Johor is highly-regarded among Malaysians and Singaporeans as a foodie destination, so much so that Singaporeans regularly travel across the border into Malaysia just to eat a meal in this, the southernmost state of the peninsular of Malaysia. In this episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia, we explore Johor through the lens of its food.

Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eB2JJz7sZE 

Tourism Malaysia Culinary Ambassador and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine At Heart chef, Dato’ Ismail Ahmad, showed us how to make Laksa Johor. Laksa Johor is unique in part because it uses spaghetti (incidentally it was the subject of the recent “Laksa Wars” on Malaysia’s social media where netizens debated the merits of the different versions of laksa in Malaysia).

My experience of Mee Rebus (literally, boiled noodles) from my years growing up in Seremban, is quite different to what is known as Mee Rebus in Johor. The version I knew was mindblowingly spicy and completely savoury (unlike the Johor version which is noticeably sweet). It also came with a light yellow (not orange) sauce, and it was vegetarian.

I had to look up the Johor recipe before attempting it in my cooking segment – interestingly my research yielded a number of markedly different versions, so I picked elements from a couple of different recipes to produce mine. I was grateful to have Masters of Malaysian Cuisine’s Michelin-trained chef Rene Juefri on hand to discuss these variations afterwards.

Rene spent a large amount of time during his childhood in Johor, so he was well-positioned to speak about the cuisine. The Mee Rebus Johor I made turned out very flavoursome and it reminded me somewhat of Mee Rojak which is a version of Indian Rojak (salad with a spicy sweet potato sauce) that’s served with egg noodles.

YouTube and TikTok star Mark O’Dea made his first appearance in Street Food Journeys (you’ll be seeing more of him in future episodes), and he discussed his experience of Johor with MOMC’s Vegan Chef Dave, who was born and raised in the state.

We also interviewed Kelab Alami co-founder Serina Rahman about the Sea Warriors Market which was founded to help local fishermen to make more money for their catch. Other regulars in this episode were The JetLag Warriors, Malaysian tour guide Shaukani Abbas, and MOMC Chef, Bob Adnin.

Don’t forget to sign up at https://MalaysianChefs.com/StreetFoodJourneys if you want the recipes from our cooking sessions, along with the bonus content we couldn’t fit into the episode.

The post Johor: Laksa Johor, Mee Rebus, Places To Visit & Things To Do first appeared on Jackie M..

My Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) chef and Melaka native Debbie Teoh on the other hand, has a special fondness for this dish, as she explains in our first episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia, before giving us a lesson on how to make it.

Click here to watch the 26-minute episode: Street Food Journeys: Melaka

Klebang Coconut Shake, like Satay Celup, is synonymous with Melaka; I was introduced to this refreshing drink on a separate trip by my tour guide, Shaukani Abbas. In my segment, I demonstrate how to make a simplified coconut shake to our Masters of Malaysian cuisine co-founder, South African Paul Gray.

We also get to talk to Jennifer Tan whose parents Donald and Lily started out as hawkers in Melaka before eventually establishing their own internationally-acclaimed eatery that specialises in Nyonya food. We hope to share more hawker stories throughout the rest of the series, because I believe they are an important part of the culinary history of Malaysia (my own parents were hawkers in Seremban back in the day).

Multi award-winning tour guide Shaukani Abbas (whom we have to thank for the video footage of Melaka) gives us a glimpse of the sights in Melaka town, and we get to check out the interior of a Peranakan house courtesy of the Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum.

Our good friends The JetLag Warriors, who spent a year in Malaysia last year thanks to Covid-19, give us their take on Satay Celup from when they travelled to Malaysia’s birthplace. Finally, our MOMC chefs Bob Adnin and Debbie Teoh answer the question: “What dishes do you think of when you think of Melaka?”

If you’d like to get Debbie’s Satay Celup and my Coconut Shake recipes in your inbox, make sure you sign up at MalaysianChefs.com/StreetFoodJourneys . Along with recipes, we have a ton of extras in the form of video clips and other fun content which we’ll make available for our community.

Putting together a series like this without being able to travel to Malaysia thanks to Australia’s borders being closed, is a challenge I relish – I’m hustling everyone I know for content and footage, and making Paul burn the midnight oil to stitch it all together. I hope in the process we get to entertain and educate our audience in equal measures, and get everyone to start making plans for when we can travel again.

Jackie M.

The post Melaka: Satay Celup, Klebang Coconut Shake, Nyonya Food And More first appeared on Jackie M..

15 March 2021

MAFI Partners with Masters of Malaysian Cuisine to Promote Malaysian Ingredients to the World

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries of Malaysia (MAFI) will partner with the Masters of Malaysian Cuisine group to promote Malaysian ingredients through a series of global live cooking demonstrations and food tasting sessions.

These exclusive events will be held in 5 locations, namely Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Dubai, the UK and South Africa, with a total of 8 live cooking demonstrations taking place across 4 days from 27-30 March.

The core aim of the collaboration with MOMC is to raise awareness of the wide and varied range of Malaysian ingredients available globally.

Featuring some of the top Malaysian cuisine experts around the world – Johari Edrus, Zaleha Olpin, Jackie M, Dave Murugaya, Bob Adnin, Rene Juefri, Debbie Teoh and guest chef Liam Ghani – these events will be a unique combination of both physical and virtual demonstrations, which will be simulcast across all MOMC channels including their website (MalaysianChefs.com), Facebook, YouTube and Twitch, and on MAFI’s social media.

In response to COVID-19, a limited audience will be invited to join our chefs during the Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Dubai events at COVID-secure venues to experience these demonstrations first-hand.

The theme “Malaysian Heritage Cuisine” has been selected to highlight the diversity and quality of Malaysian products available to a worldwide market. To this end, MOMC will be presenting and demonstrating an array of Malaysian heritage dishes to show  the accessibility of recreating authentic Malaysian cuisine aboard.

ENDS

For more information or interviews with Jackie M and the Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs contact: Jackie M| M: +61 (0) 425 797 718 | E: jackie@jackiem.com.au

The post MAFI Partners with Masters of Malaysian Cuisine to Promote Malaysian Ingredients to the World first appeared on Jackie M..