Travel Eats: Little Thai with Big Flavor

Posted on October 19, 2011

Every couple of months I treat my staff to a thank-you-for-all-your-hard-work lunch. The only rules that apply are that we try something new every time, and go as local as we can here in Kuala Lumpur. Our latest spot was Little Thai hawker stall at Restoran Hari Hari Datang food court (Everyday Restaurants in English), where we joined about 100 other hungry people for lunch.

At Little Thai, three gulf-enflamed woks were manned by a competent Thai chef, a young attractive woman who shared with me some, but not all, of her cooking secrets. I stood by her stove and watched as she and her assistant prepared our meal.

Dish #1: A spicy green chicken curry with a luscious base of fresh coconut milk infused with lemongrass, kefir lime leaves, and chilies. Poetry!

Dish #2: A green papaya salad, made in a typical wooden, mortar-and-pestle-style Thai salad bowl. The dressing, a perfectly tart-sweet concoction, brought out the flavors of  the shredded green papaya, carrots, and green beans.  Peanuts and chilies dusted the top.

Dish #3: Chicken with bits of lemongrass in a light sauce was perfectly seasoned. The secret here is that the chicken was parboiled so the stir-frying literally took two minutes. When I asked about the sauce the answer was, “It’s a regular sauce.”

Dish #4: Green curry rice with shrimp, squid, and lots of aromatic fresh Thai basil, kefir lime leaves, and scallions. The perfect meal-in-one.

Dish #5: Pad Thai with shrimp, eggs, tofu, and little mounds of dried crushed chilies, peanuts, and fresh bean sprouts. The only thing missing was a wedge of lime.

From another stall we ordered calamansi juice with whole sour plums, a refreshing blend of sweet and tart. For dessert, I had to try  the peanut-sesame brittle from a nearby Chinese stall.

As we were enjoying our meal, we bumped into the air conditioning maintenance crew who services my home (a funny what-are-you-doing-here moment), and the embassy’s upholsterer, responsible for all of the lovely pillows on my couches. Running into these people at the local watering hole was the first time since moving to KL a year ago, that I felt like I was part of a neighborhood.

The total cost of our incredible lunch for five was 80 RM, about 30 dollars. Impossible to find anywhere else on earth, except maybe in Bangkok. Little Thai is open for lunch and dinner, everyday except Sunday. They do take-out, too. The address is the crossroad between Jalan Ulu Klang and Jalan Ampang below the MMR2 fly-over near Ampang Hilir Lake.

More about , ,

Travel Eats: Lunch at Dharma Realm Buddhist Temple

Posted on October 13, 2011

Tucked away in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, amidst the crazy traffic and city hubbub, is a bastion of tranquility, a peaceful Chinese temple called Dharma Realm Buddhist Temple, http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298570-d1798598-Reviews-Dharma_Realm_Guan_Yin_Sagely_Monastery_Canteen-Kuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan.html

People from all walks of life come here to light incense, meditate, pray…

and to enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch.

It’s an endless array of tofu, rice, noodles, and vegetables, each made with a Chinese, Malaysian, or Indian twist.

It’s a place where the food is harvested from private fields and prepared with love,

and signs are posted to remind us not to waste.

A special aura hangs over this temple. The din from chatter as hundreds of people eat and talk at communal tables is peaceful, not noisy and distracting.

People clear their own plates with a smile.

And the gentle trickle of a waterfall bids you goodbye.

More about ,

Travel Eats: Hoe Kee Chicken Rice

Posted on September 8, 2011

The other day I was organizing the millions of photos in my computer. A daunting, frustrating, head-ache-inducing task most of you are undoubtedly familiar with. The majority of my images involve food, and many are from my travels. As I clicked and dragged endless photos across my screen, it dawned on me to share some of these images in my blog…so, in addition to Homemade Rocks! and all my other tips and recipes, I will now throw in some stories about my far-away  food adventures.

I’m launching this series with something fun and light: a trip to Melaka, about two hours by car from Kuala Lumpur. On my last visit to this once-bustling trading port and melting pot of Malay, Chinese, Indians, and Europeans, I was told by numerous friends to sample all the food I could, but not to miss the rice balls with chicken. “Meleka is famous for its rice balls,” seemed to be everyone’s mantra. After exploring the city’s historical sights and numerous museums, we stumbled upon a rice ball restaurant called Hoe Kee Chicken Rice. The long queue at the entrance was what initially drew me to the joint. As my family was getting closer to being seated, I spotted a blue sign taped to the window. I photographed it because: 1) it’s amusing; and 2) because signs like this remind me of a wonderful first trip I took with my husband to Santorini, Greece, where we were sitting in a restaurant overlooking the sparkling sea, giggling at the menu that read, “eggpants” with “bear.” We still call eggplant eggpants.

The menu was short: “Chicken rice, vegetable, chicken, soup, Assam fish (a fish head curry they are famous for), drinks, coconut/beer, and pack.” I’m still wondering what pack is. We ordered the rice balls, a couple portions of chicken, which came with fresh cucumber, and some sauteed cabbage. Lunch at Hoe Kee was what I’d called simple, cheap, good Asian grub. Yes, I’d go back for more, and in case you find yourself in Melaka, the address is 4 Jalan Hang Jebat.

More about ,

Ramadan Food Market in Terengganu, Malaysia

Posted on September 4, 2011

Ramadan Market in Dungun, Terengganu, August 2011

I’ve been living in Kuala Lumpur for about a year now and I’m finally beginning to grasp the food scene. It’s overwhelming is all I can say. When I first arrived, I’d have Chinese food and someone would call it Malaysian, the same thing with Indian food, and of course, Malay. I kept asking everyone I met: “Okay…so, what exactly is Malaysian food?” The most common answer was a mix of all these foods, slightly transformed from their native sources. Anyway, long story short, I’ve coined Malaysia the food Mecca of Southeast Asia, and as a food writer, I feel lucky to be spending some time here.

Ramadan Market Scene

Sweet Foods to Break the Fast

I’m an insanely curious person by nature, so when presented with all of these different  Malaysian foods, I had to learn about them. I’ve been taking Indian cooking lessons, so my confidence in that cuisine has sky rocketed. My Indian spice rack has become my friend, not a confusing array of bottles and small packets. I’ve even started making my own paneer.

Chicken Cooked in Clay Pots

Nasi Lemak

I have a Chinese cook at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence; she’s been there more than twenty years. We’ve been having a veritable food fest in the kitchen…I teach her western and she returns the favor with Chinese. She’s the Chinese grandmother everyone should have: sweet, charming, nurturing, and she loves to please people with food. The first time she made her Peking duck with pancakes I nearly wept. It was almost as good as Da Dong’s in Beijing.

Making Chicken Wrapped in a Flaky Dough

Mortabak Cooking

This leaves the third chunk of the food puzzle: Malay food. I’ve tried some traditionally Malay dishes in the past year, in restaurants here and there, but it was still quite elusive until I ventured to the Ramadan Market (called bazaar Ramadan or pasar Ramadan) in Terengganu, about a five-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur, last week. I got a glimpse of Malay food in all its glory. It was a visual and olfactory feast—a state of nirvana for a food junkie like me. I honestly could not imagine being there on an empty stomach, which was exactly the state of everyone else around me.

Squid in Banana Leaves

Fish Sausages Waited to be Fried

During the holy month of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting from dawn until dusk (including all food and drink, water, too), markets start to pop up in cities across Malaysia in the late afternoon, around three. They cater mostly to the Muslim crowd, who eat voraciously after dusk, and to anyone else who wants some really good Malay dishes for dinner. But because it’s Ramadan, it’s the only food market I’ve been to (and I’ve been to many, from Zaire to Macedonia) where no one is eating. No one. I wanted to try everything, but there was no way I was about to dig into a mountain of food knowing everyone else was hungry. By six thirty, most of the stalls were sold out. People were heading home with all of their goodies in plastic bags to dine together at their family tables.

Rice Cakes in Bamboo

Making Fresh Sugar Cane Juice

I am happy to report that at the market, I did recognize some things being sold: grilled marinated chicken, nasi biryani (fried rice with meat), nasi lemak (rice topped with garnishes, including fried anchovies, peanuts, eggs, shrimp paste, etc), laksa (spicy noodle soup) popia (spring rolls), fish sausages, mortabak (a flaky dough, called roti canai, filled with curried chicken and onions), squid or fish cooked in banana leaves, dry beef and chicken curry, barbecued fish and chicken, chicken cooked in a clay pot, and the list goes on. I’ve still got a lot to learn.

My kids instantly recognized the KFC-like fried chicken and French fries…gourmet globalization at its worst. My husband patiently stood in line to buy me a bag of freshly pressed sugar cane juice. Enjoy this photo essay. It’s an adventure I won’t soon forget.

Sweet Drinks in Bags

More about

Dumpling Bliss at Din Tai Fung

Posted on August 24, 2011

Being a food writer living in Kuala Lumpur has one very serious advantage: fantastic food can be found everywhere!

When people ask me how I’m enjoying my life overseas, I tell them I’m in food paradise. I often think I should just post photos of what I eat on a daily basis. People would be shocked at the variety and sheer deliciousness. It’s incredible really: Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Western…you name it, it’s all here. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough hours in the day for all the posts I’d like to write, but I would like to share one special dumpling experience at Din Tai Fung http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/index.asp.

Now, Din Tai Fung is no ordinary dumpling joint…it was voted one of the  Top 10 Restaurants in the World by the New York Times AND it has been awarded 1 Michelin Star. How’s that for impressive! Let me say…all of these accolades, and fabulous reviews, are well deserved.

The dumplings are made to order by a crew of white-clad chefs, who work behind a glass window at the front of the restaurant. The dough for each dumpling is measured on a scale guaranteeing the perfect thinness that gives these dumplings their ethereal quality. The steamed morsel arrive at the table in bamboo steamer baskets, resting on a wet cloth underneath the lid. The first bite will send you into a state of nirvana…the fillings, from pork and chicken to truffles and shrimp, are delicate and tasty, not hard and meaty like inferior versions. From our choices below,  you’ll see that we indulged in a serious feast. By the end, I was in a dumpling coma…a very nice place to be.

  • Pork Xiao Long Bao/Dumplings: the best pork dumplings on this planet
  • Chicken Xiao Long Bao/Dumplings: the best chicken dumplings on this planet, too
  • Truffle Xiao Long Bao (yes, real truffles): a heady treat if you love truffles like I do
  • Shrimp Pork Dumplings: always a winner
  • Spicy Shrimp Pork Wonton: one of my favorite dishes, a soft dumplings in a spicy sauce dusted with scallions
  • Fragrant Spring Onion Noodles: wonderful noodle dish with pork and spring onions
  • Hot and Sour Soup: well balanced flavors and textures…I added a bit more spice
  • Baby Green Beans with Minced Pork: a lovely and flavorful way to eat green beans
  • Thousand Layer Cake: this steamed cake was a bit bland, but dipped in black sesame sauce and condensed milk it was yummy
  • Mini sesame buns: surprisingly good flavor of sesame paste in the middle
  • Chilled Mango Pudding: good but not incredible, was hoping for something a bit less jello-ee
  • Yam Paste with Gingko: delicious purplish yam sauce with ginko resting on top
  • A Pot of Jasmine Tea: perfect beverage to go with every dish

More about ,

Essential Tips for Measuring Wet, Dry, and Sticky Ingredients

Posted on August 23, 2011

There is an art to measuring, and it can make the difference between a beautiful cupcake and a hocky puck. Some simple tricks will ease the cooking and/or baking process and keep clean-up to a minimum as well.

Choose the proper measuring utensils. Use plastic or metal stacked cups for measuring dry ingredients. Why? Because these cups are designed to allow the cook to level off the ingredients by running a flat edge across the top. Liquids are hard to measure in these cups because everyone tends to leave a bit of space at the top to avoid spills. Sometimes this space can throw a recipe off by up to 1/4 cup of liquid.

Measure all liquids, thin or thick, in a Pyrex measuring cup. Look at the fill line at eye level to make sure the measurement is accurate.

Choose the proper method to measure flour according to how the flour is called for in the recipe. The difference in weight can be up to 1 ounce, which has a huge effect on the outcome of the recipe.

1 cup all-purpose flour: Dip the measuring cup into the flour and sweep the top.

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour or cake flour: Place the measuring cup on a piece of parchment paper (or something to catch the extra flour) and sift the flour directly into the cup. Return the stray flour to the flour container.

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted: Dip the measuring cup into the flour, sweep the top, and then sift the flour.

Measuring butter in the stick form can yield erratic results. Oftentimes the wrapper is not perfectly placed on the stick of butter so the tablespoon marks are off. The best way to get an accurate measurement is to mark the midpoint of the stick and then mark the midpoint of each half, and then each quarter. One stick will yield 8 tabelspoons…and each tablespoon is equal to ½ ounce.

When measuring sticky ingredients like honey, molasses, or syrup, spray the cup with nonstick cooking spray before filling it. The substance will slip right out of the cup.

Brown sugar is often written in recipes as packed or lightly packed, the difference being up to 2 ounces. Brown sugar can be packed by hand, with the back of a spoon, or with the bottom of a smaller measuring cup.

Measuring peanut butter, or any other tacky, messy substance can be a challenge. I like to line my measuring cup with plastic wrap and then fill it. I simply lift out the wrap and dump the ingredient into the bowl. No gooey mess to clean. Hooray!

More about , ,

Lobster Roll Bliss

Posted on July 27, 2011

One of my favorite things about summer is the lobster roll. The soft white bun should be lightly toasted or grilled on the outside, the lobster salad kept simple with a bit of celery for crunch, a handful of Lay’s Classic potato chips (the ones in the yellow bag) on the side…and a slice of sweet watermelon for dessert. This year I got my fix in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, at Kimball Farm http://www.kimballfarm.com/, a hoppin ice cream stall and grill, voted by my family to serve the “best waffle fries in NH.”

More about ,

Happy Mother’s Day to Moms Everywhere!

Posted on May 5, 2011

A very Happy Mother’s Day to mothers everywhere, especially my own! This stunning arrangement was on the dining room table of the Japanese Ambassador’s home in Malaysia…I particularly love the woven fronds. The ambassador’s wife, Yoko, was hosting a coffee to celebrate the Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri), a day Japanese families pray for the growth and happiness of the young girls in their households. Dolls of the emperor, empress, court ladies, and attendants, dressed  in the flamboyant robes of the Heian Court, are are traditionally displayed on a tiered shelf with the emperor and empress at the top. This festival is also called the Peach Festival (Momo no Sekku) because March is the season of peach blossoms, symbolizing vitality, eternal youth, and peace.

On Mother’s Day this year, I would especially like to honor the grandmothers and mothers of Japan for their courage, strength, and perseverance in what must be some of the most difficult days of their lives. They continuously inspire me.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.
A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

More about

Two-Star Michelin Chef Curtis Duffy Comes to KL…and Brings Some Unique Flavors of America!

Posted on May 2, 2011

What happens when a two-star Michelin chef from Chicago comes to town as part of an event called, “The Best of America,” held at the Hilton KL? He brings good things! At a cooking demo followed by a lunch, a lucky group of 30 learned how to make this olive oil poached salmon. Duffy seals the raw salmon with the oil in a bag using the sous-vide method, then he poaches it for 45 minutes at 118 degrees F. The finished fish, of a buttery yet firm texture, is combined with the flavor of licorice coming from lacy strips of fennel bulbs and a fennel leaf emulsion. A mustard vinaigrette, chopped black olives, red sorrel leaves, anise hyssop, sweet cicely leaves and fennel blooms round out the rest of the flavors. The accompaniment: a smattering of airy, crisp crackers made from tapioca flour, akin to rice crackers. Salmon and fennel are two of my favorite foods…so I truly enjoyed this dish and its fresh, green, spring-like presentation.

Soup followed…a healthy, earthy combination of barley and quinoa enveloped in veil of amaranth, moistened with a toasted sunflower seed consomme. At Duffy’s cooking demo, I learned that there are 12 garnishes in that dish, yes, twelve! Sultanas, caramelized pearl onions, puffed amaranth, fried sunflower seeds, sunflower sprouts, burgundy amaranth, quails grass, chive tops, chive blossoms, lemon balm, sweet woodruff, and Queen Anne’s lace. Let’s here it for fresh herbs!  Duffy described the flavor profile as earthy, nutty, and dark, with raisins and onions for sweetness, and the lemon balm to lighten and highlight.

I’ve never come across a palate cleanser quite like this before: liquid sudachi (a small, green Japanese citrus fruit described as a mandarin hybrid with a tangy grapefruit-like flavor) wrapped in coco butter and white chocolate with nepitella mint resting on a bed of super fine sugar. These white balls came with an official warning from the chef and waiter: put it in your mouth and keep your mouth closed. Why? Because the perfectly tart liquid center squirts out like a geyser. At the cooking demo, we learned how to make these lovely balls…I will give it a try someday.

Finally, this sinful dessert reminds me of the game Candyland. Strings of chocolate Manjari ganache form a checkered path along which one might fall into a pool of caramel spiked with cassia buds, puddles of blueberry and lemon puree, a sand pit of brown butter powder, or hit a rock of cocoa. Mountains of hazelnut financiers are buried under the winding path, one of them topped with a quenelle of mandarin ice cream garnished with dill, banana mint, and candied rind. All I can say is, Wow! I’ve never experienced so many flavor combinations on one dessert plate. The chocolate rush was so intense I felt like a kid again.

As part of Duffy’s gastronomic program he also prepared a six-course dinner, including all of these delicious dishes plus…sea urchin with rhubarb, hojo santa and hyssop bloom (excellent flavor combo); Nantucket bay scallops with romaine lettuce marmalade and white poppy seed milk (okay, the milk was a little too funky for me); and grilled Wagyu beef ribeye with smoked coconut pudding, yuzu puree, preserved kumquats with African blue basil (really nice, even if I’m not a red meat eater…my husband loved it).

During an interview, when I asked Duffy to describe his cuisine, he said, “thoughtful-progressive.” He’s right on both counts. I predict a third star will come his way someday.

More about , , , , ,

Tasting Spoons, etc.

Posted on April 27, 2011

No more rummaging through drawers looking for a spoon while trying to stir what’s on the stove. Keep your tasting spoons and forks on the counter within easy reach. I have 4 of these stainless steel containers from Ikea…one for utensils and measuring spoons, another for wooden spoons and chopsticks, a third for ladles, spatulas, etc, and the last one for misc stuff. It works for me…give it a try.

More about ,

Older Posts »