The Flavors Of Malaysia

Malaysia is a food lover's paradise, with our multiracial community, we have exposed to all sorts of delicacies and desserts. Malaysia food is heavily influenced by Thai, Chinese, Indonesia, Indian, Portuguese, Dutch and British cuisines. This influences from the use of the wok to the combinations of spices used in many popular dishes, the result in a symphony of flavors making Malaysian foods highly complex and diverse.

The flavorful food of Malaysia is one of the best part of the country, its literally a melting pot. A complex mix of salty, sweet, sour and spices heat makes Malaysian food a joy to savour on your taste buds.

Some of our Malaysian  popular street foods which we can easily prepare at home with simple ingredients.

"Rojak" is a traditional fruits and vegetables salad commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore  and Indonesia and some part of Asian countries.

 Rojak aka fruits & vegetables salad

You can easily prepare rojak at home as and when you like, you need pineapple, guava, green mango, cucumber, turnip and fried bean curd. Cut  or slice all the fruits and vegetable into bit size.

Stir fry the groundnuts in non stick pan until slightly brown. Cool it and remove the husk.

Blend or pound the groundnuts coarsely.

For the sauce, you need shrimp paste.

It is a gooey paste make out of fermented shrimp heads, shells and salt. This is a common ingredients in Southeast Asian cooking. 

Rojak Sauce
200mls water
100mls tamarind juice
3 tbsp  shrimp paste
1/2 cup sweet black caramel sauce
Sugar to taste
3 tsp corn starch mix with 1 tbsp water, mix well.

1/  Dissolve 1 tbsp of tamarind pulp with 100mls water and sieve.
2/  Mix the water, tamarind juice, shrimp paste, caramel black sauce together and let it boil using medium low heat. Stir constantly, add sugar to taste.
3/  Add the corn starch mixture to thicken and remove from stove.
4/  Cool completely before use.

Blanch the bean sprout in boiling water for 1 min. Drain and keep aside.

Mix 3 to 4 tbsp rojak sauce with 1 tbsp chili sauce of your choice. Add the fruits, vegetables and mix well. Sprinkle generous amount of groundnuts on top and serve immediately.

Squeeze one or two calamansi  for extra kick.

One of the main ingredient in rojak is youtiao aka fried cruller which I did not add in. You can either buy from hawker stalls or frozen youtiao at supermarket. But if you are adventurous to try making your own youtiao, click here for recipe. 

Blanched cockles is another favorite street food in Malaysia.

1/  Wash and scrub the cockles with toothbrush. Give the cockles a good body scrub.
2/  Soak the cockles in water with a tsp of salt for few hours to remove the mud and sand.
3/  Rinse several times and drain.

4/  Bring a pot of water to boil, switch off the stove.
5/  Plunge the cockles into the pot, leave the cockles in the hot water for 1 minute or 1 minute 20 second depend on the cockles size. Do not cover the pot.

The cockles is cooked yet tender. To eat the cockles, spring open the shell, use the fork to dig out the cockles flesh and dipped in chili sauce to enjoy. If there is any sand at the edge of the cockles flesh, just remove it with  a toothpick.

Another meaning for cockles.....What are the Cockles of Your Heart?
One of the meanings of "cockle" is the chamber of a kiln: in reference to the heart, it refers to the chambers, of which there are four (two atria and two ventricles). The heart has always been associated with emotions, especially love, excitement and fear, probably because when we feel a strong emotion we feel our heart thumping and beating faster. So when something "warms the cockles of our heart", it is a reference to something pleasant that makes our heart beat faster and makes us feel good. It is probably also the origin of the saying that something gives us that "warm and fuzzy feeling". BY: John Frith, Paddington

The cockles of the heart are its ventricles, named by some in Latin as "cochleae cordis", from "cochlea" (snail), alluding to their shape. The saying means to warm and gratify one's deepest feelings. BY: Patricia McPhee, Booker Bay. Article source from here.

Sotong Kangkong aka Cuttlefish with water spinach is another popular appetizer in our country.

You need 2 cuttlefish, 1 bunch of water spinach, groundnuts and sweet sauce.

Pluck the water spinach shoot and leaves into bite size, wash and rinse several times. Blanch the water spinach in hot water for 1 minute. Drain dry and keep aside.

Water spinach is a tropical vegetable for its tender shoot and leaves. This water spinach is from our little heaven.

Cut the cuttlefish into 2 -3 inch rectangle pieces. Then using a sharp knife make thin diagonal cuts on one side of the cuttlefish without cutting all the way through. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the cuttlefish for 3 minutes and drain dry. Do not overcook or else it turn rubbery.

Cuttlefish from the wet market.
You need to wash, rinse and soak the cuttlefish for one day before cooking. Rinse and change the water several times, at least 5 to 6 times.

To serve, mix the water spinach with cuttlefish, chili sauce, sweet sauce and generous amount of groundnuts. Mix well and serve immediately. ( For this batch I used ready made sweet sauce )

For homemade sweet sauce
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp shrimp paste
3/4 bowl Water
Sugar to taste
2 tsp cornstarch mix with 1 tbsp water.

1/  Boil the water, hoisin sauce, shrimp paste and sugar.
2/  When boil, add the corn starch mixture and remove from stove.
3/  Drizzle the sauce on cuttlefish with water spinach to enjoy.

Grilled fish with hot chili paste

1/  Clean and gut the fish. Best to use stingray fish.
2/  Cut 2 pieces of banana leaf about 7 x 8 inch size. Wash and dry properly.
3/  Heat up the wok with 1 tbsp of oil, put in the banana leaf. Put the fish on top the banana leaf, scoop 2 tbsp of hot chili paste on top the fish and cover the wok with lid.
4/  Use medium low heat cook for 4 minutes and turn the fish, add another 1 tbsp of hot chili paste cook for 3 minutes.
5/  Remove from stove, squeeze 2 calamansi or lemon juice on top the fish and serve immediately.
Optional:
You can grill this fish in the oven or BBQ pit using aluminium foil.

Grilled Squid with long beans and four angle beans.

500gm fresh squid
4 pieces of angle beans - slice thinly
4 length of long beans -  cut into 1 inch length

Hot chili paste for fish or squid.
3 tbsp dried chili paste**
2 bird eyes chili
3 cloves garlic - chopped
3 shallots - slice thinly
2 stalk lemon grass- use the bottom section, cut into small pieces
1/2 inch galangah
1 tbsp tamarind pulp mix with 1/2 bowl water
1 tsp salt or to taste
3 tsp sugar or to taste
2 tbsp oil
1 large onion

**Dried Chili Paste**
Cut 1 bowl of dried chili into 1/2 inch length. Soak in hot water until soft, approximate about 30 minutes. Remove the seed and drain. Blend the soak dried chili with a bit of water into fine paste, add 1 to 2 tsp of salt and cook for 5 minutes. Cool completely and store in jar. You can freeze the chili paste for other cooking.

1/  Blend or pound the bird eyes chili, garlic, shallots, lemon grass, galangah into fine paste. Add in the chili paste and mix well.
2/  Mix the tamarind pulp with 1/2 bowl hot water.  Smash the pulp and remove the seeds. Strain the tamarind with a sieve. Keep aside.
3/  Heat up 1/2 tbsp of oil, saute the onion for 2 minutes. Keep the onion aside.
4/  Add the balance oil add in the grind paste and stir fry for 10 minutes. Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste. Continue cooking using low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. The oil must be separate from the chili paste. Add in the saute onion and mix well.

Hot Chili paste for BBQ fish or cuttlefish.

1/ Wash and cut the squid to 1/4 inch ring. Toss the squid in wok without oil to remove the water and fishy smell.

1/  Remove the squid from wok and drain off the squid water.
2/  Wash and dry the banana leaf. Cut the banana leaf to about 7 x 8 inch size
3/  Heat up the wok with 1 tbsp of oil. Put banana leaf into the wok and pour the squid on top the banana leaf. Add in the four angle beans, long beans and 3 to 4 tbsp of hot chili paste.
4/  Mix well and cover the wok with lid for 5 minutes.
5/  Open the wok lid, add salt and sugar to taste, mix well and remove from stove.
6/  Best to serve immediately.

Optional:
You can grill the squid using oven or BBQ pit using aluminum foil.

This grilled squid is great to go with white rice. Squeeze one or two calamansi juice for extra kick.

Until next time, I will share the part two of "The Flavors Of Malaysia."
Amelia