Most Malaysians grew up eating and enjoying instant noodles, or what is popularly referred to as “ramen” in the USA, long before it became popular on a global scale. I remember as a kid being taught by my brother C.S. on how to cook it – his preferred style being to drain most of the water before adding the seasoning, and stirring in a spoonful of Malaysian curry powder to give it extra zing. He would then crack an egg in the noodles and mix it in before quickly turning off the heat.
That became my go-to way to eat instant noodles, and over the years as I grew up and moved out, I always made sure to have my favourite brands of instant noodles on standby, along with frozen fish balls that I could add to it.
Ever since I quit the corporate world to run my own food business, however, I’ve not kept up with the latest in instant noodle flavours – I always have so much homemade food at home already thanks to all the cooking I do for my videos and online cooking courses.
So, when the Malaysian Agriculture Counsellor Office in Sydney sent me a stash of Malaysian instant noodles, I was very impressed at the variety of flavours available which aim to replicate the flavours of some of Malaysia’s most popular hawker dishes. I set about experimenting with ways to prepare them; here are the results:
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Some of the instant noodle flavours I tried were:
Pandan White Curry Noodles:
Asam Laksa:
Vegetarian:
Seafood:
Tom Yum:
Green Tom Yum:
Sarawak Laksa:
Lontong:
By the way, if you engage with Malaysians about which their favourite instant noodle brand is, you’re going to find some very passionate engagement on the topic, if my experience on social media is anything to go by.
What I featured in the video is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Malaysian instant noodles and brands; I would propose that you experiment with trying different types and preparing them in different ways to find your favourites.
This video is the first in my Malaysian Ingredients Made Easy 2.0 series in partnership with the Agriculture Counsellor Office, Sydney, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries of Malaysia.
Make sure you don’t miss the rest of the videos on ways to use Malaysian ingredients and food products that are available here in Australia, as brought to you from my test kitchen. And if you have any suggestions of your own on how to use Malaysian instant noodles and any other Malaysian food products, drop me a line or tag me on social media – I’d love to hear it 🙂