Khao Kha Mu (Stewed Pork with Rice)

And so, after two months of Malaysian related food postings I’m finally back to posting Thai food recipes :) It feels good to be back and also good that I have a new kitchen to be cooking in. Our new house has a wonderful, newly installed kitchen with space- SPACE! Our last kitchen was tiny and really only practical to have one person in at a time. This new kitchen is a joy to work in- I’m just still having to get to grips with cooking on a ceramic rather than gas hob.
This is a classic Thai comfort dish, pork leg cooked down in a rich spiced broth until it falls apart and served alongside a stewed egg and greens,rice and a tangy dipping sauce to keep your taste buds awake.
For 4 portions use:

• 1 medium/large piece of pork leg (with rind and ideally on the bone) 
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• a handful of torn coriander stalks
• 4 star anise
• a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• a teaspoon of white peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups of meat stock
• 4 eggs
• green leafy vegetables like gai lan, pak choi, choi sum etc.

and for the chilli dip whiz up: 3 red chillies, a clove of garlic, a big splash of rice/white wine vinegar and a tiny splash of water
Pop the meat and all the other ingredients apart from the eggs and greens into a large stock pot and very gently, cook with a lid on for 2 hours- keep an eye on the liquid level.
Pop the eggs into the liquid and let them hard boil along with the meat for a further 30 minutes.

Start to cook your rice at this time too. After, lift the meat out, carefully and throw the veggies in to the broth to boil for 5 minutes or less while you shred the meat and slice the rind.
Plate up rice, veggies, a mix of meat and a little rind and spoon some broth over. Add the dip and a peeled boiled egg, halved.

Ikan Bakar, Kuala Lumpur & Langkawi

Sorry for the massive delay with posting. We’ve recently just bought our first home- in fact it happened a few days after getting back home from Malaysia and ever since things have been a bit hectic!
Here’s the final Malaysia post; the promised Ikan Bakar. I did actually try to do this post about a week ago but Tumblr decided it wasn’t happening and killed the page just before I tried to post.
Our experience of ikan bakar actually happened in two halves. Regrettably as we were shortly to catch a flight back to KL we didn’t have time to eat at the roadside restaurant just next to Langkawi airport where these photos are taken. A few days later, back in Kuala Lumpur, after a bit of research we headed a few stops down the Kelana-Jaya line of the LRT to Dato Keromat station where we found a small local wet market. The Ikan bakar spot we were looking for was Mat Teh Ikan Bakar. We managed to find it fairly easily despite the torrential downpour that was going on as there were huge crowds of people huddled around a smoking grill of banana leaf wrapped fish. After a bit of smiling, gesturing and pointing we had a spot at the shared tables, were slurping on fresh mango juices and watching our fish being grilled (all while trying to keep feet dry!)
We were served a  bowl of rice, a lovely plate of mixed herbs and vegetables and bowls of a fiery tomato dip- very similar to salsa before our fish arrived. We had ordered the ikan pari (stingray) and another fish (a mackeral type) peeled back the smoky banana leaf wrapper and got stuck in.
The fish was incredibly fresh, flaky and very delicate. Both fish had a light marinade that included a lot of turmeric and spices which was still very subtle in taste. The stingray was particularly good- meaty and bone free and it went beautifully with the herbs and spicy dip.
It was a fantastic way to end our food adventures in Malaysia.

Home Cooked Meal from Fox Hill Homestay, Langkawi

On our first night whilst staying at the beautiful homestay resort of Fox Hill in the centre of Langkawi, we were offered the chance to try a traditional Malaysian meal. This was without a doubt, the food highlight of our stay. We headed to the outdoor restaurant/communal area where a candlelit table had been set out for us. We had been hearing all the typical kitchen sounds of stir frying, pounding of spices and deep frying so our anticipation had risen even before we got to the table.
When the food arrived, fresh from the kitchen we were served four different dishes, each beautifully presented; asam (tamarind) prawns which were enormous, some of the biggest prawns i’ve ever seen and were coated in a sweet/sour lacquer of caramelised sauce. There was ayam berempah (spice coated chicken)- this was amazing and I’ve since recreated it; deep fried and crispy but with an exquisite blend flavours from the spices and curry paste. To add greenery and texture there was a tasty pak choi dish stir fried in garlic and to top everything off was the best beef rendang I have had to date, cooked with local beef. It had obviously been cooking down for hours as the meat and collagen fell apart. The sauce was rich, subtly spiced, a little oily and slightly sweet. This feast of Malaysian flavours came in at just 66 MYR (about £11.30).
Many thanks to Maria and her wonderful team at Fox Hill for the stunning food.

Mr Asam Pedas, Restoran 1, Kuah Jetty/Eagle Sq, Langkawi

Well what glorious food we had here thanks to the recommendation of Mark Wiens of Migrationology.com  (click here and go 5 minutes in for his visit to this great restaurant). We’ve been following Mark’s blog for around two years now and when we saw  he was in Langkawi just a week before we got there, we were very excited to see where he would eat and what recommendations he would choose. He certainly didn’t go wrong with Mr Asam Pedas.
We found the restaurant almost by chance actually, we’d come into Kuah, Langkawi’s main town just to do a bit of shopping and to see Eagle Square. When it started raining (and it was lunch time anyway) we spotted a quiet, modern brick built food court at the far side of Eagle Square. It was very quiet with just a couple of other people on their lunch break inside the open air dining area.
Mr quickly recognised Mr Asam Pedas from Mark’s Youtube video and quickly knew what we were having for lunch. Mr Asam Pedas serves only two dishes, so we went for one of each. The red dish is the asam pedas (spicy tamarind) and the yellowy/green one is masak lemak cili padi (rich, cooked, hot chilli). Both dishes were made to order and came with chunky slices of tuna steak on the bone. They were served with a beautiful array of fresh herbs, cucumber, egg, spicy sauce ( a bit like a salsa), prawn crackers and steamed rice with crispy shallots on top.


I don’t know whether these dishes are local to Langkawi or Northern Malaysia or not but they certainly shared a lot of common ingredients with Thai food and similar taste profiles too.

Both dishes were outstanding- the asam pedas was sour, spicy, fresh tasting and well balanced while the masak lemak cili padi was beautifully fragrant, comforting, refreshingly sour but with a little sweetness from the coconut milk broth. Mr Asam Pedas himself was also very friendly and welcoming too!
If you’re in Langkawi, definitely make a lunchtime visit here!