Penang-Must-Eat Food: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak is widely eaten in Malaysia. Nasi lemak is a breakfast dish, where it is often sold packed in newspaper, brown paper or banana leaf, sold early in the morning at roadside stalls. However, there are restaurants which serve it on a plate.

Simply rice cooked in coconut milk (knotted pandanus leaves and even ginger or a stalk of lemon grass may be tossed into the pot to add fragrance). Essential condimenents such as fried anchovies, fried peanuts, cucumber slices, wedges of hardboiled egg and sambal. Sambal is a kind of cooked chili paste, plain with onions or with ikan bilis too). Typically coasting RM1 to RM1.50, depending on the amount of rice and the quantity of condiments that accompany it.

Ddukbokki/ 떡볶이

Ddukbokki is a popular street food in Korea especially loved by children and young adults. It is a kind of hot and spicy rice cake. I tried it when i was in Korea. It was so tastety. Today I'm gonna cook Ddukbokki for myself. :-D Ingredients: 1 package of rice cake for ddukbokki, Korean Hot Pepper Paste/ 고추장, Korean Corn Syrup/옛날 물엿, water, and green onions.Green onions

Step 1: Put 2 tsp of Korean Hot Pepper Paste/ 고추장.

Step 2: Stir it until the Korean Hot Pepper Paste dissolve.

Step 3: Add some rice cakes into the pan until it become soft and chewy. (Before that, you have to soak the rice cake into water for 20 minutes. So the rice cake wouldn't be that hard.)

Step 4: Cut the green onions into 5 cm long.

Step 5: Top up the green onions into the pan. You could add some fish if you like it. It is optional. Reduce to low heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Keep stirring until the sauce is thick and the rice cake is shiny.

Final Step: Put 3 tsp of Korean Corn Syrup/옛날 물엿. You could use sugar or honey instead of Korean Corn Syrup. Ddukbokki/ 떡볶이 is done.

大韩民国餐馆

Today i went to a Korean restaurant which is located at Prima Tanjung (Just right in front of the Island Plaza, Penang). This restaurant is managed by a Korean couple.

We decided to eat something really spicy tonight. (plus my friend requested the shop owner to put more chilies into our soup. Wow~ it's gonna be a really hot and spicy nite~ :-P). So, we ordered 'Rice with Tofu and Chinese Hot Pepper' and 'Rice Kimchi Soup'. This meal only cost us RM36.

When most people think of Korean food, they think of Kimchi, Korea's staple side dish which, along with rice, accompanies almost every meal.

All the side dishes are free and you can refill it if you like. The side dishes are named as 'Banchan' that accompany the ubiquitous rice, soup, and Kimchi (fermented vegetable). Banchan dishes are intended to be finished at each meal, so it is small in proportion and replenished as they are consumed. The types and number of banchans may vary by restaurants but the servings are always ample.

I would like to recommend you this restaurant if you really want to try traditional Korean food in Penang. Below is the address for this Korean Restaurant.

NEW KOREAN FOODS SDN BHD
98-1-40, Prima Tanjung, Jalan Fettes,
Tanjung Tokong, 11200 Penang.

Tel: 04-8995363

The shop owner is a very humorous person. He can speaks mutli languages such as Korean, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia. The most funny thing was he sang Chinese song '甜蜜蜜' for us. I think the shop owner really like to sing. He showed me that there is a Karaoke room in this restaurant. Customer can sing in that Karaoke room after they finish their meal. And you can order some soju too ~~

Baked Fish & Chicken with Cheese

Again, I want to get my hands dirty and cook some delicious food. I mada a Baked Fish & Chicken with Cheese for my lunch. This is another one of my favourite food.

Ingredients: Cooked Rice, Grated Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Basil Leaves, Fish, Chicken, Mushroom Soup, milk.

Step 1: Prepare 2 stainless steel containers and put aluminium foil into it.

Step 2: Fill in the cooked rice into the stainless steel containers.
Step 3: Prepare the chicken and fish.

Step 4: Put the chicken & fish respectively into the container. Mix in some mushroom soup and milk.

Step 5: Top up with some grated cheese & mozarrella cheese.

Step 6: Bake in the oven about 10 minutes until it becomes golden.

Step 4: Put some Basil Leaves on top of it.

Baked Fish & Chicken with Cheese is done. Slurbbb~~ :-P

Simple Toast Bread

Ingredients: sliced bread, vegetable oil spread, tuna, egg, chili sauce, mozzarella cheese, oregano, basil leaves.

Step 1: Put vegetable oil spread on top of the bread.
Step 2: Put some tuna.
Step 3: Put egg on top of the tuna.

Step 4: Put some chili sauce.

Step 5: Put Mozarella Cheese on top of the egg. Then, put it into oven about 8 minute.

Step 6: Put some Oregano on top of it.
Step 7: Then, you can put some Basil Leaves . The toast bread are done. Simple and easy way to make your own toast bread. yummy yummy~~ :-P

Okonomiyaki/ お好み焼き

Okonomiyaki is a popular pan fried food in Japan. It consists of batter and cabbage. "Okonomi" literally means "to one likes", "Yaki" means “fried” . Selected toppings and ingredients are added which can vary greatly (anything from meat and seafood to wasabi and cheese). The dish is available all over Japan.

Ingredients: 1/4 Cabbage, 2 eggs, 6 tsp of flour, Mayonese, Mozzarella Cheese, tsurikodashi (つりこだし）、 katsuomaroyakasouri (鰹まろやか削り)、 furikake （ふりかけ）.

1/4 Cabbage

katsuomaroyakasouri (鰹まろやか削り)

Mozzarella Cheese

Tsurikodashi(つりこだし）

Mayonese

Okonomiyaki Sauce

Step 1 : Mix 2 eggs with the cabbage and stir it thoroughly so that everything is evenly distributed.

Step 2 : Put 2 tsp of tsurikodashi(つりこだし）.

Step 3: Put some Mozzarella Cheese and stir it thoroughly.

Step 4: Put 6 tsp of flour and stir it thoroughly so that everything is evenly distributed.

Step 5: After making sure the gas is on and applying oil to the cooking surface, the mixture is poured onto the hot fried pan. Short metal spatulas are used to shape the batter into a circle. Once one side of the okonomiyaki has been sufficiently cooked, the spatulas are used one in each hand to flip it onto the other side. This is the most difficult part of the process, and one needs to make sure that the okonomiyaki has been cooked through enough to hold together.

Step 7: The first layer you need to put on top of the well done bottom layer is the okonomiyaki sauce.

Step 8: Put some mayonese on top of it, usually in zigzagging lines.

Step 9: Put some furikake（ふりかけ） on top of it too.

Step 10: Last but not least, put some katsuomaroyakasouri(鰹まろやか削り) on top of it too. (Because of the heat, the fish shavings move when put on the okonomiyaki. )Finally okonomiyaki is done~~ You can enjoy the Japanese Pancake 'Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き）'