10 Of My Favorite Foods

"Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale"

-Elsa Schiaparelli 

Well, here comes my favorite post of all, we’re talking about FOOOOOOD! I can't even think 5 of my favorite food since I love everything about it, since I am fortunate enough to got the opportunity to travel all around the world, I have discovered all types of food cuisine, when I come to different places, the first thing I would do is to try their local and traditional foods, discover the unique taste of it, I still even remember how it taste like, mmm… but after all, my favorite food will always be the one that i grew up with, comfort and homie kind of food. Well, let’s start!

#1 CHICKEN CHOP

Despite my (not too) far-fetched claims of extraordinariness, I’m actually a rather typical Malaysian. So if you are anything like me, it is most likely that your first encounter with Western food is the chicken chop.
 I grew up automatically linking Western cuisine with chicken chop, then fish and chips, then steak, then lamb, then pasta. It wasn’t till I was much older when I realized that hey, no one outside of Malaysia or Singapore knows what the heck a chicken chop is! It is not even to be found on Wikipedia!!!
 

Then I was duly informed that the chicken chop is a local creation: I’m not able to provide a history of how it came about, but it may have something to do with the Hainanese in Malaysia. I suppose it’s the evolution of pork chops to lamb chops to hey, let’s grill this chicken too and call it chicken chop.

A chicken chop as I know it is a piece of de-boned chicken thigh, breaded and deep-fried or just plain grilled or pan-fried. Its accompanying sauces are usually black pepper or mushroom which you pour all over the chicken. In KL there’s the Hailam sauce which I don’t quite fancy because of its slight sweetness.
 The usual side dishes that come with the chicken chop are the coleslaw and French fries. Variations? Assorted vegetables, mashed potatoes or rice, whatever suits your fancy. Thus fulfilling the requirement of meat + carbs + greens. Very Western, or at least it seems so in our Asian minds!

#2 PIZZA

Pizza is a flat bread generally topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked in an oven. It is commonly topped with a selection of meats, vegetables and condiments.

 In Kuala Lumpur, it is very hard to find a good old pizzas rather than a typical pizzas restaurant such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s, but my new discovery were right here in Kota Damansara, Patty & Pie, the pizza here is nothing else like the typical pizza you usually taste, they made their own tomato sauce, they made the pizza once the customer ordered, rolling the flour, pretty much start from the scratch, that’s what makes the flatbread fluffy and soft, and fresh I think. Well pretty much that’s what makes their pizza unique! You can give them a visit at 40, Jalan PJU 1/45, Aman Suria, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

This picture is the actual picture of the pizza and the oven used in Patty & Pie, a must try for all local Malaysian! ;)

#3 MASAK LEMAK CILI PADI

The specialty from Negeri Sembilan is the masak lemak cili padi, which is a spicy rich yellow coconut gravy that is cooked with bird's eyes chillies. While this dish uses chicken, it can be substituted with prawns or a firm white fish.

#4 MACARONI AND CHEESE

Consisting of cooked macaroni pasta and cheese, most commonly Cheddar cheese, though it can also incorporate other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, meat and vegetables. Traditional macaroni and cheese is a casserole baked in the oven; however, it may be prepared in a sauce pan on top of the stove or using a packaged mix. It is considered an American comfort food.

#5 CHAR KWAY TEOW

Char kway teow, literally "stir-fried ricecake strips", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. The dish is considered a national favorite in Malaysia and Singapore.
 It is made from flat rice noodles (河粉 hé fěn in Chinese) or kway teow (粿条 guǒ tiáo in Chinese) of approximately 1 cm or (in the north of Malaysia) about 0.5 cm in width, stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, a small quantity of belachan, whole prawns, bean sprouts and chopped Chinese chives. The dish is commonly stir-fried with egg, slices of Chinese sausage and fishcake, and less commonly with other ingredients.

#6 CURRY MEE

Curry Mee (Malay: mee kari; simplified Chinese: 咖喱面; traditional Chinese: 咖喱麵; pinyin: Gālímiàn) is a dish that is unique to Malaysia and Singapore, usually made up of thin yellow noodles or/and string thin mee-hoon (rice vermicelli) with spicy curry soup, chilli/sambal, coconut milk, and a choice of dried tofu, prawns, cuttlefish, chicken, egg, mint leaves and cockle.

                           

                                                              In certain places in Southeast Asia, especially southern Malaysia and Singapore, it is called "curry laksa" (Malay: laksa kari; Chinese: 咖喱喇沙; pinyin: Gālí Lǎshā). It is a cross between the Singapore laksa and a spicy variation of the mee rebus (an Indonesian noodle dish with yellow noodles.

#7 LOADED FRIES 

French fries (American English), chips, fries, finger chips, or French-fried potatoes are batons of deep-fried potato. French fries are served hot, either soft or crispy, and generally eaten as part of lunch or dinner, or on their own as a snack, and they commonly appear on the menus of fast food restaurants. French fries are generally salted and are often served with ketchup, loaded fries is basically a French fries with minced mint leaves with loads and I mean LOADSSSSS of cheese! My mouth is watering just thinking of it. Loaded fries is an example of a simple comfy food with punch of taste.

#8 DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER

Two 100% beefy patties simply seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper, two slices of melty American cheese, tangy pickles, minced onions, ketchup and mustard. Show your taste buds some lovin’ with this local option.

#9 CINNABON

Cinnabon is a chain of American baked goods stores and kiosks, normally found in areas with high pedestrian traffic such as malls and airports.

#10 CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that originated in the United States and features chocolate chips as its distinguishing ingredient. The traditional recipe combines a dough composed of butter and both brown and white sugar with semi-sweet chocolate chips. Variations include recipes with other types of chocolate as well as additional ingredients such as nuts or oatmeal.

Well, that's pretty much it for 10 of my favorite food... Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It's about honesty. It's about identity. Until next time!

(NUR ADILAH BT MOHD HANAFI)

(PTM 150718657)