Superbly Sambal

Come to Penang and you'll find that everybody loves sambal, especially the savoury kind made with belacan, and almost everyone will be able to tell you how to make it but very few people know that there are in fact more varieties of sambal than they ever dreamed of. Indonesia alone has more than 30 varieties of sambal while Sri Lanka has quite a few varieties of its own, too. 

In Malaysia, the 11 West Malaysian states all boast their own variations of this simple concoction of chilies, shallots (small red onions), garlic and lemon or tamarind juice. It's een given it's name to a whole range of dishes from Sambal Tumis to just plain Sambal Ikan or Sambal Fish (recipe here). Of course, it's the addition of other simple ingredients that make each variation of the humble sambal unique.

You can add fish,sauce as a substitute for belacan (fermented fish paste), white or palm sugar, finely pounded dried shrimp, rice vinegar, the finely julienned skin of limes, unripened mangoes, hard-boiled eggs, lemongrass, deep-fried anchovies or ikan bilis, diced tomatoes and even deep-fried salted fish. Or put in lots of tempoyak (fermented durians) like some Malaysians do. Just make sure all our doors and windows are open and you have a good deodoriser handy when you do this.Of course your neighbours might think that you just found three or four five-days-dead rats in your kitchen because durians have an extremely pungent smell, and when fermented, the "perfume" becomes much, much more intense and powerful.

Or play it safe and try to replicate some of the Indonesia sambal by adding things like crushed fried peanuts, petai (a very aromatic bean), candle nuts, roasted grated coconut, young bananas or strawberries like they do in Bandung, West Java. The Sri Lankans also make their sambal interesting with crumbled fish and/or plantains.

The best-loved sambal is, of course, the sambal belacan. Use it to jazz up plain rice, raw cucumbers or fresh sour fruit and a bit of light soy sauce like the poor people did in times of yore or use it as a condiment, a dipping sauce or a cooking ingredient. Many Penangites even add it to traditional Chinese hawker food like wonton noodles, rice noodles (kuay teow), fried noodles or soup of every kind, fried rice and chicken rice. In fact, Ipoh's famous Cantonese combination of boiled chicken, fresh beansprouts and silky hor fun (large, flat rice noodles) is heavenly with sambal belacan! Less adventurous Chinese usually opt for the time-tested lemon juice chili sauce, though.

If you want an authentic taste of Penang, see below for my recipe for a basic sambal belacan. It's very easy to prepare but there's just one caveat. You can prepare it in a grinder but it will come out slightly watery and the fragrant oils in the ingredients will not be released so you have to pound or grind it in a mortar. The importance of doing that cannot be emphasised. In the old days, rich Nyonya ladies sized up their potential daughters-in-law by listening to the rhythm of their pounding and the tinkling of the girls' bracelets as they pounded sambal belacan. One wrong note and bye-bye girlie!

Ingredients -
6 fresh medium-sized chilies (remove all the stalks and seeds first if you want it less spicy)
2 bird-s eye chilies (you can omit these for a less spicy paste)
a finger-length of belacan (roast it until it crumbles into flakes and powder)
2 shallots (remove the outer skins first)
1 small clove of garlic (remove both the hard and the fine skins)
 the juice of one big lime (you can substitute it with tamarind or lemon juice)
salt to taste

Preparation
1. Pound or grind the chilies, shallots and garlic into a semi-fine paste. You should still be able to see tiny bits of thin red chili in the paste.
2. Mix the lemon juice into the paste while still in the mortar.
3. Scoop the paste out into a small sauce dish or saucer.

You can serve your sambal belacan with almost anything but I love it best as a dip for either fresh, raw vegetables or mixed into either plain white rice or noodles of almost any kind. On various occasions, I've also tried it with french fries, meat balls, porccini mushrooms sauteed in butter, and pasta. Loved them all.

Looking Back At Kampung Food

Now that the Malaysian school holidays are just around the corner, it's time to think of 'balik kampung' or "going back to the village" that formerly once-a-year affair when everyone packs their bags and heads home to the dear old pater and mater, who will (hopefully) cook up a storm of childhood village delights for their beloved children and grandchildren. 

Not many people take the time to think about it but nowadays when people talk about "selera kampung" they don't realise that even in the most traditional homes, the menu has changed. The dip and crunch of fresh from the back garden herbs dipped in a tangy basic sambal (a savoury chili paste) with fried fish, chicken and prawn sambal (prawns cooked in a tangy paste of chili, shallots, garlic and, occasionally, lemongrass or citronella) has acquired elements from richer coconut-based Indian and even Thai curries and salads.

Not only that, but even the big hotels have discovered the potential behind the unique mixture of light, refreshing tastes and textures with the richer, nuttier curries and promotions, buffets or set meals featuring kampung delights have become quite common.

From May 28 to June 12, Bayview Beach Resort is offering a Selera Kampung Special with four different set menus for lunch-time patrons of La Veranda to choose from while its sister hotel, Bayview Georgetown has an entire buffet of kampung temptations for dinner-time patrons at its Dewan Sri Mas. 

But if you just want to try cooking a basic village dish, the simplest and for many, the easiest one is probably the Sambal Ikan (fried fish cooked in sambal), so here, for the first time ever, is my own lazy bachelor's recipe.

200-400 grams of fish (small, whole fish or larger slices are fine)

4 small cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed or chopped finely)

2 red onions (shallots) (peeled and chopped finely)

1 large onion (cut into rings)

the juice from 2 limes (or two teaspoons of tamarind juice instead)

1 large tablespoon of ground or pounded chili 

20 grams of belacan or fish paste (roasted dry and crushed finely)

(use fish sauce if you can't find fish paste)

a.Fry the fish until it's crispy, then set aside.

b.Grind, pound or blend the other ingredients (except the lime juice and the large onion) into a fine paste

c. Heat a tablespoonful of oil in a pan or wok and stir in all the ingredients except the fish. Keep on stirring until bubbles start popping through the mixture.

d. Add the lime or tamarind juice and mix well.

e.Now is the time to taste the mixture. You can add a little bit of salt to taste, and/or a little bit of sugar both for taste as well as to cut the spiciness at this point.

e. Put in the fried fish and stair through the paste until the fish is thoroughly covered and steeped in it.

f. Remove from the fire and serve immediately.

Note - you can use the base paste recipe with fried or boiled eggs, or prawns instead of fish.

Penang Curry For Beginners

People who come to Penang and those who were born and live here seldom think more about the many wonderful curries they feast on almost every day beyond the spiciness, taste and deliciousness of each mouthful. But curry in Penang has such a rich and on-going provenance that goes back centuries that it would be impossible to write about it on a single blog post. 

For starters, the word 'curry' is usually said to derive from the Indian 'kari' - a thin, spiced sauce. But according to the BBC, the English cookbook The Forme of Cury (published in the 1390's, long before any Englishman set foot in India) referred to any form of hot food as 'cury' - and that came from the French 'cuire'. So to avoid any historical disputes, I'm just going to focus on the different types of curry you're likely to encounter around the island, from the most common to the rarest.

The red curry made with coconut milk is the one most Penangites usually think of when you mention the word 'curry' and this may be made with any form of meat, fish or even just vegetables for vegetarians. So by and large, this is the most ubiquitous. But not all red coloured curries are made with coconut, Nor are all curries cooked by Indians and Malays only. Or red for that matter.

Kari kapitan looks like a drier form of red curry and it is a Penang original. It has much less gravy and looks quite a bit darker. It's a semi-dry curry and is very rich with coconut flavour because the coconut milk is simmered until most of the water content has evaporated. There are Indian versions of it and these are more likely to have been the original dishes but the general opinion is that kari kapitan was invented by the Nyonya or Straits-Chinese ladies. One characteristic of it is the combination of coconut milk and lemon grass, a true sign that they was probably influenced by both Malay (the lemon grass) as well as Indian cooks.

There is also yellow curry. A richer, more citrusy and occasionally equally spicy concoction that makes extensive use of lemon grass and kafir lime leaves. You can get both fish, chicken and vegetarian versions of this. It's probably derived from Thai cuisine but the Penang version does not use quite as many herbs and for the most part, is much more savoury, less sweet and a tad more gingery.

And then there's 'masak pedas' or 'cooked spicy' to give it its meaning. It looks like a curry but there's usually no coconut involved and it looks slightly drier than the usual curry. These are usually fish, seafood or vegetable dishes and a usually quite citrusy since asam (tamarind) juice or lime juice is part of the base paste.

But don't mistake masak pedas for 'sambal' which is basically fish, vegetables or seafood (shellfish, squid or octopus for the most part) cooked in a basic chilli, onion or shallot and garlic paste.It's much less rich, sometimes sweeter but usually more spicy hot.


But don't get that confused with gulai (pronounced 'goo-lai') either. Gulai is another catch-all term that can be confusing for the non-Malaysian. Gulai ikan (fish curry) is more like a 'masak pedas' but with more gravy and ground shallots while gulai ayam (chicken curry) is exactly that.

The best part about currying flavours in Penang, however, is how the basic recipes are slowly evolving. Unlike their forebears, modern Penangites of all races and religions are always on the lookout for new flavours, taste textures and combinations. The old-fashioned Penangite who could never travel out of state without a tub of sambal belacan (chilli paste made with fermented and dried fish) is slowly disappearing.

Nowadays, there are even experimental Japanese curries being offered on the island. Made with a rich roux of butter and flour to complement the fragrant spices instead of coconut milk, it is often a little sweeter, much less spicy than the locals are used to and it's smoother. It's equally rich flavour is surely finding favour with local palates as well. Perhaps the often very cutesy presentation might have something to do with that, too. Don't you think a whole nest of baby panda rice balls is more tempting than a big plain old blob of rice?

On the other hand, in such a rapidly changing foodscape, some traditional delicacies are also falling into the 'endangered' category. If you can find masak titik being offered at any of the island's eateries or hawker stalls, don't hesitate to try it because it's rapidly becoming one of those dishes few people under the age of 50 can cook any more.

And what is masak titik? It's not technically a curry or a sambal in any way. It's more of a mildly spiced but peppery soup made with either white radish, watermelon skins, occasionally winter melons or papaya, sambal belacan, both fresh and dried prawns, as well as pepper (lots of it!) and daun kadok or wild pepper leaves.

The rarest form of this rare dish, however, has to be the bamboo shoot version. I have neither seen nor tasted it once during the last twenty years!

So if you're in Penang, feast on the fabulous curries of Penang at either of the Bayview hotels on the island while you can. Even at local 3 and 4-star hotels, some of the things you're tucking away might become little more than the stuff of fondly remembered legends very soon!

The Merry Month of May

May is a bit of an odd month in Malaysia. Most of the major celebrations are over and the June school holidays are coming up at the end of the month, so it's almost like everyone's holding their breath waiting or looking for an excuse to let their hair down a little. Well, we Malaysians should just relax and make May a month of fun like they do in Europe and America. 

May is also the only month of the entire year so entirely associated with happiness for hundreds of years that "the merry month of May" has become a cliche. But how did May get its reputation for being the fun month? Well, the phrase is first attributed to Thomas Dekker (1572-1632), an Elizabethan dramatist. The poem of the same name was part of his play, The Shoemaker's Holiday,which was first performed in 1599. 

Bruce Lee's father,
Lee Hoi Chuen

But "the Merry month of May" is also the title of a novel by James Jones, a 1955 a movie in which Bruce Lee's father, Lee Hoi Chuen, was featured, a duet from the Edward German operetta Merrie England, and an Irish folk song that became the regimental march of the 10th Royal Hussars.

And May 1st is more than just May Day when people in Europe danced around a huge maypole. It's also Mother Goose Day, Loyalty Day and Save The Rhino Day, while May 2nd is both Baby Day as well as Brothers and Sisters Day.

But the other days of this month commemorate more than a few rather unconventional things, especially in America and the UK. Did you know that May 4th is National Bird Day in America? It is the oldest (1894) of the bird recognition days in the US. And the British have No Diet Day on May 6th. It was created in 1992 to help people value their natural bodies instead of trying to be forever slimmer or prettier. It's not surprising that the creator, Mary Evans Young, is the director of a British group called Diet Breakers. 

The Japaanese commemorate National Children's Day on May 5th (it's a national holiday), while the Irish have their Limerick Day on My 12th the birthday of writer Edward Lear, when people commemorate those little poems like "There was once a man from Nantucket..." And then the very next day, they celebrate Leprechaun Day which is as much about Irish national pride as it is about their national elves.

There are proper ones being celebrated in the US, of course, such as National Teacher's Day (the first Tuesday of the first full week in May), World Press Freedom Day (May 3rd), National Nurses Day on May 6th (in fact May 6-12 is National Nurse's Week, May 8th is National Student Nurse's Day, and May 12th is International Nurse's Day). There is also VE Day to commemorate the end of WWII in Europe on May 8th,  and World Red Cross/Crescent Day on the  same date. 

There are many funny 'national' days peculiar to America, especially, but most of them have no official recognition. Take National Hoagie Day (May 5th) for feasting on  great long sandwiches like the one shown, Lost Sock Memorial Day (do they eulogise old socks long lost and gone,I wonder) and National Sea Monkey Day on the 15th.For more merry May days, have a look at this link

  

So what are your plans for making merrie for this May?

Interesting Mother's Day Facts

Mother's Day falls on May 8, the second Sunday of May this year. The correct spelling should be Mother's Day, according to Anna Jarvis, a peace activist and the woman who started it all in  1908 to honour her own mother.

Most other countries will be celebrating it on the same day. But some countries celebrate it on a different day. Spain, Romania and Portugal have it on the first Sunday of May, while Nepal follows the lunar calendar and their Mata Tirtha Puja falls on the last day of the fortnight of the waning moon in the month of Baishakh. In other countries, the date is fixed, Indonesia's Hari Ibu falls on December 22, whereas in the Middle East, it is celebrated on March 21 and Thailand chose Queen Sirikit's official birthday on August 12 for example.

There is also a flower associated with Mother's Day. In most countries, it is the carnation but in Australia, it is the chrysanthemum. In China, which currently follows the western tradition of presenting carnations to mothers, there is a movement to go back to the old tradition of lilies (which mothers planted when their children left home.)

And here are a few really unexpected facts about Mother's Day -

1.In the UK, Mothering Sunday is NOT actually Mother's Day. It is a religious holiday when one was supposed to visit one's mother church and falls on the 4th Sunday of Lent (March 6 this year).

2.Armenians celebrate Mother's Day twice on March 8 and April 7 as Maternity and Beauty Day.

3.Bolivia celebrates Mother's Day on May 27, to commemorate the Battle of La Coronilla when when women fighting for their country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army in the city of Cochabamba.

And here are a couple of things that only mothers will endure for their children -

1.Joanna Kryzstonek, a Polish woman, endured 75 days of labour almost upside down to save the last two of her triplets after the first one died. 

2.Octopus mothers don't eat or rest while looking after their eggs. A giant Pacific octopus can spend up to 53 months doing that, eventually dying of exhaustion and malnutrition when her eggs hatch.

So, have you booked your Mother's Day lunch with Bayview yet?

Penang Inspires!

For three to six months between 1990 to 2014, Mr. Raymond Flower lived and wrote in the same Seaview Suite at the Bayview Beach Resort year in, year out.

Although Raymond wrote more than 30 books in his life time, in Malaysia and Singapore he is best known as the author of Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew : The Life and Times of A Fire Dragon (with Dato' Loh Cheng Yean and Winston Lim, 2004) and Raffles The Story of Singapore (1984) but in those 14 years, Raymond Flower wrote or co-authored eleven books and up-dated five others for re-publication as new editions, all from the same spot at the Bayview Beach Resort in Penang..

A long-time resident of Italy, he said that Le Marche was where he went for his holidays but Penang was where he got the serious business of writing done. He always claimed that the sweeping vista of the quiet bay, the tranquil beach and the historic Ferringhi Rock never failed to inspire his literary instincts and he would dutifully set to work between 11am to 2pm every single day without fail.

There were also other spots on the isle that gave him some of his best book ideas. A visit to some of the Chinese clan houses got him thinking of his own ancestors. He'd been trying to think of a way to distill the essence of a huge journal kept and passed down for four generations in his family, but not in any hurry to do anything about it. After researching the Loh clan history for the biography of Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew, he was even more motivated to write about his forebears and  Dissenting Flowers was the result.



The magnificent 360 Degree panorama of the city's heritage enclaves from the Bayview Georgetown's Revolving Restaurant by day gave him many fresh ideas for The Penang Adventure, by night the hundreds of brightly lit hawker stalls and coffee shops inspired the last book he was planning with the working title of A Culinary Heritage of Penang. He had a whole book of scribbled notes about the various kinds of people on the island and how their traditional food had changed in the melting pot of Penang's multiracial society.

Sadly, he passed away at the age of 94 in Italy before he could return to Penang and write his last book. Here is the complete list of books Raymond Flower wrote at the Bayview Beach Resort -

PlaybackWriting Your Autobiography
View Over The Bay.
Go West! The Adventure of Western Australia.
The Y, First 100 Years in Singapore 1902-2002
The Penang Adventure
Writing Your Autobiography
Raffles Heritage of Gracious Dining
Fun & Feasting 200 Years of Good Food and Hospitality
Dissenting Flowers
Italy - A Traveler's History
Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew : The Life and Times of A Fire Dragon

(co-author with Dato' Loh Cheng Yean and Winston Lim)

Raymond Flower's observation about the view from his favourite suite must have had some truth in it because many of his other literary friends who stayed in Penang discussed, edited or wrote parts of their own books in it. As a matter of fact, four other books were also written in Raymond Flower's room :

Car, Castello & Quill
Malaysia - A Traveler's History
Thailand - A Traveler's History
Billy And The Cloud Fife
Tales of the White Sands (a collection of short stories)