Since most of Malaysia's Chinese are from the south, particularly from Hainan and Hakka it is quite easy to find
food from this region. Throughout Malaysia one of the most widespread economical meal is the Hainanese Chicken Rice which cost around the figure of RM 3.00.
It's another of the local favorite Malaysian foods. The Hainanese also produced steamboat, sort of Oriental variation of the Swiss Fondue, where you have a
boiling stockpot in the middle of the table into which you deep pieces of meat, seafood and vegetable.
The Hokkiens have provided us the Hokkien
fried Mee (thick egg noodles cook with meat, seafood and vegetable and a rich soya sauce. Mind you, if you go to North Malaysia, Hokkien Mee means prawn soup
noodles. Hokkien spring rolls (popiah) are also delicious.
Teochew food from the area around Swatow in China is another style noted for it's
delicacy and natural favorite. Teochew food is famous for it's seafood and another economical dish - Char Kwey Teow (fried flattened noodles) with clams,
beansprout and prawns.
Hakka dish is also easily found in food centers. The best know hakka dish is the Yong Tau Foo (stuffed seafood bean curd)
with soup or thick dark gravy.
When people in the west speak of Chinese food, they probably mean Cantonese food. It is the best known and most
popular variety of Chinese food. Cantonese food is noted for the variety and the freshness of it's ingredients. The food are usually stir-fried with just a
touch of oil. The result is crisp and fresh. All those best known 'western Chinese' dishes fit into this category - sweet and sour dishes, won ton, chow
mein, spring rolls.
With Cantonese food the more people you can muster for the meal the better, because dishes are traditionally shared so everyone
will manage to sample the greatest variety. A corollary of this is that Cantonese food should be balance: traditionally, all foods are said to be either Yin
(cooling) - like vegetables, most fruits and clear soup; or Yang (heaty) - like starchy foods and meat. A cooling food should be balance with a heaty food
and too much of one it would not be good for you.
Off all Malaysian foods the Cantonese specialty is Dim Sum or 'little heart'. Dim sum is
usually consumed during lunch or as a Sunday brunch. Dim sum restaurant are usually large, noisy affair and the dim sum, little snacks that come in small
bowls, are whisked around the tables on individual trolleys or carts. As they come by , you simply ask for a plate of this or a bowl of that. At the end the
meal you are billed is the amount of empty containers on your table.
Cantonese cuisine of the Malaysian foods can also offer real extremes. You can
get shark's fin soup or bird's nest soup which are expensive delicacies. Cheap dishes include mee (noodles) and congee (rice porridge) and are equally
tasty.
Far less familiar than the food from Canton are the cuisines from the north and the west of China - Sichuan, Shanghai and Peking. Sichuan
food is usually spicy (gong bao for example is a chicken rice dish with cashew nuts and spices). Where as to food from Canton are delicate and understated,
in Sichuan food the flavors are strong. Garlic and chilies play their part in dishes like diced chicken and hot and sour soup.
Beijing (Peking)
food is, of course best known for the famous 'Peking Duck'. Beijing food are less subtle than Cantonese food. Beijing food is usually eaten with hot
steamed bun or with noodles, because rice is not grown in cold region of the north. But in Malaysia, it is more likely to come with rice.
Other
kinds of Chinese foods originated from for example Shanghai or Hunan (usually very spicy too) are not easily found over Malaysia. |
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