Taste of Malaysia...

Two weeks ago we hosted a Malaysian evening. To those of you who don't know, part of the Cat and Kat empire, Cat is Malaysian aka moi! I have always wanted to introduce Malaysian food to my diners and thanks to Kat's adventurous nature, she was as enthusiastic as I am. I didn't just want to introduce Malaysian food, I want to bring my childhood, what I grew up eating and what I have learnt so far from my travels to my diners. Given that I am also of Chinese origin, my cooking is a fusion between the best of Malay and Chinese spices and ingredients. In short, the food we served cannot be easily found in any Malaysian restaurants.

As excited as we are about hosting the evening, we had a restaurant critic turning up and although nervous as we are, we are thoroughly thrilled that not only someone wants to taste our food but to actually write about it. As some of the dishes might sound foreign to you, I will try to describe them as best I could.

Canapes

Chinese crispy roast pork

Marinated sweet, sour and spicy cucumber

Gado - Gado

A warm salad of beans, potatoes, beansprouts, carrots, topped with prawn crackers and homemade satay sauce. Although sounds bland, the combination of vegetables with different textures is refreshing and exceedingly moorish. It is crunchy, succulent, soft and crispy and then all those textures are brought together with the spicy and rich satay sauce

Ping's Special Water Dumpling 'Shui Gau'

Ping is my Chinese name and that is what my husband and my parents call me. The dumpling has fillings of minced pork, 'wood ear' mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, water chestnuts and my secret (shhh...) special seasoning. These dumplings are cooked in a light chicken broth, finished with dash of sesame oil and a sprinkle of spring onions. 

'Kari' Mee

This is a typical street food in Malaysia. You probably work out that the dish is something to do with curry. It is a bowl of noodles with variety of goodies and they sit in an aromatic curry broth. Different stalls serves it different garnishes. I did mine with poached chicken, fried tofu and roast pork. To finish it off, a squeeze of lime and mint! 

Pre dessert of chilli and lime granita

Kat's homemade lime tart, coconut ice cream