Tan Kim Hock Durian Candy - $1.90

Some shop in Yong Peng, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia.

You’re gonna get a kick outta this post… Durian Candy! From a shop I normally visit to get Otak-Otak (I’ll post about that some time later) in Yong Peng, Johor. It’s about 125 miles from home, but whenever I go to Singapore I’d stop by Yong Peng for some otak-otak on my way home.

At $1.90 a pack with probably 20-25 pieces inside, it’s pretty expensive by Malaysian standards. This is also not the best durian candy I’ve tried. I’m no fan of durian but I’d at least like durian flavoured products to taste a bit like actual durian.  So no, this candy doesn’t have a strong flavour, doesn’t leave you smelling like durian after, there’s just nothing outstanding about this.

So in an effort to make this post worthwhile I’ll add some more pics from the night BEFORE I bought the durian candy. Stayed a night in Johor Bahru for the fun of it and bought the following for dinner: nasi lemak, keropok ikan (fish crackers), A Capricciosa pizza slice from Monty’s, and otak-otak.

You should know about nasi lemak by now, except this is the other way you find it; in a wrapped triangle. Banana leaf inlay and paper under that, wrapped into a little triangle, usually no more than 1-2 ringgit depending on size. This one I paid RM1.50 for, so $0.50 cents. But notice the serving is not exactly a full meal by your standards.

Nor mine of course, hence the Capricciosa pizza slice. I’m not gonna say much except that it’s a whole lotta bread and not enough toppings, I remembered it being much much better the last time I had this over 1.5 years ago, but that was the morning after some heavy drinking so maybe that’s why.

For sides I also got some keropok ikan or fish crackers, deep fried of course. Sorry for the lousy pics I was half high on a cheap bottle of Highland Park 12 year old scotch, and also starving so that’s the only pic of the keropok I got.

Anyways, last thing I got was some otak-otak. That’s basically blended fish and I’m assuming some spices cos it’s usually very slightly spicy. The typical way of serving it as you can see is to wrap it in between 2 banana leaf folds stapled on ends and grilled over charcoal fire. If I’m not wrong this is an authentic Malaysian dish, a Peranakan invention from north Malaysia. I think. It’s good shit. Fun fact: otak means “brain” in Malay, and in the language the same word said twice with a dash usually means plural…. So otak-otak would mean brains.

The end.

Ramli Burger - $0.94

Outside Most 7-11s in Malaysian Cities

This… now THIS… yes this.. this is t3h bomb. Ramli burger. No Malaysian doesn’t know it. It’s the unofficial Malaysian dish. In fact maybe by the next generation it will be the official Malaysian dish, overtaking nasi lemak.

What I got this time is a “Burger Daging Special”. Daging = meat = usually means beef, special = means they will add an egg in. I wonder why I didn’t get the Burger Daging Double Special, which means 2 meat patties.

This here… cheap bread, REALLY cheap meat of questionable sources, cooked in butter, cucumber slices and sauce. Sound normal? Yes. However, the secret here is the sauce. Maggi brand soy sauce and ANY cheap-branded chilli sauce and mayonnaise (probably Lady’s Choice, a local brand). It’s essential. Try making a Ramli burger without these and it will fail MISERABLY.

What they do is take the burger buns/bread and put it on the giant wok/grill, that’s usually completely layered in butter. Then they take a piece of Ramli brand meat patty, slice it in the middle and slap it onto the grill. If you asked for a Special, which I did, they will crack an egg on too, and drop that piece of meat patty on top of it. Then right before the egg completely solidifies, they fold the egg over and around the meat, enveloping it.

The rest is standard fare; lettuce (sometimes) and cucumber on the now-hot-and-buttery bread/bun, put the meat on, squeeze your sauces and you’re good to go.

The pics show exactly how bad the “quality” of the burger is. However, its taste cannot, CANNOT, be rivaled. I mean I like my Mushroom Swiss from Chilli’s, or my occasional McD’s too, but this is a whooollleeee different story.

This is orgasm in every bite. This makes it into my list of top 5 stuff you HAVE to try in Malaysia.

If this is all a little incoherent, it’s cos I’ve had quite a bit to drink. And no that’s not what makes these so ridiculously awesome. I think.

Haw Flakes – $0.03/roll

All Over Malaysia and I Suppose China Too

We interrupt the regular Taiwanese broadcast to bring you a lil snack I’m binging on right now.

Haw Flakes! I think they come from China, as the company responsible for this is Qingzhou Jiahe Food Co Ltd. I’ve never found these in other countries, I suppose Malaysia is the only importer of these very badly packaged yet ridiculously satisfying snacks. But I’m sure other countries have it hidden somewhere in a dark corner of a dingy Chinese grocer in Chinatown, you just gotta look for it. Granted, if I never grew up on these I’d probably be quite wary of its contents, China and all. But no, I’ll risk a 3rd nipple (if that is all that will happen) for the sugary goodness.

These lil wonders come in a pack of 10, costing a whopping 1 ringgit. That’s 30 cents in USD. So a roll is only 3 cents. Granted, they are small and you could probably pop a few rolls into your mouth at one go, but somehow each flake has enough flavour, so don’t want to pop in more than a couple per time. I go with 1. Attached is also a picture of how small a roll is, each flake no more than 1mm thick.

So what exactly is haw?  No clue? Me neither. But wikipedia mentions (there’s a wikipedia entry on Haw Flakes!) that it’s the chinese  hawthorn fruit. Interesting, the only Hawthorn I know is the location of my uni campus in Australia, and an old side-scrolling platform game, never knew it was a fruit.

Anyways, the taste is tangy but primarily sweet. You should give it a try if you find it.

Haw Flakes!

Prosperity Burger from McDonald’s - $3.50

Any Malaysian McDonald’s

 

I’M BACK! For no good reason, really. The blog owner’s being a lazy a-hole and not keeping this site updated so why should I. But when I bought the Prosperity Burger I immediately thought of this blog and my previous post.

So here we go. The last post was about the DOUBLE Prosperity Burger, which somehow is not making a comeback this year. No matter, the regular is fine too. The usual McD’s critique, meat that doesn’t quite taste like beef (way too tender), black pepper sauce that tastes a little powdery, and of course the black pepper itself which I’m not a fan of. The diced onions were still crunchy so I guess that’s a plus point. Since this burger is more oval than it is round, it’s decidedly more filling than regular single-patty burgers.

It came with curly fries and coke, both not pictured. I’m not the biggest fan of this burger, or anything with black pepper really, but this is a seasonal set so I kinda HAVE to have it at least once a year to pay my dues to Ronald.

Pinang Satay Beef from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $8.00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

The online description is "Marinated chicken or beef skewers, jicama and bean sprouts with shrimp pancake, sliced tofu, hardboiled eggs and chef's special sauce."

Obviously, that description doesn't match up with the picture because it's missing a lot of items (basically, everything listed between the beef skewers and the chef's special sauce). I ordered this dish about six months ago, so either they changed the item since then, or they completely messed up my order. I really hope I didn't pay $8.00 for this measly appetizer, even if it did taste very good, but I WOULD reconsider paying that much if I received everything on that list.

Anyway, the beef has a peanut-buttery taste to it, of which I am very fond, hence, my love for Thai food. So if I were taking only the food quality into account, I would rate this as a very good appetizer.

Nasi Lemak from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $7.00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

I posted the environmentally friendly version of this dish here. If I'm not mistaken, this is basically the staple dish of Malaysia. Just as the Thai have their Pad Thai or how the Americans have their burgers, the Malaysians have their Nasi Lemak.

My favorite portion of this dish, believe it or not, is the anchovies (upper left corner). They're coated with some sweet syrupy sauce that pretty much hides the anchovy stench with which you might be familiar.

I don't know what to say about the vegetable concoction on the left, except that it compliments the dish favorably. And I'm a die hard fan of both beef (upper-right) and eggs, so those work for me. That brings me to my least favorite part - the cucumbers. They really feel out of place in this dish. But if you think about it, this dish is a strange assortment anyway.

All in all, it's something I would order again, especially if I was getting them at these prices.

Century Eggs - $0.41

Malaysian Chinese Hawkers – Lobak Stall

Since somebody’s being a lazy hobo (name starts with an e and ends with an rnest), I figured I’ll post the promised follow-up to the Balut post. Well not so much a follow-up as it is a related post and since I mentioned it there…. yeah you get the idea.

Century eggs. Very dark brown bordering on black, translucent, coral/snowflake patterns on the egg white (technically black), Dark grey-ish green yolk, again bordering on black.

Contrary to what Americans think of it, and that it is actually a 100 year old egg, it is not. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I did see at least 3 different and separate occurrences of this, one being Fear Factor. If that is indeed what you are thinking, give yourself some time now and think that through and you’ll see why that is impossible. I’ll give you some keywords to help the with the thought process : hatch, rot.

Century eggs are actually preserved eggs, the process of which include ash, clay, salt, lime and rice straw, lasting for several weeks to several months (Source: Wikipedia). The egg has a very strong ammonia smell to it, which brings us to popular misconception #2, and that is that the eggs have been marinated in horse urine. They haven’t.

But it does have a very strong taste to it, and the ammonia smell plays a big part in that. Once I bought some and steamed it (it’s always served hard boiled), it wasn’t ready yet but somehow the genius in me decided to give it a try. The egg-white was barely taking form. It was like jello, breaking form on contact. Because it was still steaming hot, when I took a bite the ammonia scent whiffed up my nose and I started tearing. All in good fun, I still ate it all. The yolk is the best part, having a custardy texture to it if cooked right and tasting/smelling like sweet and salty sulfur.

I don’t know if there are any health benefits to eating this, I’m guessing there are none. Popular dishes that have century eggs as an ingredient include the Century Egg and Lean Pork porridge which is mostly available during Dim Sum breakfasts.

There’s also the Penang Lobak (hence the suggestion to find this at the Lobak stall in any Chinese hawker), a mixture of fried tofu and other stuff (these eggs included) cut up into pieces and eaten with sweet sauce. I don’t normally eat Lobak, hence this post focusing only on century eggs rather than Lobak.

(Ed: I wrote this MONTHS ago and never posted it. I figured there was no point to it since this blog was dying. But *someone* promised to stop spending so much time on the Xbox 360 and post more, so here’s to keeping that promise, hobo.)

Green Nasi Lemak from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $8.00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

Not sure what's "green" about it. Maybe it's environmentally friendly (Go Green!) Personally, I think the regular nasi lemak with the white rice was better - not to mention that the regular one is $1 cheaper.

This one has a striking similarity to Korean fried rice - at least in appearance. I ate this a while back, and I think it tasted like Korean fried rice too (meaning it contained sesame oil). I don't know. I was pretty unimpressed, especially considering how much money I dropped for this. I expect either better quality or more quantity.

Chow Kueh Teow from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $8.00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

This is "Malaysian Famous stir-fried flat rice noodles with fresh shrimp, squid, bean sprouts, eggs, soy sauce and chili paste."

You know those Chinese dishes that lack all taste because they're so oily? Well, this dish matches that description to a T. Bland, greasy, and chewy. I can deal with the chewy part, but the rest of the dish needs a makeover.

Roti Telur from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $5.00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

Roti Telur is a traditional Indian pancake filled with egg, onion, served with curry chicken and potato dipping sauce.

I like the eggy bread, but there's too much onion for my tastes. The dip is good too, but with the flimsy eggy bread, it's hard to grab any dip without it falling off. This was an interesting venture, but I don't believe I'll be ordering this one again.

Double Prosperity Burger from McDonald's - $5.50

 

This is the Prosperity Burger, which is available once a year during the Chinese New Year season (that’s next February). It’s quite a big sized burger, and with the width it looks more like a sandwich. I got the Double Prosperity, which is just the Prosperity Burger with 2 beef patties.

It’s a classic McDonald’s sesame seeded bun, only longer, with a beef patty inside seasoned with dark black pepper sauce and onions. This is the double, so there’s 2 beef patties. They’re very generous with the sauce and when you open the pack you’ll find it has probably smothered the whole burger. Very messy but very entertaining to eat. At first bite, it tastes a bit off, the meat as usual tastes like a mixture of roadkill and clay, but surprisingly more tender than the regular “beef” patty you find with the Big Mac or any other beef burger from McD’s. But somehow as you keep eating, it’s hard to stop. The sauce is the real winner here, and I’m not a big fan of black pepper or peppers of any sort for that matter. It makes this and overall pretty spicy burger, but not overwhelmingly so. The onions are nearly non existent, as I think they didn’t give me enough, at least not for a double.

It came with Twister Fries (or Curly Fries) which were shit. Didn’t help that I was having it about 30 mins after purchase so they turned out quite hard. Like flavoured cardboard. Regular fries are much better.

Meen Fun Kerr - $?

Meen Fun Kerr

This is called "Meen Fun Kerr" in Hokkien. It's square pieces of noodles, vegetables, shrimp (not in the picture), calamari, fish balls and small slices of pork in a brothy chicken stock based soup. I don't know the history of this dish except that my grandma used to make this for me when I was a kid. My mom made it again for me recently and this is the result. Brings back memories. I like it. It's a simple dish. Maybe it's something my grandma made up along the way, I mean what can be simpler than rolling flour with eggs, throw in some vegetables and meat and whatever else into your chicken stock and then starching it up so it's thicker? But if anybody has a story about this dish, do tell.

Durians - $?

So this isn't a real meal and in the spirit of me posting stuff that isn't regularly featured on this all-American blog, I have here the king of fruits (I didn't give it that designation).

Party

Durians... where do I begin. I think most people will know it for its immensely strong scent. Some say it smells amazing (almost always Asian), others think this can be effectively used as crowd control (almost always Caucasians). This, when the fruit isn't even open yet. Those who DO enjoy this delicacy(?) actually hold Durian Parties. It's a pretty sweet idea, despite your feelings about this fruit. I mean, how often do you hold a fruit party? Honeydew Party? Grape Fest! Awesome.

Coming from Malaysia I find it slightly ridiculous to have to describe this, it's like an American having to explain the idea of a hamburger. But here we go: it's a dull navy green fruit with a very VERY strong scent.

Sliced up.

It's about the size of a human head, ranging from the average of a 13 year old to slightly below Jay Leno. It has spikes all over the exterior, and it's pretty darn heavy, so handling this fruit for long periods of time requires thick gloves. Throwing this fruit at a person, even just a slice of its shell, can be fatal. So far I haven't heard of any fights with durians as the weapon of choice, but that would be hilarious. Maybe it's cos you can't conceal it too well unless all your enemies have a major nose block that day.... and you'd probably regret putting it in your pocket too.

Opened up.

Anyways. To open it, you need a butcher knife, you hammer it in and start prying it open. The shell, as you can see from the photos, are actually compartments or pods with the seeds in there. From the photos you can see, you can only pry it open when you get it right at the "joint" between 2 slices. If it doesn't pry open easily, you'll have to hammer another area.. I'm sure there's a way to "see" the joint lines, but I'm no expert at opening durians.

So all that effort and you get to the seed itself, the yellow bit. Its texture is very soft and erm... creamy. Depending on the type you get (there are gradings for durians, D24 being the best) it can have a very sweet or very bitter overtone, but the durian taste itself is... well I don't know how to describe it.

The Seed

It's unique. And pretty awesome, really. It's just that after eating durian you do NOT want to socialize for the next 24 hours as it causes flatulence and let me tell you, durian gas, Jesus, THAT'S crowd control. Yes durians are one of those food types (much like asparagus) that taints your everything, your pee, your farts, your burps, your soul.

So that's that. I really don't know how else to describe it. I could write a full essay about this (I think I have!) but to understand it all you must try it. Available throughout South East Asia, but you find it in some supermarkets in Australia, probably elsewhere but I've seen it in Australia.. those however must've gone thru some kinda retardation process cos they have no scent at all, and that's no way to experience durians.

Nasi Lemak - +/- $1.50

All over Malaysia.

Pack of joy.

This here is nasi lemak, one of the most popular Malaysian dishes around. I dare say it can qualify as the national dish, if there was such a thing. I mean, it's bad for health, cholesterol, fat, sodium, you name it. Heck even the name literally means "fat rice". Its trademark packaging is in brown paper like the first pic suggests, layered with a banana leaf cutout (on the inside), and depending on the size and content the prices vary from $0.20 to $1.50 on average. If you're paying any more than that, you're getting ripped off.

All laid out.

In its basic form, the contents are fragrant pandan rice, roasted peanuts, dry fried salted anchovies (ikan bilis), slices of cucumber, a hard boiled egg, and sambal. In the 20 cent packs, you get about 4 spoonfuls of rice and little bits of all that i've mentioned. It's more of a teaser than a real meal then. But who's complaining. The "deluxe" way of enjoying nasi lemak, is to include curry and rendang of all sorts. In this entry, I've got beef rendang, curry chicken and sambal in its own bowl.

Before the destruction.

So I like to throw on all my extras and pour on some curry, and that's also how most restaurants would serve it too, if it was a la carte. Since it's all curry and rendang, the closest comparison I know of would be indian food, more specifically indian rice, and as far as that goes, it's not as spicy but I think it's much tastier, and flavourful.

Nasi Goreng Kambing from Rahim's - $1.88

Nasi Goreng Kambing

Nasi Goreng Kambing, or Mutton Fried Rice in english. Nothing special about this dish, it's just fried rice with mutton curry thrown in during the stir frying process. As far as I know, only available from one restaurant in Cyberjaya (Rahim's), but from the process I described, I think any restaurant can whip this up if they have mutton curry ready. It's good (if you like mutton), but I wouldn't say it's something I'd drive out of my way for.