of course he can get his hands on pumpkin kaya egg custard! That makes no sense at all, does it?

Okay, do they make a version where the tea actually smells like durian? kew, yes, the roti canai sauce is deep red. By comparing how much is left in each of the two crock pots that hold the sauces, one could deduce that the deep red sauce is probably more popular.

RE: roti canai That roti looks identical to what you'd find in Sarawak. For some reason, I'd gotten the impression that food gets transformed somehow as it crosses the South China Sea. Sarawak canai gets served with those two sauces as well, the yellow one I believe is lentil curry and the red one sambal? I don't know if the Sarawak sauces get 'dumbed down' for the predominantly Chinese population, but I always find them not as spicy as I'd like. The roti canai stall at the KLIA foodcourt offers a choice of two different sauces: the lentil curry and another, more-runny-with-less-bits-in-it, red-colored, and altogether more dangerous looking sauce. I opted for the red sauce, which was absolutely delicious, and was as spicy as I had hoped. As I had just come right off the plane after a 20 hour flight, I lacked the clarity of thought, nor sufficient language skills to ask what that sauce was! Does anyone know what that could be?