My love for Malaysian cuisine keeps
growing with every roti canai, laksa lemak and char kway teow I eat. The
blending of flavours in every dish never ceases to blow my mind. I would
definitely grab the opportunity of learning to cook Malaysian food if one was
to come my way. A few weeks ago, I received an invite from Vani to participate
in one of Jackie M's Malaysian cooking masterclass. I kindly and joyfully
accepted the offer. To learn from Jackie M herself is such an honour. The
heavens read my mind and granted me my wish!
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| Jackie |
Jackie
M is the renowned restaurant owner of
Jackie M in Concord. She may seem like a scary lady on twitter (throws up a
'peace sign' in the air at Jackie) but in real life, she's one of the coolest
person I've ever met. I attended week 3 of Jackie M's class at the Grace Hotel,
which covers some Malaysian street food, which includes: Char Kway Teow, Oyster Omelette, Laksa Lemak, KL Hokkien Mee,
Otak-otak, Kuih dadar.
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| Jackie in action |
It started with an introduction to what
the class will cover and a few housekeeping rules. We were split into teams of
two and were allocated three dishes to make. But just before our cooking
sessions, Jackie did informative cooking demostrations of making Char Kway Teow
and oyster omelette. It was like watching a rockstar cook. She also passed on a
phrase to take with us when cooking Malaysian food. That saying is 'Agak, Agak'
(pronounced Ah-ga'h, Ah-ga'h) which roughly means 'to estimate'. Malaysian
cooking is never exact when it comes to measuring the amount of ingredients
that goes into a dish. Every version of a dish varies depending on the cook's
taste.
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| Ramen Raff attempts to cook Char Kway Teow |
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| Char Kway Teow success and a Raff peace sign in the air |
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| Raff's Char Kway Teow - Thanks Jackie! |
While Simon gathered and prepared
ingredients for the Kuih Dadar, I got behind the steel wok with hopes of
following Jackie's footstep and attempt her signature Char Kway Teow (CKT). Char Kway teow is stir fried flat rice
noodles in sweet soy based sauce with ingredients that vary. These ingredients
include or may include egg, prawns, chives, garlic, onion, chinese sausage,
chicken, cockles etc. Thanks to Jackie and Vani’s guidance and my stir-frying
experience, I was able to breeze through this process. At the end, I was happy
with the result! I even got the wok hai (breath of wok) taste factor going.
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| Otak otak |
Iza helped me with the mixing and
assembly of the otak-otak. It is a
type of cake made out of fish and spices. This is the third otak-otak that I've
had and it is also the best tasting one.
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| Kuih dadar |
The Kuih
Dadar that Simon, D, Cat and Ali put together was sensational! The crepe
like wrapper flavoured with pandan and the filling of grated coconut with
steeped gula melaka is a sweet treat that has now become a favourite of mine. It is
served with a sweet creamy like sauce that Simon cooked perfectly.
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| Oyster Omelette |
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| Hokkien Mee |
After all that hard and fun work, we
shared and devoured the fruits of our labour. Everything tasted great as
expected. But most of all, it was a lot of fun and you get to take home
culinary knowledge passed on by Jackie. Bookings for the last class this year
on 23 December 2012 could already be full. But I was told that there would be classes
available next year. For more details about future classes, contact jackie@jackiem.com.au
or Vani - 0424 260 494.
Thanks Jackie, Vani and Iza for an
awesome masterclass!
Ramen Raff was invited by Jackie M to participate
in the cooking masterclass as a guest.
Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine
85 Majors Bay Road, Concord
Phone: 04242 60494
Website: www.jackiem.com.au
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jackiemcuisine
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jackiemsydney
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