Makanan Malaysian

I love food. I love to eat it, I love to cook it, I love everything about it.

 I think food is the great equaliser. Rich, poor, Muslim,Christian, Atheist, we all need to eat. Some of us feel more passionately about it than others, some people don't really care about what they eat, some people don't really have a choice in what they eat. For some, their religion dictates certain elements of their diet, for others they cant afford a choice. Thankfully I was privileged enough to have an opportunity to travel across the world and document the food I ate on my journey. It was a hefty task, one that I was not always up to, but I made the effort and along the way I think I managed to capture some of the unique culinary experiences that I was privileged to have across 3 countries and many cultures.

Our adventure across the Muslim world started in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur to be exact. And what a place to start, I have to say Malaysia had the best food on the tour, the combination of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures in KL adds up to an incredible diversity of flavours, smells and colours. A diversity to which i applied myself with gusto.

The first thing i had in Malaysia was a "Latte" from Dunkin Donut,  not exactly culturally significant I know, but it was hot and after a long flight just what I needed. Its worth noting  that mass produced American style coffee is vacuous and forgettable wherever you are. Its also worth noting that imported style food costs about the same regardless of where you are, for instance this coffee cost me about 10MR or 3 or 4AUD which is an incredibly hefty amount for a beverage in a country where a bottle of water costs about 1MR. To be honest, i doubt many Malaysians will be buying a Dunkin Donut Latte for breakfast.

 After arriving and settling in I set off with my partner in crime to find some food to soothe my savage hunger. Having never been to KL I had absolutely no idea where to go so we just walked around looking for something enticing. We walked past this place early on , it was grouped along a side street with a number of other stalls. These shops or "warung" are diverse and welcoming but Johno was still a a little tentative and decided he wanted something a little less intimidating. So off we went and he ended up having some kind of hideous KFC breakfast burger that looked like it was soaked in mayo. It was awful of course and I was completely vindicated and I decided to head back to "Warung Halim Tom Yam".

I didn't know it at the time but what we bought from our first stall was the quintessential Malay food "Nasi Lemak". The name translates as fatty rice and refers to the creamy texture of the rice that comes from cooking it in coconut cream. Nasi Lemak is basically rice with a series of curries, fried meat and condiments usually including some kind of seafood. I told the bloke in charge of serving  to load me up and sat down to prepare for the feast.

Not being a massive fan of seafood I went for the Potato Marsala, the lamb curry, the chicken rendang and the curried chicken livers. Now I don't want to offend any of my Malaysian friends but I have yet to be impressed with Nasi Lemak. In my experience the food sits in the bain-marie for way too long and it ends up being overcooked.  Warung Halims was no different, but it was my first Malaysian meal and my enthusiasm made up for its bad preparation. In particular the chicken livers were awful, so tough and rubbery they weren't even edible, but I'm glad I tried them. The rendang was a revelation, the flavours of garlic, chilli and various spices were so incredibly intense that despite it being dry and overcooked it was delicious. The lamb curry was fatty and tough, made from cheap chump chops, but well spiced and tasty. I think I'm going off lamb but that's a different matter altogether that I faced later on in Turkey. The potato curry was southern Indian in style and warung halims  masala hinted at the mild yet warming and tantalising Indian flavours in store for us in KL. All up I think my meal was about 10RM including drinks, the price of Nasi Lemak makes it pretty accessible for most Malays, but I doubt they would accompany it with two juices.

One thing Johno and I both loved was that Juice, apparently freshly squeezed, Orange Juice. I'm not sure it was fresh or entirely orange, it was frothy for a start, and not particularly orange in colour. It was however, delicious. I'm sure it had pineapple or something in it, probably just tropical fruit drink out of a can, but damn it was good. We tried many juices in KL but never again found that flavour. *sighs wistfully*