The Malaysian Flag is raised at the Culinary Olympics 2010 hosted in Canada...
If there is one thing that symbolises Malaysia, it would be its veritable assortment of food. Assortment doesn't quite give you the right picture though. Think more along the lines of multifariousness, multiplicity, mélange, potpourri, mishmash, range, variation and you get more of an idea. With three main cuisines of Malay, Indian and Chinese, interspersed with Portuguese, Dutch and English, you get an idea of what true Malaysian food is. Throw in a fetish for Japanese, Italian, French and German cuisine and Malaysia is a melting pot for all kinds of food. Want a foodie holiday? Come to Malaysia! Sadly, the same can't be said about our sporting prowess.
That brings me to the BloggerAid -Changing the Face of Famine Culinary Olympics. This cyber event is being held to coincide with the Winter Olympics in Canada. The aim of this event is to promote food (might they make it an official sport?) and BACFF's mission to actively promote the alleviation of World Hunger. This event is only open to members of BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine (BACFF). Since I am a member of BACFF, I have decided to take part in these the inaugural Culinary Olympics!
Malaysia only ever takes part in the Summer Olympics - for obvious reasons. However Malaysia has never won a Gold medal at the Olympics. We've won Bronze and Silver (for Badminton) but that is all. Our Football (soccer) team hasn't made it to the Olympics since the 80's and our Hockey team, once sure bets for the Olympics, have failed to qualify in recent times. Sad, sad indeed.
Never mind about the Olympics though, we STILL have the Worlds Tallest PAIR of Buildings!! It used to be the Worlds Tallest Building but that has long been superceded most recently by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Good thing we built the towers as a pair...
We also have the Sixth tallest Communication Tower in the World in the form of the Kuala Lumpur Tower.
In deciding what dish to submit, I wanted it to be something distinctly Malaysian as well as something that is well liked in our household. I'd already posted about Satay previously as well as Nasi Lemak. Then it struck me. One of The Lovely Wife's favourite dishes to make and that we all love to eat, comes from Malaysia's very own Chef Wan. I had photographed this dish quite a while ago and so decided to finally get the writeup done for the BloggerAid Olympics!
The recipe comes from Simply Sedap by Chef Wan and this is how it goes:
Ingredients
4 Chicken breast fillets - cut into strips
2 stalks lemongrass (serai)- finely sliced
1 torch ginger bud (bunga kantan) - finely sliced
10 birds eye chillies (Chilli padi)
2 Tbsp Tom Yam paste
1/4 cup water
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise
3 kaffir lime leaves - finely sliced
Marinade
1 1/2 Tbsp Oyster sauce
1 medium egg - beaten
3 Tbsp cornflour
Method
Combine the chicken with the marinade and set aside for at least 15 minutes. Deep fry the chicken until it is golden and crisp. Drain
In a separate pan or wok, heat a little oil and saute the lemon grass, torch ginger bud, chillies and tom yam paste until fragrant
Add in the water, honey and chicken. Mix well. Remove from the heat and stir in the mayonnaise. Stir in the kaffir lime leaves.
This chicken dish is rather spicy what with the addition of chilli padi as well as the tom yam paste. It goes really well with rice and although it is piquant, you sort of keep wanting to eat more and more...and more still!
Members of BACFF have also been asked to do a little promotion for the BloggerAid Cookbook, available online. All proceeds from this book will go to the United Nations World Food Program. One of my recipes is also featured in that book and I received my order of the book just a few weeks ago. So do what you can for a good cause.
All entries for the Olympics will be posted on the BACFF website on the 5th March so don't forget to check out all the awesome entries!
And when are you coming over to visit this wonderful country of mine?
8 comments:
This dish sounds amazing! Perfect for the culinary olympics. I really need to get my act together and post a recipe for that. It is for SUCH a good cause!
This looks delicious, and definitely is uniquely Malaysian. A pair of tall buildings, eh - another new fact for me! I can understand why Malaysia doesn't field a winter Olympics team! Reminds me of Cool Runnings.
How cool that you would use a "torch chilli" for an olympic event. Although Malaysia hasn't won Olympic gold, if there were medals being handed out for the Culinary Olympics I suspect you'd be on the podium.
Wonderful dish!!! Are you supposed to self combust after eating all those chillis?
Fantastic! Loved learning a little more about Malaysia, it looks like a beautiful country =D.
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious dish with everyone Dharm. Malaysia is a multicultural country and from what I have seen has delicious foods to offer that would be sure to win gold at any Olympics.
The mayonnaise is an interesting addition! This chicken looks so delicious. I saw Chef Wan on one of Rick Stein's series - he was hilarious and made me form the conclusion that all Malaysians are a bit crazy. Which may not be fair!
Very good cause Dharm! My friend who loves spicy would adore this dish! Wish We could come visit your beautiful country, but the bathroom has a leak that must be fixed and will require a wall removal...and tile replacement...so dollars this year will go toward that instead of travel...rats!
Finger licking good and excellent in every way Dharm...can see why it's your fave!Loved the window on Malaysia.
Will be pitching the Indian flag too in February. {HUGS}
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