A Deliberation On Malaysian Cuisine...

An idea cropped about when I was in a heated debate with a beloved cousin sister of mine on Facebook messenger on the merits of Malaysian food, dishes, delicacies as compared to the rest of the world. Okay, I made that up, there was no heated debate with Vithiyasri…we are too close for that. But we sort of agreed that as Malaysians it is only natural that we love our gourmet outputs.

My favourite...will get emotional talking about it...

However, at the same time, we also noted that the food culture here is very much unlike anywhere in the world. Now, look, if you walk into any food court, you will get the sort of varieties that you are not going to get in a similar setup, say in, Los Angeles, let alone Timbuktu (for the worst comparison everyone uses Timbuktu…I hope things are good in Timbuktu…because I can imagine the PR team working hard to repair the country’s image…probably calling themselves Team Book Two….haha..you know, second chance…reboot…hmm…well, I shut up).

But, as the Indian superstar (now Global superstar, lick it, RDJ), would say, “bro, this is mere trailer (sounds better in Tamil, “kannA ithu verum trailer…”….let us also note that the curries itself has snaked its way out of the Indian cuisine basket and went into the Malay pot and Chinese wok, and we have Malay styled “gulai” and Chinese styled milky curry.

And the Indians make their own version of non-sweet Sambal-ed Nasi Lemak and Chinese too have their own version to boot, non-halal type. And I have not even started talking about the Nyonya cuisine, brothers and sisters...you have been warned...

So, should we be arrogant about our dishes, meals, cuisines, gourmet mouth waterers that can be even found by the street side? You betcha.

Walk into any cafes you can see the Western dishes proliferating. There are restaurants especially in Klang Valley that are dedicated to dishes from various nationalities, specialities, that is. You want steak and anything western, take a look at this list. You have a stomach for Japanese dish, and why not go through these restaurants. Hey, there are even Mongolian restaurants that are not owned by a certain ex-PM, listed here.  

But let us come back to just Malaysian dishes. I would like you sceptics to take a look at this list from CNN nevertheless, and evaluate yourself the varieties, that would make the café of any Star Trek Star Fleet canteens green with envy…unless they are not Martian. Here’s the link.

And then, there is this issue concerning Malaysian versus Singapore, our friendly neighbour (that had to keep their courtesy campaign going from the 1979 and was so “successful” that its mascot resigned. A mascot resigned)

This is my complaint to my cousin, I reproduce here in verbatim what I wrote in the Messenger:

“....Singapore sure has varieties.  But... but... you get the same bloody taste everywhere.  I am talking about food court dishes here.  Even the mamak fried stuff.  Only the curries and stuff are different from one place to the other.

.”..wherelse,  in Malaysia,  all have their own thumbprint... that's why we can get into fights over who has the best wan tan Mee or which roadside stall has best goreng pisang.  And the taste changes and we whine,  complain and bitch about it till someone intrudes and reveals another location where an obscure stall sells brilliant kuih lopis ....not lapis,  this will generate another near bloodshed arguments... That's why,  here the awesomeness of food is unparalleled. “

I purposely chose this pix of Kuih Lopis, as how it was supposed
to be eaten. Pix courtesy of Cerita Kak Z blog.

Did you see that? “lopis” and “lapis” is only one letter apart, and yet the deliciousness is million tastymeter apart, awesome in their own ways. Damn, I am crazy about Kuih Lopis.

Speaking of kuih, growing up in the plantation, there was a period of time when my mother made and sold these delicacies. Selfishly, as kids we wished that they don’t sell all so that we can have some as well. Hey, we were kids, I feel bad now, wish I had helped her to “market” it. But the love for those delicacies was firmly instilled and till today when I walk into any of the stalls selling them, I would get greedy and buy as many needed to enlarge my belly tenfold.

But I am going off the topic. What makes Malaysian cuisine amazing is, you don’t get the same stuff anywhere. If you enjoyed a chicken curry in this restaurant, you may get something even more awesome towards the end of the road, in a stall.

If you had enjoyed the Roti Chanai in one Mamak stall, beware, a Malay restaurant in the next town has something even more magnificent complete with side dishes that are not Mamak but…come on, have you guys tried Roti Chanai with northern styled beef rendang? Huh? Huh?

And I have not even started talking about east Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak where the dishes can go to awesome to the extreme.

So, there you have it. In just less than a thousand words these are all I can say about the awesomeness of Malaysian food. You can’t argue because let's face it, even an average Malaysian has not even tried 30 per cent of the dishes here. I merely scratched the surface, as far as the discussion is concerned. Verum trailer, kannA….just a trailer…

And, sure, there are more to try, to relish, to indulge, to satisfy our poor overworked gut, and don’t look at me, I have eaten monitor lizard curry and pangolin pirattal. Have you?