Terra and Nate visited Malaysia last year, and sent us this neat postcard, which was the inspiration for our fourth meal. :)
The central dish of this meal, nasi lemak, was a bit out of my comfort range, to be honest. The last time I had anchovies, I was 18, and got served them as a hazing prank as part of my shift pizza, when starting my new job as a server at LaRosa's in Cincinnati. That was a horrible (if funny) experience, so I was nervous about making this dish, which features anchovies as a central flavor. However, as it is the "de facto national dish of Malaysia" (according to Google), I wanted to give it a chance. In the end, it wasn't for us, but we were glad we gave it a try! (I don't eat any shellfish, so the prawn paste flavor was a little much for me. The anchovies themselves were inoffensive, surprising me.)
We did like the coconut milk rice, with it's interesting pandan flavor.
One part of this journey that has been really fun for me is experiencing new flavors. Pandan, or screwpine, is a distinctive Malaysian flavoring I had never had before, and it featured in 2 dishes - both the coconut rice (cooked with knotted screwpine leaves, or in this case, a small sachet of dried pandan), and the nyonya kuih lapis (which uses bright green pandan extract for the green layer). It is a subtle flavor and I'm not sure what to compare it to. The internet says it has a sweet, grassy, floral flavor, which seems about right. It's nice.
Making the nyonya kuih lapis was the biggest feat of this meal. It is called "9 layer" cake, for the obvious reason that it has 9 layers (!), but we don't have "cake" of this kind in America. You do make a batter (using a mix of tapioca flour, rice flour, moong dal [greenbean] flour, coconut cream, water, and salt), but you steam it after adding each colorful layer; you do not bake it. The closest familiar comparison might be jello (or flan), but it has a chewier texture, and a nice mild flavor, like rice pudding.
I had to be a bit inventive this one, because the preparation calls for a "steamer," which is apparently a kitchen device, but not one we have. I studied some pictures online and rigged up our own, using the giant pot I used to mull wine for our wedding, and 2 racks. It actually worked so well!! The only issue is that I poured the bottom layer too thick/didn't steam it long enough, so as you can see, I had to scrape that bit off, and ended up serving 8-layer cakes. (Doh!) I actually really enjoyed this very pretty dessert, though it was rather filling. (I wish the top layer looked nicer, but maybe not bad for my first go. Also, if I did this again, I would weigh out all 9 layers to ensure they were equal- eyeballing it was maybe not the way to go.)
The highlight of the meal was definitely the chicken satay with peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was pretty involved to make, but boy did it pay off - WOW is it an incredibly delicious flavor!! So rich and complex. You could eat it by itself. Or on vanilla ice cream, as a kind of spicy/sweet peanut sauce, which I plan to try with the leftovers. YUM!! (Mark says of this satay, "I'd eat that any day of the week.")
This meal was certainly a labor of love to prepare -- I spent at least 6 hours, maybe 8, in the kitchen. Definitely gives me a lot of respect for Malaysian chefs!
After dinner, Mark and I tried the fun custom of making teh tarik (pulled tea), which is a ceylon tea mixed with condensed milk, poured between 2 cups from great heights to give it its frothiness. I was no good at the pouring but Mark did pretty well! And we watched a fun video of a tea pulling competition, where contestants are judged on style and daring, as well as height.
Finally, we capped off our evening by watching The Journey (2014), Malaysia's highest grossing film, about an ethnically Chinese Malaysian woman, who breaks with tradition by becoming engaged to a Westerner. The fiance and her father take a road trip across Malaysia to hand-deliver the invitations, and in so doing, come to realize their values aren't as different as they thought. As it sounds, the story was a little pat, but I did enjoy this slice-of-life look at Chinese Malaysian culture. Apparently, Malaysia is a very diverse country, as reflected in their food. (I didn't know Malaysia bordered Thailand, but this quickly became obvious from the delicious satay.) They also referenced nasi lemak in the film, so that was exciting. :)
Finally, random fun fact: Malaysia is comprised of two noncontiguous regions. I wonder how common that is in the world? I guess we'll find out!When? July 3, 2020
Who cooked? Lauren
What's for dinner? (Recipe links) Chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish, nasi lemak with coconut rice, teh tarik, nyonya kuih lapis
Percent complete: 2%
Malaysia Stats
- Population: 32,830,760
- GDP: 926
- Life Expectancy: 76.1
- Founding Date/Age in 2020: 1957/63
- Official Language: Malay
- Tallest twin buildings (Kuala Lumpur City Centre)
- Oldest world leader currently in power (Mahathir Mohamad, age 94)
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