A Chinese redditor responded that pork permeates a lot of Chinese food, even in dishes that aren’t pork-based. As a fellow Chinese, I concur. Not just because I live in the food space and am constantly researching recipes, but also because I have a strong aversion to pork. I don’t eat it, I gag at the sight of pork dishes, and, obviously, I don’t use it in any of my cooking.

Every time I mention this, especially to other Chinese folks, I get strange looks. It doesn’t compute, because the Chinese love pork. (I know Uyghur cuisine is pork-free, but I’m talking about the mainstream Chinese and their food.)

Also, I’m not just any Chinese, I’m Hakka-Chinese, and if you looked through a Hakka cookbook and eliminated the pork-based dishes, you’d struggle to fill a brochure with the remainder.

I also get hostile reactions from some Malaysian Chinese because it’s a sensitive topic and I guess they see me as a betrayer of my own race by not using pork in my cooking. Some write off my food without trying it, on the assumption Malaysian hawker food can’t taste good if it doesn’t contain pork/pork lard/pork crisps etc. (entirely valid point if you love pork).

So when did my anti-pork sentiment start? I actually don’t remember ever eating and enjoying Chinese favourites like char siew pao or siew yoke (roast pork), but as a very young child, I do remember loving a particular broth my mom used to make using pig tails (we Chinese use all parts of an animal in our food).

I loved munching on the pig tails, but even then, my family would marvel at how strange it was that I wouldn’t eat any pork except this dish. Until one day I bit into a pig tail that was especially chunky and fatty, vomited, and never touched it again. This all happened when I was about 5 years old, so it’s been like fifty years.

When I followed my stepmom on her daily food shopping (my mom passed away when I was six), I would wait a distance away and hold my breath when she visited the Chinese butcher, because I couldn’t stand the smell. I would get sick if I caught more than a whiff of it.

I get that my pork phobia is psychological and caused by the trauma of throwing up on a fatty piece of pig tail all those years ago, but the appearance, texture, smell and taste of pork makes me ill.

So, for those of you who are wondering, I adapt all porky Malaysian and Chinese recipes to be pork-free, not for religious reasons (I’m now a born-again Christian), not for health or ethical reasons, and not because I’m opportunistically trying to tap into the halal food demographic etc.

I do it for myself because I can’t stand it. Simple as that.

Final point – I’m sure I’ve eaten and enjoyed food that contains “hidden pork” without realising it – please don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.

The post Why I Don’t Eat Pork first appeared on Jackie M..

(I’m aware you can buy ikan bilis from other countries, but once you’ve tried the Malaysian variety you’ll realise there’s a world of difference between them.) Thankfully, the increased demand for Malaysian ikan bilis means it is more accessible now at your local Asian grocery stores than ever before.

So what do we Malaysians use ikan bilis for, apart from nasi lemak? As a matter of fact it’s used in lots of ways, from baby food (yes, we start them young on ikan bilis in Malaysia) to beer snacks.

Here’s my video where I talk about ikan bilis and give you some ideas on how to serve them –

After I shared my initial video with my eight suggestions on how to use Ikan Bilis, Her Majesty Queen Azizah shared some of her own ideas with me, which are –

1) ikan bilis masak kicap (dried anchovies cooked with sweet soy) and
2) ikan bilis masak asam (dried anchovies cooked with tamarind).

I invited her to showcase her ikan bilis recipes on Masters of Malaysian Cuisine and she graciously agreed; I’ll write about this in a separate article.

By the way, I’ve elaborated on some of these tips in a pdf; want a copy? Just sign up in the form below and I’ll send it your way along with other Malaysian Ingredients Made Easy pdfs, cooking tips and recipes.

This is the first of a series of Malaysian ingredient videos done in partnership with the Malaysian Agriculture Counsellor Office, Sydney. I will be focused on cooking with Malaysian ingredients in the coming months, so hit me up if there’s any in particular you’d like me to cover.

The post 10 Ways To Use Malaysian Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovies) first appeared on Jackie M..

In all the years I’ve cooked Live On Air, I’ve elicited more comments about the Thermomix TM5 behind me than all my other kitchen gadgets and utensils put together. I usually brush these off by telling my audience that it’s really just a multi-function kitchen unit and that I mostly use it as a glorified food processor. 

I do that partly because I don’t want the conversation distracted from the dish at hand that I happen to be showcasing, and partly because frankly, the novelty factor of owning a Thermomix wore off a long time ago. So I generally space off on any questions or comments about my Thermomix. 

Unless, of course, you happen to be the Queen of Malaysia. Her Majesty Queen Azizah was Live on Air with my Masters of Malaysian Cuisine group for 90 minutes during our New Year’s Eve special, and she noticed my Thermomix and expressed interest in how I use it, not for anything special, but for everyday cooking.

This perfectly aligns with how I treat the Thermomix – I don’t subscribe to Thermomix recipe portals or use it because of wanting to follow any special diet; I don’t time everything to the second or stress out over what speed I should be using for what ingredients. 

And I’ve been known to get irked when asked how one should adapt my TM5 recipes for their TM6/TM31 etc. because, to me, everything is “agak-agak” (ie. guesstimated) anyway.

I decided to make this video in response to the Queen’s question; part of it covers the fundamentals of a Thermomix and its functions, then I go into some detail regarding the kind of stuff for which I find it helpful.

Watch here >> https://youtu.be/29gvcUYD2dc

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of tasks in my kitchen, where the Thermomix is my appliance of choice – 

1. Fish paste for Yong Tau Foo (stuffed tofu & vegetables)
2. Hainanese Bread dough making
3. Roti canai dough
4. Tough Asian herbs like galangal and lemongrass
5. Kaya
6. Soy milk and tofu pudding 
7. Malaysian soft-boiled eggs
8. Dried chilli paste
9. Prawn noodle paste
10. Ikan bilis powder

In broad strokes, the Thermomix performs functions in a time and energy-efficient way; some jobs could just as easily be done by your regular food processor/blender/steamer/etc. so you may struggle to parse its usefulness especially considering the cost investment. Where it stands out is when you need the extra processing power to handle tough ingredients, and in tasks where you need to stir something for long periods at a set temperature.

When I get the chance I’ll collate the recipes that are mentioned in the video, so if you want to be first in line to get them, make sure you sign up to my email list via the form on this page. 

The post 10 Ways The Thermomix Is Great For Asian Cooking first appeared on Jackie M..

As someone who’s run a Malaysian food business for decades, I’m always trying to strike a balance between maintaining “authentic” flavours while cutting down on time spent in the kitchen (thanks to labour costs and staff shortage issues). My friends at MyBlueTea.com.au recently sent me some samples of their natural pandan powder (made from pure pandan leaves with no artificial colouring) so I decided to give them a try in my cooking.

Just to clarify in case you’ve no idea what pandan is, I’ve always described it as “Asian vanilla” – it’s subtle and it’s used as a flavouring agent in both sweet and savoury dishes in Southeast Asia. If you come across green-looking snacks, it’s a good bet they’re pandan-flavoured, though to be fair, a lot of the pandan essence you see is “enhanced” with artificial colouring.

Typically I’d use fresh (or frozen) pandan leaves, and either blend them with water, then strain, or when cooking rice or curries, I would bruise the leaves, tie them into a knot and add them to my cooking.

The pandan powder supplied by My Blue Tea saves me having to hunt down pandan leaves in my corner of Sydney (no mean feat), and it saves me having to blend them etc. – I just use it straight from the packet, as you’ll see in the video here >>

Pandan Coconut Rice

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups jasmine rice

2 cups water (approx)

1.5  tsps pandan powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBSP coconut milk powder

METHOD:

1. Combine all ingredients except for the coconut milk powder in a saucepan or rice cooker; cook until rice is done.
2. Sprinkle coconut milk powder over the surface of the rice, stir with a rice paddle and mix well. Serve.

Pandan Chicken Curry

INGREDIENTS:

1.2 kg chicken drumsticks

2 brown onions, peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 stalks lemongrass
1-inch knob ginger
4 Tbsps Malaysian curry powder
1/2 cup oil

1 TBSP pandan powder

2 stalks curry leaves (optional)
1.5 Tbsp chicken powder
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
3 cups water + 1/4 cup coconut milk powder

METHOD:

1. Coat chicken drumsticks with Malaysian curry powder.
2. Combine onions, garlic & ginger in a food processor; blend.
3. Transfer into a saucepan and fry until most of the moisture has evaporated.
4. Add oil, and cook further until lightly browned.
5. Add chicken and sear.
6. Add all other ingredients, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally.
7. Remove from heat; serve hot with pandan coconut rice.

The post How To Cook Pandan Chicken Curry & Pandan Rice first appeared on Jackie M..

I had the chance to test it out with my Lao-style grilled ox tongue recipe that I published recently >> https://jackiem.com.au/2019/10/24/how-to-cook-lao-style-grilled-ox-tongue-sous-vide/ – and I just wanted to come back here with an update. That method in itself (ie. using sous vide cooking) was a hack on the traditional way of tenderising ox tongue, which is to use shredded green papaya.

For those who have no idea what sous vide cooking is, it’s basically food that’s vacuum-bagged and placed in a water bath for an extended period of time until it’s uber tender, so that you can just finish it off (in the case of steaks) on a grill for seconds before serving it up.

When I make Malaysian-style soft-boiled eggs (which is NOT the same as regular soft-boiled eggs, since the water temperature needs to be well below boiling point, at about 65C-70C), I use a Thermomix or Thermocook >> https://jackiem.com.au/2017/01/13/cook-malaysian-soft-boiled-eggs/ – which allows me to set the temperature and time for the eggs to cook. And you could do the same if you had a sous vide unit as well; it’s the same concept.

However, if you have neither a sous vide stick nor a Thermomix, you could use the keep warm setting on your rice cooker (if you’re Asian, since most Asian households have one) or a slow cooker or Instant Pot. You’ll need to work out what the keep warm temperature is for your device (usually around the 65’C/149F mark), and adjust the cooking times accordingly.

FYI I know western cooks like precise measurements but I don’t – what two eggs or two pieces of steak are exactly the same size etc. anyway – so go and experiment away. If you’re doing Malaysian soft-boiled eggs I would try cooking them for 25 minutes (from the time the Keep Warm setting kicks in) and see how they turn out.

Back to the ox tongue, and I know technically sous vide means to cook the food in a vacuum, but I didn’t bother, partly because I didn’t want to waste any more vacuum bags than I needed to do, and also partly because not everyone has a vacuum sealer and vacuum bags sitting around in their home.

I used the same recipe but DOUBLED the amounts of seasoning (ie. 2 TBSP salt, 2 TBSP sugar, etc.), then I placed the ox tongue pieces in the cooker (in my case, it was the Instant Pot), and added just enough water to have them submerged.

I then left them in the pot on Keep Warm for the maximum duration it runs on the Instant Pot, which is 12 hours (just because I couldn’t be bothered timing it). Basically, I put them in the evening before and they were ready by the next morning.

The ox tongue turned out at least as tender as when cooked in vacuum bags in a proper sous vide bath, though probably slightly more well done. As per the previous recipe, I then just needed to sear them for 20-30 seconds or so on each side before slicing them up.

I’m going to test this out with steak next time but I hope this inspires you to take a second look at the under-utilised Keep Warm setting on your slow cooker or rice cooker or Instant Pot and start figuring out how you can experiment with sous vide cooking in them. Assuming you don’t already have a sous vide unit, of course.

The post How To Use The Keep Warm Setting On Your Cooker For Sous Vide Cooking first appeared on Jackie M..

If you’ve been craving my food over the long summer break, here’s an opportunity to grab some of my Char Kway Teow and hand-rolled spiral curry puffs this coming Saturday evening.

I’ll be running my pop-up at Yaralla Estate in Concord, Sydney, to celebrate Australia Day. There will be free entertainment in the form of a live band and an outdoor cinema screening of an Australian movie (no, I don’t know what it’ll be), so bring along your picnic rug and enjoy a relaxing evening under the stars.

Details as follows –

When: Saturday 26 January, 2019

Time: 5-8pm

Where: Yaralla Estate, Nullawarra Avenue, Concord, NSW

What: Live Concert, Picnic, Movie Under The Stars, Jackie M Pop-Up

Make sure you say hello when you drop by; I look forward to seeing you on the day.

Jackie M.

The post Australia Day At Yaralla Estate – Jackie M Pop-Up first appeared on Jackie M..

I’ve been invited to cook my food at the Carols At Yaralla event coming up on Friday 7 December 2018; if you’re in Sydney and located not too far away from the inner west, why not bring your family along for some Christmas carols and a bite to eat?

At this stage, I’ll likely be cooking Fried Radish Cake (aka Chai Tow Kway/Char Kway Kak), Char Kway Teow and hand-rolled spiral Curry Puffs; I’m somewhat motivated to do more but that will depend on my staffing situation on the day.

Apart from me, there will also be a sausage sizzle stand, a gelato stall, and a stall selling dumplings.

Here are the details to the event; I look forward to seeing you that evening –

What: Carols At Yaralla

Where: Dame Eadith Walker Estate, Concord

When: Friday 7 December

Time: 5pm-8pm

The post Carols At Yaralla – Jackie M Pop-Up first appeared on Jackie M..

I had never eaten kanom krok (aka Thai coconut cakes or Thai coconut custard) when I attempted to make it during a recent Live Asian Kitchen broadcast. Without a frame of reference as to how it should taste, I found both the recipe I used and the final outcome somewhat perplexing. First of all, it produced a gooey topping that had no chance of setting since it was basically just sugar and coconut cream, and secondly, it just tasted one-dimensional and overly sweet.

Since that first attempt, I’ve managed to dig deeper into this popular Thai street snack, and it’s clear that the original recipe was flawed (it fortified my belief that the internet is full of recipes that should never see the light of day). Here’s one adapted from other sources including Temple of Thai, that makes a lot more sense –

Kanom Krok – Thai Coconut Cakes

INGREDIENTS:

Bottom layer –
⅓ cup desiccated coconut
2 cups rice flour
2 tsp salt
3 ½ cups coconut milk

Top layer –
1 ¾ cups coconut cream
¼ cup sugar
2 ½ TBSP tapioca starch

Fillings (optional) –
¼ cup spring onion, sliced
¼ cup corn kernels
3 TBSP oil

Kanom krok or takoyaki pan, or similar

METHOD:

1. Combine bottom layer ingredients and mix well.
2. Combine top layer ingredients in a blender and blitz until sugar is dissolved.
3. Heat mould and grease lightly with oil.
4. When it starts smoking, fill moulds to ⅔ full with bottom batter.
5. Add the top batter immediately, then sprinkle with optional filling ingredients.
6. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes on low heat, or until crispy and browned on the bottom.
7. Remove and serve.

The post How to Make Kanom Krok – Thai Coconut Cakes first appeared on Jackie M..

My seafood shopping choices are heavily dictated by budget, in the sense that I would pick up something simply because it looks cheap, and figure out how to make it palatable after the fact. This explains why I often use squid instead of the more expensive calamari; contrary to popular opinion, squid can taste pretty tender even when simply battered and deep-fried as in this recipe by Amy Beh at Kuali.com

Crispy Squid or Calamari Fritters

INGREDIENTS:

500g squid or calamari, cut into rings
1 stalk curry leaves (optional)

3 TBSP tapioca starch or cornstarch
2 TBSP rice flour
1 cup + 1 TBSP self-raising flour
1 TBSP baking powder
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp salt

Marinade –

½ tsp chicken stock powder
1 egg, lightly beaten

Dipping sauce –

½ cup mayonnaise
½ tsp minced garlic
1 TBSP wasabi
1 tsp lemon juice
A pinch of salt

Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

1. Marinate squid rings with egg and chicken powder for 15 minutes.
2. Combine dipping sauce ingredients and set aside.
3. Combine flours, baking powder, chilli powder and salt and mix well.
4. Heat oil to 180’C.
5. Fry curry leaves (if using) until crispy (ie. when air bubbles have nearly completely dissipated); remove and drain.
6. Drench a handful of squid rings in the flour mixture, then transfer into oil and fry until done (ie. when air bubbles dissipate); remove and drain on paper towels.
7. Repeat with rest of squid, then toss with curry leaves and serve with mayonnaise dip.

The post How to Cook Crispy Squid or Calamari first appeared on Jackie M..

It’s a well-accepted fact that Malaysia produces some of the best street food in the world – however, different parts of Malaysia are famous for specific dishes, and Penang is no different.

How do you know what to eat if you’re visiting Penang for just a few days?  Well, to help you decide, this is my pick of dishes that are uniquely Penang in flavour, cooking style and quality.

Note that this isn’t a where-to-eat as much as it’s a what-to-eat (with minor exceptions); here it is – my unordered list of dishes that are Penang-famous –

1. Penang Char Koay Teow (or, as I spell it, Char Kway Teow) – the stir-fried rice noodle dish that’s often cooked with blood cockles, Chinese sausage and prawns; the version I grew up with in my part of Malaysia and which I’ve been selling for 20 years here in Sydney, is darker, sweeter and uses a wide-cut noodle and sometimes has wheat noodles added in; what you find in Penang is lighter in colour, more savoury, and uses a thin-cut noodle.
   
2. Penang Char Koay Teow (or Char Koay Teow Basah ie. “Wet” Fried Rice Noodles) – this is probably the worst photo of this dish you’ll find anywhere but you’ll have to wait for my next trip to Penang to get an updated snap. I ate this in 2013 when on the road with a Malay TV crew while filming a Malay-language TV show in Malaysia. I ordered what was listed on a Malay eatery’s menu as “Penang Char Koay Teow” – and got this. It looks terrible but tastes delicious.
   Because most Penang CKT (the famous version) are cooked by Chinese hawkers (ie. they’re not halal), many Malays (ie. Muslims) aren’t familiar with it; this Basah ie. “Wet” version is what THEY call Penang Char Koay Teow. I’ve had Malay people complain on my YouTube channel that the Penang CKT video I posted was wrong simply because their only experience of Penang CKT is this wet version. Confusing, I know, but trust me, if you get served this, don’t send it back to the kitchen, it’s very tasty.
3. Char Kway Kak (Fried Radish Cake) – I, too, used to sell fried radish cake but it was listed on my menu as Chai Tow Kway, which is what it’s called in my part of Malaysia. Penang Char Kway Kak is dark and slightly sweet whilst the southern (Singaporean) Chai Tow Kway is light and very savoury; my version kind of splits the difference.
4. Oyster Omelette (Or Chien) – Penang oyster omelette is soft and gooey, unlike the crispy variety you find in Thailand or Kuching, Sarawak (or for that matter, in Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur). I’ve also come across Prawn Omelette in Penang; same thing but with prawns instead of oysters.
   
   
5. Chee Cheong Fun – Penang rice noodle rolls are different because the sauce that goes on them has some prawn paste in it (aka heiko; not belacan but the molassy sweet variety), which gives it a stronger flavour than the hoisin (ie. tim cheong) sauce you get with the dish elsewhere.
6. Mee Jawa – I’m still on the fence regarding the Penang version of Mee Jawa (literally Javanese noodles) – but it’s notable because the sauce is completely different to what you’ll find in Kuala Lumpur, in that it’s quite tomato sauce-like.
7. Nasi Kandar – this, to me, is Penang’s version of Nasi Campur (mixed rice) – it’s essentially a rice and curry buffet and the dishes that go with it can get quite elaborate; kandar refers to how this dish used to be sold in the early days – ie. where it was balanced on two ends of a bamboo pole and carried on the shoulders from place to place by Indian Muslim hawkers.
   
   
   
8. Nyonya food – Penang Nyonya food is quite distinct from the Nyonya food in Melaka and Singapore; they use more sour flavours in their dishes compared to their southern counterparts, whose dishes are more rich and coconut-y.
   
   
   
9. Nyonya kuihs ie. snacks – the Chinese and the Malays have their own takes on kuihs, but the Nyonyas are the ones who take it to the level of fine art with their famous attention to detail and masterful balance of flavours.
   
   
10. Ais tingkap (window sherbet) – this refreshing drink is so named, I’m told, because it used to be sold from street windows back in the day.
11. Peanut Biscuits – what I love about Penang is how it’s managed to preserve its old school ways of making food – I saw these two elderly gentlemen hard at work pounding peanut candy with a mallet one evening so I had to look them up. Turns out their business (spelled Ang Seng Hiang or Ang Seng Heong) is something of an institution in Penang, so keep your eyes peeled for their stalls.

    

    

12. Hainanese Coffee and Kaya Toast – this is another example of keeping traditions alive – Toh Soon Kopitiam still cooks their toast on a charcoal grill. They keep a framed photo of the then-Penang Chief Minister (now Federal Finance Minister) Lim Guan Eng eating at their narrow five foot way stall; if it’s good enough for LGE, it’s absolutely good enough for me.
    
13. Beef Noodle Soup – I was brought here courtesy of some very kind Penang locals but I have to admit the woman who ran the shop seemed highly antagonistic towards me, like I might have literally or figuratively stepped on her toes and not realised it. Nonetheless, credit where credit’s due, this is the best beef noodles I’ve eaten outside of my hometown of Seremban (where our beef noodle dish is world famous); this is the screenshot of their shop front and I’ve no idea what it says since I don’t read Chinese despite speaking a number of Chinese dialects.
    
14. Lorbak or Loh Bak – variety of fried meat rolls and fritters with a chilli dip – I avoided this for many years since I don’t eat pork, but I’ve since found a number of non-pork options for it, and not a minute too soon. By the way, I stumbled upon this gentleman at his stall, took a pic then realised he was the same guy featured in a Penang cookbook I own; turns out he’s famous for his lorbak.
    
    
15. Penang Asam Laksa – here in Australia (and in my part of Malaysia), the word “laksa” means a coconut curry-based noodle dish; in Penang, what they know as “laksa” is what we refer to as “Penang Asam Laksa” – which is a sour, fish-based soup with rice spaghetti/tapioca noodles which contains no coconut milk. In other words, order a “laksa” in Penang and this is what you get by default, which isn’t a bad thing because it’s listed among the top 5 street food dishes in the world.
16. Penang Curry Mee aka White Curry Mee – this is the closest to what we know as “Laksa” – except the Penang version also typically contains coagulated pig’s blood and reconstituted dried squid.
    
    
17. Siamese Laksa – I know the name makes it sound like it’s a Thai dish, but it’s in fact Penang-famous; this is like the best of both worlds between Penang Asam Laksa and our Curry Laksa; it contains all the fresh herbs and fish flavours of an asam laksa, but the soup is rich and creamy thanks to the addition of coconut milk.
    
18. Mamak Mee Goreng and Mee Rebus – the Penang version uses a thinner egg noodle, but there’s more – this particular stall at Bangkok Lane cooks their noodles with stock made from simmering dried squid, and it’s one of the highlights of my latest Wok Around Asia trip.

    

    

19. Wantan Mee or wonton noodles – the noodles used for this dish in Penang are thinner and silkier; one stall in particular uses two different sauces in it – the dark soy-based sauce, and a starchy, light sauce. Since yours truly doesn’t eat pork (hence no wontons or char siew), I ask for mine with shredded chicken and mushrooms.
20. Rojak Buah – fruit salad with a prawn paste sauce – in Penang it comes with just fruit (mine used to contain fried yow char kway) and the sauce is less peanut-y than what you might find elsewhere.
21. Pasembur – this is another one of those dishes where it means different things to cooks of different ethnic backgrounds; I personally love the version done by Chinese or Nyonya cooks, the sauce for which is lighter and more fruity-flavoured.
    
    
22. Cendol – coconut and palm sugar dessert/drink with shaved ice and mung bean noodles; Penang is famous for the Teochew version of this drink, notable for its inclusion of red kidney beans.There’s a permanent line at the famous Macalister Lane stall that sells ais cendol, but I frequent the other one (pictured) in the same vicinity simply because I like supporting underdogs (they never have a line at that one).
    
23. Penang Hokkien Mee – this is what we call Har Meen (ie. prawn noodles) in my part of Malaysia. The Penang version uses pureed prawn shells in the soup; I have to admit I save my cravings for prawn noodles for when I’m back in my own kitchen in Sydney because of the whole pork thing again (I use chicken bones, they use pork bones or a mix of pork and chicken).
24. Mee Udang – ie. prawn noodles, Malay-style. Just as the Malays have their version of Char Koay Teow, they also have their version of Prawn Noodles which are completely different to the Chinese one. Malay prawn noodles are served in a thin gravy (rather than a soup) which is tomato sauce and prawn stock-based.
25. Koay Teow Th’ng ie. rice noodles in clear soup with handmade fish balls; this is a very subtly-flavoured dish and it’s a favourite among Penang locals.
    
    
26. Apom Manis – sweet crispy pancakes – these are one of my favourite childhood memories but back in Seremban they were sold by a Chinese hawker; here in Penang there’s a famous stall run by an Indian guy in Pulau Tikus, and he makes them on charcoal stoves.
27. Putu Mayam – (a Penang local tells me she knows this as Putu Mayong) thin vermicelli with fresh grated coconut and palm sugar – the putu mayam I grew up eating uses a darker palm sugar than what I’ve found in Penang (so far), but I love that here in Penang, you can still find them being steamed fresh on upturned baskets at the Pulau Tikus wet market.
28. Loh Mee – a noodle dish with a starchy dark sauce that I avoided like the plague for years because it’s typically made with pork; however, I came across one that’s pork-free and it is incredibly delicious, so much so I’ve been meaning to attempt making it at home.
29. Nasi Melayu Pak Yusoff – honorable mention; this would be a typical Malay buffet-style stall ubiquitous in Malaysia, but for the fact that they are famous for their grilled fish, which are specially supplied by local fishermen and delivered every morning. Pretty cool.

Did I miss anything? Let me know, and I’ll add them to the list!

My Wok Around Penang project is made possible through the support of the following >>

The post 29 Dishes That Will Make You Fall In Love With Penang first appeared on Jackie M..