Malaysian Food

Food is a very important part of experiencing any new culture. It might also be my favorite. Malaysian food is a very delicious combination of Chinese, Malay, and Indian. As you can probably imagine, I have had many types of noodles: beehoon, kuay teow, mee, etc. and lots of steamed rice with different things mixed in. They also combine many kinds of protein into their dishes including chicken, egg, pork, fish and their favorite, prawns (which I try to avoid due to allergy). Note, beef is difficult to come by here and the locals look at me weird when I eat fruit for breakfast. Apparently fruit functions more like a dessert here, reserved for afternoon or evening meals. But, there is such amazing tropical fruits here, I want at least one at every meal! In sum, I have been known to eat rice three times a day....as milk and cereal is not a proper breakfast. And, there have been days where I have eaten 8 times a day, as either everyone is a very good host or I appear to be starving!

My favorites are Baku Kut Teh and Ice Kacang. Others that Penang is famous for is the Char Kuay Teow and Laksa. Here are some pictures:

Baku Kut Teh: Its a herb-based soup includes black tea with pork and vegetables. There are pork ribs but also pork inners too! The vegetables from what I can gather is cabbage and some root vegetable. It is served with tofu, pork floss on lettuce, fried Chinese dough (I forgot the name of that), and of course steamed rice! Note, I am eating with fork and spoon, everyone else with chopsticks.  The various drinks pictured are nutmeg juice, Chrysanthemum tea and 100 plus (the gatorade equivalent in a can). 

Ice Kacang: Shaved ice with syrup covered with green and black gelatinous stuff that is the inside of palm tree (?), red beans, corn, various nuts and most importantly topped with ice cream. The one pictured above is the best one in town.....so far. Auntie Ai Hwa took me here my first day and no other place is the same. 

For those who prefer Chendul over ice kacang: It is shaved ice with brown sugar and coconut milk instead of red syrup topped with red beans and the gelatinous stuff. 

We went to an Indian place for lunch. It is Southern Indian food because it is eaten on a banana leaf, traditionally with hands, although I chose fork and spoon. There is rice with two types of curry (watch out for the hot and spicy), lettuce, really good cabbage mixture, eggplant and ginger. They served these tortilla like chips instead of nan. Apparently, nan is a Northern Indian food. My drink was a Mango liquid yogurt.

Traditional Nyonya meal that I had with Auntie Ai Hwa. It is the Chinese and Malay culture merged together. My understanding is the curry is Malay while the Otak, coconut milk and fish is Chinese. 

Penang's famous for Char Kuay Teow. It is fried noodles with chicken, egg, and sausage and some added flavor with spices.


And where do you find this food? At the local coffee shops that feature local hawkers (street food).

Here is the new coffee shop in downtown, on my way home from the hospital. It is open-air stalls with plastic furniture in a circle. Along the outside are street food carts that make every local type of food you can imagine....Wan tan Mee, Chicken and Rice, Hokkien mee, Char Kuay Teow, Western food (an interesting version of Chicken Fried Steak and Fries), etc.

Apparently, the local two story supermarket, similar to a Walmart (with an moving walkway to the second level) has dried herb packages that you can buy. This will probably be the closest I can get to the real stuff, and it will give you all a bit of the taste of the culture!