Shiewie

Was hungry around 4pm since I didn't finish the dumpling noodles nor tasteless fruit at lunch. Went down to the office cafeteria and ate half a packet of "nasi lemak" (coconut rice with some fried anchovies, fried peanuts, sambal and half a hard-boiled egg wrapped in banana leaf and a piece of newspaper) and a bite of "kuih keria" (a Malay cake of mashed sweet potato shaped into a mini doughnut, deep fried and dipped in melted sugar) from a friend. I feel quite icky now from that grease overdose. Am sipping a mug of green tea to try and get rid that greasy feeling. Oh - I also had a banana maple muffin just before lunch that I forgot to post earlier.

Aaargh!! I've just come back from a horrid lunch and realised I've been tagged by herbacidal for this week's foodblog. And I had happily been lulled into the thought that it would be ronnie suburban or bergerka from her earlier post. Here goes: Monday Was late for work so breakfast was a Nature Valley Crunchy Peanut Butter Granola Bar and a kiwi fruit at my desk. Got hungry a little later so snacked on some salted fava beans in the common food stash that we have in our department. Just finished lunch and it was one of the most awful meals I've had in quite a while. A colleague was driving out to pay some bills so a few of us trooped along for the ride. As usual, we couldn't decide where and what to eat. The choice was dim sum, a cafe-type place, hawker food at local coffeeshops, Thai, Chinese vegetarian or Taiwanese noodles. There was a small voice next to me that suggested Burger King but that was ignored by the rest in the car. We settled on Chinese vegetarian out of deference to the driver who is semi-vegetarian (he still eats seafood for now). Haven't been to the restaurant before and I'll definitely not go again. Chinese vegetarian with its multitude of ways in cooking soy by-products as mock this n' that can be interesting. Sigh but the flavour of the day at this place was bland, bland, bland. Chose a "sui gow meen" - green (chinese spinach) noodles in a light broth with vegetarian dumplings, yau mak (sort of like Romaine lettuce), slices of dried Shitake mushrooms and some crunchy dough bits (mock pork crackling bits?!). The noodles were ok but the dumplings were doughy and tasteless. Also had half a guava that I bought from a fruit stall nearby...and that was tasteless too. Feeling most dissatisfied now. Edited to correct typo

Eeeks and I come back from lunch to realise that I've been tagged.

Thank you! Poori is my favourite Indian bread and now I can try making it at home.

Be careful eating furry meat. the fur's the best part. and if you know of anyone i left out, throw it in. i dare you, schneer. Is furry pork (yook soong) th same as "jue yook si" (pork floss)? Pork floss buns (a slightly sweetish baked bun topped with a mayo cream mixture and pork floss) have been the rage in Singapore and KL (chicken floss here though as using pork floss would automatically omit half the population) for the past couple of years or so.

Cilantro is favourite and Chinoz is generally reliable (though I've had some bad meals at their KLCC branch when they first opened there - long waits, uncooked meats, bad service - they have since improved). I've tried Le Bouchon once and thought the food was done rather poorly. We were there in a fairly large group and tried quite a wide selection from the menu. Another group of friends were there on a separate occasion and didn't like either. I haven't eaten extensively in France but think Le Bouchon's food is below the average French bistro fare. Gim, if I can convince some friends to give Le Bouchon another try, what are the special dishes that you would recommend at Le Bouchon?

I've noticed that bread recipes in Asian baking books usually call for bread improvers, bread softeners and dough softeners which are generally not mentioned in US/UK/Aussie bread recipes. That may account for softer western-style baked breads that most Asians prefer. There's been some queries on this in a Malaysian cooking column.

Hi Gim Welcome to eGullet! Are you based in KL or Singapore? Have you tried Saint Pierre? I've heard some pretty good things about it. The chef Emmanuel Stroobant used to be at KL's Carmen's before moving to Singapore. I liked the food at Carmen's when Chef Stroobant was there but have yet to try Saint Pierre.

Yup, elyse is right. Cottee's lemon jelly is an Australian brand of lemon Jell-o. A packet of Cottee's lemon jelly comes in an 85g packet. Use a 3 oz. packet of lemon Jell-o instead. I add additional gelatine as it's hot here in Malaysia and the cheesecake starts melting if it's left on the table for too long. You may not need to as it lots colder where you are. It's a quick recipe that can be doubled easily for a crowd.... and it low"er" fat than the average cheesecake .

I use evaporated milk for a light no-bake cheesecake recipe I learnt from a friend years ago. Prepare a biscuit base in an 8-inch dish - I just use crushed Marie / Digestive biscuits, a tablespoon of sugar and some melted butter. Mix crushed biscuits, sugar and melted butter together and press into dish. Set aside. Beat a softened 250g (8oz) block of Philadelphia cream cheese till light and fluffy. Add a can of evaporated milk, half a teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind and a packet of lemon jelly crystals (I use Cottees since that's what my friend used) dissolved in half a cup of hot water (I sometimes add half a teaspoon of gelatine to the jelly crystals). Mix till smooth and pour cream cheese mixture on top of biscuit base. Place the dish in the fridge to set. Decorate cheesecake once set with slices of strawberries and kiwi fruit if desired.

A short article on Hokkien food in Flavours, a Malaysian food mag.

Not so much as a substitute for kicap manis but more like another sauce for seafood...somewhat like a dry sticky version of chilli crabs. It sounds a bit strange but it's really quite good - one spends a lot of time licking every bit of sauce off the shells.

Some Chinese seafood restaurants in Malaysia have Marmite Crabs / Prawns. The crabs / prawns are are fried in their shells and then coated with a sticky Marmite sauce. It's quite a messy but most delicious task in removing the shells.

It should keep for at least a couple of days. You can also freeze it in smaller portions for handy jook meals.

No, not the hard eyeballs itself but just the gelatinous bits around it! Not all Asians eat fish eyes - I didn't use to before as the thought used to gross me out. But then I decided to try it one day since I thought the texture should be fairly similar to fatty fish belly which I adore and it's good! Hmmm...but what if they were deep-fried till they're really crunchy?!! Haven't tried ... yet.

It's actually fish cheeks, the area just below the eyes and not quite the eyes itself. The fish cheek meat is supposed to be the most tender part of the fish and hence it's offered to the guest of honour. The eyes itself are pretty good too, if one like gelatinous textures .

Suzanne, it's just like mudbug says (except we make less, only half cup to one cup of rice). There is an auto setting on our crockpot so we use that and leave it on through the night for at least 8 hours. If there's no auto setting on your crockpot, set it on high till it bubbles (if you use hot water / stock to start with, this takes a shorter time) then turn it down to low. If you find that the jook is too thick the next morning, just add more water/stock until it is the consistency you want. I love preserved eggs (pei tan) with lots of pickled young ginger slices - but that may be a bit much for the uninitiated.

Not sure about the rest of South East Asia but the Chinese community in Malaysia are mainly from a mixture of southern dialect groups - here are some figures - 35% Hokkien, 23% Hakka, 19% Cantonese, 12% Teochew, 5% Hainanese and 6% others - this came from a recent local news article which reported that 80% of all Chinese programmes on a government TV channel will be in Mandarin. I think the Chinese in Singapore are from similar dialect groups as Malaysia but the percentage of Teochew is higher there. Like Aprilmei, my impression is that the Chinese in Thailand are predominantly Teochew but have assimilated such that the younger generation no longer speak any Chinese. A friend whose mother is Thai Chinese has cousins who only speak Thai. Most of the older generation here in Malaysia still speak dialects but those under the age of 25 are more likely to speak Mandarin than a dialect (that is if they can speak any Chinese at all - I have friends who don't as their parents do not share a common Chinese dialect and hence they converse in English) as Chinese schools here use Mandarin as the main medium of instruction (it's now the trend for Chinese parents here to send their kids to Chinese primary/grade shcool but wasn't so when I went to school). Cantonese is widely understood as HK drama serials are very popular here (on TV and video rentals). Singapore had (has?) a speak Mandarin campaign and everyone there assumes that you do speak Mandarin if you look Chinese. HK Cantonese serials shown on TV in Singapore are dubbed in Mandarin. Chinese schools in Malaysia use simplified Chinese now (has been so for the last 15 years or so in line with China, which uses simplified Chinese, rising from its economic slumber) and Singapore does too (earlier than Malaysia I think). There are 2 main Chinese newspapers in Malaysia, one's published in traditional Chinese characters whereas the other uses simplified Chinese characters.

Hi Suzanne 1. Fish congee - per what trillium says - thin fish slices (seasoned with some sesame oil and soya sauce, if desired). You can have it on a plate for each guest to add in or simply place it at the bottom of a bowl before ladling hot congee on top of it. We've used grass carp (freshwater), sea bass or garoupa. Have cilantro, scallions, julienned ginger, thinly sliced fried shallots, fried minced garlic, garlic / shallot oil, sliced yu tiao, white pepper and soy sauce on the side so that guests can add what they like to the congee. 2. Chicken is poached with some ginger slices and shredded. Use the chicken stock from poaching the chicken to cook the congee. Alternatively the poached chicken can be cut into pieces and arranged on a large platter to share topped with a dressing of soy sauce and sesame oil and some cilantro. Same condiments as in 1 above. A less elegant more homey version is to cook chicken pieces (and chicken feet too, in our house) with the porridge. 3. Lettuce - iceberg - we usually have iceberg lettuce with fish ball and sea moss (fatt choy) porridge though, not with chicken or fish. One other thing with cooking congee - I know this seems a bit strange but my mum says that one shouldn't stir congee while it is cooking. Once you stir it, you'll have to keep stirring till it's cooked, otherwise it'll stick to the bottom of the pot. If you need to add water to it, pour in it slowly at the side of the pot. I've tried it and it's true! An easier way is to just pop it in the crockpot and leave it to cook away. trillium - I also eat my oatmeal savoury like congee and don't like it sweet.

Glad you had such a good time! Oops - forgot to tell you about reservations . It can get quite crazy at Xin even on weekdays if the stockmarket is good - we used to be able to tell whether it was a good day at the stockmarket by the number of people lunching at Xin. I love the dim sum at Xin. A couple of my favourites are the har cheong fun (I prefer the thinner rice noodles though) and the juk thung fan - rice with pork/chicken and slated fish steamed in a segment of bamboo. Rice rolls dish is called Laksam, a sort of East Coast version of laksa. You can get it at places serving Kelantanese and Terengganu food. Hmm...my guess would be Ayam Masak Kicap, a Malay version of the Chinese soy sauce chicken. Sounds like chee cheong fun to me if it's cut with scissors onto a plate but the bean sprouts doesn't sound quite right. Where was this shop - opposite a 7-11? I love KL style Hokkien noodles (the fat ones cooked with lard in thick soy sauce with prok crackling, pork, chicken, shrimp, squid and cabbage or choy sum and eaten with sambal or minced raw garlic with thick soy sauce) but haven't tried it at the WowWow Rock Club. The thinner noodle might be yee meen but am not sure. I don't know why it's called Portugese either...perhaps the spicy sambal is adapted from the Portugese who have settled here. There is usually not much meat in stingray but it's popular fish for ikan bakar for it's smoothness and texture. I haven't tried the claypot chicken rice at this stall. We usually get ours from one in PJ as it's close by to where I live. There's also another one in the another suburb in PJ that serves new-fangled claypot rice with various meats besides chicken and chinese sausage. My colleagues tell me that there's a pretty good one in Pudu, near the wet market that is good which also serves a peppery pig intestine soup. Will tag along and try this one on their next trip there. Yong Taufu is a Hakka specialty and I think Hoong-Hoong is one of the best around. The soup dumplings are called sui kow with a filling of pork, water chestnuts, carrots, cilantro and dried shitake mushrooms. Some friends say that it's a local interpretation of jiaozi. Oh dear, I had planned to go here for lunch with mum on Monday but was a bit late to drive into town so ended up elsewhere instead. Will try it to see whether the other items are better. BTW, the Alhambra has closed . Ah...this is the stall I used to look at longingly while driving to work. Managed to try it once - heavenly smells of santan wafting from the deep wooden bin of nasi. Did the donuts look like normal donuts or did they look coated with melted sugar - am asking coz there is a local Malay kuih called Kuih Keria that is made with sweet potatoes that looks like a donut. Do return and when you do, you're welcome to contact me and we can meet up for more makan!

Hi wena I'd be glad to contribute eating spots in West Malaysia. You might also want to check out some Malaysian food websites - friedchillies.com and foodvenue.com.

Steamed fish and fish balls too.

Hi Was last in Peth in November 2002 for a cousin's wedding and sort of family reunion. The places we ate at and liked were: Viet Hoa at 349 Williams Road, Northbridge - cheap and good Vietnamese - liked their beef pho, braised duck noodles and stuffed chicken wings. Vinh Tranh - it's on the same row as Viet Hoa - my uncle who lives in Perth prefers this place to Viet Hoa as he thinks it's more authentic as it mainly the Vietnamese community who frequent the place. The soup for the beef pho here is more intense than the one at Viet Hoa. Grand Palace at the Esplanade for Chinese - really pretty views of the Swan River. Cousin's wedding banquet was held here and the food was still pretty good though it was packed to the brim. Riverside Chinese on Franklin Street - loved the food here - the kind of place where Chinese families congregate for dinner. Fraser's at King's Park - excellent views of the city and the river. 44 King Street - good bistro type food - yummy fruit breads and rhubarb tart. CBD at Rydges Hotel on Hay Street Lamonts in the Swan Valley - wonderful Swan Valley marron - sort of a freshwater crayfish. I was last in Brisbane as a poor student many years ago so will be no help there. An Aussie food review site that I find pretty reliable is Mietta's. Mietta's is quite comprehensive as it covers all the state capital's in Australia plus some major country towns as well. Another reliable guide is the Australian Gourmet Traveller best restaurant list - unfortunately this isn't online - it usually comes out each November. Some other Aussie restaruant review sites are deGroots Best Restaurants and Citysearch.com.au (good for Sydney and Melbourne as the reviews in Sydney Morning Herald and The Age are there - looks the same for Brisbane too but not good for Perth as there are no reviews, only listings). There are also some dining review sites that are specific to WA, namely westaussie.com and eatinperth.com.

Got it. Since I'm an ABC, I grasp this perfectly well. But Teo Chew? C'mon. Granted I don't speak any dialects, but I'm really curious which dialect has Teo Chew as the name for Chaozhou. The hard consonant 'T' seems a pretty far reach if I'm reading the transliteration correctly. hmm....that happened to be the ethnicity of one of my grandfathers, who was originally from the Santow region of Canton. The word Teo Chew, as far as I know, does not follow a particular transliteration method, but is the pronunciation in the original dialect of the name people from that region. Chiu Chow is Wade-Giles for Teo Chew. The hard T is quite prevalent in that dialect. My grandfather's last name, in fact, was Teo. In Mandarin dialect that character is pronounced Zheng. The Teo Chew chinese diaspora took them mostly to Southeast Asia, and in turn to Paris. A large part of the Chinese population of Paris are actually Teo Chew. Teo Chew is sort of the anglicized pronunciation of the original dialect of the name people from that region. Teo Chew / Teochew / Teo Chiew is commonly used in Malaysia and Singapore to refer to the Teo Chew / Chiu Chow/ Chaozhou community here. The "Teo" bit sounds like "duh" with a T in place of the D when it's spoken in the Teochew dialect. Don't know about the Wade-Giles system but we use Chiu Chow in Cantonese to refer to the people from the Teo Chew / Chiu Chow/ Chaozhou region.

From the article, the Sabahan food at the food festival covers the specialties of the various indigenous communities in Sabah. They sound sort of like a variation of the Malay food we get in the Peninsular. The chef who is cooking at the festival is from the Nexus Karambunai Resort, a beach resort near Kota Kinabalu. I haven't got the article with me at the moment and it isn't on The Star's website as it's part of the Klang Valley regional pullout. Sorry I can't give you a better idea as I haven't been to East Malaysia myself. Chef Choy - pricey relative to Malaysia and and in my estimate, RM250 (USD66) per person should cover it (without wine) ...but with Chinese food, the price can vary quite a bit depending on whether exotic stuff is ordered. Can't confirm it with my foodie friend at the moment as she's off in Sydney on a 4-day eating trip.