A RECENT Newspoll survey of more than 1200 Australians found that we are not very adventurous when it comes to Asian food.
Chinese take-away staples aside, half of those surveyed have never eaten Indonesian, 46 per cent have never tried Malaysian and 40 per cent claim they have never had Japanese.
Awareness of where Asian staples come from was also shown to be low, with only 15 per cent of respondents successfully identifying Rendang Curry as Malaysian and just two in 10 aware that Laksa is a Malay classic.
Poh Ling Yeow, star of Poh's Kitchen, ex-MasterChef contestant and Malaysia Kitchen Australia’s new ambassador, is astonished that so many Australians have never tasted Malaysian, and is now on a mission to get locals to embrace the original fusion food.
"This survey shows that only two in 10 people know Laksa is Malaysian and less than a third can identify Chicken Penang as a Malay classic which really surprises me!" Poh said
"While we love our Asian food here, we've got a lot more eating and experimenting to do to live up to our reputation as a real foodie nation."
So, to get the ball rolling, she's given us a staple Mayalsian recipe to try out at home!
"Malaysian food combines the best of native Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisine. I know Aussies will fall in love with the vibrant flavours and want to replicate them at home," she said.
Poh's Nyonya Fried Rice
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
3/4 cup dried shrimp soaked in boiling water, drained, blitzed in a food processor to a crumbly consistency
160 g peeled prawn flesh, deveined and diced
1 cup raw jasmine rice, washed, cooked and refrigerated
2 Tbs light soy
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs beaten lightly
1 medium continental cucumber quartered lengthways, seeds sliced off and discarded, sliced diagonally 2-3mm thickness
Rempah (wet spice paste)
*8 dried long red chillies deseeded*, soaked in boiling water until soft, drained and chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled, sliced 4-5 small red eschallots OR 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and sliced 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* Dried chillies – There are several types of dried chillies. Please choose the type that are about finger sized. The smaller ones are very hot and the broader, larger ones mild. Also please never replace dried chillies with fresh ones as they don’t impart the smokiness of flavour and depth of colour required for this dish.
* Deseeding dried chillies – To deseed dried chillies with ease my Great Aunty Kim always cuts them into quarter segments with scissors, into a colander with largish holes and then shakes the seeds out.
* The trick to cooking great fried rice is refrigerating the cooked rice first! It makes the grains keep separate and the dish from getting stodgy. Leftover rice which has been immediately refrigerated is perfect.
* To cook perfect rice, wash 2-3 times, drain then add 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. Bring to the boil, cook on medium heat with the lid ajar for 10 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated and there are big pits on the surface of the rice. Cover rice and cook for another 10 minutes on very low heat, then allow to rest for another 10. Fluff rice up with chopsticks or a fork.
To prepare the rempah, blend rempah ingredients to a course paste.
Heat a wok or large non-stick frypan on a medium heat. Add rempah and, stirring continuously, saute the paste for about 7-10 minutes until fragrant and caramelised. You will know the paste is ready when very little steam rises from the wok and the colour will have deepened. Add pounded dried shrimp and stir fry for about a minute or until fragrant and slightly toasted.
Add prawns and stir fry until just cooked. Immediately add rice, soy, white pepper and sugar. Cook until rice has separated, and is tender. Make a well in the middle of the wok pushing rice to the sides. Tip the egg in and let it sit for a while so the bottom has a while to develop some colour. With the spatula flip egg to cook the other side, then chop it up to ensure all the egg is cooked. Add the cucumber and give it all a final toss so ingredients are evenly combined.
Serve hot or at room temperature.