Roti Canai

Roti Canai
By Lee Khang Yi (Story courtesy of Flavours magazine).

One of the most enthralling sights in the Malaysian food scene has to be the making of roti canai. When an order is placed, the roti canai maker moves into action. Balls of oily dough are stretched with a few deft kneads with the heel of the palm on a well-oiled stainless steel surface, and dramatically flung skywards with a few quick flicks. The dough sashays into the air in a rhythmic, circular dance; in a matter of seconds, a lump of dough is magically transformed into a large sheet of sheer, membrane-like skin – a bit like blown bubblegum.

Just like watching someone blow a bubble, there is a sense of anticipation – is the bubble going to burst? Will the canai maker throw the dough a little too hard and launch a flying saucer? But no, they are skilled craftsmen and that never happens. The stretched dough is merely folded or coiled, and set aside to rest for a few minutes. The rested dough is flattened with a few urgent pats and slapped on the waiting hot griddle. The roti canai maker dips his fingers into a bowl of oil and uses sprinkles oil upon the roti,, which needs to be well greased as it cooks. When one side has browned and starts to puff, it is flipped over to cook on the other side.

In the final abuse, the dough is beamed back to the stainless steel table where it is given a smart clap – the crisp layers of the flatbread are crushed and lay crumpled in a heap. That seems destructive, but the punctured bread lets the hot steam escape and keeps the bread crisp and fluffed up.

The original roti canai is made of flour, water, salt and ghee or oil, but sugar, eggs, milk and margarine are now added to make it more tasty. Once a breakfast staple of the Indian community, it is now devoured by all, and has climbed to the top of Malaysia’s favourite food chart. It’s served all day long,and you can even find it on airline menus.

The term roti is derived from Hindi, which means bread. Canai is said to be a reference to Chennai, a region in India where the workers who made this bread came from. Some references link the name canai to channa, the spicy chickpeas served with the bread in India.

Source: Malaysia Hot Favourite, Sunday Metro, September 6, 2009
Why Blog? The Purpose of Blogging

Nasi Lemak Bungkus

Nasi Lemak Bungkus
By: Lee Kyang Yi

You see them everywhere – hawked at street corners and kerbsides, at Malay stalls and at Mamak stalls that operate round the clock. The small packet of rice fits snugly into the palm, and is gone in a few gulps. One packet does not make a meal but satisfies the South-East Asian ideal of a main meal – there is rice, fish, vegetable and a bit of spice.

Nasi lemak bungkus is beguiling in its simplicity, being nothing more than a few table spoons of coconut milk – enriched rice topped with a blob of sambal and a few tiny scraps of dried bilis fish, fried peanuts, a slice of cucumber, and sometimes a wedge of hard-boiled egg or omelette.

It’s food for the hungry poor, but the rich are just as likely to reach out for a packet and gobble it down gratefully. It’s a great equaliser, uniting Malaysians beyond economic, social and racial boundaries.

One is never disappointed with nasi lemak bungkus – being one of the cheapest meals around, you don’t place high expectations on it. It is a stomach filler, to help plug those needling hunger pangs before the next meal.

Yet, foodies live for that moment of opening a banana leaf-wrapped packet of still-warm nasi lemak, when they catch the first whiff of the fragrant, pandan leaf-infused coconut rice mingled with the herbaceous scent of the banana leaf. Some would say the appeal of the nasi lemak bungkus is in its sweet, floral perfume.

The perfect nasi lemak bungkus will also have good texture – rice that is not mushy and sticky, but held together in loose grains and still retains some bite. And therein lies the tricky part – the rice must be cooked with the right amount of water, and wrapped at the right temperature. Wrap it while it is steaming hot and the trapped vapour will add too much moisture to the rice, making it lumpy, and the heat may cook the leaf and give it an unappealing colour. Wrap it when the rice has cooled and you lose that precious infusion of green, leafy aroma.

The most common garnish is sambal ikan bilis, but you will find the garnishes vary from one community or kampung to the next.

The nyonya cooks of Penang prefer to garnish their nasi lemak with tamarind-flavoured prawn and fish, and sambal belacan – instead of dried chilli paste. In Malacca, salted fish is added, In Kedah, a simple version has curry sauce poured over the mound of rice topped with a wedge of hard-boiled egg. Others cater for the vegetarian palate, with a topping of curried potatoes.

Source: Malaysia Hot Favourite, Sunday Metro, September 6, 2009
Proven Ways to Make Money on the Internet

Malaysian Char Kway Teow

Malaysian Char Kway Teow
By: Benedict Wu

The Chinese dish that has made the greatest headway in terms of crossing cultural boundaries is probably fried kway teow, a dish of stir-fried flat rice noodles. Travelling from north to south in peninsular Malaysia, you will find slight differences in the style the kway teow is fried by the hawkers.

The “Penang-style” is prevalent in the northern states of Kedah and Penang, where the fried noodles are coloured and seasoned with a mixture of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and, sometimes, fish sauce. Apart from prawns, cockles and thin slices of Chinese sausage are also added to flavour the noodles. A few famous char kway teow stalls offer the option of adding duck egg for a richer, gamey taste. Lard may be used for a more aromatic dish but generally, most hawkers have switched to using vegetable cooking oil for health and halal reasons.

Other types of seafood are added to “premium” versions of the dish to command a much higher price, and these typically are shelled mantis prawns or crabmeat rr simply prawns of a larger size.

In Penang and Kedah, the dish tends to have a more reddish hue due to the addition of more chili paste – they like it spicy there!.

In Ipoh, a town famous for the quality of its kway teow, fried kway teow plays second fiddle to the more popular Ipoh hor fun, a dish of soupy or dry kway teow (which is more commonly called hor fun among Cantonese speakers).

The further south you go, the darker the kway teow gets. Hawkers in the southern states prefer to fry their kway teow with dark soy sauce, which gives it a darker colour and sweeter taste.

In Malacca, the kway teow is fried with dark soy sauce and served with sweet bean sauce (tim cheong) on the side, and most stalls use only blood cockles to flavor the noodles.

The fried kway teow style in the central region around Kuala Lumpur is a bit of a bridge between the northern and southern styles. Dark and light soy sauce is used, and the stalls selling KL-style fried kway teow generally produce a dish that is darker than the Penang-style version. However, it is not as dark, or sweet, as a dish of fried kway teow further south in Seremban, for instance. In KL, the prawns may be replaced by fish cake slices or char siew slices, and flowering cabbage (choy sum) may be used in place of chives.

Some stalls also fry up what is known as “wet fried kway teow”, which is simply a dish with more moisture – the most famous wet fried kway teow is served at the stall in Jalan Doraisamy.

Most hawkers prefer to fry their kway teow plate by plate, for better control of taste and consistency.

The last word on char kway teow must be the wok hei, that slightly charred taste that is infused into fried food from an ultra-hot wok, translated as the “breath of the wok”- the essence of heat from the frying pan. It’s rather illusive quality that is not easily achieved using a home burner. And there is also the contention that the kway teow fried over a charcoal flame is much more aromatic and delicious.

Source: Malaysia Hot Favourite, Sunday Metro, September 6, 2009

Eating Right During Ramadan

Eating Right During Ramadan
By: Nor Sharita Mohd Saad

Ramadan is here again, and after all these years of seeing hundreds of patients. I can safely say that the fasting month is the time where my overweight and obese patients have been waiting for.

Most of them say they aim to loose a few kilogrammes this year. Will that happen? Can they make it a reality? I think anything is possible if they put effort into it.

In Malaysia, Muslim children as young as 6 or 7 years old start to practice fasting.

As you grow older, fasting just comes naturally: some of us just follow the flow without realising which nutrients need to be topped up before the start of Ramadan.

With a wide variety of delicious food available, it is more difficult in this country to resist the temptation of overeating during Ramadan, what with food stalls mushrooming all over, offering mouth-watering dishes.

Twenty-four-hour food outlets and special home delivery services increase the convenience and easy access to food.

Changes in food choices occur not only for Muslims during Ramadan, but also for non-Muslims as well as they, too, enjoy the food bazaars and special buffets at restaurants and hotels.

The types of food we consume during Ramadan should not differ very much from our normal diets and should be as simple as possible. Whatever you eat for lunch and dinner during the other months, for Ramadan you’ll have to convert it to iftar (breaking of fast) and sahur. Taking two main meals during Ramadan is the best way to go. Those who have the habit of skipping sahur should consider taking it. If you take only one meal, your body might not be getting all the nutrients that it needs.

Breaking of Fast (Iftar)

It has been a tradition in my family to break fast with dates; I think other families also do that. It has been recommended since the days of Prophet Mohammad.

Dates provide sugar, fibre, carbohydrates, potassium and magnesium. Taking one to three dates when breaking fast will give you an immediate energy boost.

Like other months, you have to promise yourself to eat a balanced as well as healthy diet, with food from each group in the Food Pyramid. Ensure your meals have an adequate amount of fibre, eg using wholemeal or high fibre foods, serving with vegetables, beans and fruits.

No matter how tired you are, ensure you drink enough water in between iftar and bed to maintain hydration. We need to drink six to eight glasses of water a day and this is required during Ramadan, too.

If you have a sweet tooth and must have refined carbohydrates or fast-digesting foods, the best time to take it is during iftar, It will be digested between three and four hours and will rapidly restore your blood sugar level.

Limit the intake of all the sweet desserts, traditional cakes and other sweets as eating or drinking too much of these things will increase your weight and also triglyceride (the type of fat that contribute to a high total cholesterol level).

For protein, you can take one piece of fish or chicken (the size of two matchboxes, eg one drumstick or one medium size ikan kembung) for iftar and one for sahur.

How they are cooked is important in determining whether you will gain or lose weight. If you plan to lose some kilogrammes, choose low fat cooking choices such as asam pedas, soup, tom yam, grilling or baking.

Most of us tend to eat more protein from the dishes served if we go for a buffet. If you ever go to the buffet line when breaking fast, try not to eat like there is no tomorrow.

Vegetables are also an important food source. Eating an insufficient amount of vegetables can cause constipation. Eating as much as one cup during iftar and one cup during sahur is good for you. Vegetables can be in soups, curries, ulam, salads, etc.

Eating one or two fruits a day is also recommended and can probably be taken after terawih prayers. Citrus fruits provide vitamin C. Fruits are a good source of dietary fibre. Most of my patients, I realised, neglected to eat fruits during the fasting month simply because there is less time to eat at night compared to normal months.

Suggested fat intake during Ramadan is almost the same as for normal days. Fat is required for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) and carotenoids. From experience, we will take extra fat during fasting month if we go for fancy rice (nasi dagang, nasi tomato or nasi beriani) on a daily basis. Try to spread your high fat foods and add some choice of low fat food to balance it up.

Sahur

There are some of us who prefer to sleep rather than wake up in the early morning to have something to eat. Others just wake up but they have no appetite to eat at 5am. During the odd hours, only the lucky ones can eat as usual.

If you can only eat a small amount of food, then choose “complex carbohydrates”, or in simple terms, slow digesting food like rice, bread, wheat, oats, wholemeal flour, and unpolished rice. They will last longer (about eight hours), making you less hungry during the day. Sweet foods will make you hungry faster.

As for protein, vegetables and fats, the amount should be the same as when breaking fast. Eating vegetables during sahur will help curb hunger pangs longer. Eating a variety of food will ensure that you get some nutrients that are lacking from other types of food.

For the coffee drinkers among us, caffeine acts as a diuretic, causing you to pass urine more and make you thirstier during the day. The best option is to limit your intake of coffee during the fasting month. Drinking milk during sahur is a better choice.

Take Home Message

Although all kinds of delicious food is available during Ramadan, try to control your intake to ensure good health.

A lot of food are rich in saturated fats (traditional foods are made with coconut milk), so try to limit the amount to keep your cholesterol level normal. For those who have a normal body weight, you should maintain that weight throughout Ramadan. For those who are over weight or obese, this is a good month to shed some extra kilogrammes!.

Light exercise will be good, too, for those of you who think you are already eating too much.

Have a happy Ramadan!

Datin Nor Sharita Mohd Saad is a dietitian at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and is also a member of the Malaysian Dietitians’Association.

Source: New Sunday Time, August 30, 2009

How to Locate A Good Lunch and Dinner Restaurant

How to Locate A Good Lunch/Dinner Restaurant

A lot of people are disappointed with their lunch/dinner restaurant visits. It was either too pricey or the food was not so good.

>> Word of mouth. In your workplace, co-workers often talk about a restaurant that they like or dislike. Make a note of it because they have actual dining experience at the particular restaurant.

>> Foodies like to post their picture from a restaurant visit and talk about the dining experience. Check out photo, sharing websites to discover more good restaurants by both words and pictures.

>> There are many websites dedicated to food and many of them review restaurants. They give all kinds of information about the restaurant, the quality of food, quantity of food, service, price and environment.

>> Another way to recognise a good restaurant is by the number of customers. If you walk past by a restaurant during lunch or dinner time and very few people are there, then it is probably a sign that the restaurant's overall quality is low.

Source: Star Metro Classifieds, The Star, August 22, 2009.

Lemang - Cooking in Bamboo

Lemang, a dish of glutimous rice and coconut milk cooked inside a hollow bamboo tube, is a must for the Malay community when there's a festival or celebration. Families look forward to it as do visitors when they come to visit open house functions.

Making Lemang is a lot of hot work and requires a keen, watchful eye on the rice-stuffed bamboo cooking over a slow, slow fire. The bamboo is first lined with banana leaf to prevent the sticky rice adhering to the sides of the bamboo.

Anything can go wrong during the process. Not enough liquid, for instance, or rice that has not be pre-soaked long enough. Then the bamboo must be turned at intervals to ensure thorough cooking on all sides or you may end up with uncooked rice on one side and burnt rice on the other.

As preparing lemang requires a big open space for the fire, most people don't bother to make their own, prefering to purchase from lemang makers who set up stalls by the road from the day before Hari Raya and do a roaring business.

You'd be able to spot these from a kilometer away by the smoke from the open fires as well as long lines of cars erratically parked at the roadside.

Lemang is usually sold by per bamboo tube though in some stalls, it is available in shorter lengths. The bamboo is split into halves to get the lemang which is then sliced into rounds discs for serving and is scrumptions when eaten with rendang (a dry curry) or serunding (spicy meat floss).

Lemang is not the only food cooked in bamboo. The Orang Asli, for instance, often use bamboo to cooked food, as do the natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

Pansoh, for instance, is a method of cooking food in bamboo as practised by the ethnic races in Sarawak. Ingredients can range from meat like chicken to fish, rice and vegetables. The bamboo seals in the flavour of the ingredients and lends its own natural fragrance to the dish too.

One of the best known signature Iban dishes is pansoh manok (chicken pansoh) in which chicken perfumed with sliced serai (lemonggrass) is cooked inside bamboo over an open fire.

Even the Chinese community has its version of bamboo cuisine in which rice and seafood are cooked inside bamboo and in Hunan, a clear consomme double-boiled inside bamboo cups are a gourmet's delight. Rice cooked this way is called zhutongfan.

Local Indians sometimes steam a mixture of coconut and flour inside bamboo (as a substitute for stainless steel cyclinders). Known as puttu, these fragrant cakes are cylindrical, shaped after being steamed in a hollow of bamboo.

In the Philippines, cooking food inside bamboo is known as lulut (Bagobo term). Binakul is a Filipino dish where chicken is steamed inside a bamboo over flaming charcoal.

Source: Tan Bee Hong, New Sunday Times, September 28, 2008.
How to Become Professional Blogger
OBOads.com - Advertise your Products for FREE

Popular Malaysian Dishes

The All-Time Popular Malaysian Dishes
By: Esther Chandran and Jayagandi Jayaraj

Food is definitely is a big deal for Malaysians as we constantly think about what to have for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper.

We can be considered lucky with a variety of different cuisines at our disposal; be it Chinese, Indian, Malay, Portugese, Sarawakian, Sabahan, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Australian, Italian, French, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and whatever else that comes to mind.

The sumptuous array of food and the wide spectrum of flavours certaintly make Malaysia is melting pot of cuisines. Her people however, have their favourites and these are some of the popular Malaysian dishes.

Nasi Lemak

It is difficult to come across anyone who dislikes Nasi Lemak. In the past, the Malay community savoured it for breakfast but these days, Nasi Lemak is a regular breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper meal for people from all walks of life.

Nasi Lemak is a rice cooked or steamed with creamy coconut milk and served with Ikan Bilis Sambal (anchovies Sambal) and is garnished with fried anchovies and ground nuts, aliced cucumber and hard boiled egg.

Traditionally, the dish is wrapped in a banana leaf to enhance its flavour and retain heat but these days, it is sold buffet style where you can add extra side dishes like Beef or Chicken Rendang, Sotong Sambal, Fried Chicken or veggies to pep up your meal.

Popular Nasi Lemak spots include Nasi lemak Tanglin, Sakura Restaurant and Pakcik's stall at Jalan Walter Grenier.

Satay

Satay is synonymous with Malaysia as this barbequed skewered meat (chicken, beef or lamb)disg is so, so delicious.

Pieces of meat marinated with cumin, fennel, lemongrass, galangal,turmeric, coriander, sugar, salt and groundnuts are pierced through skewers, then barbequed and savoured with a slight spicy sweet peanut sauce. Rice cakes, onions and cucumber are served on the side.

Different cooks use different marinade to flavour the meat. Kajang town is famous for its satay but the dish can be found just about anywhere.

Burger Ramly

Burger Ramly was first started off by a Ramly Moknin in the late 70s but today many roadside burger stalls have picked up on the idea.

These burgers are also commonly referred to as Burger Ramly by Malaysians. Sinfully yummy, this snack typically consists of a beef or chicken patty, margarine, onions, an egg, cabbage, lots of mayonnaise and Worcesterchire sauce. These burgers can be found almost everywhere and taste just as good.

Popiah

Popiah are spring rolls. Popiah skin is made from wheat flour, water and egg white (optional).

The ingredients vary but common ingredients include lettuce, bean sprouts, dried prawns, fried shallots, cooked turnip, pounded fried ground nuts and sambal paste.

The ingredients are placed on the popiah skin and wrapped. Popiah is available at many restaurants, nihgt markets and food courts.

Roti Canai

This is another Malaysian heavy weight when it comes to local favourites. This addictive bread made from wheat flour, sugar, condensed milk, water and margarine (some cooks use clarified butter) is relished from the break of dawn to the wee hours of the morning. The dough is kept overnight to allow the gluten to work its magic. Some cooks add egg to the dough to make it tastied but to cater to vegetarians; the egg is often left out. Roti Canai is similar to the South Indian Roti Paratha but the latter's ingredients vary slightly as it has sugar, salt, milk, egg, flour and water. Roti Canai can be found everywhere.

Teh Tarik

This is another favourite, tea made from tea leaves, milk (condensed, evaporated or cow's milk) and sugar.

Literally translated, it means pulled tea. Ginger and spices can pep up the taste of Teh Tarik and it is available throughout the day at various stalls and restaurants.

Chan Koay Teow

Fried flat noodles. That's what Char Koay Teow translates to. The flat noodles, about 1 cm in width is fried over high heat along with ingredients such as bean sprouts, chilli sauce, prawns, cockles, egg, Chinese chives and soy sauce.

Typically, pork fat is used to fry the noodles but some chefs do replace it with ordinary oil.

Some of the best Char Koay Teow can be found at Peng Hwa Food Court in Pudu and Jalan Alor Bukit Bintang.

Nasi Kandar

Originating from Penang. Nasi kandar dates back to the time when rice hawkers used to balance a pole on their shoulders with huge containers of rice meals on each end. The action of balancing the pole is known as "Kandar" and hence the name. Today, the dish is served at various Indian Muslim restaurants. Steamed rice is served with choices of various curries such as chicken and fish head, fish roe, prawn sambal, fried squids, ketchup beef and more. Typically, a mixture of curries or sauces is scooped over the rice, which gives this meal a distinctive flavour. Some of the popular Nasi Kandar places include Restoren Kudus and Yaseen Nasi Kandar in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Restoran Medina Baru in Sungai Wang Plaza, the various Nasi Kandar Kayu and Pelita outlets.

Kueh (Kuih)

A variety of teatime cakes called 'kueh' which are bite-sized sweet delights and these include Kueh Keria, Kueh Dadar, Kueh Lopis, Kueh Lapis, Kueh Bengkang, Kueh Koci and plenty more. Malaysian kueh which are commonly made by the Malays and Nyonya usually has coconut milk, screw pine leaves, and palm sugar as popular ingredients and various starches are used like rice flour, glutinous flour, corn flour, tapioca flour and wheat flour.

They are available at local markets, night markets, and specialty restaurants like Nyonya Colours, La Cucur and hotel buffets.

Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut teh (Pork Bone Tea) is a popular Chinese herbal dish served with rice. The soup is cooked with pork ribs or other pork parts and savoured with hot rice. besides pork, the soup teems with spices and herbs like black pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, tong kwai and garlic. Some recipes include Chinese herbs like tong sum, kei chee and spices like fennel and cumin.

These days, to cater to non-pork eaters, there's Chi Kut Teh (the chicken version). The dish is believed to have originated in Klang and is therefore a truly Malaysian dish. It is still big in Klang and is available throughout Malaysia.

Pasembur

This is a Malaysian Indian rojak consisting of shredded cucumber, boiled egg, turnip, potatoes, beancurd, bean sprouts, prawn fritters, spicy fried crab and fried octopus. It is served with sweet and spicy peanut sauce. Try the stall along the road opposite Petronas station in Taman Tun Dr. Isamail, Subang SS15 Pasembur and a stall under the Cheras rounabout.

Pisang Goreng

Pisang Goreng translates to mean banana fritters. Fresh bananas dipped in batter are deep-fried and it is a popular teatime snack of all time. Also easily available at road-side stalls all over the Klang Valley and the country.

Cendol

This dessert is usually served in a small bowl. Coconut milk is poured over shaved ice and is sweetened with thick brown syrup or Gula Melaka. Also added in are glutinous rice, red beans and green Pandan flavoured noodles.Cendol is easily available at the small stalls along roadsides and is best taken during a hot day.

ABC

ABC or Air Batu Campur is also known as Ais Kacang and this dessert also has shaved ice base. Topped with red or brown sugar, other ingredients in the dessert are red beans, jelly, sweet corn, 'cincau', peanuts and evaporated milk. These days, ice-cream is a popular addition upon request. Like Cendol, ABC is also easily available at kerbside stalls.

Source: StarMetro, August 31, 2007
OBOads.com - Advertise your Products for FREE
How to Start Online Business?