The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| A nostalgic and delicious turn with kuih at Chaco King Posted: 28 Feb 2014 05:15 PM PST We had some green and brown woon chai koh, the first flavoured naturally with pandan and the other with brown sugar. Both were slightly wobbly, topped with fresh grated coconut and had a nice soft bite. The ubi kayu or yeh tong muk sui ko was lovely, being sticky, slightly firm and textured with fine tapioca fibres. This is an unusual shop. All the food sold here is made on site, by a father and son. Chan Chi Kit, the son, keeps going back and forth, from the front of the shop to the back, where he would have his hands deep in batter, to make a fresh batch of kuih to steam. Chan explained why the kuih and the tong sui are never too sweet. "There are lots of old people in Pudu and they can't take too much sugar." As for the black sesame broth, "we grind everything ourselves, from the sesame to the pulut and rice flour." This explains the full-bodied flavour of the pure sesame. It's organic, the way Chan cooks the broth, without adding in too much rice flour to dilute the flavour. When the sweet potato tong sui was brought to the table, I caught a wonderful whiff of ginger and pandan just as I would have expected it at home when my mum cooked it. I just had to have the loh mai chee, a sticky, pliable dumpling with a peanut filling. This peanut snowball was so fine, soft and smooth. One bite and a finely ground peanut and sugar filling spilled out, sealing my mouth. It was so, so good. The sang chau lor mai farn was done well, with oodles of flavour from Chinese sausage, mushroom, egg and peanuts. I couldn't stop eating this. The yam cake held its own, studded with lots of yam, and topped with crispy shallots, dried prawns, chopped chilli and spring onions, just the way I like it. The Taiwan bowl kuih is a white, slightly firm woon chai koh that has salted egg, chicken and mushroom and egg tucked within it. It's drizzled with a little sauce and served with a chilli sauce. It's delicious, with intense spurts of flavour on an otherwise bland kuih. It had a great mouth-feel. Chan used to study in Taiwan where he encountered this kuih, but he tweaked the flavours with the help of his parents and turned it into a talking point in his shop. While Chaco King is the bright, pleasant shop which is open from 1pm to 12am daily, except Tuesday, Chan also runs a stall round the corner from the shop, just in front of the Majestic Photo Studio. The stall, started by his grandfather, has been around 50 years! The shop was opened only 10 years ago. "My grandfather, who was from China, started it two days before Merdeka in 1957. He used to sell yau char kway and harm cheen pang, and pak tong koh and soong koh too." The last two brings back such memories, especially when Chan tells me the kuih is left to rise naturally after fermenting rice flour with sugar. The earnest young man is at the stall serving a steady stream of customers from 8.30pm onwards until midnight. The kuih are mostly 70 sen each, with RM3.20 for the Taiwan bowl kuih. Chaco King is located at 43 Jalan Kancil, Pudu 55100 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-2141 9714, 016-391 3068. It's just a five-minute walk from Pudu Plaza. – March 1, 2014. |
| Hotel Istana ‘out-cooks’ the competition at Halal Battle of the Chefs Posted: 27 Feb 2014 08:24 PM PST The event was held at the Subterranean Penang International Convention & Exhibition Centre (SPICE). The chefs won the most outstanding halal team award. The first halal battle of the chef was held in conjunction with the 5th Penang International Halal Expo & Conference 2014 organised by the Penang government's halal facilitation agency, Halal Penang, PIHEC. The expo served as a one-stop centre for halal exporters and importers sourcing domestic and international products and services. The Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur City Centre team was led by Shahrul Amin Mansor, junior sous chef of banquet. The team has won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the competition. Mohd Sakhawi Azizi and Mohamad Fauzan Martin won the most outstanding halal team award. Culinary competitions evaluate the skills of the chefs and pastry chefs, as well as their presentation skills of the latest developments and dishes in an eventful and attractive manner. The growth of international competitions in the kitchen has resulted in extraordinary sharing of knowledge and creation. – February 28, 2014. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider : Food To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |