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

The post 6 New Ways To Spice Up Malaysian Instant Noodles first appeared on Jackie M..

Link to watch >> https://youtu.be/QOwWTbNRSu0 

Becky called me up one day to ask for the recipe for my Malaysian Chicken Curry, which she had been sorely missing since I closed my restaurant and stopped producing my range of frozen meals. I pointed her to a food blog by some random called Jackie M – jackiem.com.au – and sent her on her way. (My daughter goes out of her way to avoid my public persona, as does most of my extended family – no, I’m not bitter about it. Really.)

Anyway, apparently I’d forgotten to emphasize the “Malaysian” in the curry powder listed in the recipe, so she picked up something from some other country. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out the way she’d hoped. I’m not suggesting, of course, that other curry powders are inferior etc. – just that if you want Malaysian flavours, it’s generally advisable to stick with Malaysian ingredients.

So what if you do come across some Malaysian curry powder? Firstly, as I’ve mentioned in the past, Malaysian brands of curry powder usually come in several iterations, with fish curry powder and meat curry powder being the most commonly available. I always make sure to stock up on all of them.

1. They’re vegetarian – the “fish” and “meat” designations just means they’re used for cooking fish curry or meat curry etc.
2. You can mix and match them – the lamb curry in my frozen meal range back in the day – one of my top sellers – was made with fish curry powder
3. Most Malaysian households use curry powder in their curries – there’s no shame in not roasting and grinding your spices from scratch; in fact I have zero recollection of my own parents (ie. the generation before mine) roasting and pounding their own spices

What types of curries can you use Malaysian curry powder in? I use it in my chicken curry, lamb curry, fish curry, vegetable curry and – get this – to make beef rendang. It sounds obvious to Malaysians, but probably not so to many Westerners, but yes, my famous beef rendang (and my stepmom’s before me) is made using Malaysian curry powder.

Before I was cooking curries though, as a kid, I used to add curry powder to my instant noodles (or instant ramen as they tend to be called nowadays). It’s also a key ingredient in my curry laksa and my otak-otak (grilled spicy fish cake in banana leaf) plus my stepmom used to add it to her satay marinade. 

If you’d like the tips I shared in the video above sent to your inbox, make sure you sign up to my email list – MalaysianChefs.com/Recipes – I’ll also send you recipes and keep you up-to-date on my cooking videos, lessons, Lives and everything else around Malaysian food. 

The post How To Use Malaysian Curry Powder 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..