Nasi Goreng Kampung (Malaysian Fried Rice- Village Style)

I mentioned a while back that I may from time to time, post a non Thai recipe so hope it's okay that today I'm making a short hop over the border into Malaysia. Some of you may remember I went on holiday for a few weeks last year to Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi where I spent as much time as possible eating my way through dishes from all the cultures that call Malaysia home. 

My husband and I particularly enjoyed the simple rice dishes that we ate for breakfast, such as nasi lemak and this one; nasi goreng kampung (village style fried rice). Although it looks quite a straightforward dish it's full of very strong flavours; notably salty, fishy and spicy ones. Treat yourself and top your portion off with a freshly cooked crisp fried egg.

For 4 large portions use:

• A large bowl of cold, pre cooked rice
• a large bunch of morning glory (water spinach) cut into 2 inch pieces
• a handful of green beans, cut into small pieces
• 2 large handfuls of dried crispy anchovies (1 handful finely chopped, 1 left whole)
• 4 red chillies, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• a big glug of light soy sauce
• a big squeeze of kecap manis (sweet, dark, thick soy sauce)
• vegetable oil for frying

In a deep wok, heat the oil until hot and fry the onion, garlic and chillies until they have some colour (about 2 minutes). 

Stir fry in the handful of chopped anchovies and green beans (open a window/put on the extractor!), frying for a minute before moving the ingredients to the side of the wok and pouring in the beaten egg. 

Let the egg begin to set before lightly scrambling. Let it set again, scramble, set, scramble until fully cooked and mix all the ingredients back together. 

Throw in the morning glory, briefly stir frying for a minute before carefully tipping all the rice in.

Pour over the sauces and gently toss and mix all the ingredients, making sure all the rice is well coated and heated through. 

Have a taste to see if it needs any more sauce and plate up, sprinkling the other handful of dried fish over the steaming rice.

Roti Mataba (Folded Pancake)

Roti Mataba is the name used in Thailand whilst in Malaysia they are known as Roti Murtabak. Roti are found mainly in the south of Thailand, near the Malay border where there is a larger Muslim population.


Unlike a UK pancake (which is made from a batter), roti are made from dough, rolled out incredibly thin and pan fried to create a flaky, chewy flat bread. Really skilled cooks will stretch and slap the dough out until it becomes paper thin but this is very difficult and not totally necessary!


Roti Mataba are made in two parts- the curried chicken filling (though you could vary this with pretty much any meat/vegetable/egg/sweet filling) and then the enriched dough.

They are absolutely delicious and well worth taking the time to make (and eat them).
For 5 rotis (a snack for 2 people or main meal if served with another dish) use:
Dough-

• 450g plain (all purpose) flour
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup water
• 25ml milk
• a dessertspoon of sugar
• pinch salt
• vegetable oil for coating

Filling-

• 3 skinless chicken thighs/1 breast, chopped into small cubes
• 1 beaten egg
• 4 shallots/ half red onion, very finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 red Thai chillies, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed, ground
• 2 teaspoons coriander seed, ground
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• pinch chilli flakes
• pinch salt
• small splash of vegetable oil

The dough needs to be started at least 2 hours before you plan on making and eating the mataba. In a bowl sift flour, salt and sugar. Mix in the beaten egg and milk and slowly add in the water- you may not need the whole cup of water. The dough shouldn’t be wet but it certainly doesn’t want to be dry. Knead it well on a floured surface until it feels soft and springy. Pop it back in the bowl, covered and leave it for at least an hour while you make the filling.
For the filling, heat the oil in a pan, when it’s hot add in the shallots/onion and fry until they have some colour. Add in the garlic and chicken (or whatever meat/veggies you’re using), toss in the spices, salt and chillies, frying briefly before pouring in the egg and scrambling it into the mixture. Once cooked, it can be left to cool until the dough is ready.
Back to the dough again. Briefly knead before cutting and rolling into golf ball sized pieces. Coat each ball with vegetable oil, cover with cling film and leave them for a further hour.
After an hour, roll each ball as flat as you can manage- the oil will stop it from sticking. Heat a large flat frying pan and add a small dribble of oil. Working quickly, place a flattened piece of dough in the pan and it will start to cook straight away. Place a heaped tablespoon of the filling mix into the centre of the roti and fold in the sides, top and bottom to cover. Flip the roti parcel over to cook (and somewhat seal) the edges. Each roti takes about 2 minutes to cook. Add and small drizzle of oil between each one
Cut in half to serve and serve alongside a cucumber pickle or simply a few slices of cucumber.

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!

Grilled fish from the Ikan Bakar restaurant near Langkawi airport- amazing smoky smells from the huge grill. Full post coming soon about the experience!

 

Night Market (Pasar Malam) Food Stalls, Padang Matsirat, Langkawi
We spent 3 days on the island of Langkawi. The night markets take place every night at a different spot round the island. For the princely sum of £3 we came away with carrier bags stuffed full of hot snacks, stir fried noodles, sweet pastries, spicy salads and fruit. Heaven!

Preparing young coconut for sale at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Making coconut milk at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Biryani at Hamza Bistro, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur

If ever there was a lesson in writing things down at the time, this would be it. It’s two weeks since our visit to this Indian cafe in Brickfields and I have literally just spent 2 hours searching Streetview, 4square, tripadvisor etc. for this bloody place! I eventually found it via Facebook by identifying the colour of the tables!
I now know it’s a new place, having opened in March and hasn’t made it’s way onto Google as yet. Here’s the link to the FB page though- Restoran Hamza Bistro.
We ate mutton biryani which was served with poppadom, pickle and some sauces. The biryani was perfect, lightly spiced, not too oily (I avoid eating oily food where possible) whilst the mutton was rich and tender. Some sweet elements came from the sultanas, creating a nice balance and the lightly pickled crunchy vegetables provided contrast in both taste and texture. I was less keen on the lime syrup drink, which somehow I managed to inhale (not recommended!!). The plastic trays, known as thali are on my purchase list- we ate off them regularly in Malaysia.
We ended up here at the recommendation of Kerry, our guide for our photo tour of Pudu Market and also an impromptu trip to Brickfields (also known as Little India). Hopefully you’ve liked seeing some of my images of Pudu market over the last few days. I’ve spared you some of the grislier ones such as heaps of chicken feet being ‘manicured’ and half pigs heads. That aside, it gave us a fantastic opportunity to see a real market at work and people going about their daily lives. We also had the chance to go inside a working Hindu temple dedicated to Hanuman and then go behind the scenes to see craftsmen at work, carving, moulding and painting the new extension to the temple. Hearing music, we popped outside and witnessed the consecration ceremony for the breaking of the ground as the first pillar was driven into the soil for a further temple extension, complete with sacred cows.

An emotive picture; shark for sale at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh leafy vegetables at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Pungent dried squid at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Crates of limes at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh fish at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh mangoes, dragon fruit and rambutan at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh blocks of tofu at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Lady selling petai/sator (stink beans) at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fiery chillies by the crate and long beans at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh rhizomes, herbs and beautiful torch ginger at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!