Malay cuisine and KDU foods

Last Wednesday was the last week where the second year Professional Chef students serve at their college restaurant. As usual, I picked up the unsold tickets and ate there. Let me embed the photos from the previous two weeks, which include Modern Chinese, Nyonya and Malay cuisines.

I was terribly hungry and tired by the time I got to KDU because the whole morning was engaged with video filming at the Botanical Gardens. I didnt have breakfast nor even drink a drop of coffee. So, I do not know whether it is because I was famished or the foods were really nice. Maybe both because the person who was in charge of the cooking that day is probably a great cook.

I shall start with the main meal which is ayam masak kicap, white rice, stuffed sotong with shrimps and cabbage. The ayam masak kicap is the best ever I have eaten. Normally, I do not like ayam masak kicap because they were either too plain or too flavourful. However, this ayam masak kicap is terribly good.

When I got to KDU, the first thing I begged for was coffee. It was already noon and I need my fix. Luckily, my son’s friend, Sui Thong managed to find one for me because coffee is not in the menu. I had my coffee with this very beautiful appetizer.

The students have to make sure of their food presentations and I find this really pretty. According to my son, they deep fried a piece of poh piah skin to make the casing where it is filled with kerabu green mango, deep fried dory and satay. I am not sure how deep fried dory fits into Malay cuisine but I walloped all of them, right down to the kerabu. 😛

Dessert was banana cake and bubur kacang hijau. I must get the recipe for banana cake and ask my son to bake again. The cake is moist and very packed with banana. Though a tad sweet, it is really yummy.

The bubur kacang hijau comes with a blob of black glutinous rice (bubur pulut hitam). My son told me they didn’t have enough santan in their kitchen. That explains why the bubur was not lemak enough. Yet, it is a lovely looking dessert.

And this is YY Lim who was the manager (they call the leader of the team manager) of the day. He is the one who planned the menu for that day. YY has come to my house to help me prepare for our house warming party before. I read on Sui Thong’s blog that YY had won some prizes at college too. A very promising chef in the making.

Now, my second son who is sitting for his SPM is thinking of going into Professional Chef too. However, he is more interested in Culinary Arts because that guy is into expensive tastes like wine and all that jazz. He has freaky taste buds that can pick out flavours that most do not feel. KDU does not offer Culinary Arts course but I heard Taylor does. I suggested to him to take Mass Comm because of his flair for writing and his command of English. Well, it is up to him whether he wants to join KDU in Professional Chef or Mass Comm or go to Taylor.