Postcards from Malaysia II: Steamboat and the Amazing Ice Peanut.
…Sounds like a couple comic book super heroes huh? Actually this episode is about dining in Malaysia. And there’s quite a bit to share.
Ethnically, Malaysia is quite diverse. Besides the local Malay culture there are also a number of Chinese and Indians located here. Probably due to the shared connections to British colonization, but it is an interesting mix. The cuisine in Malaysia also tends to be structured along these ethnic lines, making the dining experiences more varied than you would probably get in another Asian country.
First of all, lets start with the Malay food. What can I say about the Malay food? For Malay it is very much comfort food. Food that satisfies, makes one feel at home, familiar. Perhaps what hotdogs and beans for breakfast must be like to the Brits. It’s good but for an adventurous westerner such as myself, the everyday Malay fare is not as exciting as I would hope. First of all, Malay food is centered around fish. They curry fish, put little sardines in the rice and noodles, serve a chili paste that has a base of shrimp. I like fish, but it has to be freshl. Most Malay fish dishes however have a distinctly fishy smell. Not particularly enjoyable to the westerner. It’s not all bad however. Nasi goreng and mie goreng (fried rice and fried noodle dishes) are generally fish free and are on every menu in every Malay roadside shop you pass by. A variety of dishes are based on variations of these.
Most taste the same, but sometimes you can come to a place that is particularly good with frying their rice. Adding the appropriate combinations of spices and chilies. It can be truly excellent. There is also the chili sauce, or sos chili. Like ketchup it is bright red and adorns most restaurant tables, but the flavor is something different. Mostly made of sugar it is a sweet peppery concoction when added to the somewhat salty (perhaps MSG…) and seasoned nasi goreng, the dish is very tasty. That and a mango juice and you have a truly good lunch.
Speaking of drinks… there is the tea. Tea grows well here and they have some amazing tea based drinks. The best tea drink by far is teh tarik, which loosely translated is “pulled tea” or “stretched tea”. Basically a blend of strong tea and sweetened condensed milk, the tea is poured or “stretched” from a height while pulling the containers apart during pouring. Quite popular and definitively Malaysian, its combination of strong bitter tea and sweet creamy condensed milk is awesome. I’ve tried to reproduce it myself with highly questionable results.
Indian cuisine is also a style that’s popular. My first attempt at eating with my fingers was at a local Indian restaurant downtown. Looking for a vegetarian restaurant described in my book I just walked into this one place to be greeted by curious stares. This nice fellow named Alex asked if I wanted a plate or banana leaf. “Banana leaf” of course! Plates are so pasé... and no messy cleanup! A banana leaf, pile of rice, and I was ready to dine. There were dollops of some kind of “salad” one of green beans, another of potatoes and the last one of onions and cucumbers. On top of this, the waiter came around with these curry pots. I’m not sure what to call them but they’re like these little caddies, 3 pots connected to a handle, each with a different curry and ladles and you dish out some onto the rice. Then your set... oh, and everyone uses their fingers to eat with. Just mix a little curry with rice, squeeze it into a little ball and plop it into your mouth. Not to bad. My waiter said it was the first time he’d seen a white guy eat with his fingers. But for heavens sake use your right hand! Your left is supposed to be left for your “other business end”.
The best food I have had by far in Malaysia is the Chinese food. Of course, it helps when you have your own Chinese-Malaysian tour guides to guide you to the best places. The combination of sauces (garlic, ginger, chili, sugar, salt) on top of seafood (crab, shrimp, oysters) or other meats (pork, chicken, beef) and vegetables, is awesome. I love savory dishes. The combination of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy flavors really motivates my pallet.
As my tour guides, Shin and her boyfriend “Fish” (actually his name is the Malaysian word for fish) has had the most influence it introducing me to food. Last trip they took me to The Night Vendors (an open court yard filled with tables 
and lines with independent food stands that serve everything from satay to noodle soup to desserts of all kinds.)and to amazing seafood close to the coast... a 40 minute drive out of KL. On this trip Shin took me someplace local where we had some nice clams in a chili sauce. There was also eel, crab, pork and some broccoli in this killer garlic sauce.
We topped it off with Ice Kacang (pronounced “ka-chang”). Also referred to as ABC, but somehow, on the last trip I got it in my head to call it “ice peanut”. When I told Shin I wanted an ice peanut again, she stared at me looking confused wondering, “what is this crazy mat salleh asking of me this time?” (Mat salleh is Malay for westerner, or in lay terms ‘honkey’.) 
I had to describe to her what I was thinking about, and she smiled. She knew what I wanted. 5 minutes later... behold... the glorious ICE PEANUT! Basically shaved ice with different flavors of syrup and coconut and condensed milk on top of different types of jellied and candied beans... no, I mean real beans, like kidney beans. Tastes good... actually it’s awesome.
Agnes has been my main Malaysian guide for this trip and she and Shin took me to meet up with Agnes’ fiancée, Tom, for a Steamboat dinner. Not a dinner ON a steamboat, but particular type of Chinese dining where raw foods such as seafood, vegetables, meats are added to a crock-pot on the table. The place we went to was predominantly seafood. Clams, mussels, shrimp, crab, fish, cuttlefish (octopus, squid, calamari) fish balls, fish noodles, fish cakes.. (basically all different types of fish pureed and shaped into different edible forms). It was all you can eat. Shin and Agnes were prodding me to eat more. At this place its not just about the quality, but also the quantity.
Did I mention how inexpensive it is to eat in Malaysia? It was RM18 for the Steamboat. Considering the exchange rate of more than three ringgit per dollar, that’s less than $6 for all you can eat seafood! I have frequently walked away from a typical Malaysian lunch or face stuffing Indian dinner paying only RM5. The beer unfortunately is about the same price as a beer in the US....
Oh well, can’t have everything.
Luv n’ stuff
Andy.
Ethnically, Malaysia is quite diverse. Besides the local Malay culture there are also a number of Chinese and Indians located here. Probably due to the shared connections to British colonization, but it is an interesting mix. The cuisine in Malaysia also tends to be structured along these ethnic lines, making the dining experiences more varied than you would probably get in another Asian country.
First of all, lets start with the Malay food. What can I say about the Malay food? For Malay it is very much comfort food. Food that satisfies, makes one feel at home, familiar. Perhaps what hotdogs and beans for breakfast must be like to the Brits. It’s good but for an adventurous westerner such as myself, the everyday Malay fare is not as exciting as I would hope. First of all, Malay food is centered around fish. They curry fish, put little sardines in the rice and noodles, serve a chili paste that has a base of shrimp. I like fish, but it has to be freshl. Most Malay fish dishes however have a distinctly fishy smell. Not particularly enjoyable to the westerner. It’s not all bad however. Nasi goreng and mie goreng (fried rice and fried noodle dishes) are generally fish free and are on every menu in every Malay roadside shop you pass by. A variety of dishes are based on variations of these.
Most taste the same, but sometimes you can come to a place that is particularly good with frying their rice. Adding the appropriate combinations of spices and chilies. It can be truly excellent. There is also the chili sauce, or sos chili. Like ketchup it is bright red and adorns most restaurant tables, but the flavor is something different. Mostly made of sugar it is a sweet peppery concoction when added to the somewhat salty (perhaps MSG…) and seasoned nasi goreng, the dish is very tasty. That and a mango juice and you have a truly good lunch.
Speaking of drinks… there is the tea. Tea grows well here and they have some amazing tea based drinks. The best tea drink by far is teh tarik, which loosely translated is “pulled tea” or “stretched tea”. Basically a blend of strong tea and sweetened condensed milk, the tea is poured or “stretched” from a height while pulling the containers apart during pouring. Quite popular and definitively Malaysian, its combination of strong bitter tea and sweet creamy condensed milk is awesome. I’ve tried to reproduce it myself with highly questionable results.Indian cuisine is also a style that’s popular. My first attempt at eating with my fingers was at a local Indian restaurant downtown. Looking for a vegetarian restaurant described in my book I just walked into this one place to be greeted by curious stares. This nice fellow named Alex asked if I wanted a plate or banana leaf. “Banana leaf” of course! Plates are so pasé... and no messy cleanup! A banana leaf, pile of rice, and I was ready to dine. There were dollops of some kind of “salad” one of green beans, another of potatoes and the last one of onions and cucumbers. On top of this, the waiter came around with these curry pots. I’m not sure what to call them but they’re like these little caddies, 3 pots connected to a handle, each with a different curry and ladles and you dish out some onto the rice. Then your set... oh, and everyone uses their fingers to eat with. Just mix a little curry with rice, squeeze it into a little ball and plop it into your mouth. Not to bad. My waiter said it was the first time he’d seen a white guy eat with his fingers. But for heavens sake use your right hand! Your left is supposed to be left for your “other business end”.
The best food I have had by far in Malaysia is the Chinese food. Of course, it helps when you have your own Chinese-Malaysian tour guides to guide you to the best places. The combination of sauces (garlic, ginger, chili, sugar, salt) on top of seafood (crab, shrimp, oysters) or other meats (pork, chicken, beef) and vegetables, is awesome. I love savory dishes. The combination of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy flavors really motivates my pallet.
As my tour guides, Shin and her boyfriend “Fish” (actually his name is the Malaysian word for fish) has had the most influence it introducing me to food. Last trip they took me to The Night Vendors (an open court yard filled with tables 
and lines with independent food stands that serve everything from satay to noodle soup to desserts of all kinds.)and to amazing seafood close to the coast... a 40 minute drive out of KL. On this trip Shin took me someplace local where we had some nice clams in a chili sauce. There was also eel, crab, pork and some broccoli in this killer garlic sauce. 
We topped it off with Ice Kacang (pronounced “ka-chang”). Also referred to as ABC, but somehow, on the last trip I got it in my head to call it “ice peanut”. When I told Shin I wanted an ice peanut again, she stared at me looking confused wondering, “what is this crazy mat salleh asking of me this time?” (Mat salleh is Malay for westerner, or in lay terms ‘honkey’.) 
I had to describe to her what I was thinking about, and she smiled. She knew what I wanted. 5 minutes later... behold... the glorious ICE PEANUT! Basically shaved ice with different flavors of syrup and coconut and condensed milk on top of different types of jellied and candied beans... no, I mean real beans, like kidney beans. Tastes good... actually it’s awesome.Agnes has been my main Malaysian guide for this trip and she and Shin took me to meet up with Agnes’ fiancée, Tom, for a Steamboat dinner. Not a dinner ON a steamboat, but particular type of Chinese dining where raw foods such as seafood, vegetables, meats are added to a crock-pot on the table. The place we went to was predominantly seafood. Clams, mussels, shrimp, crab, fish, cuttlefish (octopus, squid, calamari) fish balls, fish noodles, fish cakes.. (basically all different types of fish pureed and shaped into different edible forms). It was all you can eat. Shin and Agnes were prodding me to eat more. At this place its not just about the quality, but also the quantity.
Did I mention how inexpensive it is to eat in Malaysia? It was RM18 for the Steamboat. Considering the exchange rate of more than three ringgit per dollar, that’s less than $6 for all you can eat seafood! I have frequently walked away from a typical Malaysian lunch or face stuffing Indian dinner paying only RM5. The beer unfortunately is about the same price as a beer in the US....
Oh well, can’t have everything.
Luv n’ stuff
Andy.
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