October 2, 2007 | 12:00am
The cuisine of Penang is both familiar and exotic to the Filipino palate. But where exactly is Penang? So early in the day and you have to study Geography 101! Sometimes, we study history, chemistry, medicine, and now geography; so whoever said that the culture of food is an easy subject?
Penang (Pinang) is one of the 13 states of the Federation of Malaysia, located in the northwest of Malaysia. It consists of an island, Pinang and a small area on the mainland (Seberang Perai) and the two are connected by a 13.5 kilometer bridge. Whew, so long a bridge, murag Mactan to Bohol (not Tagbilaran City but Inabanga).
What makes Penang unique is its ethnic diversity; while the native Malays usually dominate the population, in this island, the Chinese population numbers about 55 percent. And when this ethnic group prevails, economic clout quickly follows. Money certainly hastens the development of cuisine and this contributed to building Penang into a popular tourist destination. And the Chinese community there (and 1.2 billion elsewhere) certainly would not agree with the comments of that lady senator!
Now, that is politics and your favorite food columnist better stick to what he does best, tasting all those delicious food and drinking all those flavoursome drinks. This time, it was a short trip to taste the Flavours of Penang, by car (no budget for the plane!) to Tides Restaurant in Shangri-La Mactan. Hotel can only serve authentic Malaysian cuisine if imports the services of a Malaysian Chef. They did, not singular, excuse me, but Chefs from Traders Hotel led by Penang’s teh tarik champion Sharizan Saaban.
Teh tarik or “pulled tea” is a popular drink in Malaysia, a combination of hot tea and condensed milk (shades of British legacy, British East India Company establishing the first English colony in 1786) and the mixture is poured from one container to another. The farther the distance, the thicker the froth; the more the theatrics, the tea is better served to the customer at an optimal temperature.
Many of the foods are sold at road-side stalls (a close relative to our punko-punko), also called “hawkers food” and one of the popular dishes is the char kway teow (fried flat noodles) made from flat rice noodles, fried in pork fat with prawns, egg, cockles (or sea shells), crisp croutons of pork fat, bean sprouts, Chinese chives. Sometimes Chinese sausages and fish cakes are added.
So much pork fat and crisp croutons of pork fat (kinuposan)! One glance at the photo and you say “pancit man ni.” It is to be expected that with all the cholesterol in it, the food is lami gyud! The version sold in Penang is augmented with crab meat (for sweetness) and duck’s eggs (for a richer taste). In Shangri-la Mactan, choose your own ingredients and let the Chefs worry about the cooking.
Another popular dish is the laksa, a noodle soup dish that evolved from the Peranakan culture (merger of Malay and Chinese). And like our pancit, there are endless versions of laksa.
The two main types are the curry laksa (noodles with curry and coconut cream soup) and the assam laksa (noodles served in sour fish soup). Both soups use the laksa noodles or thick rice noodles. Ingredients for curry laksa include shrimps, fish sticks, tofu puff and sometimes chicken is substituted for shrimps. Variants of the curry laksa include Katong laksa (Singapore) and Sarawak laksa (Borneo) which do not use any curry. If this sounds strange, have you ever considered our very own Pancit Molo? Are there any noodles in it?
Assam laksa, on the other hand, is sour fish-based soup (asam means tamarind in Malay) and again there are several versions. The Penang laksa version includes mackerel (poached then flaked), lemon grass, galangal (almost like ginger), chilli and the souring agent, asam keeping (dried slices of tamarind). It is often garnished with slices of onion, pineapple, mint, torch ginger flowers and petis udang (thick sweetened shrimp paste). The taste is like sinigang with noodles, both spicy and hot.
So far, we have studied only two of the several dozen of dishes in the cuisine of Penang and you think that the life of your favorite food columnist is an easy one, eating and drinking. I have to know exactly what I am eating so that an accurate culinary report can be made to all my loyal followers. That night, September 18, I had to dine on the Beef rendang mamak, Kambing kurma, Tamarind prawn and many more. Groan!
Finally dessert, I savored the sago gula Melaka and kuih cara. The latter, refers to bite-size food with flour made from rice, glutinous rice, cassava, or mung bean. Its flavoring agents include coconut cream, grated coconut, pandan (screw pines) and gula melaka (palm sugar).
If you want a taste of the Flavours of Penang, you have to fly to Penang, Malaysia (the festival was held from September 18 to 25, 2007 only) and hear what the locals (Penangites) say chia si hock which means “Eating brings in Prosperity!”
