Stuff I ate in the last... month?

Consider this a small diversion. A roundup of my food posts i made elsewhere.

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This kopitiam in Perak served its softboiled eggs in a mug! I had them with the usual accompaniment of toast with kaya (coconut custard jam) and butter.

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Whole pork grilled over open fire, which I didn't partake in for religious reasons. This was one of the dishes the indigenous community we visited prepared for us. Note dog. I'm pretty sure that's the smart one tht eventually did make away with a piece, lol.

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So there is also a peranakan community in the east coast (was in Terengganu). But like everyone else in this coastal state, they would have fish keropok (crackers) with their meal. … i forgot which chicken dish this is called here, but it’s chicken and boiled egg braised in soy sauce gravy in a hot pot.

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My first meal back in the east coast. Fish gulai (Malay curry), ulam (raw vegetable salad) with my fave, tempoyak (fermented durian) and sambal. Also, bird’s nest as a drink because asians can everything. I remember a friend who did a year teaching English in Shanghai who found one of the more notable things he had to get used to is the fact that Asian drinks would have chewable/edible bits in them. :D

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from the East Coast to down south of the Peninsula. from sweet tooth to numb tongue, because we sure like our heat here. for example in the top pix, you see that dish of black sauce next to the fritters (which is fried battered banana and tapioca)? that’s soy sauce mixed with chopped garlic and chillies for you to dip the fritters with. and every other dish you see is just rife with chillies and peppers. to cool down we have cendol durian, which is shaved ice with palm sugar, evaporated milk, cendol (a type of pandan rice jelly) and a dollop of fresh durian, and all that freshly squeezed fruit juices. i had the carrot with (evaporated) milk, and someone else had watermelon with tinned lychees.

bottom pic is my new Johor discovery: mee racun. lit. poison noodles, because of the rich (peppery, meaty) gravy and the gearbox (the cow knee part which is called colloquially that because of the resemblance) which, as you can see, has a straw helpfully provided, for us to suck the marrow out. i’m still alive! but not for lack of trying. i’m not a fan of yellow noodles in general, because of the aftertaste, but i’d totally douse some pasta in this gravy. which would be totally johorean, since this is the state that uses actual spaghetti for its laksa.

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aight here’s that totally malaysian breakfast, nasi lemak. i know a lot of folks say, ‘lol it translates to ‘fat(ty) rice’’ but tht just tells me you’re being a language doofus. but it’s no one’s fault considering the word ‘lemak’ was chosen to represent ‘fat’ as a scientific term (thereby extending one of its meanings). just keep in mind tht like most if not all languages, malay is also a language tht’s filled with complexity. and you know… synonyms… multiple meanings… in normative usage to describe flavour though it also means ‘creamy’, which in this case comes from the fact that it’s cooked in santan which is our catch-all term for coconut cream and milk.

yanyway, this my nasi lemak breakfast from last week, with a whole boiled egg, a generous helping of sambal (chilli gravy… basically…), peanuts and anchovies, as well as spiced fried chicken and bergedil (indonesian potato patty).

right, rest and be merry, and we fight again another day.