Friday, July 30, 2010

One of my favorite food: Indian Mamak Food

During my semester break, I went back to Malaysia for a month. I managed to enjoy some of my favorite food and one of them is called Indian Mamak Food. Indian Mamak food is very popular in Malaysia and the food comprises of Nasi Kandar (yellow spiced rice with a variety of side dishes such as chicken curry, fish curry, mutton curry and beef curry that you could choose from), tosai (pronounced as "toe-say" : thin soft and crispy bread), roti canai (crispy bread with curry), mee goreng mamak (fried noodles), naan (toasted bread) with tandoori chicken and roti tisu (extra thin, crispy and sweetened bread). There are plenty of different mamak food chains in Malaysia and the following are a couple of shots from different shops.

Take note of the writings below the TOSAI word. Yes, it says TOSAI ANACONDA SPECIAL! I did not know what the heck was an ANACONDA tosai until I asked the guy. He told me that it is an extra long tosai bread, just like an anaconda snake! I did not order that tosai because we could not even finish our various different dishes on our table. Perhaps I will try it next time when I return to Malaysia.

Here is a photo of the Roti Canai that I mentioned earlier. They are basically made of flour and toasted on a hot plate to make it crispy. Similarly, by adding eggs the Roti Canai will become Roti Telor. Murtabak is made with beef and onions inside the bread.

The following photo shows you how tall a Roti Tisu (thin like tissue paper). The guy had to sprinkle some sugar, condensed milk and honey around the conical structure before laying it down on 2 plates prior to serving it to customers.
This Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar was one of the earliest shops to be established in Penang. When we moved to Klang, they also had branches there. I am sure the franchise has spread all across west Malaysia by now.

I am pretty sure the profit margin of these mamak shops are good because most of the different variety of food are mostly made of flour. Flour is cheap in Malaysia and these shops charge a couple of dollars for a dish. Mamak stalls reminded me of one of my ex-colleagues who used to eat dinner there every night (without fail)! This single guy spends most of his after work hours watching football on the mamak stalls' flat screen TVs (one of the methods to attract crowds).
After posting this photo, I realized that this mamak stall actually had a plastic bag to wrap up the leak on their water pipe! Noticed the red bag in front of the stall?....LOL!

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2009/10 United Squad

2009/10 United Squad

Kings of Europe 2007/2008 - Manchester United

Kings of Europe 2007/2008 - Manchester United
UEFA Champions League & English Premier League Champions