Makantrip.com

Its good to be back in Pangkor again, this is one of my favourite place to grew up as I spend many school holidays in this island… why you may ask? Mainly because I was a skinny little boy believe or not when I was a kid. So my mum sent me to my aunt in Pangkor during school holidays on a get the kid fat program. And hey, it worked, haha… good food plus a fierce aunty, who wouldn’t eat? I mean, breakfast was like a few house away between 30 cents to 50 cents for a bowl of noodles, then lunch at home, another few home away for laksa and red bean for tea then dinner and follow my uncle out for supper! So you do the math!

Anyway, back to the topic, we got some of the wildgeeks to Pangkor and we actually brought along our mountain bikes. We did a crazy climb from the Golden Sands Beach up the road next to Pangkor Hill to Sg. Pinang Kecil town for breakfast. I will leave the cycling to wildgeek’s website to post.

The first thing I look for is the local nasi lemak. Its a small packet of nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf, the unique thing is that its only rice with a piece of fish and curry gravy on it. Its about 80 cents per packet but its so good, I can eat 3 easily! The prove the point, I offered it to some of the wildgeeks whom are already having their noodles, they decline at first, but after the first bite, they just kept the whole packet ;0

After some stunning nasi lemak, I got a bowl of the local noodles, its basically noodles of your choice in clear soup stock (usually from seafood) then add with toppings like roast pork (char siew) and fish cake or sometimes some seafood. A scope of sambal is then added to the soup and you just stir them up and eat. Its spicy yet the stock is still tasty at RM2.20 per bowl

Many other type of kiuh, yau char kuai, chee cheong fun and etc. are also available around this area for breakfast. Just wish I had more time this trip, there are just so much more to eat!

GPS: N4 13.641 E100 34.469

Makan first, think later

Early weekdays morning in KL there is a busy place selling hot and steamy nasi lemak. This is in Jalan Raja Abdullah, just next to the Bank Pembangunan building at the traffic light crossing with Jalan Sultan Ismail.

This place serve good nasi lemak, there’s a wide choice of dishes to choose from here and business is good. Coconut fragrant in the rice is good, sambal and curry is not too spicy, good place for a heavy breakfast . I took some vege and a piece of fried chicken with mine nasi lemak plus a drink, below RM6, not bad for KL standard. You know KL what also more expensive .

GPS: N3 09.492 E101 42.094

Makan first, think later

Decided to migrate my recipe blog here too, easier to maintain

Here are the 3 entries from the blog:

Recipe: BBQ Salt Fish

I know what you all thinking, how to eat a fish when its all covered in salt, but that’s the idea. Besides steaming the fish, I think this is another best way to eat it and its superbly easy to do!

The idea of salt is that it will absorb moisture out of the fish, leaving pure and nice flesh! You can use any fish for this but I recommend sea fish. I used “left mouth fish” which is cheap (average RM4-8 per fish) and I ask the fishmonger to clean the internal but DO NOT scale it.

Simply prepare a piece of aluminium foil and make a bed of sea salt (get the cheapest you can find, its about 30-40 cents per bag, average 2 bags per fish), you may add in dried herbs into the salt to enhanced the flavour if you want but I find it not necessary. When you have the foil and salt bed ready, just slice some lemon and chinese parsley and stuff into the fish. Then place the fish on top of the salt bed and cover the top with more sea salt. Fold your foil up on the side so its easy to pick up and place it on top of your BBQ fire.

Leave it there for about 20-30 mins, not too long otherwise the flesh will be too dry. One good way to judge if its ready is that the salt will dry and form a rock like surface.

Remove the fish from the fire, crack open the salt, then cut the skin from the head and pull the whole skin up, do it gently and you will be able to remove the skin in 1 piece. Then simply dig into the flesh! You can supplement it with chilli sauce or whatever you fancy

Try it, its fun!

Recipe: Simple Nasi Lemak

Here’s a quick guide to making simple and easy to make Nasi Lemak at home. Stuff to prepare includes Ginger, Shallots, Coconut Milk, Rice, Salt & Pandan Leaves. Slice the ginger and peel off the skin of the shallots. Wash your rice (usually I use 1 cup per 2 pax) then add in ginger, shallots and pandan leaves. Top it with the coconut milk and salt then cook in rice cooker, when it’s almost cook, stir it and top it with a little more coconut milk if needed.

As for the sambal, I usually use the shortcut, just buy the sambal chili or chili boh from the supermarket. Firstly I will fry sliced shallots or onions with some oil, then add in ikan bilis (anchovies) and lastly the chili. You will need to add salt, sugar and lime juice to taste. Don’t need to cook this too long, once you got the right taste scoop it up to cool and don’t use too much oil

You can add other complimentary stuff like sliced cucumbers, fried ikan bilis, boiled eggs, etc. My only purpose is to eat it with grill fish

Recipe: Banana Leaf Grill Seafood

Here’s a simple recipe for grilling seafood at home, its basically curry marinate mixed and book on banana leaf for the special aroma.

For this round, my dad managed to help me buy some cheap baby river cat fish, 30 cents each! I went on to the market and bought some squids and prawns. To marinate, I rub fish curry powder all over the seafood, then added soya sauce, pounced lemon grass, curry leaves, lime juice and coconut milk. Let it sit for 4-8 hours in the fridge.

When ready, just have your banana leaf cleaned and grease with cooking oil. Then heat the pan, wrap the banana leaf over the seafood and grill them on mid-low fire till cooked.

Perfect to be served with nasi lemak!

Makan first, think later