eG Foodblog: yunnermeier - Malaysia Truly Asia

[yunnermeier]

Great blog yunnermeier!!!!

I see a lot of fruits that we have in suriname.....For eaxample this fruit we call it birambie. And use its flower also for cough, we also pickle them ,make jam and chutney with them. Now i don't what language that would be.Doddie we also call them carambola .

Probably a little history of suriname would help out. Suriname is in south america but considerd more caribean than anything . Population is indian, indonesians,chinese,black,dutch(blanke as we call them) and so many more so all these languages are spoken here, dutch being the main one....so you can only imagine how rich(and confusing lol) in culture and food it is.

Ps I read egullet almost every night and feel like i know all of you personally, i just don't get to post as much as i like.

Ashiana

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Hi Ashiana! I remember you from my first blog! My grandmother also used to pickle the the sour belimbing/birambie Carambola is a different sort though. Is it the same in Suriname? I really really still must try real Surinamese food other than that horrid Tjau Min I bought from C1000 I don't think there is a Surinamese restaurant in Malaysia but I'm sure it will be easy to find them in The Netherlands. Rock on

[yunnermeier]

Hola!

My best friend had an event at an orphanage today and her mum baked 2 large boxes of cupcakes for the children. Her(my friend) boyfriend carried the 2 boxes on top of his shoulder for some reason or other and when they opened the box, it was totally ruined hahahaha! There was chocolate everywhere and everything was upside down.

Only 3 survived, relatively intact. We had the mashed up ones for tea

I had plans to go for dinner with my 3 best friends tonight but I'm being dragged to a charity fundraising dinner so dinner with friends will be tomorrow instead! I have no idea what is being served tonight but tomorrow should be good as the 4 of us love good food and are often willing to spend on good food

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

[prasantrin]

Good morning (afternoon:P)!

Breakfast this morning was char siew bau, tau sa bao (red bean filling) and ling yung (lotus paste) bao. They were HUGE! I had half of each.

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Are your char siew bau homemade? I've tried a couple of recipes from the cook-off, and haven't found one I liked. It's the char siew part that's stumping me. If yours are homemade, care to share your recipe?

And congratulations on your visa approval!

[C. sapidus]

Hi, Yunnermeier: I have been following along with great interest but no opportunity to post. You are doing an amazing job of sharing the beautiful and diverse foods of Malaysia. Keep up the great work!

And I drank apple lassi. It was very refreshing

Interesting that you had apple lassi – we often make lassi with rose water, but for fruit lassi we usually use banana, mango, or some other “exotic” fruit. I never thought of using apples - are they “exotic” in Malaysia?

My dad's paper tosai, eaten with chutney and chicken curry

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The “paper tosai” look and sounds like Indian dosa/dosai, which I absolutely adore. Thanks for sharing.

Here is the curry laksa as promised! There are 2 kinds of curry laksa- one with chicken and the other with seafood. This is the chicken version (my mum had the seafood but I didn't bother taking a picture:D )

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The curry laksa looks soooo delicious.

Breakfast this morning was char siew bau, tau sa bao (red bean filling) and ling yung (lotus paste) bao. They were HUGE! I had half of each.

Oh, yum.

Then, for lunch, we had Pasembor (Indian Rojak) in honour of Abra.

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Sorry to sound like a broken record, but oh, yum again. I have a recipe for this, and need to try it soon.

By the way, I am shocked that you don’t like mangos. Perhaps mangos suffer in comparison to the amazing array of other fruits that you have available, most of which never make it to our local stores (except canned).

[yunnermeier]

Hello! Thanks for all your replies. I'll answer the questions tomorrow because I'm so sleepy.

The food was horrid considering that there was a prince, numerous ministers and at least a hundred titled people hahaha. My aunt bought a table and invited us. I didn't even know I was going until I woke up this morning (I'd assume she'd only invited my parents). The dishes picked were fine- it was after all a charity dinner but how difficult is it to just have edible Chinese food?! The only thing edible was the first and last course.

Deluxe For Hot & Cold Combination

Braised Superior Shark's Fin Soup with Crab Roe

Crispy Boneless Lemon Chicken (sorry about the picture)

Steamed Garoupa in Spicy Garlic Sauce

Braised Sea Cucumber & Black Mushrooms with Broccoli

Fried Rice with Shrimp & Anchovies

Chilled Sea Coconut with Fresh Ginseng

Good night!

[miladyinsanity]

How can restaurants mess up sharks fin? It's just thickened chicken soup!

[Chufi]

This is for Chufi:)

Indonesian layer cake / Spekkoek

It tastes really good but it doesn't look perfect. The first layer (the bottom one) is a little too thick and there's one dark layer in the middle because my mum was talking to me    Spekkoek is yummy and easy to make but requires full concentration as the layers burn very quickly . I'm stuffing myself:) I love layer cake.

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oooooohhh that looks wonderful! Thank you so much. I would love to have your recipe. Your batter looks very different from the one I made and I also did not do that thing with the glass! Will you PM it to me, no hurry

[Abra]

Thank you very much for the rojak, it looks so good! What is sea coconut?

[yunnermeier]

Are your char siew bau homemade?  I've tried a couple of recipes from the cook-off, and haven't found one I liked.  It's the char siew part that's stumping me.  If yours are homemade, care to share your recipe?

And congratulations on your visa approval!

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No, unfortunately they are not homemade! Making something at home means eating it for a few days and unfortunately, I'm all about instant gratification I can ask mum for her recipe if you like but I don't think it's the same as the ones sold on the street.

Interesting that you had apple lassi – we often make lassi with rose water, but for fruit lassi we usually use banana, mango, or some other “exotic” fruit. I never thought of using apples - are they “exotic” in Malaysia?

By the way, I am shocked that you don’t like mangos.   Perhaps mangos suffer in comparison to the amazing array of other fruits that you have available, most of which never make it to our local stores (except canned).

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Hi C.Sapidus! The paper dosai is indeed Indian tosai , just much thinner.

About apples, no, apples are not at all exotic here. In fact, I think local fruits are less available than apples and oranges. Apples and oranges here are also very cheap (probably because they're from China and Australia)! The flavours of fruit lassi available at the shop that day were mango (most popular), apple, vanilla,lychee and guava.

I don't know why I hate mangoes too. Having a mango tree is probably a big reason why. I just hate the saturated, iritating, distinctive sweetness of mango! I like fruits like mangosteens, lychee, mata kucing (literally cat's eye) and rambutans which all share a similar trait come to think of it- Sweet, light ,white juicy meat. Hmm..I guess it's just one of those things.....

How can restaurants mess up sharks fin? It's just thickened chicken soup!

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I know! How can anyone mess up shark's fin?! But surprisingly, I have eaten countless bad shark's fin soups at weddings, birthdays and what-not (anything with more than 2 tables). Tsk tsk.

oooooohhh that looks wonderful! Thank you so much. I would love to have your recipe. Your batter looks very different from the one I made and I also did not do that thing with the glass!    Will you PM it to me, no hurry 

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Doing that thing with the glass allows the eater to eat the layer cake literally layer by layer which is apparently part of the experience haha.

Thank you very much for the rojak, it looks so good!  What is sea coconut?

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Sea coconut is the insides of a coconut plant by the sea (different species from the coconuts we drink). The insides are juicy and translucent. It doesn't taste coconut-ty too and is used in most clear Chinese dessert soups.

[markemorse]

Dinner was so good Ok first, this is so markemorse knows, everything (except possibly the buah keluak) had candlenuts in it.

hey yunnermeier,

sorry i missed a couple days, but catching up now....thanks for going nuts on the buah keras! it all looks totally great...could you maybe share your Chilli Garam chicken recipe? what eez it?

thx

mem

[yunnermeier]

I finally woke up early enough! The morning market closes at about midday. I went at about 10.30 and it was already really hot!

Lots of pictures ahead, some more graphic than others Oh first, breakfast was a chocolate cupcake and some layer cake.

Chinese medicine man, selling herbs for nutritious soups, bird's nests, ginseng etc.

Fish/Shrimp/Squid

Poultry

Shop selling fish balls, fish cakes, surimi, uncooked dim sum etc.

They also sell chicken feet

Nasi lemak shop. This one isn't pre-wrapped so you can decide how much sambal , fried dried anchovies and nuts you want.

Roast pork and Chinese sausages (there was also a stall selling Peking duck next to it but the man looked scary)

Tempe (the white packet), some vegetables and sea coconut (in the packet , on the right)

Frogs *BOO!*

Vegetables again

Ikan haruan. I don't know what this fish is called in English (possibly snake head fish?). It lives in rice fields , can live without water for ages (they have wet gills or something) , can 'walk' on land using fins (not mudskipper), they eat fish and frogs (they hate anything near them so I reckon they're territorial), they have barely any bones and supposedly aid healing. These are still very much alive.

Kuih (there is also a pre-wrapped lasi lemak in brown paper and banana leaf in the picture)

More vegetables (this is for Abra to see the red chillis needed for sambal belacan)

Yau Char Kuey (fried dough eaten with pork rib soup) stall. It can also eaten with sugar:)

Deep frying it

Nearly ready

The finished product and other deep fried Chinese breads (I like the sesame ones -bottom left-, the round one with the darker centre have red bean paste and the other is plain)

Chee Cheong Fun (square soft rice sheets cut like noodles,usually served with sweet black sauce, fish cakes, foo chok-bean curd?- , sesame seeds and anything else you want for breakfast)

Char Kuey ( fried char kuey teow style- very good!)

More kuih

Guess what I'm having for lunch?? *hint* Dad bought lots of yau char kuey

Edited May 20, 2007 by yunnermeier (log)

[yunnermeier]

Bak Kut Teh (literal translation: Pork Rib Tea)

Plain water, garlic and a packet of ready made spices (combination of cinnamon, star anise etc.)

Ma adding some soy sauce

Add the meat and simmer for an hour

Served with yau char kuey, chopped chillis in soy sauce, rice and extra soup for dipping in the yau char kuey (if you dip it in the main bowl of soup, it will become extremely oily due to the excess oil in the deep fried dough).

Home-made rojak with turnips, cucumbers and bean sprouts

Bak Kut Teh is served with Chinese tea . Tastes good after all that fat and oil.

Enjoy~

[Chufi]

I don't know why I hate mangoes too. Having a mango tree is probably a big reason why. I just hate the saturated, iritating, distinctive sweetness of mango! I like fruits like mangosteens, lychee, mata kucing (literally cat's eye) and rambutans which all share a similar trait come to think of it- Sweet, light ,white juicy meat. Hmm..I guess it's just one of those things.....

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I don't hate mangoes, but I'm definitely not a fan. I like fruits that have a good sweet/sour balance - mangoes, to me, are simply really sweet, just like you described.

This is a great blog. I love the pictures and the astonishing variety of foods! You sure eat well!!

Edited May 20, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[miladyinsanity]

I don't know why I hate mangoes too. Having a mango tree is probably a big reason why. I just hate the saturated, iritating, distinctive sweetness of mango! I like fruits like mangosteens, lychee, mata kucing (literally cat's eye) and rambutans which all share a similar trait come to think of it- Sweet, light ,white juicy meat. Hmm..I guess it's just one of those things.....

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I don't hate mangoes, but I'm definitely not a fan. I like fruits that have a good sweet/sour balance - mangoes, to me, are simply really sweet, just like you described.

This is a great blog. I love the pictures and the astonishing variety of foods! You sure eat well!!

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Klary, that's because you don't get the variety of mangoes we get here. Plus the ones you've had are fully ripe. I can't stand that awful, nearly sugary sweetness you mention, and for this reason, I don't eat Philippine honey mangoes.

Not all mangoes are sweet--some are so sour that, when ripe, they still make you pucker up. Some do have that sweet-sour balance you're talking about, and those are my favorite type of mangoes. But I don't discriminate.

[yunnermeier]

I'm eating like a pig! I really have to stop because bikini season is really really soon. Why can't I have amazing metabolism??

Keropok Ninjau (Crisps)

This is how they look like from the packet.

After frying

Eaten with gula melaka (Malaccan palm sugar). This compliments the savoury bitterness of the keropok ninjau.

It's really addictive!

[yunnermeier]

hey yunnermeier,

sorry i missed a couple days, but catching up now....thanks for going nuts on the buah keras! it all looks totally great...could you maybe share your Chilli Garam chicken recipe? what eez it?

thx

mem

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I'll PM the recipe to you soon:)

I don't hate mangoes, but I'm definitely not a fan. I like fruits that have a good sweet/sour balance - mangoes, to me, are simply really sweet, just like you described.

This is a great blog. I love the pictures and the astonishing variety of foods! You sure eat well!!

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May is right when she said different mangoes have distinctive tastes (I hate all mangos anyway-they still have that mango-ey taste:P) . So far, the mangoes I've seen in The Netherlands seem to be the longer one (the less sweet version). Have you tried the round Indian ones?? Those taste like Mango cordial (without it being diluted with water lol)

[insomniac]

what a dazzling array of food...I'm actually glad I don't live in Malaysia Yunnermeier as I think I lost my metabolism about 20 years ago

ps. I love green mangoes dipped in salt, addictive but overindulgence = mouth ulcers

[Abra]

Ok, I'll stand up in favor of juicy, dripping-sweet mangoes! They're one of my very favorite fruits, and so hard to find here. Those we get are all too often woody, or mealy and not very sweet. I love that sharp rich sweetness that you so deplore.

Yunnermeier, could you just post all of your recipes here instead of PMing them? I'm sure others would like to see the sambal belacan recipe you so nicely sent me, and now I want your spekkoek recipe that you're sending to Chufi, and your chili garam chicken...and probably any other recipe that anyone else will want. Oh, and the sauce for the rojak - is that sweet potato? And also, I have a bak kut teh packet but never imagined putting so much garlic in it. Now I can't wait to try that. Probably you should just write a cookbook!

That snakehead fish was a huge scare story here a couple of years ago, when some made it to this country. It got probably as many front page headlines as a space alien attack would have. I'm glad to see someone's putting it to good use!

Oh, and thanks for the chile photo. We don't seem to have that exact chile here but it gives me an idea how to find some substitute.

Edited May 20, 2007 by Abra (log)

[Marigene]

Yunnermeier, the street market photos are wonderful. Everything looks so delightful and plentiful. I am really enjoying this blog! The layered cake looks amazing. I hope you will be sharing the recipe.

[Peter Green]

what a dazzling array of food...I'm actually glad I don't live in Malaysia Yunnermeier as I think I lost my metabolism about 20 years ago

ps. I love green mangoes dipped in salt, addictive but overindulgence = mouth ulcers

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To paraphrase Samuel Johnson "No, Sir, when a man is tired of mangos, he is tired of life"

[yunnermeier]

There is nothing better than a girl's night out.

The place:

Saffron in One Bangsar

Julz and I arrived first and proceeded to wolf down the excellent bread available. We waited and waited for the other 2 to appear (Malaysian time means 10-45 minutes late) and decided to order a bottle of cheap Italian wine (only RM95- 20euro!)

When Claire and Carol arrived, we all decided to order the set as it had the mains we wanted. Carol, Julz and I opted for the Moroccan Lamb Shank while Claire chose the Tangine Chicken with couscous.

Lamb Kofta (very tasty!)

Lentil and Chickpea Soup (tasted like dahl)

Moroccan Lamb Shanks

Tangine Chicken with Couscous

Polenta

The disappointment of the night... We were very anxious to try this, having never eaten this before. It was completely tasteless and none of us swallowed more than a bite.

So we ordered another dessert to share. We were so very full by then!

Spanish bread and butter pudding

Us girls, looking very green

I guess this will be my last post before this blog is closed. If it's still open, I'll post pictures of tomorrow's breakfast/lunch too but if not, good bye!

I had a wondeful time writing this blog- my parents were very involved in this too. It was practically a family project! I'm glad I had the opportunity to show you some Malaysian food and I really hope you'll come over to this part of the world someday.

Cheers!

Edited May 20, 2007 by yunnermeier (log)

[yunnermeier]

what a dazzling array of food...I'm actually glad I don't live in Malaysia Yunnermeier as I think I lost my metabolism about 20 years ago

ps. I love green mangoes dipped in salt, addictive but overindulgence = mouth ulcers

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Did you know that Malaysians are one of the most unhealthy people in the world?? I think I know why....

Ok, I'll stand up in favor of juicy, dripping-sweet mangoes!  They're one of my very favorite fruits, and so hard to find here.  Those we get are all too often woody, or mealy and not very sweet.  I love that sharp rich sweetness that you so deplore.

Yunnermeier, could you just post all of your recipes here instead of PMing them?  I'm sure others would like to see the sambal belacan recipe you so nicely sent me, and now I want your spekkoek recipe that you're sending to Chufi, and your chili garam chicken...and probably any other recipe that anyone else will want.  Oh, and the sauce for the rojak - is that sweet potato?  And also, I have a bak kut teh packet but never imagined putting so much garlic in it.  Now I can't wait to try that.  Probably you should just write a cookbook!

That snakehead fish was a huge scare story here a couple of years ago, when some made it to this country.  It got probably as many front page headlines as a space alien attack would have.  I'm glad to see someone's putting it to good use!

Oh, and thanks for the chile photo.  We don't seem to have that exact chile here but it gives me an idea how to find some substitute.

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Hello Abra,

Eek, I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up:D You see, the layer cake recipe is from an Indonesian Dutch lady and she has requested my mother to keep it a secret. I can definitely post the sambal belacan recipe as it belongs to my mother but also not the Nyonya recipes (like chilli garam etc) because again, it belongs to my father's family (and Peranakans are all about secret recipes ). I'm really sorry and I feel bad! That's why I figured I could just PM whoever who wants the recipe instead so that it's less public.

I'll have to get back to you regarding the rojak sauce. You should definitely try the bak kut teh! It's a perfect dish for winter and very easy to make.

Edited May 20, 2007 by yunnermeier (log)

[yunnermeier]

Sambal Belacan

This is the basic recipe (you can add calamansi juice and sugar to get the mixture I used in the Nyonya Okra salad for example) from my mother:

1 tablespoon belacan (Malaysian fermented shrimp paste) to 5 fresh big red chillis. The belacan will have to be lightly roasted (make sure it's not burned or it will be bitter) without oil.

Pound chillis, add the roasted belacan and half a tsp of salt. Easy!

Another version from my mother is:

6 small shallots, 1 small clove garlic, 1 tsp belacan (again roasted-basically belacan always has to be roasted), about 6 big red chillis (for interested Dutch people, these are the ones sold near the salads- 2 chillis in a packet).

Pound onions, followed by the chillis and then garlic and finally the belacan and about 1/2tsp salt:)

Now, let me just warn you that roasting the belacan will stink your house out so if you can't bear strange smells or if you have a fussy neighbour......

[Hiroyuki]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful, fun week with us. I have enjoyed every post of yours, and I have learned a lot from your foodblog.

[Abra]

It's been great fun hanging out with you on your home turf this week. Thanks so much for all the neat food!

Hey, none of the women in that picture looks like your avatar. Which one is the real you, the one in the middle???