Yes! You can find Yee Sang here in NYC!!!

As many of you know, we didn't go home to Malaysia for Chinese New Year this year. It always suxs to spend Chinese New Year in a foreign land, away from the family. Not only does one miss out on all the family reunions and festivities, but we also miss out on all the FOOD! I was talking to some of my family and friends who also missed out on celebrating Chinese New Year back home this year and everybody says that of all the things that they miss most, it would have to be the Chinese New Year goodies. Sure, you can bake your own Chinese New Year cookies or buy some at the Asian grocery store, but certain things are a tiny bit harder to find. One of them is the Yee Sang.

As far as I can remember, we've always associated eating Yee Sang as part of celebrating Chinese New Year. I've always thought that Yee Sang is a Chinese dish and that Chinese from all over the world eat it during Chinese New Year. I guess it was due to the fact that you can pretty much find it at any Chinese restaurant in Malaysia during the Chinese New Year period. Not only that, boxes of prepacked Yee Sang are readily available at all major supermarkets and grocery stores. It wasn't til I moved to US did I find out that the Yee Sang is actually a Malaysian/Singaporean dish. Therefore, it's almost impossible to find a Chinese restaurant here in the States that would serve Yee Sang during Chinese New Year. Well, guess what? I found out that you CAN find Yee Sang here in the greater NYC area! As far as I know, there are three Malaysian restaurants in Chinatown and one in Edison, NJ that serves that for the entire month of February.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, Kevin and I dropped by New Malaysia Restaurant (located in the tunnel between Bowery & Elizabeth St in Chinatown) to take out a small serving of Yee Sang. In New Malaysia, the servings come in two sizes, small ($26.88) and large ($36.88). As you can see from the picture, the small serving is large enough to feed about 6-7 people. Even though the Yee Sang from New Malaysia might seem a little pricey compared to the other restaurants, I must say that New Malaysia's Yee Sang totally rocks! Really yummy and authentic tasting. Apart from the usual dried ingredients and thinly sliced vegetables, it also comes with salmon, jellyfish, plum sauce as well as pepper and five spice powder in the angpow (red packet).

So far, we have only tried the Yee Sang from New Malaysia Restaurant and Penang Restaurant (the branch in Edison, NJ). I know that there are many Penang branches all over the greater NYC region but I believe that Yee Sang is only served in the Chinatown as well as the Edison branch. For those of you who are thinking of getting some Yee Sang during this Chinese New Year period, here is a list of restaurants that serves them (there might be more but so far, these are the only places that I know of that sells them).

New Malaysia Restaurant
48 Bowery St,
New York, NY 10013
(212) 964-0284
Price: $26.88 (small), $36.88 (large)

Nyonya Restaurant
199 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 334-3669
Price: $23.88 (small), $28.88 (medium)

Jaya Restaurant
90 Baxter Street,
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-3331 ‎
Price: $18.88 (small), $28.88 (large)

Penang Restaurant
505 Old Post Road
Edison, NJ 08817-4625
(732) 287-3038
Price: $14.85 (small), $20.20 (med), $25.55 (large)

Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen at Grand Central Terminal

We were super excited when we heard about the Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen event that will be held in Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall. It will be a two day event (Nov 5 & 6, 2010) and it's organized by Malaysia Kitchen for the World. The main purpose of this event is to introduce Malaysia (it's sights, sounds and most importantly, food) to NYC. We missed some of the past events organized by Malaysia Kitchen for the World (Night Market in Chelsea, Night Market under the Manhattan Bridge...etc), but we heard that they were awesome. So, we made sure that we would not miss this event, no matter what.
The event is split into two sessions per day. Lunch starts at 11:30am and it goes on til 2:30pm. The vendors then takes a break and the second session resumes at 4:30pm - 7:00pm for dinner. We arrived at Grand Central Station bright and early on Saturday for lunch. We wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds and stuff. We were glad we did cos by the time we left, the whole hall was just packed to the brim!
This is what part of what the hall looked like. With the bright colored umbrellas and stalls, it somewhat reminded me of the pasar malams (night markets) back home in Malaysia. We were also greeted by lovely smell of freshly cooked Malaysian food...ahhhh pure bliss! :D
As we walked around, we noticed that a lot of the popular Malaysian restaurants in Manhattan as well as Queens and Brooklyn turned up in full force. Among some of the participating restaurants were Bentara, Betel, Cafe Asean, Double Crown, Satay,Taste Good and Spot Dessert Bar. Even the big boys like Nyonya and Laut had stalls set up. This is the best thing ever. We had the chance to actually walk around and compare food from various Malaysian restaurants in the Greater NY area without having to actually travel and visit each one separately.
There are three really popular Malaysian grocery stores in NYC (one in Chinatown and two in Queens). Old Town Asia Market is located in Queens and they too set up stall at the event. They were selling all kinds of Malaysian groceries, from Aik Cheong coffee to various curry mixes. I have extra happy to see my favorite snack on sale....MAMEE!! I am a big fan of MAMEE noodles, I literally grew up eating MAMEE :P It's been a while since I ate a pack of MAMEE, so I just HAD to buy a few packs. I believe they were selling 3 packs for $1. Taking a big bite of MAMEE instantly took me back to my primary school days. I still remember smuggling packets of MAMEE in our uniform pockets and secretly nibbling on it during classes. It was like the coolest thing to do back then.
Apart from stalls selling all kinds of food and groceries, they also had entertainment lined up. There were cooking demonstrations by various chefs and Malaysian personalities. We managed to watch a cooking demonstration by Susheela Rhagavan, the author of the ever popular Flavors of Malaysia cookbook. She also had a book signing session later on that day.
Apart from cooking demonstrations, there were also cultural dance performances by the cultural dance troupe. There were too many people in front of me for me to take any decent pictures of the performance but I managed to slip backstage and took this picture when they were posing for official press photos. I just pretended to be part of the press! :P See, the things I do for this blog.
Alright, now it's time for some food!! We really wanted to sample some of the food from Laut. For those of you who don't know, Laut was recently awarded one Michelin star. It is the first Malaysian restaurant in the whole of US to receive that prestigious award. To receive such a huge culinary honor, they must be really good. So yeah, we were pretty stoked to try their food. They were selling Nasi Lemak that afternoon. We could choose between Chicken Curry ($5), Beef Rendang ($5) or both ($6). We tried both. The Chicken Curry and Beef Rendang came with a serving Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), sambal ikan bilis (anchovies in chili paste) and some cucumber. The Nasi Lemak was rather good but truthfully, it wasn't the best. We tried some of the Nasi Lemak from Nyonya and it was way better than Laut's Nasi Lemak.
We also tried some Mamak Mee ($7) from Satay. The reason why we chose to try the food from Satay was because Satay is located in Flushing, Queens. We wanted to know if the food was good or not. It doesn't make sense for us to go all the way to Flushing to check them out, only to find out that they are not that great. I'm glad that we tried their food. You know why? Well, cos the noodles really wasn't all that great :P LOL! It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best either. The fried noodles came with some vegetable achat and peanuts.
Apart from all the yummy Malaysian food and entertainment, another good thing about such events is that you get to meet a lot of other Malaysians living in NYC. We managed to make quite a lot of new friends that day. It's always good to meet up with fellow Malaysians, especially when you are so far away from home.
Overall, it was an awesome event! Very well planned out and organized. The best thing that we took away from this event was this booklet. A restaurant guide to all the Malaysian restaurants in the NY tri state area! Not only does it list out the restaurants, complete with address and phone numbers but it also comes with reviews of each of those places. Also, they would point out some of the more popular dishes from each restaurant. I did a quick count and there are over 50 restaurants in the tri state area that serves Malaysian and Malaysian inspired food! Looks like we have to work our way down that list and try to visit each and every one :P So yeah, we had a great time at the 2010 Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen and we will definitely look forward to the next event hosted by Malaysia Kitchen!

New Malaysia - Chinatown, NYC

We were out shopping at the 33rd St Macys in Midtown til pretty late a few weekends ago. By the time we actually left Macys, it was already 9pm or so. We still haven't had our dinner, so our choices were to either settle for some bad greasy pizza in some random shop nearby, head over to Koreatown, walk uptown to Times Square (decided that it's a bad idea, too many tourist on a Saturday night) or take the train downtown to Chinatown. No prize for guessing where we ended up :P

Of course we ended up in Chinatown! Both Kevin and I totally loveeeee going to Chinatown. The good combo of cheap and yummy food always works for us :D By the time we got to Chinatown, it was way past 9:30pm. Most of the shops on Canal St were already closing for the day but we knew that if we walked along the smaller winding streets, we could find many all nighters still open. It was pretty cool actually (maybe a tad bit foolish too) and kinda exciting to walk along the dark, quiet and narrow streets of Chinatown in the middle of the night. It was a way different feeling than walking amidst the hustle and bustle during the day. It felt as if we might run into some Chinatown triad gang around the corner :P While walking down Elizabeth St, we saw a sign that caught my attention immediately. New Malaysia Restaurant. Hmmm, I wonder if it's even open.

We looked down the long dodgy looking alley way and saw some lights at the end. I guess it must be open. Wonder if it's safe? The alley way looks kinda errr scary :P We decided that it should be safe, putting into consideration the that 5th Precinct Police Department was just located directly opposite this Chinatown Arcade place. Oh and for those of you wondering where exactly this is, it's actually on the same road, just a few shops down from the super famous Jing Fung (some say it has the best dimsum in the whole of Chinatown) restaurant.

Ahhh, the restaurant at last. Looks pretty decent. In fact, it looks more than decent. There were all kinds of awards/articles/write ups pasted on the window, raving about how good this restaurant was. Hmmm, looks like we might have stumbled upon a hidden gem! You could actually also enter the alley that leads to the restaurant from the other end, via the 46-48 Bowery St entrance. I later found out that there is a little bit of history behind this particular address. It was actually the site of the 18th century Bulls Head Tavern. It is said that it was George Washington's regular watering hole, back when he was living at 3 Cherry St. In 1826, the Bowery Theater (America's first gas lit theater) opened at this site and in 1827, the first ballet performance ever to be held in America was performed here. Cool, eh?

When we walked in, we were surprised to find it packed! Let me remind you that it was already almost 10pm and the place was still packed! We were pretty lucky to get a small table by the side, cos the people that walked in a few minutes after us had to wait for a table for quite some time. About 90% of the customers were Malaysians (well, maybe Singaporeans too, I don't know...but definitely from South East Asia). The other 10% were either friends or spouses of the Malaysian customers :P The decor also reminded me of a typical Malaysian eating place. No frills, nothing. Just tables and chairs packed close to each other and a counter at the front of the shop. You can also see them making drinks there, just like a regular Malaysian coffee shop.

When we got the menu, I took a quick glance at it and was pretty impressed to find all types of Malaysian dishes that we usually cannot find in other Malaysian restaurants. The price were pretty reasonable too. I saw things like Grilled Stingray in Banana Leaf, Curry Noodles with Duck Blood, Sabah Mee, Yam Ring...just to name a few. I also checked out the Claypot Curry Fish Head that the guys from the next table ordered. It looked sooooo good. I must try to gather a bigger group of people and return the next time around to order rice and dishes. Since it was just the two of us, we shared a Pataya Fried Chicken (6.95) and had a noodle dish each. The Pataya Fried Chicken is actually mamak style fried chicken. Chicken pieces marinated with turmeric and deep fried. It was so so so goooooood. It really tasted like it was served fresh out from a Malay stall or mamak. Very very nice.

No prize for guessing what Kevin ordered. Yup, of course the Char Koay Teow inspector must order his Char Koay Teow ($6.50). Depending on how good the Char Koay Teow is, that will be his benchmark in rating how good a particular Malaysian restaurant is :P The CKT here didn't look all that yummy, so I initially didn't even bother to try it. Kevin asked me to try a mouthful and wow! It was good! It doesn't look that great but it tasted so good. Really really authentic.
If Kevin is known as the CKT inspector, then I would be known as the Fish Head Noodles ($6.95) inspector. First off, I must say that the portion was huge! Not only that, there were lots of fish and salted vegetables in the soup. Yummmmy yummy stuff! The noodles didn't really stand out as extraordinary but it was good. Nice creamy soup with the the right amount of saltiness from the salted vegetables. Definitely on par with the Fish Head Noodles from Penang Restaurant (currently my fav place to go for fishhead noodles). I am really glad that we found this hidden gem, deep in the heart of Chinatown. Authentic Malaysian food, at a reasonable price. Will definitely return to try their rice and dishes. The only downside was that the service was really slow. Oh well, maybe they were having a bad day. Who knows. I guess we would have to return to find out.

New Malaysia - Chinatown, NYC
46-48 Bowery Street
Chinatown Arcade #28
New York, Ny 10013
Tel: (212) 964 0284/2257

Yong Chow Fried Rice

If you were to ask me what is my all time favorite food to make, I would have to say "Fried Rice". Not only is it versatile, it is also really simple to make. Some leftover rice, bits of meat and a handful vegetables in the fridge? No problem. Just throw it all together and we have fried rice for dinner! You cannot go wrong with fried rice :P Today, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make an all time favorite, Yong Chow Fried Rice. Also known as Chinese Fried Rice, it's the basic type of fried rice that you can get at Chinese restaurants all over the world. Here's how you make it.

Start off by heating up some oil in a large wok or pan. Then, throw in some chopped garlic and onions and saute for a few minutes.

Next, add in some Chinese sausages that has been cut into cubes. Traditionally, roast pork (char siu) is being used but many restaurants are now using Chinese sausages because it gives out a sweeter and fuller flavor. If you do not like pork, you can replace the pork with slices of chicken breast (pre marinated in some soy sauce, cornflour and pepper) too.

Once you have stir fried the Chinese sausage for a bit, add in some peas and carrots. Certain restaurants would use long beans instead of peas and carrots, it's entirely up to you. Remember to keep the wok on high flame. That's really important when it comes to making authentic tasting fried rice. It just doesn't taste right if fried rice is cooked on low flame.

Once all the ingredients are almost cooked, throw in some large white shrimp that has been peeled and cleaned. You could also use some crab sticks (surimi) if you like. If you really want to kick your fried rice up a notch, just throw in some lump crab meat. That's always good too. If you are not a seafood lover, you can skip the seafood altogether. Like I said earlier, it's really flexible when it comes to making fried rice. Just throw in whatever you have left over in your fridge.

Now it's time to throw in some cooked rice. It's important not to use freshly cooked rice. It's too starchy and tends to stick together. The best type of rice to use is chilled day old rice.

Add in a few splashes of soy sauce, freshly ground white pepper and stir everything together. At this point, the Yong Chow Fried Rice is ready to be served.

However, if you like eggs with your fried rice, now is the time to add them in. Make a hole in the middle of the fried rice and crack two eggs in. Add a little bit of soy sauce to the eggs and scramble them. Once they are cooked, mix them up with the rest of the fried rice.

There you go. A nice big wok of Yong Chow Fried Rice. It's so easy make, even a child can do it. Actually, come to think about it, that's the first dish you learn to make during living skills classes back in Malaysia. So yeah, all 13 year olds in Malaysia can make this dish! ;P

Penang Malaysian & Thai Cuisine - Lodi, NJ

After a whole afternoon of eating in Chinatown, we were not really thinking about dinner until about 9PM that evening. I asked Kheng what she wanted to eat and she said more Malaysian! You see, during lunch, she couldn't make up her mind between Nasi Lemak or Hainanese Chicken Rice. I guess the chicken rice was still on her mind :P I did a quick search online and found out that the nearest Penang Restaurant is the branch located in Lodi. Since I have never been there myself, we figured it would be a good time to go check it out. Also, it opens til 11PM, so it was perfect for us.

After some GPS problems, we arrived at the restaurant at around 10. It has it's own parking lot with ample parking space, so that's a bonus. However, the exterior doesn't look like the typical Penang Restaurants that I am familiar with. Oh, you must be wondering...what GPS problems? Well, the address that we got off the Internet was 334 Main St. When I typed that in, I found out that there was a N. Main St and S. Main St. I wasn't sure which one it was, so I randomly selected S. Main St. Guess where that brought us? A cemetery! I then selected N. Main St and 5 minutes or so later, we found the place. So remember, if you were to go, it's NORTH Main St and not SOUTH! :P

When we walked into the restaurant, I knew that this branch was definitely different than the other Penang branches. The decor looked more like a chic upscale restaurant with low lighting and jazz music playing in the background. There was also a full bar and the wait staff looked more like they belong to a fancy Italian or French restaurant. Definitely not the aunties that I am used to. I also noticed that there were A LOT of wait staff, almost too many for such a small establishment. We were seated promptly (due to the fact that it was almost empty) and they gave us the menu to look through. Hmmm, a quick glance through the menu and I realized that that the prices were way higher compared all the other Penang branches that I have been to (trust me, I have been to a lot of Penangs :P). Not only that, the menu selection was way smaller compared to the other Penangs. Oh well, if the food and service is good, I guess paying a little more isn't all that bad. However, the question...was the food and service good? Well, let me tell you this. There were soooo many wait staff around but we had to wait for at least 15 minutes to order. They were just hanging around in groups, either staring into space or talking to each other. What horrible service! We even tried to get their attention, but they were in a world of their own. At last we managed to place our order and the waiting for our food began.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, our food was finally served. I ordered the Fried Rice Noodles with Salted Fish ($8.95). With the horrible service, I wasn't really expecting a lot from the food. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The fried rice noodles were not too bad actually. Not the greatest, but it wasn't all that bad. There were also generous chunks of salted fish visible. Do I think it's worth the 9 bucks? Probably not. After all, it's just rice noodles, some pieces of chicken, vegetables and salted fish. It's almost sinful to pay 9 bucks just for that.

What did Kevin order? Nooo, he didn't order the Char Koay Teow! :P He ordered his second favorite food, Wonton Mee ($7.95). Again, the noodles wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I would say, it's rather forgettable. I found the wontons to be a tad bit tasteless too. I wouldn't order this again IF we were to ever return.

I felt that Kheng's Hainanese Chicken Rice ($6.95) was the most disappointing out of the whole lot. Not only did it take extra long to be served, it tasted horrible too. After Kevin and I got our food (and we had to wait a long time for ours), she was still waiting for hers. Come on, how long does it take to put this dish together? Just chop up some chicken and scoop some rice into a bowl? How difficult can that be? She gave me a few pieces to try and yeah, I agree with her that it's really not that great. The chicken was tasteless! Just some rubbery chicken with soy sauce poured over.

Since we didn't order any appetizer and our main meal was pretty horrible, we decided to order some desserts. Maybe they might redeem themselves through dessert. Kheng ordered the Chendol ($3.50). The verdict? Just too much shaved ice! Look at the amount of shaved ice. It was just falling everywhere and it was so hard to get to the good stuff at the bottom of the bowl. To be fair, the chendol tasted pretty good though. Just that there was way too much ice on top.

Kevin and I shared the Peanut Pancake with Ice Cream ($7.95). This is our all time favorite Penang Restaurant dessert. Crispy roti canai stuffed with 'ban chang koay' peanut stuffing. I'm glad that it wasn't a disappointment. Good as always. However, I am a bit cheesed off that the peanut pancake was served with ice cream. Usually (in all the other Penang branches), we could choose if we wanted ice cream or not. It's usually $5.95 just for the pancake. Two bucks for a scoop of ice cream seems ridiculous. Looks like it's all about making money in this Penang branch.

As you can see from the bill, our whole dinner for 3 people came up to $50.40. Way way way too expensive for some mediocare tasting Malaysian food and really bad service. Would I return? I really don't think so. The next time I am in the mood for Malaysian food, I would either to go the city or take a drive to the Penang in Edison. It might be a little bit further, but the experience will be a whole lot better.

Penang Malaysian & Thai Cuisine - Lodi, NJ
334 N. Main St,
Lodi, NJ 07644
Tel: (973) 779 1128
Web: http://www.penangcuisine.com/

The 'new' Nyonya - Chinatown, NYC

It's been a while since we went to Nyonya in Chinatown. There are always so many other new restaurants to check out whenever we are in Chinatown (which is pretty often :P), we just never gotten around to going back to Nyonya. Since Kheng was visiting us last weekend, we decided to take her there. After all, Nyonya (in my opinion) serves the most authentic Malaysia food and is the most affordable Malaysian restaurant around. After a long walk in the blazing sun, we arrived at Nyonya only to find the shutters down. Oh nooo, is it closed??? In fact, it looked like it's been closed for quite a while, with graffiti on it's shutters and stuff. Feeling really disappointed, we decided to go to Jaya instead. We were just about to make our way to Jaya when we looked across the street and saw....NYONYA!! Yay!! So, Nyonya is not closed...they just moved across the street! Wooohoooo!

The new Nyonya looked great! Way cleaner than the old one. Simply love the new decor. It now has a more hip, trendy and updated look. It looks as though they hired quite a number of new staff as well. Way more friendly and pleasant than the old ones. The only thing that remained the same was the trademark uniform, black shirt and pants, with a short sarong around the waist. Oh, I must also add that the prices have also gone up. Not by much though, but it is definitely more expensive than what it used to be.

So, with the new address, updated decor and price hike, does the food still taste the same? Well, we'll soon find out. After taking our order, it look the waitress only less than 5 minutes to bring out our drinks. Kheng ordered the Malaysian Ice Coffee ($3.25) and Kevin has a soda ($1.50). As usual, Chinese Tea and Ice Water is on the house. We order the Pasembur ($7.95) to share as our appetizer. Shredded cucumber, jicama, bean sprouts, tofu, shrimp pancake, jelly fish, hard boiled eggs with ground peanuts, fried onions and their special sauce. Truthfully, I wasn't really expecting much but boy, was I pleasantly surprised! This Pasembur was really really good! Just like what you can get in Penang (the island, not the restaurant)! Yeah, I dare say that it's almost as good as the Pasembur (also known as 'cheh hoo') from my favorite stall in Island Glades, Penang. So so gooood.

For my main, I ordered the Fish Head Noodle Soup ($7.50), of course :P As usual, the Fish Head Noodle Soup here never fails to hit a spot for me. I have said it before but I will say it again. The Fish Head Noodle Soup here is the bomb! The fish is so yummy and the carnation milk and salted vegetable broth is totally out of this world. You know, the Fish Head Noodles here is even better than some of the ones you can find in certain hawker stalls back in Malaysia.

Kevin and I are creatures of habit. Guess what he ordered? Yup, you got that right. Char Koay Teow ($6.75)! It's alwaysss Char Koay Teow...hahaha. I stole some of his Char Koay Teow (with the excuse that I need to do a taste test :P) and I must say that it's pretty good. They must have fried it over really high heat, cause I can taste the 'wok hey' smell in the noodles. Really good. If you were to serve me this plate of Char Koay Teow back in KL, I would have believed it if you told me that you bought it from one of the local hawker stalls. Yeah, it's that good. However, please note, I said KL and not Penang. Nothing beats or even can compare to Penang Char Koay Teow. There's just something about it that puts it in a class above the rest ;)

Kheng ordered the Nasi Lemak ($6.50). It is served with curry chicken, sambal ikan bilis (chilli anchovies), half a hard boil egg and some achat (pickled vegetables). I didn't try the Nasi Lemak, so I don't know what it tasted like. Kheng finished everything on her plate, so I would assume that it was pretty good. It looked authentic and smelled good though, so I think it's pretty decent.

Overall, we had a great and authentic tasting Malaysian meal. What's the damage? Our total bill came up to $36.43 (excluding tips) for three people. Not too bad at all. For less than $13 a person, I feel that it's fairly decent. Out of all the Malaysian restaurants that I have been too, I must say that Nyonya still holds the record for being the most authentic and affordable. However, I need to add that despite the new look and new location, Nyonya still doesn't accept credit cards. Everything is cash only. Oh well, that's a small inconvenience that I am willing to put up with for yummy and authentic tasting Malaysian food.

Nyonya Restaurant II - Chinatown, NYC
199 Grand Street,
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 334 3669/6701
Fax: (212) 343 343 7422
Web: http://www.penangusa.com/location_nyonya_grand.html

Mamak Mee Goreng (Indian Fried Noodles)

I had a packet of yellow noodles and some fried tofu sitting in my refrigerator a while back, so I decided to try and cook up some Mamak Mee Goreng aka Indian Fried Noodles. Despite it's name, this dish didn't actually originate from India. It was created by the mamak (Tamil Muslims) community who migrated from South India to Malaysia (and other South East Asian countries) centuries ago. Sold mainly in mamak stalls all across Malaysia, the Mamak Mee Goreng has since become a favorite among Malaysians of all races. Here is my version of the Mamak Mee Goreng.

Start off by adding some oil into a wok or large pan. Once it's hot, add in some chopped garlic. Saute the garlic for a bit and when it starts to turn light brown, add in some chili paste. I have only added in a little because we are not really fans of super hot stuff. You can add in a little bit more, if you like.

Next, add in some fried tofu (taukua) that has been cut up into smaller pieces. You can easily find fried tofu in any Asian grocery store. If there are no Asian grocery stores near you, you might be able to find some in the produce section of your local grocery store. They should be by the chilled organic foods section.

After the fried tofu, add in some potatoes that have been boiled and cut up into smaller pieces. Then, in goes some tomatoes (that has also been cut up into smaller chunks). At this point, you can add in some mustard greens (sawi) is you like.

Stir everything together and allow it to cook for a bit. Then, add in some large white shrimp that has been peeled and clean. Apart from shrimp, you can also add in some squid that has been cut into rings.

Once the shrimp is almost cooked, throw in about a handful of yellow noodles.

Then, pour in some sauce to add flavor and color to the noodles. It's pretty easy to prepare the sauce. Just add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce and 3 tablespoons of tomato ketchup. Then, add in some sugar and mix it all together.

Just stir fry everything together for a bit and it's ready to serve! At this point, you might want to add in some beansprouts. Since I didn't have any in hand, I just made do without. If you added in some beansprouts, just stir fry for a little bit longer and you are done. Remember, everything must be fried in really high heat. If not, it won't taste that authentic.

Now, if you would like to add in an egg to your noodles, this is what you should do. Make a hole in the middle of the noodles and add in a tiny bit of oil. Then, crack in one large egg and allow it to cook for a few seconds. Then, break the egg up and scramble it a little. Once its almost cooked, mix it with the rest of the noodles and stir fry everything together. Then it's ready to serve! You can serve the noodles with a few wedges of lime and some fried onions on top. Some people would also sprinkle on some fresh shredded lettuce on top. It's entirely up to you. Enjoy!