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eG Foodblog: Shiewie - A Malaysian foodblog

Shiewie

By Shiewie
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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The ones that we get in Malaysia are probably imported from China - don't think plums or apricots can grow in the tropical climate here (but then I could be wrong). So perhaps it is the same type of fruit but prepared differently?

Hey! It is a lot more fun when someone is posting in a similar timezone :smile:.

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mighty quinn

mighty quinn

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Does it seem weird Shiewie that you are working (and eating) whilst the others are all asleep.  After you post do you feel like no-one is reading your blog? :sad:

hey-i'm awake...not eating anything quite so interesting, but maybe eating at the same times. do you get dried cuttlefish?

"Ham isn't heroin..." Morgan Spurlock from "Supersize Me"

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Yes we get dried cuttlefish - it adds great flavour to soups. Also used in a salad with blanched kangkong and is wonderful in snacks - freshly grilled ones, crunchy ones with chilli or chewy sugary ones.

Am still too full from lunch to eat anything now but have just gone to peer at the common food stash to see if there's any around - there was some a couple of weeks ago when a colleague brought some back from a holiday on one of the islands but it's all gone now.

What are you eating now mighty quinn?

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mighty quinn

mighty quinn

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this is so lame but... a ham'n cheese lean pocket and some "fresh"pineapple-as fresh as it gets on the east coast. i did, however have a better supper (at 2300 local) homemade beef soup with rosemary and musrooms (made the brodo yesterday for a shot at good risotto on friday) salad was a creation of my beau--baby greens, chicken, tomatoes, red peppers, avocado, buffalo mozzarella. maybe there should be a night shift workers blog- monday through friday folks would be shocked by the amounts of beer consumed early in the am! i developed a taste for cuttlefish in korea- i think that it's acquired!

"Ham isn't heroin..." Morgan Spurlock from "Supersize Me"

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Ooops - sorry - should've included a link. Like Torakris, I forgot that not everyone may know what I'm talking about :raz:.

Kangkong / kangkung (Malay) is an asian vegetable also known as Ong Choy (Chinese).

Have a look at these other threads http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...850&hl=kangkung and http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...490&hl=kangkung.

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Decided I'd go pick up some food for dinner instead of cooking.

It's Ramadan (the Muslim fasting month) now and there are loads of roadside stalls set up at various places selling all sorts of food for the evening meal when Muslims break their daily fast.

Bought:

- Keropok Lekor - freshly fried thick cut fish crackers that's crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside with a chilli sauce dip

- Ayam Percik - a mildly spicy BBQ chicken with peanut sauce from the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia

- Tapai - fermented glutinous rice wrapped in little banana leaf packets for dessert

Got some Kai Lan Chinese broccoli / kale) from a supermarket to go with the Ayam Percik. I blanched the Kai Lan with some salt and sesame oil added to water to blanch it.

Saw some other stalls outside the supermarket after getting the veggies and succumbed :shock::wacko: to getting:

- Urad Vadai (a fried Indian snack)

- Masal Vadai (another fried Indian snack but with crunchy lentil bits)

- Putu Mayam (string hoppers with freshly grated coconut and palm sugar)

- Pak Tong Koe (White Sugar Cake) and Wong Tong Koe (Yellow Sugar Cake). These are Chinese steamed rice flour cakes.

- Kai Tan Koh - steamed Chinese sponge cake

I've eaten a couple of pieces of the Keropok Lekor plus a little bit of each type of Vadai while driving back, the Ayam Percik and blanched kai lan for dinner and some of the steamed rice cakes for dessert.

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SobaAddict70

SobaAddict70

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Thanks for the blog, Shiewie.

Reminds me a lot of when I was growing up in the Philippines (which, unfortunately, wasn't that long at all).

When Ramadan occurs, does everything shut down only to open up in the evening? Do you find you have less choices to eat out than before?

I can't imagine fasting for 12+ hours for 30 days in a row... :blink:

Soba

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misgabi

misgabi

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Shiewie, did have steak with the boy - found some great scotch fillet and pan fried it with garlic. Have converted him to pak choy which I blanched and then tossed through the pan juices. Then we made really mashed potato with lots of garlic to go with it :biggrin:

Guess I'll have the fish tonight when he is out!

What is a string hopper

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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When Ramadan occurs, does everything shut down only to open up in the evening?  Do you find you have less choices to eat out than before?

I can't imagine fasting for 12+ hours for 30 days in a row... :blink:

Soba

Most of the Malay eateries do shut but there's all these additional stalls that open up in the evenings and they're only there during Ramadan. The Indian-Muslim shops stay open but they might be a bit more grumpy during the day as they're fasting but still have to serve food :blink:.

That must be such torture - it would most definitely be a torture to me.

But I guess they do make up for all the fasting during the day as the newspapers reported that more food is consumed during Ramadan than the other months! :raz:

There is less choice in the sense that you wouldn't be able to get rendang from your favourite place but you'd still be able to get rendang from a Chinese place or a cafe-type place which sells a mixture of local and Western food.

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Shiewie,  did have steak with the boy - found some great scotch fillet and pan fried it with garlic.  Have converted him to pak choy which I blanched and then tossed through the pan juices.  Then we made really mashed potato with lots of garlic to go with it  :biggrin:

Guess I'll have the fish tonight when he is out!

What is a string hopper

Another topping (I forgot to mention it earlier) for the blanched pak choy (or other asian greens) - fry some minced garlic or thinly sliced shallots in oil till golden brown. Drizzle the garlic / shallots along with a bit of the oil (and oyster sauce if you like) on top of the blanched veggies. Some also fry tiny whitebait till they're really crispy and spinkle them on top of asian greens.

String hoppers are South Indian thin rice noodles that are formed into little flat circles and steamed. They can be eaten either sweet (with brown/ palm sugar and freshly grated coconut) or savoury with dishes. Think another name for is Idiyappam (it's known as Putu Mayam in Malaysia and Singapore though but don't know why - will have to ask friends).

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mighty quinn

mighty quinn

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Friday

Breakfast

Woke up to discover that the Putu Mayam had dissapeared from the fridge so I had a slice of the Chinese steamed sponge cake for breakfast. Drank water.

greetings from the east coast insomniac...was waiting for the breakfast post...don't read the "sponge" thread. quinn

"Ham isn't heroin..." Morgan Spurlock from "Supersize Me"

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Friday

Breakfast

Woke up to discover that the Putu Mayam had dissapeared from the fridge so I had a slice of the Chinese steamed sponge cake for breakfast. Drank water.

greetings from the east coast insomniac...was waiting for the breakfast post...don't read the "sponge" thread. quinn

Hmmm...luckily I've finished the sponge cake. Had another slice.

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Pan

Pan

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Hi again, Shiewie! I hated to miss the tapai season; I always loved that as a kid in Terengganu. They had ubi kayu (cassava) tapai more often than glutinous rice tapai. This past August, a woman who's now a grandmother reminded me of the time when I ate the tapai from the bottom of the bag where they're tastier and have more alcohol in them, and got high (mabuk) on them. She never let me hear the end of what a "nakal" (naughty) boy I was. :laugh::laugh:

If the ayam percik you were having is like what Yati serves in the night market in Kota Bharu, it wouldn't be considered mildly spicy by most Americans. :laugh:

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Hi again Pan!

Have only eaten the glutinous rice tapai and not tapioca ones as we generally get only the glutinous rice ones here in KL (you can even get them in little tubs in the supermarket now!).

Hmmm...haven't tried Yati's ayam percik in the Kota Bahru so am not sure how spicy it is compared to the one yesterday. The one yesterday was not hotter than a little dash of tabasco .... so would that be mildly spicy, no? It was different from the ayam percik recipe I learnt though.

Corrected typo

Edited by Shiewie (log)
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Shiewie

Shiewie

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Ate a jambu air (water apple) - it's a bell-shaped fruit that's very juicy, crispy (spongy in the middle) and has mild sweetish flavour.

tambis2.jpg

The one I ate wasn't as red as this though - it was a greenish pink. I think the greenish pink variety is slightly sweeter than the red ones.

Remembered the cafeteria gets deliveries of Mexican Buns from a local bakery called Roti Boy on Fridays so went to get one. Have no idea why the buns are called such and what's the relation to Mexico. It's basically a soft fluffy very buttery bun with a crispy espresso cream topping. They're wonderful hot but loses a lot of its appeal once its cold and you see the amount of grease that's soaked through the brown paper bag.

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