I've been in the UK for around 8 months now and seriously speaking, I MISS MALAYSIAN FOOOODDD!!! The thing about Malaysian food is that you can get them anytime and almost anywhere in Malaysia. We have coffee shops, mamak stalls and night markets that stay open ‘til late at night.
I was born and raised in a city called Kuching. Kuching means cat in Malay. Locals sometimes like to call Kuching as Cat City. There are a few versions of how the city got its name, but the one that I can recall is that it was named after the longan fruit. (Longan is called Mata Kucing in Malay). Can you spot where Kuching is?
Sarawak was once colonized by the British, which we mostly refer that part of time as the Brooke Dynasty. Sarawak was ruled by the ‘White Rajahs’ (Rajah means king/ruler in Malay) for a whole century. Kuching was the main center where the ‘White Rajahs of Sarawak’ have ruled. There are still buildings preserved from that era.
Not only was Sarawak host to the famous Rainforest World Music Festival for more than 16 years, it’s home to lots of wonderful local delicacies that you may not even find in West Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia). To name a few, we have the famous Sarawak Laksa, Sarawak Kolo Mee, Tomato Kway Teow (flat noodles), Midin (Jungle ferns) with Belacan, Bamboo Clams with Curry, Sarawak Layer Cakes and lots more (there’s definitely more). These are a must-try if you want my recommendation!
The Sarawak Laksa is totally different from any other laksa, because this dish doesn’t contain curry at all! There are a few main ingredients of the Sarawak Laksa soup. They are belacan, coconut milk, chilli, and garlic. It is then topped over with rice vermicelli, prawns, chicken strips, bean sprouts, omelette strips, coriander and lime. Some locals say that there’s a secret ingredient for the soup base, but it was never actually disclosed to the public before and I’ve never had any other laksa that is similar to Sarawak Laksa.
As simple as the Sarawak Kolo Mee looks, it’s not commonly found in other places of Malaysia. Kolo Mee is a translation from the dialect Hokkien. The term Kolo Mee means flash-boiled noodles. After the egg noodles are boiled, it is then drizzled with fish sauce and shallot oil, and served with minced pork and slices of BBQ pork. Looks simple, doesn’t it?
Belacan is also a commonly used paste or ingredient in most of our local dishes. The locals love the fragrant strong smell of the belacan when it’s stir-fried with vegetables like midin, okra and water spinach.
Besides these few ingredients, we do have turmeric, ginger and other sorts of spices that we use in our local dishes. There’s a place to buy them too! We have a more than 25-year-old wet market that sells all sorts of food, ranging from seafood to local vegetables and fruits.
Besides this wet market, we also have a Sunday market that opens every Sunday. The variety of things sold in this market is even wider than the Petanak Wet Market. You’ll find clothing, souvenirs, antiques, seafood, mountains of fruits and lots more! The Sunday market is always packed with people on Sundays.
Dried shrimps are also commonly used ingredients in our local dishes. Locals would normally blend them together with belacan and chillies and stir fry it with some local vegetables.
Sarawak Layered Cake can also be bought at the Sunday market too. It is traditionally served in homes on special occasions. It is famous for its colourful and layered appearance. It comes with all sorts of flavours too, like hawthorn, chocolate, cheese, watermelon and lots more.
All these pictures are making me hungry and missing food from back home. Kuching is a very peaceful place. It has beautiful beaches and caves that you can visit. Although I’ve done some travelling myself, Kuching will always be the best place in the world for me (well.. because it's home!). Anyway, there are more that I have yet to mention, but that would take a lot more time to introduce them all. Hope you enjoyed reading! :)
