9th April
Do you remember the posts "Histories... Olden Times... Penang..."?? At the fourth part, I mentioned that Penang is a food heaven. I don't have much time to write it, so I just leave there a website only. Do you remember?? Now, I already re-investigate Penang food, and now, let us see, what are the most popular Penang food.
1) FRIED KOAY TEOW:
Fried Koay Teow is probably the most popular hawker food among the locals. This dish uses flat rice noodles of roughly one centimetre in width. The noodle are fried in an iron cast wok over very high heat. The wok is preheated for few seconds over strong fire. Oil is added into the wok followed by a small amount of minced garlic and fresh prawns. The prawns are fried until semi-cooked. Noodles are added, followed by a dash of seasoned soy sauce, bean sprouts, eggs and chives. The last ingredients added is the cockles, as it is usually eaten medium cooked. The perfect Fried Koay Teow should neither be not too wet or too dry. The superb taste of this dish is a combination of the strong fragrance of the sauteed ingredients and the sweet ness of the prawns. It is best eaten immediately when served. A basic plate should cost between RM 3.50 to RM 4.50 and the spiciness depends on the amount of chili paste. This may not be a halal dish as some vendors use lard.
2) HOKKIEN MEE:
Hokkien Meen, commonly known as prawn noodles, is a dish of either yellow noodles or rice noodles (or a mixture of both) served in a thick prawn and pork broth garnished with ital (water spinach) and bean sprouts. It has a strong, spicy and flavourful prawn taste. A bowl of Hokkien Mee is usually served with slices of boiled eggs, fried shrimps, thin slices of lean pork and sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, as well as a spoon full of chili paste. Some cooks add crunchy golden cubes of fried lard to jazz up their bowl of Hokkien Mee. Usually a basc bowl costs between RM 3.00 to RM 3.50. Some Hokkien Mee stalls offer extra toppings such as pork ribs, mantis prawn, fish balls and roast pork at additional charge. It is slightly spicy but chili paste can be added to make the dish spicier. It is one of the most popular hawker food locally and is available throughout the day and at night. This is a non-halal dish.
3) CHEE CHEONG FUN:
This is a dish made of rice flour, steamed and rolled up to about 10 cm long reassembling a pig's intestines. In fact, this is how this dish got its name: "Chee Cheong" which means "pig's intestines" and "Fun" meaning noodles. The Penang version of this dish is different from Hong Kong one. This rice noodles over here are unrolled, sliced and served with a mixture of chili sauce, shrimp paste (called hae ko), thick red sweet sauce and sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds. The noodles can also be eaten with just a dash of soy sauce and sesame seeds. Nowadays the cooks get their rice noodles from a supplier but make their own sauces. The shrimp paste is what most customers come for. It is a smooth black paste made from prawn stock and salt and has a strong fishy flavour but does not leave a lingering smell in your mouth. Penang produces the best shrimp paste in the country. This dish is simple and tasty, and the strong sweet, savoury and spicy hot sauce is irresistible. A plate of Chee Cheong Fun costs around RM 2.00 to RM 2.50.
4) ASSAM LAKSA:
This dish is Penang's signature dish. It is noodles in fish broth garnished with a lot of different vegetables. It is a spicy hot and sour dish. The spicy and fishy soup is sour because of the large quantity of tamarind used (known locally as Assam Jawa). The fish used to make the broth is mackerel, which is first poached, deboned, and added to the soup together with lemongrass, chilies and tamarind to boil. The noodle used in Assam Laksa is fresh thicker rice vermicelli, which is much thicker than the regular dry ones. The noodles is first placed at the base of the bowl, after which Chinese lettuces, finely shredded cucumbers and onions, chopped pineapples and, most importantly, mint leaves are added. Then the piping hot soup is poured over it, followed by finely chopped ginger buds. Some stalls pour out the soup from the bowl back into the pot and then re-scoop the soup into the bowl again, repeating this action twice or thrice to make sure that the entire noodles is piping hot. Before serving, a thick, sweet and salty shrimp paste is swirled on top of the dish. Some may find the prawn paste too strong but this paste further enhances the dish. The price of each bowl is around RM 2.00 to RM 2.50.
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This is only the first part for investigating Penang food. Next part, I will take you all investigate more further about Penang food, they are MEE GORENG, NASI KANDAR, WAN TAN MEE and CENDOL.
Bye!!!
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