Eat, Pray, Love: Malaysia

Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

Hi readers! It has been really encouraging to receive comments from a couple of you that you have been keeping an eye on this blog and how useful it can be to find a hangout place and good food! With heartfelt gratitude, I hope you (yes, you!) will continue to follow this blog for more culinary journeys ahead with me!

It is Malaysia National Day today! 56 years had gone since Malaysia gained independence from British colony. It is the day to applaud the painstaking effort given by the nation leaders as well as to pray and anticipate for the better future of Malaysia. Malaysia is a blessed country, shielded from natural disasters and has bountiful natural resources. Not to mention that it is also a melting pot of different cultures and this can be demonstrated through the variety of food it offers.

How do Malaysians often gather together? Yes, it's FOOD. We often have open houses during festivals and food is definitely not an element that you can exclude. NEVER! This idea has been engrained into every overseas Malaysian student's mind and that is why Merdeka Raya was being held at Adelaide University today. It was a collaborated event of National Day and Eid al-Fitr (Feast of Breaking Fast).

Let us have a brief overview on the array of food the committee had come out for the day.

Fritters

Lontong with peanut sauce

Fried mashed potato

Roti canai

Breadcrumb chicken

Nasi lemak with rendang

The food was really yummy, especially the satay sauce and lontong. With one serve per dish, I was full to the brim. Thank God my baju kurung did not burst! Anyway, it was a great get-together event whereby I got to see my fellow Malaysians whom I lost touch with. The warm weather, the Malaysian food, the people and the colourful decoration had made me to miss Malaysia even more. Home is where the heart is!

Pretty flower deco

Happy Independence Day, Malaysia!

Since it is a celebration day today, my Penangite identity has stirred me to make a Malaysian Penang food. This is none other than my favourite muah chee, a glutinous rice ball dessert coated with peanut and sugar! Guess what? You can make it in 10 minutes time!! You will only need microwave oven, glutinous rice flour, peanut powder and sugar. I was a bit sceptical when I saw the recipe online but the result turned out to be quite good! It might be slightly chewier than normal but the peanut powder covers it well. You can try to play with the proportion of water and glutinous rice flour to get your desired texture.

Ingredients (for 1 serve)
- 60g glutinous rice flour
- 90ml water
- 1 tablespoons of cooking oil
- Peanut/sugar mix or crushed peanut candy

Methods:
1) Mix glutinous rice flour, water and cooking oil together in a microwaveable bowl.
2) Microwave it for 3.5 minutes. Cut the sticky mixture into small lumps and coat them with peanut and sugar mix.
3) Enjoy!

You can get the recipe from here.

Muah Chee

Hope you guys have a good day so far! Do try out the recipe and let me know what you think. Once again, Happy Birthday Malaysia!

Yours truly blogger

Love, Victoria

What happens when you are full? Yes! BURPSSSSSSS (oopsss!)

What are girls good at when they are gossiping? Yes! GIGGLESSSSSSS

Believe it or not, these two things are one of the most enjoyable things in life, especially in front of your close friends and family! Hmm, it sounds yucky (for burps) but who cares? You are built according to the image of God. Just be yourself! So, God burps and giggles? I would like to think so! *wink*

This is what happen when you burp and giggle at the same time: having a satisfying meal while catching up with fellow friends, chatting with all your heart out. Suiting the name of the cafe, Burps and Giggles in Ipoh has indeed lived up to expectation to give its customers a pleasant place to dine out and meet up.

Burps and Giggles is a heritage cafe which is run by the same group of people who founded Indulgence. It has a similar concept with China House in Penang. It was originally a tailor shop which was then renovated to a funky and artsy cafe. It can go unnoticeable if you pass by the main road as you will treat it as an another-old-building. Well it's not!

The inviting entrance

Before my Ipoh visit for Christmas with E, I googled up some cafe in Ipoh so that this visit will be more foodie. Then I managed to find this place! Being said that it is handled by Indulgence, my expectation towards their food quality has been elevated. After a long struggle on its food menu board (they don't have a table menu and they always change menu), we managed to order!

The passionfruit mango smoothie is just average. E requested to add water because this is too sour for him. (DUHHH!) To me the taste is alright but I am quite disappointed that it does not turn out to be like smoothie (ice blended and with thick texture). Instead, it is more like passionfruit juice + mango juice + ice.

Passionfruit mango smoothie

Smoothie aside, it's time to try the GREEKO Burger! It is a lamb pattie burger with red peppers, onions, olives, cheese and mint yogurt. Goodness! Even the sight of it already keeps my salivary glands busy! The serrated knife comes with the burger to keep its content intact together. It is an absolute heaven, probably the best burger I have ever eaten after Burger Theory in Adelaide! The pattie is minced to bits and you can feel it melting in your mouth together with the cheese. I love the burger bread the most! It is crispy and grilled to perfection. Everything just mix together seamlessly!

GREEKO Burger

E ordered the JAMMY Burger. It contains Angus beef pattie, Jalapeno, tomato jam, cheese, tomato and onions. Similar to the Greeko Burger, the pattie is cooked and minced to the golden standard, not to say that the sauce tastes good too. Nevertheless, I love my Greeko Burger more!

JAMMY Burger

Drinks down, main meal down, it's dessert time! The banana crepe is normal as I am not a fan of crepe. Sprinkled with icing sugar, the crepe is sweet and kind of soft due to the water content of banana.

Banana crepe

Besides food, Burps and Giggles does provide its customers an art-appreciating environment.

Toilet

Alley behind the cafe

Bicycle-themed-attic area

Decoration on the wall

Overlapping chair design

Heritage-feel window

High table

Burps and Giggles is a place that you cannot miss if you ever visit Ipoh!

Oops!! Happy meal makes people fat :P

With Jamie at the rundown place behind the cafe - transformed into a library

Very nice painting - it would be nicer with E's smile!!

Hope you enjoy the post!

Love, Victoria

Website: https://www.facebook.com/BurpsGiggles

Address: 93 & 95, Jalan Sultan Yussuf, 30000 Ipoh, Perak.

Trading hours: 8.30am - 7.15pm (Mon, Wed-Sun) [closed on Tues]

Apa khabar? 你好吗? Ni eppaddi irukeenaga? Oni abar? Ni kabar muk? Apa kabiki? Nama berita? Inew dengah? Nun dengah ka'? Nu denge? Kapah iko? How are you? (Greeting languages used in Malaysia )

A greeting can come in various languages in Malaysia as it is a melting pot of race and culture. Kuching, especially, hosts quite a lot of indigenous races, such as Bidayuh, Iban, Penan, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Lunbawang, Kelabit on top of the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia - Malay, Chinese and Indian. Of all the races, Iban claims the the largest population, followed by Chinese. As a result, Iban language is the most widely used language in Sarawak.

Kuching which is the capital of the Land of Hornbills, Sarawak is also the capital for cat lovers as the world's first cat museum is situated here. Kuching also means cat in Malay language. I visited Kuching with my two lovelies, Jamie and Pei Qi early this January. Lo and behold, my foodgraphy continued and here I am sharing about the wonder of Sarawak food. Alrights! Let's delve our fingers into amazing food now!

1) Kampua: A Foochow dry noodle

Ingredients: egg noddle in dark soy sauce served in a plate with minced pork, barbecued pork (kind of similar to wonton mee or kolo mee)

Location: Hui Sing Food Court

2) 3 Layer Tea: A sweet milk tea

Ingredients: consists of gula melaka (brown sugar) at the bottom, followed by evaporated milk and red tea on top; presented in unstirred three layers.

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

3) 5 Layer Tea: A creative mind

Ingredients: Same as 3 Layer Tea, but with additional cendol and cincau (grass jelly)

Location: Expert at RH Plaza

4) Red Sauce Kolo Mee: A Kuching's signature

Ingredients: egg noodle, served with shallots, garlic, minced pork, white vinegar, pork fat, topped with sliced barbecue pork. The red sauce is char siew sauce made from barbecued pork's oil.

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

5) Kompia: A Foochow snacks

Ingredients: Fried bun with sesame seeds and a hole at the middle, filled with char siew (minced pork)

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

6) Kuey Chap: A Teochew noodle
Ingredients: Flat square kuey teow-like cake in herbal soup containing assortments of pork parts

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

7) Char Kuey
Ingredients: Fried white carrot cake with egg, prickled vegetables and bean sprouts; can be sweet or salty, depending on the type of soy sauce used.

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

8) Pork Satay: A porky business

Ingredients: Grilled pork with special sauce (Superb sensation!)

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

9) Popiah

Ingredients: Spring roll wrapped with minced pork (very different from the one in Peninsula)

Location: Chong Choon Cafe

10) Sarawak Laksa

Ingredients: Thin mee-sua-like noodle in shrimp based soup, served with shrimp and shredded meat (sweet and less spicy than Hokkein Mee)

Location: Chong Choon Cafe

11) Mexican Hat

Ingredients: Fried sago snacks; soft inside and crunchy outside

Location: Cultural Village

12) Gu Bak Mee

Ingredients: Egg noddle with pork-lard-based sauce, served with beef

Location: Expert at RH Plaza

13) Belacan Beehoon

Ingredients: Beehon with belacan sauce, served with squid, bean sprout and cucumber (surprisingly it's not belacan fried beehoon that I have expected)

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

14) Tomato Mee

Ingredients: Fried noodle in tomato-sauce-based soup

Location: Electra House Food Court

15) Rojak Kangkung and Squid

Ingredients: Kangkund and squid in rojak sauce, topped with peanuts

Location: Electra House Food Court

16) White Lady: A milky indulgence; My personal favourite!

Ingredients: A concoction of evaporated milk, syrup, nata de coco, canned peaches and pineapples

Location: Hui Sing Hawker Centre

17) Matterhorn: A refreshing dessert on a hot day

Ingredients: Shaved ice with cendol, grass jelly, lemon and longan

Location: Hui Sing Hawker Centre

18) Coconut Sugar Cane Drinks: A wonderful combination

Ingredients: Coconut meat in sugar cane drinks; refreshing and sweet at the same time

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

19) Kelabit/Lunbawang food: A taste of Highlands inhabitants
Ingredients: Assorted (see captions for more information)

Location: Tribal Scoops (opposite Hilton Hotel)

Shredded beef

Bamboo chicken: chicken cooked in bamboo

Minced tapioca leaf

Midin: a type of fern leaf unique to Sarawak

Umai: an appetiser consists of raw fish mixed with red onion and ginger

Glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaf: traditional Kelabit rice

20) Chicken Rice: An all-time favourite
Ingredients: Rice cooked with chicken stock/broth, served with boiled chicken

Location: Aladdin Cafe (the best chicken rice I have ever had!)

21) Lui Cha: A Hakka dish
Ingredients: Rice with assorted vegetables and peanuts, served with tea soup (tea soup might be bitter, so adding to own preference is encouraged)

Location: Jalan Intan (Haven't been there before but I heard it's nice)

21) Sio Bee: A Kuching siu mai

Ingredients: Minced pork siu mai (an unforgettable taste!)

Location: Electra House Food Court

Aren't they delectable?! After this one-week-trip, I had to agree to my friends who are loyal Kuchingites that Kuching do have good food! Not only that, the food is unique just like the tribes and races in Sarawak . Thank you so much for Royston, Ben, Ivan and Nic for showing us around. And the two pretties, Jamie and Pei Qi for the great time that we had spent. Cheers!

Your friendship is a great gift I enjoy opening everyday :)

Love, Victoria

Sarawak Tourism: http://www.sarawaktourism.com/

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