Table of Contents for Malaysia I
Malaysia has an advantageous geographic position, as far as food influences go. For the last many centuries, travelers going north and south have used the peninsula to travel from China and Indochina to Indonesia and beyond. Those traders and travelers going east-west have had to deal with this long reach of land in their road. So they stopped, traded and in some cases established families and outposts.
That led to the exchange of cooking styles and tastes.
India and China are two major influences. As is, surprisingly, Portuguese cooking.
What’s not so surprising is the variety of spices and chiles that get used! That, and the amount of seafood in the Malaysian diet. With that in mind, I’ve posted a couple of recipes that are decidedly Malay in style:
The curry paste goes well with anything seafood. You can adjust the heat of the curry itself by choosing hotter or milder chiles, and more or less of them. But there’s not a lot of range there. It’s better, in my opinion, to adjust the heat factor “at the dish” by changing the amount of paste you use in the final curry.
Mee Goreng is a wonderful, zesty conglomeration of curry spices, chiles, tomato flavors and noodles. This seafood and chicken version is easy to fix, and very fast. Pork or beef can be used, as can bits of white fish. It’s a universal dish, combining the spices of India and the chiles of Portugal with the noodles of China. I believe you’ll find it very enjoyable!
It’s Hotter in the (Malaysian) Underground!
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