Little Penang Cafe KLCC, Malaysia

I went back to Malaysia for a short holiday earlier this year. My sister and I visited Little Penang Cafe at KLCC for lunch one day. We went there early to avoid the long queue. This cafe gets very busy at lunchtime as it is frequented by KLCC office staff and visitors alike.

I ordered my favourite flat noodles, char kway teow. This was my first time visiting Little Penang Cafe and I am already thinking that this could be my favourite cafe in KL. They do street style hawker foods and it tasted as good as it gets for a cafe outside of the Penang Island itself.

This is called ABC or ais kacang. It is a basically shaved ice with fruits and syrup, topped with peanuts and drenched in sweet condensed milk. Similar to a Korean bingsoo, of Japanese Kakigori.

This dish is called Ju Huu char. It has shredded cuttlefish, cooked with julienne of vegetables like carrots, jicama (sengkuang), shittake mushrooms and onions and chives. Basically, you would put a small amount on the lettuce leaf provided, add a little chilli and wrap it up to eat. This is Nyonya Malaysian version of lettuce wraps.

Lastly is deep fried Lor Bak. It is traditionally mince pork meat marinated with chinese five spice, wrapped in beancurd sheet and then deep fried like spring rolls. It is normally a finger food or snacks. We ordered the chicken meat variant. 

More info 

Address: Suria Klcc, Suria KLCC, Jalan Ampang, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Phone: +60 3-2163 0215

Fruit and Spice, Penang

The last time I was in Penang, Malaysia, was in 2012 and friends and I visited the Fruit and Spice in Balik Pulau for it's famous Assam Laksa. The owner is Eric Kee and he also has an antique shop within his premises. There were so many items that I would like to own, sadly, my wallet could only afford me, a few bowls of laksa and perhaps some pie tees. These are old Peranakan food favourites, you may know them as Nyonya cuisine.

It's been too long and I am yearning for my friends and Malaysian food again. Foods are best shared with friends and family, and I am missing them a great deal.

Here are some info of the shop:

Fruit and Sprice
Eric Kee
www.fruitnspice.com
202B, Jalan Sungai Pinang
11010 Balik Pulau, Penang.
Email: info@fruitnspice.com

Photo credit : Lin Milne

Photo credit : Lin Tan

Need to start planning for my next getaway to this great island I call home. Home is where the heart is. Or in my case where the tummy is...

Night Noodle Market Hyde Park, Sydney

It was a very warm Spring evening when hundreds or even thousands descended into Hyde Park for this pop up event, Night Noodle Market which is part of the CRAVE Sydney International Food Festival.

Meals are cooked to order and only the freshest ingredients are used by JackieM Malaysian Restaurant. I can see a lot of other stalls are prepping up for the rush, and the vendors are cooking their meals away whilst hungry and patient patrons line up and wait to order their meals for the evening. For some, the aroma reaches the nose before the foods can reach the mouth. It must be quite torturous, the waiting.

For me, it was worth the wait. After tasting every morsel of the char kway teow which was a generous portion by the way with its fine wok breath, one can almost feel like one have been transported back to the street stalls of Malaysia. I also visited Mamak stall, for my all time favourites; satay. I could happily lived on satays alone if I were to give up carbs...but not tonite ;) because that char kway teow is just stupendous!

And this is exactly what Noodle Night Market is all about. The park is transformed into a Street style hawker center,  just like ones, you see in Asia when you traveled. Here are the various stalls that are participating this year.

NNM_map-stalls.pdf

Every year, for the month of October, the beautiful City of Sydney brings you CRAVE International Food Festival and the Night Noodle Market has become one of the regular event. Because of its success in the past, this year, the event has been extended to thirteen nights.

I love this event and was sad to leave. I am already planning my next vacation, October next year and I will be staying longer to visit with this beautiful city of Sydney.

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*** To note, something quite different for this year; is the Noodle Lounge. For $79.95 per person, this includes your drink on arrival plus full menu Рentr̩e, main, dessert and you get to lounge around and catch up with friends after work and eat fabulous hawker fare without the lines. How good is that? Drinks are provided by The Morrison Bar and there is a live jazz music to keep your feet tapping.*****

Where: Hyde Park North

When: October 3-5, 8-12, 15-19; 5-10pm

Flavour of Malaysia, The Grace Hotel Sydney

Disclosure: Jackie and friend dined at the Flavours of Malaysia, Food Festival as guests of The Grace Hotel and Malaysian Kitchen Australia.

First of all, I just want to say how excited I am to be blogging about the Flavours of Malaysia, brought to you by Tourism Malaysia and The Grace Hotel, part of CRAVE Sydney International Food Festival in Sydney.

Malaysian cuisine is a melting pot of different cultures, the many regions of the country, spices and ingredients used makes it a truly a unique and amazing flavour. Yes, I am biased. I was blessed to be borne in that country and had the opportunity to live and eat there till my adulthood. Coming to Australia and years of living overseas has made me missed home, friends and families even more and more each year. I am lucky that I can fly home whenever I get homesick.

How does one describe Malaysian food to a visitor or a newcomer to the taste?  To understand the  flavours of Malaysia, you would have learned from your History lessons in school, that Malaysia was colonized by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. Then came the Asian immigrants from all over  Asia. It's ideal location, Peninsular Malaya, made it a good trading post for many things, one in particular, being the spice trade. It brought in all those beautiful aromatic spices, that you can now find in any Malaysian cuisine. And so it began, the flavours that were influenced from multi-ethnic groups. Our melting pot consists of Eurasians, Chinese, Indians, Peranakan (Chinese and Malay),  Mamak (Indian Muslims) etc. just to name a few. And we sure know how to put on a big feast ;)

The chefs for this event, Flavour of Malaysia, was specially flown in from The Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. This event will showcase some of Malaysia's finest and much loved recipes ranging from famous hawker foods to authentic Nyonya dishes and more from the Northern region of Malaysia. This buffet is great opportunity for all to savour all those delightful favourite dishes among Malaysians. It is truly a gastronomic feast!

Ask any Malaysian and they will tell you that you don't say no to Malaysian food, let alone a Malaysian Buffet. I dream of Malaysian buffets every night. (True story, I really do.) I change my pillowcases often from the drooling alone. So for me, this invite was a great opportunity to get my Malaysian cravings fixed, plus to share this experience with you, my readers, about the Malaysian food campaign during the month of October for CRAVE.

Many of my regular readers will know that I live in country New South Wales, and sadly, I have to say that there are no Malaysian restaurants in the regional area. To get my fix, aside from my cooking Malay food myself, I would have to travel to the nearest cities such as Sydney, Melbourne or even Canberra.

And who doesn't love Malaysian food? Have you seen the line outside Mamak in Sydney? How about all those Malaysian restaurants in Sydney? JackieM in Concord, CintaRia, Nonya; they are always full with happy customers eating away. I'm so envious of Sydneysiders, as they have all these yumminess, right outside their doorstep.

Here are some mouth watering photos to give you an idea of what was at the buffet. If you are interested in more photos, click on this link My Flickr

I started off my lunch with an old favourite, Rose Bandung. I used to buy this at road stalls back home in my schooldays after school. It's basically rose syrup mixed with icy cold milk. Very tasty and sweet. I enjoyed the roti jala and roti canai, everyone's favourite for breakfast or snacks in Malaysia.

My all time favorite salad, Pasembur, especially ones from Penang. You add all the salads and condiments and topped it up with peanut sauce, similar to gado gado in Indonesia. Malaysian food has its similarities to Indonesia because of its close proximity and inter relations. A Malaysian pickle, also known as Achar. It is a mixed vege pickle, sweet, tangy and spicy. Great as a side dish to any mains.

Look at my plate of salad. I had the Squid Sambal, Achar, Pasembur and I tossed my own Rojak as well. Who's a clever gal?

Mixed veges; sauteed okra and eggplants on the left and Daging Masak Hitam, which basically translates to beef cooked in dark soy, heavily spiced of course, with cardamon, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and fennel and most likely to have chillies and brown sugar as well. Sort of like your Chinese Black Beef Pepper but Malay style.

This is what I had for lunch. I had the chicken rendang, mamak goreng ( noodles), chicken satays and roti jala. I love satays and could have happily live on satays alone. The was sambal prawns as well, I was a little dissapointed that there was no stinky beans (petai) with the sambal prawns. Gotta love those sambal udang with petai beans. Example on the book cover below, green petai beans.

This is my favourite snack. You grab all the fruits and mixed and tossed it with shrimp paste and topped it off with peanut crunch and sesame seeds. Crunchy and yummy. Another Penang favorites of mine. Various fruits can be used;
Green mango
Pineapple
Cucumber
Jambu air, not sure of the English translation.

These are various types of sambal sauces, aka love of my life. I could drink these. Can you tell I am from Kedah state? We sure can handle our hot chillies.

To cool your burning tongue, you can try this dessert; Ais Campur. Basically, it means to add everything to shaven ice. Also on the buffet are various nyonya kuihs like ondeh ondeh, kuih talam, kuih bingka, kuih lapis. Kuih lapis a favourite childhood teatime snack of mine. I like to eat mine by peeling them a  layer at a time by layers. How do you eat yours?

It was definitely a delicious lunch, I was amazed that I could walk back after all that food. It certainly was good to meet up with foodie friends and enjoying this wonderful spread. I could have taken many more photos of the main dishes but it wouldn't be fair to the other diners trying to get to the wonderful dishes.

Many thanks to Grace Hotel Sydney and Malaysian Kitchen Australia for this opportunity.

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Grace Brasserie at the Grace Hotel

Level 2, 77 York Street, Sydney

Flavours of Malaysia

Dates: October 5-21, 2012

Times: Lunch Monday-Friday and Sunday 12pm-2pm

Dinner Friday and Saturday 6pm-9pm

Cost: Lunch Monday to Friday $38, Lunch on Sunday $48, Dinner $48

Bookings: +61 (02) 9272 6636

Fish ball paste

This weekend; after an epic fail in baking, Baking 1: Jackie 0. Feeling very defeated, far worse than when my macaron fail....like seriously guys, how could I get baking a premix wrong??? Pfffttttt! I am officially a baking retard!

So, I've decided to make my own fishballs. The reasons being

1. I couldn't be bothered with driving to ACT for a Chinese grocery run. I usually buy commercial bulk pack.
2. It doesn't involved baking. 
3. It's my favourite snack on stick
4. It's simple easy recipe, no Science degree required
5. Oh, have I mentioned? It doesn't require baking, no oven involved!!!
6. I can have it with my laksas during winter..
7. And whaddaya know... NO BAKING!!!!!

Recipe from http://redcook.net/2009/02/01/making-fish-paste/

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Rapid cooking time: 15 minutes

1 lb. white fish (pollock)

1/2 cup arrowroot starch (can be substituted with tapioca starch or cornstarch)

Egg white from 2 eggs

3 ice cubes (about 1-inch square)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Cut up the fish into 1/2-inch cubes. Put all the ingredients except for the ice cubes in a food processor and blend for about two minutes or until smooth. Then add the ice cubes and continue to blend for another three minutes or so. The paste should be very thick with a lot of elasticity. The finished paste should be very smooth with no solid pieces of fish. Scoop the paste into a bowl and refrigerate for about an hour before using.

And what the heck is a pollock??? I used fresh Basa. I like Basa. It is very sweet and white and NON fishy taste. Nothing I hate more than a fish that is overpowering in smells and taste. 

So basically, keep the paste in the fridge for at least an hour. Once it is chilled and firm, or when you are ready to cook them, you can use the paste in just about anything. As you can see, I have stuffed some fish paste into some red chillies like yong tau foo. You can do that with tofu, peppers, beancurd sheets, rolled into balls for noodles, it can be deepfried and serve with chilli sauce or as a snack on a stick. You can even steam it for dimsum. Boil it in soups. It is up to your imagination, the possibilities are endless. 

Mmmmmmm.... fishballs for me ;) Yippppeeeeee