maukitten

:-) How to eat a balitong (and without using words rhyming with luck) The chef should have cut off the tip of the shell at the narrow end leaving an opening at both ends of the shell. Do your best impression of a vacuum cleaner at work at its highest setting first at the narrow end to dislodge the flesh inside, and then at the wider end to extract it. There is a little round disc (which I think is the cartillage) which you don't eat. Place that at the rim of your plate to keep count of how many of the tasty little creatures you've consumed. Maukitten

Hmm ... am trying to think of a polite way of describing the extraction process without degenerating into "food porn". I'll give it some thought to do the nice photos justice. :-) Maukitten

Hey Pan, A "Michael Jackson" is an evocative name for soyabean milk with black jelly ("leong fun"/grass jelly). I dunno how the name came about, but if you walk into a coffee shop in KL and order a "Michael Jackson", you can be sure the shop keeper will know exactly what you want. Yesterday was a really fun day for us - good food and good company - what more could we have asked for? For you to have been back here with us, and oh yeah, for me to have had a better sense of direction, but luckily Shiewie could back track better than I! :-) Maukitten

Probably due to the fact that "char koay teow" is in itself a generic name for "fried flat rice noodles". Hence the various local versions with or without curry powder etc. But the version I love and can eat for breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner/supper is without curry powder! Just rice noodles, bean sprouts, chives, prawns, cockles, garlic, chilli, and fried in lard! Yum yum. Maukitten

OK, I'm a bit of a pleb, but at least 6 years has lapsed since I was last in Bali, and I still think of the Nasi Goreng (fried rice) at Made's Warung in Kuta. I can't quite figure out what the x factor actually is, but I think they add some kicap manis (sweet soy sauce) to the fried rice and that makes it really delicious! Maukitten

On the baba and nyonya weddings, when my parents got married in Penang (this was in the early 1960's), they did have a kenduri type of thing on the wedding eve. The wedding eve dinner is primarily for family members (extended family members!). My mum's family hired a host of chefs who set up their stoves and pots in the kitchen and backyard. They then proceeded to cook nyonya delicacies to feed at least 100 people. Guests would eat in batches in the dining room. A typical menu would include assam fish curry, pork ball soup, duck and preserved veg soup, chicken curry, joo hoo char (dried squid fried with julienned vegetables) - I will have to ask my mum for the full menu! She says that these feasts were also held a few times a year during birthdays - her parents' and grandmother's.

7 out of 11 for me. Yeah, the China one was pretty confusing, and like Shiewie, I'm ethnically Chinese too. I tend to agree with Shiewie. I was at a wedding lunch in Nanjing (my 1st trip to China), and my friends and I were getting stressed that our host had ordered so much food! We started off shovelling it all in in our usual hungry manner (the wedding ceremony started so early that we didn't have time for breakfast), and I think that made our host a bit worried. So he ordered more food. And we felt that we had to show our appreciation by eating it all, or at least attempting to! In the end I don't know who had the thoughest time - our host who was trying to keep ahead of our piggish appetites, us - who were trying our best not to let the food go to waste (since food is expensive in China - haha!), or the trishaw peddlar who had to peddle us back to our hotel after lunch! Maukitten

Hmm ... my fave parts : - pig's liver cooked in black soya sauce - there's a very delicate fine line between getting it just right and getting it leathery, but my mum's a pro at this - pig's kidneys cooked in ginger and sesame oil - pig's lungs fried with pineapple - and finally, what I thought was pig's intestines all this while, but I now understand are pig's fallopian tubes stir-fried in any way - and chicken intestines with chicken rice (a bit of a rarity nowadays). :-) Maukitten

Milo!! One of my fave childhood memories is sports day in school because that's when the Milo van comes along and dispenses cold Milo to all of us. We'd all form a queue with our Milo coupons and exchange it for a small paper cup of the best brewed Milo! A quick survey among friends in Malaysia seems to come up with the same result - the best Milo ever is the one which comes from the Milo van. Nowadays, I just inhale it straight from the tetra pack - not quite as good, but convenient. Speaking about Ovaltine - back in the 40's or 50's, Ovaltine used to reign in Malaysia (or Malaya in those days). Milo was a distant second in the beverage race. Unfortunately, the Ovaltine distributorship was with a company owned by some of my family members. A long standing joke between one of my cousins and me is that our family is responsible for the collapse of Ovaltine in Malaysia! (Not to be repeated in front of one of our uncles who's extremely sensitive about this) :-) Maukitten

My fave kuih (for eating) would be one which my grandmother used to make called "pulut tai-tai" (which I hope is the correct name for the kuih and not some bastardised name the nyonyas hatched up for it). It's glutinous rice stained blue and compressed (by one of my male cousins stepping on the rice - I kid you not!), and served with kaya (coconut jam - also made by grandmother). Otherwise, having had to do domestic science in school, the kuihs I like making best are kuih keria (sweet potato donut with a sugar glaze, but I prefer just sprinkling sugar over it) and sagu pancawarna (multicoloured sago rolled in grated coconut). Strangely I think the domestic science text books give quite good recipes, or perhaps my palate wasn't quite as well trained in those days. Maukitten

My parents plant chillies too! I try and bring some back from wherever I go on my travels! Dried chilli padi - I think those would be good if you grind them coursely and add them to spaghetti aglio olio, or if you add them together with lemongrass to a spaghetti marinara for a Thai twist. If you get "kicap manis" which is a dark sweet soya sauce from Indonesia ("A1" being one of the more common brands), add some chilli padi to the soya sauce and eat with fried rice. yum yum. :-) Maukitten

Hi Boris! Thanks v much for your help. I was away for a week, and hence, didn't have a chance to visit the forum to check for replies! I'll be sure to look for the truffles next time! Thanks! Yrs truly Maukitten

Hi 3-4 years ago, a friend of mine brought back the most divine chocolates from Zurich which he bought from the airport. Pre-renovations, the shop was located on the departure lounge of the international terminal. It sold other types of chocolates too. I don't know the brand name of the chocolates because they came in a plain box - white box with a gold cover. The chocolates are sold loose, and you pick a box of 4,8 or 16 chocolates. It's just plain dark chocolate in cubes measuring about 1/2 inch, and covered with cocoa powder. The problem was that my friend was in Zurich recently, and had a bunch of orders for the chocolates. But since the airport had been renovated, he couldn't find the shop after walking up and down the length of the terminal. If anyone has any ideas as to the brand name of the chocolates and where we can get them next time, we'd be most grateful. Many thanks in advance! Yrs truly Maukitten

Funny how Bux and I had almost the same experience, though half-way across the world. My mum and I were in Bali at a touristy buffet lunch in Kintamani when we chanced upon an empty tray with the mysterious label "FRIED ELL". We stood there wondering what Balinese delicacy "ells" were when to our utmost horror, an entire tray of deep fried eels were dumped onto the table right before us. It was horrific because the eels were deep fried whole, and with their heads intact, and frankly looked like a bunch of tangled snakes in a state of rigor mortis. I used to work in a building in Kuala Lumpur which had a little restaurant on the top floor which had a particularly tantalising item on its menu - "Tits bits". And just the other day, I noticed that a packet of curry spice mix that I bought instructed me to "fry till smelly". What a glorious language English is! :-)

"Petai" - those delicious smelly pungent green beans which taste so good fried in chillie paste! I don't suppose this is an appropriate forum to discuss what petai does to one's pee... And beyond durian is "tempoyak" which is fermented durian mixed with sugar, salt and pounded chillies. I absolutely love it. It's difficult to think of things that I've grown up eating all my life as "acquired tastes". Look forward to hearing what other people regard as their acquired tastes.

Tapioca flour is also used in a variety of desserts in South East Asia. Eg. "Tab Tim Grob" - the Thai "red rubies" are water chestnut bits coated in tapioca flour. Will go home and look up some Malaysian desserts for you. Probably some brightly coloured, v sweet concoction with coconut milk to boot. Health warning required probably ...

Tapioca flour is a staple in oyster omelette (or "oh-chien" as we call it in Malaysia). The result is a slightly starchy omelette, but it's really fragrant, and delicious. My dad's recipe goes like this (again, not very scientific...) : 3 large eggs - beaten, and with 1/4 cup water added in to thin it out slightly 2 tbs spring onions - chopped finely - add to the egg mixture 6-10 fresh oysters 2 tbs tapioca flour mixed with 1/2 cup water 2 tbs garlic - chopped finely 2 tbs shallots - chopped finely 1 tbs red fresh chillie - chopped finely (optional) 3 tbs cooking oil chillie sauce - as a dip (use the Asian chillie sauces eg Thai) 3 tbs cilantro - chopped Traditionally, this is cooked in a cast iron skillet, but a non-stick pan works fine. So here goes : Heat the oil, and fry the garlic, shallots and chillies together until fragrant (be careful not to burn the garlic). Drizzle the tapioca flour mixture into the pan (remember to stir it before pouring it in) - this should set almost immediately. Immediately pour in the egg mixture - the aim is to get a combination of the tapioca flour bits sort of interlaced with the egg in a thin, slightly crispy omelette. Place the oysters on the egg mixture. When the omelette is golden brown, turn it over and cook till golden brown on the other side. It's OK to break the omelette up into manageable pieces. Sprinkle the cilantro on top and serve with chillie sauce. The oyster omelette tastes best when it's actually fried - so you may have to add more cooking oil along the way, or start with more than 3tbs oil.

An easy tamarind sauce to jazz up fried eggs sunny-side up. To go with say, 4 eggs. Being rather experimental in my cooking, I'm not very scientific in my recipes - sorry! 4-5 shallots - sliced 1 red fresh chillie - cut into 1/2 inch lengths tamarind juice from about 1 inch cube of tamarind from your block (ie. soak the tamarind pulp in 1/2 cup hot water for a couple of minutes, and squeeze the juice out of the tamarind pulp) sugar and salt to taste 1-2 tbs cooking oil Heat the oil in a wok or shallow pan, and fry the shallots till transparent. Toss in the chillie pieces and stir around for a couple of seconds. Pour in the tamarind juice (be careful of splatter!), and turn the flame to low. Let the tamarind juice simmer for a while (about 2 mins) till the chillies and shallots look wilted. Add sugar and salt to taste - aim for a nice combo of sour, salty, slightly sweet and slightly spicy. Pour sauce over eggs and serve with white rice. This is probably a Nyonya recipe (Nyonya = straits chinese in parts of Malaysia like Penang, Malacca, as well as in Singapore). You can also substitute the eggs for fried fish, or fried pork belly slices, or even salt fish if feeling adventurous!

Lucky you! Penang's one of my fave places; it's my parents' home town, so have lots of good memories of meals there! For a meal along the way - many people recommend a place called "Chiang Kee" in Nibong Tebal, off the North-South Highway, about 45 mins from Penang island. Will get some directions for you asap from friends in the know. The pomfret there is supposed to be the signature dish. As to Penang food, it's cheap and plentiful, but I think the best food is hawker food. My absolute fave dish is"char koay teow" which is rice noodles fried with chillies, some prawns, cockles, bean sprouts and chives. I love the one in Kimberly Street (at night) outside the large hawker centre there, prepared by a guy called "Ah Beng". It's out of this world, but strangely enough, goes straight to my hips. Will compile a more comprehensive list after getting more recommendations from family and friends.

Gee! All these time zones are so confusing! Anyway, I have been thinking of dinner for days now ... since work is so slow in the office. Hi Michael, when are you coming back to makan?!

Can't wait for your report on dinner tonight! And for dinner on Sunday. (Shiewie and I are going out with a bunch of our friends tonight for dinner. And we're cooking on Sunday.)

It's been a while since I've been to Kota Bharu but I still remember the wonderful meals I had at Restoran SYAM (594 Jalan Hospital, Kota Bharu. Tel : 09-748-4713). The cooking style is predominantly Malay with strong Thai influence. Try the food at the night food stalls at the carpark near the central market. Feast on nasi kerabu (blue-stained rice with fresh local herbs), ayam percik (Kelantanese grilled chicken), som tam (Thai papaya salad) and nasi dagang (unpolished glutinuous rice with tuna curry). Someone once told me that the nasi kerabu vendors cast a magic spell ("jampi") over the fish sauce ("budu")that goes with the rice to ensure that their customers keep coming back. I don't know whether it is true or not, but I do find myself craving nasi kerabu at the oddest times. Oh, and I hate to say this, but if your digestive system is not acclimatised yet, don't leave home without the imodium!