Malaysian Street Food in Langkawi Night Market

Malay curries in Langkawi night market. Which one will you have with some rice or roti canai?

Sampling Malaysian street food in the night market in Langkawi was much more than a mere eating experience. I could see a mélange of Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, Thai and of course, Malaysian food cultures in these stalls. I was one step closer to understanding the amazing food culture in this awesome tourist destination. Watching the locals making delectable foods out of simple ingredients, some of the foods which I had never heard of or seen before, was really a pleasure and a learning experience. I am happy that we took one evening out from our Langkawi trip for the visit to a local night market and it was really worth paying a visit! We actually ended up tasting a lot of dishes and desserts because the prices were very reasonable and the sight of the freshly made food in front of your eyes only makes you craving for more, isn’t it?

Beef sticks

 Night markets (Pasar Malam in Malay) or open-air street food are not only the places where you can enjoy cheap eats, but these are the places which will give your tastebuds the exact and unadulterated taste of the local cuisine. Night markets in Langkawi are set up in different locations across the island and these locations keep on changing throughout the week. With just RM 15, you and your partner can have a filling meal for sure. You will get a huge variety of hot and cold foods to try, even you can shop for fresh local fruits or vegetables if you like. Malaysian vendors are friendly and approachable. But as with any street food stall, you have to be a bit careful with the hygiene factor. To avoid stomach infection, always eat fresh food being prepared right in front of you, and not those which are already sitting idle for a while.

These are Malaysian curry puffs or empanadas. Try the sweet potato (ubi) version.

We were glad to see Indian samosas here, but we tasted the local popias instead.

We started our “taste trip” with the Malaysian curry puffs or kind of empanadas with savoury filling, varying from sweet potato, fish, chicken to beef. We tasted the chicken-stuffed one and it was quite interesting. Although a bit spicy for the kids, this makes an excellent snacking option for the grown-ups otherwise. We popped on some popias or Malaysian spring rolls with a Chinese origin, and those were fun. We loved both these treats.

Malay chicken and fish balls in sweet-n-spicy barbecue sauce. Divine!

The next visually appealing food to try was sumptuous Malaysian fishballs and chicken balls coated with a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce. I had tasted similar kinds of balls in Hong Kong street food stalls as well, but the sauce in this night market was something which I really liked to eat with. This package was just “wow” and we could not stop ourselves being a bit too greedy. As we were determined to taste other local delicacies, we left this stall and moved to the next one, only to find something even more tempting! 

A vendor in Langkawi, making the popular Murtabak.

The Murtabak (or Martabak) was definitely something we wanted to try since the time we planned the Langkawi trip. And it was before our eyes: freshly made with a generous size to suit our appetite. We were progressing towards a phase where we could say that we had a hearty dinner, rather than snacking on! The Murtabak tasted somewhat similar to the Indian Mughlai paratha. Murtabak was tasty, no wonder, but I expected the filling to be richer. As the meat content was rather less, I was a bit disappointed. Time to move on.

A Malay spicy salad on the left. Then anti-clockwisely, chicken wings, chicken feet, fish fritters and salted eggs.  

The local people were happily trying dishes such as the Nasi Goreng Kampung, Mee Goreng Mamak, Char Kway Teow, Nasi Lemak and Chicken Curry Kapitan. Nasi goreng kampung is a spicy traditional Malaysian fried rice with boxing chicken, chicken satay, fried egg, local pickled vegetables and Asian shrimp crackers. Mee goreng Mamak is Mamak-style yellow mee or bee hoon (vermicelli) cooked with prawns, squids and chicken. The popular Char Kway Teow is wok-fried flat rice noodles with shrimps, leeks, bean sprouts, eggs, lard and sweet soy glaze. Nasi Lemak is actually steamed coconut flavoured rice with chicken rendang (a popular curry), sambal paste, fried anchovies and boiled eggs, served with local picked vegetables and cucumber. Chicken curry Kapitan are slow-cooked chicken drumsticks in local Malay herbs and spices and are best served with fragrant chiang mai rice.

Fried vegetarian noodles with soy sauce

Crisp-fried chicken: cheap and tasty!

We skipped a few stalls offering these mouth-watering “grab-and-go” dinner options. These were pre-packed and we doubted the hygiene factor. So better to avoid, we thought. As mentioned earlier, we tasted only those foods which were cooked fresh in front of us: no compromise on the quality of course! After passing by a few stalls, we discovered this stall. AN suggested that we should try the crispy fried chicken along with the vegetarian stir-fried noodles and wow, both of them were tasty and complemented each other. The kids tried a few of the grilled, local sausages and enjoyed every bite of these hand-held treats.

Local Malay sausages. Great for kids too!

Lai Chi Kang: a fun package!

 By now, we were full and needed some break. As it was hot, we tried the cold fare in the stalls. We tried iced Lai Chi Kang, a fascinating colourful dessert-cum-drink comprising red dates, dried longan, lotus seeds, winter melon candy, barley pearls and grass jelly. We packed some dorayaki and Srikaya for our late-night dessert and left the awesome and buzzing night market, with unforgettable Langkawi food memories to share with friends back home.

Dorayaki and Srikaya: yummy desserts from the Langkawi island. Must try!

Vegetarian Breakfast Hand Pies with Mildly Sweet Cottage Cheese (Paneer) Filling

Vegetarian breakfast hand pies with mildly sweet cottage cheese (paneer) filling

Sundays are the days when I am in full spirit to experiment and to give in to the urge to bake! So last weekend morning, I baked these cute little heart-shaped, mildly sweet hand pies for breakfast. These hand pies have a flaky crust and the filling is the mélange of a creamy, fruity and nutty goodness. These pies are completely vegetarian. I used edible food colours (Wilton) to make it a little colourful and more exciting. I love hand pies because these are neat and can be hand-held: so even your kid can munch it on their way to school. You can make these hand pies a day or two in advance and store in Ziploc bags in the refrigerator. Whenever you want to eat, just warm a little and you are ready for a quick snack (or dessert) anytime of the day! These sweet pies are especially great for breakfast or brunch.

These sweet vegetarian hand pies with cottage cheese filling are great for picnic and in the kids’ lunchboxes. We have used fresh, chopped Alphonso mangoes in this recipe, as this is the time when Mumbai is raining Alphonsoes. I happened to make some fresh paneer (Indian cottage cheese) on Sunday morning for cooking Palak Paneer, but I changed my mind and used the paneer for this recipe instead. I used pine nuts and dried blueberries for the crunch. I used very less amount of butter, as compared to the conventional hand-pie recipes, as I wanted a healthier version of sweet hand pies.

Homemade paneer for the Hand Pies

The homemade paneer is made by boiling (and stirring from time to time) 500 ml milk, lowering the flame and adding 1.5 tbsp of vinegar dissolved in 5 tbsp water.

 



The paneer or the Indian cottage cheese separates from the whey.



As soon as paneer separates, add 8–10 ice cubes to arrest the process and to stop the paneer to become harder and drier. Pass the paneer and the whey through a muslin cloth. Drain the whey and sprinkle 3 cups of cold water on the paneer in the muslin cloth. Hang the muslin cloth (with the paneer) or leave it over a perforated sieve for 15 min. The paneer for these hand pies should be very soft and not too dry.

 

 

 
Vegetarian breakfast hand pies with mildly sweet cottage cheese (paneer) filling

Ingredients:

Freshly made soft paneer (Indian cottage cheese): made with 500 ml full-cream cow’s milk

Fresh Alphonso mangoes (chopped into small pieces): 1 cup

Small-sized banana: 1

Sugar (unpowdered): 1 tbsp

Pine nuts: 1.5 tbsp

Dried blueberries: 1 tbsp

Chilled butter (grated or cut into tiny pieces): ½ cup

All-purpose flour: 4 cups

Salt: ¼ tsp

Chilled buttermilk: as required (to knead the dough)

Wilton’s orange and brown edible food colours: each just enough to smear half of a toothpick

 Method:

Mash the paneer, sugar and banana well. Add the chopped mangoes and blueberries, ensuring that these do not become mushy. Add the pine nuts at the end and mix lightly. This is the sweet stuffing.

The healthy cottage cheese-fruit stuffing for the hand pies.

For the pie crust, mix the all-purpose flour, salt and butter together. Now add 1 cup buttermilk and knead. Add the rest of the buttermilk in very small batches, until you get a smooth and non-sticky dough.

Dough for the pie crust.

The dough is chilled, rolled out, divided into two portions and then chilled again. This will ensure that you get somewhat flaky layers. Take out the two doughs from the fridge and add Wilton’s orange colour into one and the brown into the other dough and create a “marbled” effect with these colours as you gently incorporate the colours into the doughs.

Roll out half of the coloured pie dough on a floured surface, ensuring not to roll it too thinly. Using a three-inch, heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out hearts. Do the same with the other dough as well.

Put a little of the filling over one heart and seal with the other heart, using a pie press or the tines of a fork to crimp the edges. Transfer to parchment-paper-lined cookie sheets.

Preheat the oven to 220⁰C. When the oven is ready, brush the tops of the pies with a little molten butter and sprinkle some sugar. Bake for 30 min, or until the crusts get light brown at the edges.

Cool for 10 min before serving.

Have a bite of this!

Chingri Macher Malai Curry (Bengali Prawn Curry with Coconut)

Chingri Macher Malai Curry (Bengali prawn curry with coconut).

Undoubtedly, Chingri Macher Malai Curry or Chingri Malai Curry is among one of my favourite Bengali dishes. A curry cooked with Chingri Mach (a common Bengali term used for lobsters, prawns or shrimps) is generally a part of the Bengali menu, especially on occasions such as the Noboborsho or Poila Boisakh (Bengali New Year). Be it jumbo prawns or small shrimps, Bengalis love to include them in their cooking in myriad ways. There are traditional dishes where shrimps are cooked with bottle gourd (lau chingri) or cabbage (badhakopir ghonto chingri mach diye). Sometimes these are steamed with mustard paste in a banana leaf parcel (chingri paturi), whereas sometimes these are cooked with chopped banana flowers (mocha chingri) or cooked in an awesome chutney base (chingri macher chatni)!

Coconut paste is used in the preparation of Chingri Macher Malai Curry. We might find replacing with coconut milk as an easy option, but the texture of the curry would be different in that case. 

So we Bengalis, who are one of the hardcore fish-eating communities in India, love gorging on chingri, among others. Since today was the Bengali New Year or the Noboborsho, I thought it was the perfect time to make this authentic lobster curry with coconut. The Chingri Macher Malai Curry is one of the Bengali regal dishes, just fit for those special days when you feel like eating like a King, and surprisingly, without going overboard on spices!

A bit about the history of the Chingri Macher Malai Curry. Some people believe that this dish has a Malaysian influence and the early version of the recipe might have been bought by Malaysian sailors to the Bay of Bengal, many years ago. The word “Malai” is actually “Malay”, meaning Malaysian. The use of coconut paste or milk in curries across Asia is one common thread among the cuisines. Interestingly, Malai in Hindi means “milk cream”, but the dish doesn’t use milk cream. So, it is apparent that Malai is the distorted way of saying “Malay”. But, this is just one school of thought.

Now, there is no single recipe for the perfect Malai curry. Different Bengali families use slightly (and sometimes, hugely) different recipes. Some add cashewnut paste, garam masala powder and/or tomatoes in this, but I don’t. Some may not like to add a little mustard paste, raisin paste and ghee, but I do. Some add coconut milk, but I prefer freshly scraped coconut paste. These are certain factors which make one Malai curry taste quite different than the other, but at the end of the day, the best Malai curry is the one which is rich, creamy and doesn’t taste too spicy, and only then will the flavor of the shrimp or prawn be at its epitome!

This Bengali (Indian) dish tastes majestic with jumbo prawns or lobsters, with heads intact, but you can replace with any kind of shrimp for a regular curry. Mustard oil is the recommended oil, as it adds great flavor to this dish, but if you don’t find this oil, replace with any good oil with high smoking point. The black-mustard-seed paste used in this recipe is ground with a pinch of salt and half a green chilli to remove bitterness. The black skins are then removed by passing the paste through a fine wire mesh or muslin cloth. The yellow paste is used for this recipe.

 

 

Chingri Macher Malai Curry (Bengali Prawn Curry with Coconut)

Ingredients:

Jumbo prawns or lobsters, with the skin over the heads and tails being intact (deveined): 4 (medium-sized)
Freshly scraped coconut paste: ¾ cup

Turmeric powder (for marination): ¾ tsp

Salt (for marination): ¾ tsp

Mustard oil: ½ cup

Onion (very finely chopped): 1 cup

Ginger paste: ¾ tsp
Freshly made black-mustard-seed paste: 1.5 tsp
Whole dried bay leaf: 1 (big)
Whole cinnamon (cassia bark): 1 (one-inch stick)
Whole green cardamoms: 4
Raisin paste: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: ¼ tsp
Red chilli powder: ½ tsp
Cumin powder: ¾ tsp
Turmeric powder (for the curry): ½ tsp
Salt (for the curry): ¾ tsp (or according to taste)
Granulated sugar: ¼ tsp
Ghee (Indian clarified butter): 1 tsp
Green chillies: 4
Water: 1 cup
 

Method:

Marinate the lobsters (or jumbo prawns) for atleast 15 min, with turmeric powder and salt.

The lobsters are marinated with turmeric powder and salt for atleast 15 min.

 
Heat oil in a kadai or a pan. When it starts smoking, reduce the flame to medium and introduce the lobsters carefully and close the lid immediately to prevent sputtering. After 1 min, turn the lobsters and fry the other side for another minute. Remove the lobsters from the oil.

 

The marinated lobsters being fried in mustard oil.

In the same hot oil, add the bay leaf, whole cinnamon (cassia bark), green cardamoms and wait for a few seconds. Add the cumin seeds and let these seeds turn light brown. Add the chopped onion and half the salt (for the curry). Sauté for 7 min, or until the onion looks golden-brown and soft.

Add the turmeric and the cumin powders, combined with 4 tbsp water. Sauté continuously to prevent burning of the powders. Add the ginger paste and sauté again, sprinkling a little water if the onion mixture starts sticking to the pan. After 5 min, add the rest of the salt, sugar, red chilli powder, black-mustard-seed paste, raisin paste and coconut paste and sauté till the mixture starts separating from the oil.

We saute-ed the mixture till oil started separating: an important step in Bengali cooking.

At this stage, add the fried lobsters and sauté for 5 min at a simmered flame. Add whole green chillies and ¾ cup of water. Let the curry boil for 10 min, simmered and covered. Before serving, add the ghee to the curry.

 

Chingri Malai Curry is best served with steamed rice.