RICE THAT SHINES

Curried crab...the gravy's rich and tasty

Are you drooling already at the sight of the above curried crab pix? I'm happy to say it tasted as good as it looked. Besides this delicious delicacy, we also had several other simple but superbly yummy lauk - main dishes to go with some plain rice at this humble, no-frills and no name nasi Padang shop in Tanjung Malim.

Nasi Padang is a speciality of Padang, an Indonesian town in the island of Sumatra. Renowned for its rice meal, plain white rice is eaten with assorted savoury dishes of meat, fish, seafood, vegetable (usually in the form of curries or simmered in spice and coconut based-gravy) and spicy dipping sauces known as sambal.

View of the glass display cabinet where the assorted lauk-pauk were displayed

It was brought over early migrants from the Indonesian archipelago who settled in the peninsular. Now this popular delight can be found at countless roadside stalls and simpler restaurants in nooks and crannies throughout the country.

When we stumbled upon this eatery via our GPS, lunch was already in full swing and the place was filled to the brim. We managed to snag a table and noticed that all the diners were relishing their food with gusto, oblivious to their surroundings.

The old-school setting made lunch even more memorable

This crispy fried fish fired up our tastebuds with its piquant, roughly pounded chilli paste

Since most of the tables had fried chicken, we ordered a portion from the cook too. One bite of the skinless, lean ayam kampung (village bred free range chicken) with strands of sweet sliced onion made us realised why it was such a hot seller here; we literally picked the bones clean!

Chicken licking good!

We also selected some crispy fried fish that came with some coarsely pounded chilli, fried brinjal with chilli paste, chicken rendang and red sambal to complement our plates of white rice.

Aromatic spices and rich coconut milk give this chicken rendang its bold, deep-seated and complex flavour

Soft but creamy, the brinjal comes slathered in pounded garlic and chilli

More freshly pounded sambal to perk up our meal

I can't recall the exact amount we paid but it was a ridiculously affordable price that left us heartily satisfied and grinning from ear to ear.

MESTI MAKAN IN MALAYSIA

"Mesti makan" means 'must eat' in Malay. For first-time visitors to Malaysia, these local delights should be on their list of things to savour. 

Nasi Lemak

Steamed rice enriched with coconut milk accompanied by sambal ikan bilis (spicy ground chilli with anchovies), sliced cucumber, a wedge of hard-boiled egg, fried crispy anchovies and additional side dishes such as rendang (dry chicken curry with dry-fried grated coconut)
 

Roti Telur

This pan-fried South Indian bread requires the bread maker to 

flatten, stretch and toss the dough several times before it hits the griddle. Sometimes an egg 

is added to make it richer. Once cooked, it becomes fluffy and flaky.

Best enjoyed dipped in lentil curry. 

Sweet & Sour Crab

 This dish of crustacean slathered in sweet, tangy and subtly spicy sauce thickened with wisps of beaten egg gives the Singapore chilli crab a run for its money. Best enjoyed with slices of toasted bread and glasses of ice-cold beer.

Banana Leaf Rice

A South Indian speciality comprising a heap of steamed rice served on a piece of fresh banana leaf accompanied by assorted dishes: spicy meat or seafood curries, fried fish, chicken or squid, mango chutney and side dishes such as rasam (tangy tamarind soup), papadum (fried crackers), pickles, raita (cucumber yoghurt salad), fried bittergourd chips and lentil gravy.

Hokkien Mee

A favourite staple with the Chinese Hokkien community in the Klang Valley, fat yellow egg noodles are gently braised in dark and light soya sauces with choy sum (flowering mustard leaves), seafood and diced pork cracklings to viscous perfection. Ideally the dish should be cooked using high heat from a traditional charcoal stove to give it a deep-seated smoky tinge that connoisseurs refer to as 'wok hei' or the wok's breath.

 

Satay

The Malaysian equivalent to Turkish kebabs, these skewers of chicken, beef or mutton are first marinated in an aromatic marinade of turmeric, galangal and local spices before they are grilled over an open charcoal grill. Ubiquitous condiments include wedges of cucumber 

and onion with chunky peanut sauce.  

FRUITFUL TIME IN RAUB

Durians, durians everywhere...

Off this beaten track lies a durian orchard

Durians, durians, durians! Although the season has yet to reach its peak, our recent trip to Raub proved fruitful enough.

At the entrance of Eddie's durian orchard

Fruitful visit to Raub!

Raub Durian Orchard owner, Eddie Yong was kind enough to meet us in the heart of Raub town and led us to his verdant plantation. Without wasting any more time, he proceeded to open up some durians for our group.

Mau Sang Wong or Musang King or Raja Kunyit is characterised by
its faint starburst lines on the thorny skin

The ingenious guy even invented his own durian-opening implements! Some of our group members even tried their hands at it without breaking out in a sweat.


Since it's early days of the durian season, we only savoured 3 varieties: Ang Heh (Red Prawn), D24 and Musang King (also known as Raja Kunyit or Mau Sang Wong). My personal favourite was the creamy Ang Heh which has a muted bitter aftertaste.

Then Eddie led us on an uphill trek around his orchard where passion fruit and rambutans are also grown. He even has a 'bird's nest' hotel where swiftlets were lured to roost and build their precious nests inside the building.


Too bad we missed out visiting the groundnut and soyabean curd factories since it was late afternoon when we finally finished. But we managed to stop and buy packets of groundnuts to take home.

Our leisurely drive to Raub turned out to be pleasant enough and surprisingly short - only about 1.75 hours from KL. We departed after a sumptuous seafood lunch at Mei Keng Fatt. Feast your eyes on what we had!

The piquant Four Heavenly King vegetable dish

Lotus Leaf Garoupa reeled in loads of compliments from our guests
Tender frogs legs steamed with minced gingerMarmite crabs are just slurpilicious!

Dinner was in Bukit Tinggi - there were some hits and misses but still good nevertheless. Among the notable dishes were Steamed River Fish with Soya Sauce & Ginger, Fresh Water Prawns with Glass Noodles in Claypot and Beancurd with Minced Meat & Pine Nuts.

BACK TO NATURE

It's a food tour that took us back to Mother Nature.

Once you've set foot in Sekinchan and admire the lush, expansive fields of paddy waiting to be harvested, listen to the humble toil of a corn farmer and observe how fisherfolks land their precious catch after a strenuous day at sea, you'd think hard and deep about wasting food ever again.
A Kuala Selangor local resident graciously permitted to park our cars in front of his house while we trudged to the jetty for a first-hand look at how cargoes of fresh fish, squid and prawns were offloaded from the fishing boats.

We also stumbled upon a little shed where several ladies were busy stuffing beancurd with fish paste and producing fish paste wantans.


Directly opposite was another group of workers who were busy sorting out loads of dried salted fish.
Then we visited a rice processing plant in Sekinchan where the marketing lady delivered a brief overview on how all the paddy harvest is now mechanically gathered, threshed, de-husked and packed into bags of 5 and 10 kilos for sale. She also allowed us to walk around the plant premises after gently reminding us not to take any unprocessed grains home as each handful 'taken' means they have to bear the loss.


Our visitors from down south were also excited to see real corn plants. Mr Chew was kind enough to guide us to his plantation and explained to us the different species of corn, how long they take to grow and how to tell when the cobs are ready to be plucked. After listening to his lengthy explanation, we now know better than to look down at the humble corn and realise just how little the farmer earns in return for his efforts.



Naturally no visit to Kuala Selangor would be remiss without a seafood dinner. Much as we wanted to steer clear of the touristy eateries, we had little choice as the restaurant that my friend patronised on her last visit was closed.

The evening culminated with a noctural river cruise where thousands of fireflies put on a spectacular light show for us. From afar, the insects' twinkling lights amidst the swampy bushes can easily be mistaken for fairy lights. According to our boatman, we were extremely lucky since the clear but moonless night with high tide is perfect condition for the fireflies to converge and socialise.

It was a surreal scene but certainly one night to remember.