"Lompat Tikam" .. Jump and Stab Desert

Terengganu lompat tikam style

This Terengannu dessert is not for the faint hearted. It's called "Jump and Stab". Yes, that's what it means in the Malay language. LOL.

I'm just pulling your leg. It's a dessert for anyone. No violence incurred during the preparation and nothing happened when I ate it, except mourn with pleasure. LOL.

Kelantan state has their own version that comes with a red glutinous rice and the coconut milk component is more liquidy like a curd sauce. So, please do not be confused.

Ok, now, if you are a pandan, coconut and palm sugar lover like me, you'll go Ummmmmmmmm with this dessert too. Almost like a panacotta, absolutely delish! Soft, smooth and the combination of my favourite flavours.

It's also super easy to make. Cook and pour... only! Oppps.... you still need to chill if you want it cold, but can be served warm, no harm having something less chilly.

Now, for me , it's not a must to make something different than others, the important thing is that one tries to cook some state food. Try this if you're a pandan coconut and palm sugar lover and you won't regret it.

Kelantanese lompat tikam style

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The Rise of Nasi Lemak: A Traditional Dish from Malaysia

Tradisional look of nasi lemak

Zainal Abidin's tiny food stall serves just one item and opens for only a few hours but is besieged each day by nearly a thousand customers clamouring for Malaysia's undisputed national dish, nasi lemak. "We need more rice in here!" shouted a sweaty teenager working Zainal's stall as customers waited expectantly in a long queue amid the aroma of coconut milk and fried anchovies.

Italy has its pasta, Japan its sushi and England its fish and chips. But perhaps no dish is more ubiquitous or beloved in Malaysia as Nasi Lemak, rice cooked with coconut milk and served with golden-fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, a boiled egg, sliced cucumbers and a dollop of a fiery chili concoction sambal.

Born as a cheap breakfast, nasi lemak is today eaten throughout the day, and is on an expanding culinary sojourn with the classic recipe continually tweaked, and even innovations such as nasi lemak pizza and ice cream appearing on menus.

(Rocky and Mayur Explore Malaysia)

"Demand for nasi lemak has gone up a lot over the years because it is not just for breakfast anymore," said Zainal, 57, whose mother first opened their "Nasi Lemak Tanglin" stall in 1948.

Usually translated as "fatty rice", nasi lemak also is served in neighbouring countries like Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, but nowhere is it more deeply rooted in the food culture than Malaysia.

Farmers and fishermen are believed to have thrown it together as a breakfast rich in necessary carbs, protein, fats and delivering a spicy kick. But it is now ubiquitous across the country, including higher-end restaurants and hotels.

Malaysia meets Italy

At Kuala Lumpur's upscale Tujo Bar-serrie & Grill, Malaysia and Italy have been united in a nasi lemak pizza -- thin crusts infused with either squid ink or spinach, and topped with anchovy, onions, roast peanuts and sambal.

"Tourists like it too, but locals especially get quite excited because they can't imagine it when they read about it," said Samantha Lee, a Tujo spokeswoman who said a pasta version will debut soon.

Food critics say nasi lemak's simplicity makes it a clean slate ripe for culinary experimentation.

"Nasi lemak possesses a potential that many Malaysian restaurateurs are exploiting in innovative ways," said Sean Loong, a Malaysian food blogger.

"These innovations illustrate Malaysia's continuing fascination with nasi lemak," Loong said, adding that experiments with the dish have begun to take off in the past two years. Ong Kee Win, who runs the trendy Cielo Dolci cafe known for its original ice creams including beer and soy flavours, came up with a nasi lemak ice cream in 2012.

"People thought I was crazy. Nobody wanted to try it at first," Ong said. "But these days, more locals and foreigners want to try it." After cooking his coconut rice, Ong churns it together with a secret gelato base, later topping it off with frozen peanuts, anchovies and chili flakes. The end-product, redolent of coconut, tastes uncannily like a thick, creamy, frozen version of the real deal.

Overseas acceptance lags

Few traits are as effective in promoting a country and its culture abroad as cuisine, yet nasi lemak -- despite its importance at home -- is yet to join the globally recognised ranks of sushi and pasta.

Tourism officials, however, last year marketed nasi lemak as a slice of Malaysian exotica in a promotional campaign in Japan. The dish also got some overseas publicity when a Malaysia-born woman won the popular MasterChef television cooking contest in Britain with a nasi lemak dish.

Ong feels the often intensely spicy sambal blocks overseas acceptance. "Nasi lemak hasn't become globally famous yet because of the spiciness but experimentation will help as we put nasi lemak in a different context now," said Ong.

The dish's expanding frontiers and popularity at home were on display at a recent nasi lemak festival in Kuala Lumpur that drew thousands seeking to taste the creations of some of the capital's top chefs. These included vegetarian and organic versions that replaced anchovies with mushroom stalks coupled with creatively fried vegetables and brown rice.

Another recipe involved frying the coconut rice in a wok with a special chili formula that turned it all a fiery red. Across Malaysia, other versions may include sides of fried chicken, squid marinated and cooked in chili sauce, fried beef lungs, or an array of other touches. But adherents aren't about to forsake the time-tested original.

Dean Johari flew in specially for the festival, saying the standards of classic nasi lemak in his native neighbouring Singapore have slipped. "It brings back childhood memories, and of a time that was simpler. To me, that is priceless," he said, finishing off a plate.

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Hokkien Mee "noodles"

Fried Hokkien mee (Chinese style- fried yellow noodles) has a cult following in Kuala Lumpur. It is a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark soy sauce with pork, squid, fish-cake and cabbage as the main ingredients and cubes of crispy fried pork lard as garnishing (that would be the square cubes that you see on top of the noodle).

Some might say that the pork lard is the main ingredient.

This dish is eaten before a huge night out, after a huge night out, for dinner, for supper .. heck , at all hours of the day really. If you have not eaten Hokkien Mee, you have not visited Malaysia, proper!

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Bakuteh "BKT"

The name literally translates as “meat bone tea”, and, at its simplest, consists of fatty pork ribs simmered in a broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dong guai, fennel seeds and garlic) for as long as possible , i.e. days if possible. However, additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum (vegetables), and pieces tofu puffs.

We personally have the highest regard for BKT at ‘Restaurant Yik See Ho’. This place is situated in the vicinity of the Pudu Wet Market and is a hot favourite amongst KL-lites. Some may beg to differ or have their own favourites but for now, we bring all our friends here. Where else can you see the butchers hacking away at the pig carcass (corner alleyway), in preparation for tomorrows rations, from where you sit and eat along the 5 foot way. Grim? Gross? Well, this is BKT, Pudu style!

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Nasi Dagang - Malaysian

No Malaysian food lunch spread is complete without the Nasi Dagang.

Nasi dagang is another fantastically tasty dish, consisting of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry and extra ingredients such as fried shaved coconut, solok lada, hard-boiled eggs and vegetable pickles.

It is a well-known breakfast food in the states on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, such as Terengganu and Kelantan. The most famous Nasi dagang of Terengganu comes from a place called Kampung Ladang, an area within the Kuala Terengganu district. I have not tried the one from Kampung Ladang but my colleague who covers the East Coast says it’s truly the best.

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Banana Leaf Rice

One of the great south Indian cuisines we have the privilege of eating on a daily basis should we chose is, of course, Chettinad cuisine. Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. If you love rice, you will definitely love the Banana Leaf Rice.

In banana leaf rice, white rice is served on a banana leaf with an assortment of vegetables, curried meat or fish, pickles, and the super addictive papadum ( look like giant, round, flat crisps). Most of the time, however, only the gravy of the curry will be served and no meat is served as it is meant to be a traditional Indian vegetarian dish but since I am no vegetarian, I love mine with mutton redang and dry chicken curry!

This meal can get really sloppy since it is traditionally eaten with the hand, but most of us have this down to a fine art!

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"Roti Canai" The Most Popular Malaysia Breakfast

"Roti Canai" The Most Popular Malaysia Breakfast

When I first started jotting down notes for this post, scribbling in my notebook in an idle moment after breakfast, it was a list of "10 Malaysian Dishes You Should Know." I certainly couldn't have named you ten characteristic Malaysian foods before I'd gotten on a plane to Penang. And I liked the idea of a brief snapshot of what a person could eat in Kuala Lumpur or Melaka, or look for on a restaurant menu back in the States or Australia or anywhere else.

But after a few more days grazing in Penang, those ten dishes turned into fifteen. By the time I got to Kuala Lumpur, that list had sambal stains all over it... and six or seven more ideas to include. I couldn't bear to leave any behind. "But how could I not mention satay? I have to mention satay. And how could I pick between laksas? And how could I leave out nasi goreng? And what if Serious Eaters never understand how good char kuey teow is?"

You get the idea.

I'm just blown away by the richness of the food culture.

So it's easy to get carried away. But I'd like to defend myself: I'm not an indecisive self-editor or overenthused American. I'm just blown away by the richness of the food culture. When you're talking about "Malaysian food," as we've mentioned before, you're talking about half a dozen things at once. Malay, Chinese, Indian—there are so many culinary traditions colliding in this nation that it's impossible to sum it up neatly.

"We have many restaurants which serve Chinese food exactly the same as it is served, say, in Hong Kong," says Penang-based food writer Helen Ong; "On the other hand, certain dishes have been changed to suit local ingredients and tastes." So some "Malaysian" eats may closely resemble foods characteristic of other Asian culinary traditions. Some seem like cross-cuisine mashups. Some are just their own thing altogether.

And in a country where the eating never seems to stop, you've got the opportunity to get to know quite a few dishes. "We are very proud of the fact that in Malaysia, we can eat up to six meals a day," says Ong; "A typical day can start with breakfast, then elevenses, followed by lunch. A light bowl of noodles fills any gaps between 4pm and 5pm, and dinner is our main meal of the day." Hawkers serve to that schedule. Some may appear only in the mornings, others after dark, even through breakfast and lunch and late-night foods aren't really that different. In cities like Penang and Melaka, though, it's no trouble to find street food at any hour of the day.

The takeaway: There's a lot to eat, and a lot of meals in which to do so.

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