Malaysians Love Food

Tau Foo Dish

















Siakap Dish





We had dinner to celebrate Zay's birthday recently at a friend's not so new Chinese restaurant. It is a joint venture between a Malay and a Chinese proprietor. We had tom yam, fried kangkung, a signature Siakap dish, a Tau Foo dish, all with white rice and Chinese tea. Come to think of it, tom yam is not Chinese and the Siakap and fried kangkung are already in Malay cuisine. Nasi lemak (Malay origin), Roti Canai (Indian Origin)and Nasi Ayam (Chinese origin) are accepted as national dishes common to all. So are Yong Tau Foo, Nasi Beriani, Sambal, Teh Tarik and Pau.

In Malaysia, I notice the line separating the different types of ethnic cuisine of its people is somehow becoming blur. You see we are developing a fusion cuisine and I foresee not far into the future, our cuisine will be Malaysian not Chinese, Indian or Malay. Only then, can we proudly say that our people are bangsa Malaysia.

On the other hand, if you go to the shopping centre in Mutiara Damansara where all types of eateries prevail, you will notice that Malaysians have accepted and embraced foreign cuisine as well. You will find that the French, Italian, American franchises are doing very well. So are the home grown franchises.

If there are new shops in the neighbourhood, you will find the Mamak restaurant being the first to set up shop. Mamak restaurants open 24/7 and are great places to 'lepak' with friends and make new business contacts.

To me, Malaysians simply love to eat and they eat at all times of the day, not only in posh places but anywhere, in the dark, along alleys, by the roadside......

Spaghetti Bolognese ala Elkay

My version of spaghetti is an adaptation of Bolognese and Neapolitan. As I love vegetables, I always add them to my spaghetti sauce. I also love a lot of sauce with my spaghetti.


My version lacks the fatty taste of beef as I always remove the fat from the beef and is a bit hot as I add more black pepper.


Ingredients:

• 375 gm spaghetti, boiled in hot water mixed with a tabsp of cooling oil till cooked (tender). Drain and set aside.
• 410 gm canned plum or Italian tomatoes, crushed or 2 cups tomato puree
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium brown onion, chopped finely
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 500 gm minced beef, precooked in 500 ml water, sieved and fat skimmed off. The resulting stock will be used in the gravy
• freshly ground black pepper and salt
• 1 tbsp mixed dried herbs comprising of oregano,basil,thyme, red bell peppers and parsley. You can use shredded fresh herbs if they are available.
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 sticks celery, diced
• 5 tomatoes, diced
• mushrooms, coarsely shredded
• some grated cheese

Method

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil and when withered, add in the beef stock, tomato puree or crushed tomatoes.Stir till the tomatoes are totally liquidified. Blend half of the cubed carrots, celery and tomatoes and add into the stock.Stir and add in the minced beef, salt and pepper. Finally add in the other half of the cubed vegetables and mushrooms. When they are cooked, sprinkle in the dried herbs.

Pour the sauce over the boiled spaghetti and add in grated cheese if preferred.

If you don't have the time you can use bottled spaghetti bolognese sauce bought from the supermarket instead of using tomato puree or canned tomatoes.

Seafood Chowder

Dill

I am a fan of 'Chef at Home' and 'Chef at Large' cooking shows on the Asian Food Channel but I still don't remember the chef's name. In the former show, the chef would cook a complete meal from whatever he has in his kitchen. And his pantry has everything!If he could not find the ingredients needed, he would take us on a trip to the supermarket and pick up his choices.

Last night I managed to catch him preparing seafood chowder, salad and fresh bread with the common ingredient in all- the herb, fresh dill.

Chowder is a great dish for small children. You can add seafood if they are not allergic to it.

The making of the chowder was simple. He first browned some bacon. As bacon is not halal, I suggest we use beef cuts(daging cincang) instead. After the meat is browned, the fat is poured out. Slices of onion and celery are added and sauteed in the little remaining fat. He then added some wine with milk and cream. We can of course skip the wine and use grape juice or non-alcoholic wine if we want to. (I personally do not like the non-alcoholic imitation wine drinks because of their sweetness).

Cooking was continued with vigorous stirring before some grated potatoes were added to thicken the chowder. Potatoes were used instead of corn or wheat flour.

Seasonings of salt, pepper and dry herbs were next added , followed by frozen cleaned shrimps and cut fish fillets. (We could try using the Dory fish fillet in Malaysia). Freshly cut dill was then added and the dish was stirred before being dished out and served with fresh bread and salad.The latter two recipes are reserved for another day.

The chowder reminded me of the delicious clam chowder we had at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. The waiter was kind enough to point out that the first chowder we picked from the menu was not halal. We thought seafood was okay but forgot the wine element and was ignorant of the bacon ingredient.. We were later serve a halal chowder, according to the waiter.

Ikan Goreng Taucu ( Fried Fish in Salted Soya Bean Gravy)

This is a simple recipe but you have to be careful as the taucu can be very salty. The fish chosen can be a freshwater fish or a marine fish. You can use chinchards, tenggiri ( Spanish Mackerel), kembong ( Mackerel) or any fleshy fish.

The fish is usually seasoned with salt and turmeric powder and left to stand for 30 minutes before bring deep fried and put aside. You can slice the fish into smaller pieces if you like. For kembong or bawal (pomfret), you can fry it whole.

Ingredients for The Gravy:

2 onions
3 cloves garlic
2.5 cm ginger
1 stalk lemon grass
4 tabsp taucu
2 fresh green chillies
1 fresh red chilli
1 tomato
1 tabsp tamarind juice
sugar, if preferred
cooking oil

Method:

Slice the onions, ginger, garlic, chillies and squash the lemon grass stalk. Heat up the cooking oil and lightly fry the above ingredients till aromatic. Add in a cup of tamarind juice made from 1 tabsp tamarind. Add in the taucu that has been washed to lessen its salt content. Add sugar if you like, and quartered tomatoes. When the gravy has boiled, turn off the heat and pour it over the fried fish. This dish is eaten with boiled white rice.

One's Never Too Old To Survive Cancer If One Had The Resources

This gutsy lady is my late maternal grandmother's sister. She is 81 years old and is recovering from lymphoma. The last time I saw her in October, 2008 she was 10 kilograms heavier and was not diagnosed with cancer yet. She started her treatment only about three months ago.

As I was advised not to visit her during her chemotherapy sessions for fear that visitors would infect her with bacteria and viruses, I had abide by it and had not seen her at all. I however had frequently inquired about her from her brother and sent my salam to her.

She has had 4 chemo sessions and on Monday will start the second last one of six sessions in all.
This morning I was woken up with the ring of my phone. It was my grandaunt, Che Ramlah, at the other end. She sounded very upbeat and I was surprised that she called. She asked me why I had not visited her, adding that she was much better now.

She was happy to see my husband and I this afternoon and could not stop chatting. However, we were afraid to tire her and did not prolong our visit. We left promising to visit her again after her next chemo session.

For an old lady to be able to withstand the chemotherapy treatment is indeed a miracle. Considering that she is a widow with no children of her own. Her strong will and strong survival instincts has pulled her through. I pray that she will have a long life so that I can continue to get stories about our family history from her.

Actually, this grandaunt of mine was a senior civil servant in her younger days. She had taken care of orphans in many government orphanages in all her working life. Her last posting was as the District Welfare Officer of the Gombak District in Selangor. She married late in life, Although she does not have a child to call her own, she has numerous children who call her "Mummy". She also has many nieces and nephews whom she had cared for over the years. Of her surviving siblings, her three younger brothers, each aged 71, 74 and 78 respectively are her source of support and strength. They had showered her with love and concern and most importantly the financing for her cancer treatment at the finest private hospital. Todate, her treatment costs RM 45,000. How lucky she is!