Malaysian

Ramly Burger

Serves: 2

Ingredients:
300g beef or chicken mince
1 TBSP light soya sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 TSP paprika powder
Maggi Seasoning Sauce, OPTIONAL
2 large soft burger buns
Soften butter, or margarine
½ brown onion, thinly sliced
2 extra large eggs
Iceberg lettuce, torn into medium-sized pieces
Cucumber, peeled and sliced
Tomato, sliced
Chilli sauce
Mayonnaise

Seasoning Mix:
½ TSP chilli powder
½ TSP white pepper powder
Pinch of MSG, optional (sub. Salt)

Optional Extras:
Cheese slices
Black Pepper Sauce

Method:

  1. In a mixing bowl, add the minced meat, soya sauce, crushed garlic, paprika, and a few dashes of Maggi Seasoning Sauce (if using). Mix until the seasonings are thoroughly combined. Set aside.
  2. Combine the seasoning mix in a shaker or bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs together.
  4. Spread the softened butter/margarine on the burger buns.
  5. Form your prepared mince into thin patties.
  6. Place a large heavy-based non-stick frying pan on a medium heat.
  7. Add some butter and sauté the onions till soft, set aside.
  8. Place the burger buns cut-side down, fry until golden.
  9. Add a bit more butter/margarine to the pan, then add the meat patties
  10. As they cook, lightly season both sides of the patties with the seasoning mix, plus a couple of dashes of Maggi Seasoning Sauce. Place the cooked patties aside.
  11. Add a bit more butter/margarine to the pan, then spread half the beaten eggs around the pan (it needs to be large enough to envelope the patty). Cook for 30 seconds, then place the patty in the centre. Top with the sautéed onions and cheese, if using. Now, fold over the egg so you form a parcel around the patty/onions/cheese.
  12. Place the burger on the toasted bun, along with lashings of chilli sauce, mayo, and black pepper sauce (if using). Top with cucumber, tomato, and lettuce.
  13. Served immediately, or for a truly Ramly Burger take-away experience, leave the burgers wrapped in wax paper for 10 minutes before eating.

Kacang Phool

Serves: 4

200g minced/grounded beef, optional
2 cans beans (mixed beans, haricot, butterbeans, kidney beans, even rinsed baked beans)
2 tbsp ghee, or use butter/vegetable oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 eggs, fried

Spice Paste:
1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp fennel powder
1 tsp chili powder, or to taste

Garnish:
Limes
Green chilies, slice
Purple onion, finely chopped
Fresh coriander, chopped
Melted ghee

Serve with: Baguette or crusty bread

Method:

  1. Grind the chopped onion and garlic into a paste, along with a glug of oil. Decant into a bowl and mix in the spices; set aside.
  2. Blend the canned beans with ½ the liquid from 1 of the cans (if using rinsed baked beans, add ½ water). Blend till mostly smooth.
  3. In a large pot, heat the ghee and then add the spice paste. Sauté over a medium heat until the oil separates from the paste. Add the tomato paste. If using, add the meat and fry until browned.
  4. Add 1 cup of water, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid the bottom of the pot catching. Add more water if necessary.
  5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  
  6. Fry the eggs, then butter and toast the baguette or crusty bread.
  7. Serve in bowls topped with a fried egg and your choice of garnishes.

Hokkien Char Mee

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

400g thick Hokkien noodles
100g pork belly, skinned and finely sliced
6 medium prawns, shelled
40g white cabbage, sliced
2 tbsp crispy pork lard cubes (crackling)
1 tsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp pork lard (or vegetable oil)

Marinate:
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cornflour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tbsp water

Sauce:
1 cup warm water or fresh chicken stock
1 tbsp oyster sauce
½ tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tbsp thick soy sauce (sub: kicap manis/sweet soy sauce)
¼ tsp sugar
½ tsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper

METHOD:

  1. Combine the pork and prawns with the marinate ingredients, leave for 15 minutes.
  2. Prepare the noodles as per instructions, then rinse and drain well.
  3. In a bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients together.
  4. Place a wok on the highest heat possible. Once smoking hot, add 1 tbsp lard/oil.
  5. Stir fry the pork and prawns until just cooked through. Add the other 1 tbsp lard/oil and the chopped garlic. Fry until lightly golden and fragrant.
  6. Add the drained noodles and give everything a good stir before adding the prepared sauce.
  7. Bring to a fierce boil. Reduce the sauce by half before adding the cabbage.
  8. Continue to stir fry until gravy is thick and glossy and coats the noodles.
  9. Just before serving, toss through the crispy pork lard cubes (crackling).
  10. Serve immediately with some sambal belacan, or pickles green chilis, on the side.

To discover other delicious Malaysian recipes from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Lor Mee 卤面 (Braised Pork Noodles)

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS
4 portions thick Hokkien noodles
1 cup beansprouts

Braised Pork & Gravy:
400g pork belly (skin-on, cut into 2 pieces)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
5 eggs (4 boiled and peeled, 1 lightly beaten)
4 thick slices of ginger
1 tsp five-spice powder
2 cinnamon stick
2 whole star anise
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1½ tbsp sugar
½ tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp salt, or to taste
¼ cup tapioca/potato/corn starch mixed with 100ml water

Essential Toppings:
Chinese black rice vinegar or Chinkiang vinegar
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed/grated
Fresh red chilis, sliced
Fresh coriander, finely chopped

Optional Toppings:
Fried fish cake, sliced
Deep fried battered fish, chopped
Deep fried Shallots
Fried wontons
Fried wonton skins
Ngoh Hiang/Lor Bak, sliced

METHOD:

  1. In a large stock pot, bring 2 litres of water to a boil. Stir in the dark & light soy sauces, oyster sauce, five-spice, cinnamon, star anise, sugar, and ground white pepper. Add the pork, dried shiitake mushrooms, and bring to a boil before reducing the gravy to a steady gentle simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer till the pork is fork tender (between 1 and 1½ hours).
  2. 20 mins before the pork is done, add the peeled boiled eggs to the pot.
  3. When the pork is tender, remove the meat, eggs, and mushrooms. Fish out the cinnamon sticks, ginger, and star anise, then check the gravy for seasoning before bringing it back to a lively simmer.
  4. Mix the tapioca/potato/corn starch with 100ml water to make a slurry, then stir into the gravy to thicken. Bring back to a simmer.
  5. Whilst gently stirring the gravy, slowly drizzle in the beaten egg. Leave on a slow simmer.
  6. Thinly slice the rested pork and mushrooms. Cut the eggs into halves. Mix the crushed garlic with some neutral oil to make a paste.
  7. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions and set aside.
  8. Decant half the gravy into a second pot. Bring to a boil before adding the noodles and beansprouts. Braise the noodles for a couple of minutes before dividing them into individual bowls. Ladle over extra gravy.
  9. Top with the sliced pork, mushrooms, and eggs. Add any of the optional toppings (I recommend adding at least one).
  10. Garnish with the garlic paste, chillies, and coriander. Drizzle black vinegar to taste.
  11. Serve immediately.

To discover other delicious Malaysian recipes from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Crispy Chicken with Plum Sauce

Ingredients:

400g chicken boned thighs, cut into medium strips
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
½ – 1 cup water
2 tsp cornflour mixed with 1/4 cup water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds, crushed
Lettuce

Chicken Marinate:
1 tsp light soya sauce
Pinch of salt
Pinch white pepper
2 TBSP potato starch (or cornflour)
2 tsp cooking oil

Plum Sauce:
500g ripe plums, stoned and halved
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 TBSP fresh ginger, finely grated
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white rice vinegar (or white spirit vinegar)
¼ cup water
1 tsp dark soya sauce
2 tsp five spice powder
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp salt

Method:

  1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until the plums collapse when prodded with a spoon (approx. 20 mins). Using a hand blender, pulse until the sauce smooth.
  2. Whilst the sauce is cooking marinate the chicken. Season the chicken strips in the soya sauce, salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the potato starch and coat the meat. Finally add the cooking oil.
  3. To a stable wok, add enough cooking oil to shallow fry the chicken in batches until crispy. Once all the meat is cooked, return the crispy chicken to the hot oil, and briefly fry for a second time. Drain the chicken and set aside.
  4. Place a wok on a medium flame, then add a splash of oil followed by the chopped garlic. Sauté till fragrant then add the prepared plum sauce. Bring to a boil and add between ½ and 1 cup of water. Return to a boil and add the cornflour slurry. Continue cooking till the sauce is thick and glossy. Add the sesame seed oil.
  5. Arrange the lettuce on a platter and heap the chicken in the middle. Pour over the sauce then garnish with spring onions and crushed sesame seeds.
  6. Serve immediately.

Kari Ayam (Malaysian Chicken Curry)

Some curries are made for dunking and Kari Ayam is most definitely one of these!

All about the rich kuah (gravy), Kari Ayam is a perennial favourite of mine. Simple, tasty and delicious, this classic Malaysian is a staple of many a family feast, simple breakfast, or for me, picnics. Wonderful served at room temperature, this dish was a feature of most of our family picnics – I have vivid memories of tucking into tubs of if with chunks of soft white bread whilst sitting on the boulders at our local waterfalls. It was always a messy affair, but nothing a quick rinse under the falls couldn’t cure!

Not to be confused with the famed Nyonya classic Kari Kapitan, Kari Ayam leans more towards Malay/Indian flavours as it omits the belacan, 5-spice powder, and lime juice. Another distinct difference is the inclusion of potatoes – something I was reminded of when rebuked by the queen of Nyonya cuisine, Pearly Kee, for suggesting otherwise!

Whilst delicious eaten on the day of cooking, like all curries this dish will be improved immeasurably given time to rest before being served. Overnight is ideal, but even a couple of hours will do wonders. If left in the fridge, reheat gently before serving with fresh white bread, roti jala, roti canai or rice.

To discover other delicious Malaysian recipes from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe

Siamese Laksa (Penang Laksa Lemak)

Whilst I have had many wonderful experiences working with Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) as a guest chef on MOMC@Heart, the undoubted highlight was being invited to feature on MOMC’s Malaysian Heritage Cuisine series in association with MAFI (Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture & Food Industries). What an honour it was to work alongside some of the greatest Malaysian chefs in the business, but also to have the opportunity to share one of my favourite family recipes – Siamese Laksa!

Also known as Penang Laksa Lemak, Siamese Laksa is unfortunately somewhat eclipsed by Penang’s most famous laksa – Assam Laksa. More’s the shame as Siamese Laksa is wonderfully aromatic and its rich broth isn’t as divisive as the hallmark sour fishy “love or loath” broth of Assam Laksa. In fact, given the choice, I would opt for a bowl of Siamese Laksa every time!

Based on a much loved family recipe handed down from my late Grandmother and preserved by my aunt, Rohani Jelani, this is a recipe of many parts. Though it might seem intimidating, the ingredients are relatively easy to source and the actual cooking time, albeit intensive, is actually quite short. Nonetheless, the results are worth the effort!

To discover other delicious Malaysian recipes from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe

Pasembur (Indian Rojak)

Culinarily speaking I’m pretty much up for making anything, but nothing puts me out of my comfort zone more than being asked to make vegan food! So when Masters of Malaysian Cuisine invited me to feature a veganised version of a Penang street food dish, I quaked in my proverbial cooking boots.

Whilst I’m in no way adverse to vegan food per say, I’m unabashed of my love of meat with the Malaysian in me always eager to sneak in a bit of belacan here, or some oyster sauce there. In term of diet and cooking, vegan food is an almost entirely alien proposition to me – especially when it comes to veganising Malaysian food. Whilst veganism is well catered for in the West, any vegetarian/vegan who has visited Malaysia knows all too well that our local cuisine is a veritable meaty minefield! From kailan swimming in oyster sauce, to sayur lodeh spiked with prawns. Malaysian vegetable dishes are rarely actually vegetarian, much less vegan: typically it’s a case of the meat vs. vegetable ratio, favouring the latter – hardly ideal for those who shun meat! Nevertheless, even in Malaysia, times and tastes have evolved, and the market for healthier eating has taken root, resulting in a desire for veganised Malaysian recipes. So, I too had to put my belacan away, get with the times and do the unthinkable: make a beloved Malaysian dish vegan!

Choosing a suitable dish was, in the end, perhaps the hardest part of this exercise. So many of my favourite street food options seemed indelibly meat-based, and without an intimate knowledge of suitable meat substitutes, I found it difficult to reimagine most without the offending ingredients. In the end I settled on one of my favourite Indian street food dishes – Pasembur, or Indian Rojak. Though traditionally made with prawn fritters and sliced eggs, this piquant salad seemed ripe for veganising! With the gravy already sans meat, it was a simple matter of substituting the offending prawns with mushrooms, and omitting the egg – easy changes which ultimately have little or no impact on the dish itself.

Vegan or not, pasembur is a sweet, spicy, and crunchy delight, and an absolute must-try!

To discover other delicious Malaysian recipes from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe

Penang Wonton Mee (Dry)

It’s no secret that I absolutely adore noodles, I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner – in fact, I’ve done so more times than I care to admit! To my mind they’re the ultimate fast food and I just can’t get enough of them. I would be hard-pressed to pick my favourite, but if I had to chose, wonton mee would perhaps rate as my ultimate noodle, making this the perfect choice for my 100th post!

A childhood favourite and made up of a medley of distinct components, wonton mee is a master-stroke of combined flavours. Rather unsurprisingly, wontons are key, along with addition of char siu and sliced pickled chillis, but there are no hard or fast rules. The interpretation of what constitutes wonton mee is notoriously diverse; the wontons can be boiled or deep-fried, the dish can be served wet (in a soup) or dry (with a sauce). It all comes down to individual preferences and finding a hawker who meets your expectations! Personally I like mine dry with soft wontons, lots of pickled chilli and white pepper – naturally my recipe reflects my own preferences, but you should feel free to adapt it to your own tastes!

Everybody in Penang has their favourite hawker centre and mine was at the back of Pulau Tikus Market. Sandwiched between the textiles stalls and the darkly fragrant meat section, this was the home of my ultimate wonton mee. The mee here had all the elements I loved, plus it was topped off with an enriching thick sauce that was, as far as I know, unique to this particular vendor. I’ve tried to replicate this sauce over the years, but never quite got it right – I guess somethings should be left to the professionals!

Midway on my daily cycle between home and school, stopping at the market for a quick bite was part of my morning ritual. Dressed in my school uniform I would sit perched on one of the many battered tin stools; my feet raised above the ever-wet concrete floor, knobbly teenage knees strained against my ill-fitting khaki school trousers. My order placed, I sat eagerly awaiting my wonton mee fix. The meal was always short lived, devoured in a matter of minutes and washed down with a glass of sweet kopi-o ice – there was no better way to start the day! After checking for specks of errant sauce on my white shirt, I would continue on to school, sated and ready to face the high-school dramas that that invariably lay ahead. I can’t say that I miss my school days, but I certainly do miss those morning pitstops at the market!

So this is my muddled take on a true Penang classic!

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Mee Soto

For me, Sunday mornings are all about Sunday lunch.

With little else to distract me, I usually spend my Sunday mornings trawling through my legion of cookbooks searching for a spark of culinary inspiration: that fresh idea; the perfect meal to which I can dedicate these otherwise idle hours to. Alas, more often than not these weekend aspirations come to naught, and instead I find myself reverting to firm favourites for my Sunday feast. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but occasionally my lunch musings do hit the mark and I discover a dish I just have to have.

Most recently this inspiration took an Indonesian turn and I found myself dedicating my morning to making a dish I had never actually had before: Mee Soto. Also popular in Malaysia and Singapore, I was of course familiar with this classic Indonesian staple, yet for all my years living in the region it had somehow eluded me. Unfortunately, with a lifetime of local dishes to discover, my 16 years in Malaysia was never going to be enough to try them all! Not one to dwell on missed opportunities, I decided this was the Sunday I finally found out what all the fuss was about!

Rightly framed as the ultimate Indonesian comfort food, Mee Soto is virtually interchangeable with the more widely known Soto Ayam. The soto, or soup, that forms the base of both dishes is almost identical, though the latter is distinctly soupier and is served with either rice vermicelli or compressed rice cakes. As its name suggests, Mee Soto is instead served with heavier, chewier, wheat noodles and considerably less soto – making for a more substantial meal.

With either dish, the soto is undoubtedly the star of the show: fragrant and nourishing, this heady broth is a powerhouse of flavour. Spiked with many of the classic spices associated with regional curries, this chicken broth is flavoursome without being heavy, as it omits coconut milk which is ubiquitous in most local curries. In its absence, however, it is essential to import as much flavour as possible from the chicken. To this end, it is important to use chicken with both skin and bone, or if using skinned boneless chicken, a good stock is required to achieve the requisite depth of flavour.

Another aspect of the broth worth considering is the spice paste – traditionally this is added to the boiling broth without being sautéed first, however I prefer to fry off my spice paste before adding the liquid. Perhaps it is all my years of diligently sautéing my rempah, but it is a habit I find hard to kick as doing so elevates and intensifies the spices – plus I find the flavoured oil adds just a little extra body to the broth.

With all great noodle dishes, toppings are of course essential, but ultimately variable depending on the cook – Mee Soto is no different. The typical garnishes are a collective variation of the following: blanched beansprouts, coriander leaves, garlic chives/spring onions, sliced boiled egg, crispy shallots, and fried potato cakes. Aside from the potato cakes and boiled eggs (which add body to the dish), by all means let your personal taste guide you in your choice of toppings.

To discover other delicious Malaysian recipes from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe