‘SCOTTY, I’VE BEEN BEAMED TO ANOTHER FOOD PLANET!!’

In a matter of hours AirAsia took me from Vientiane to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Penang.  A taxi ride of 18 kilometers brought me from the airport to the city of Georgetown.  I am booked into the Hotel Sentral for the next 10 days.  But, before I start on a third cultural cuisine, I’m going to try to answer a question Bev posed.  What is the difference between Laotian and Thai food?

This might be a little like the group of blind men describing an elephant because I have only touched on a small portion of the foods served in the two countries.  However, since I can’t recall an instant in my past where I was reticent to express my opinion due to such an inane reason as having only a little knowledge on the subject, here goes.

(it is probably a good time to do this because my first impression about Malaysian cuisine in Penang is that it is very different from Laotian and Thai.  So later in my trip I can really confuse everyone when I try to distinguish the difference among the three)

The type of rice eaten in the two countries is very different.  Thai generally eat Jasmine rice.  Laotians eat a glutinous form called sticky rice.

Many Lao prefer to eat their meat raw (buffalo, etc,) Not so in Thailand.

Soups differ significantly. Many Thai soups have seafood.  Also many use coconut milk.  Lao soups tend to be clear and have little seafood.

The base of many Thai dishes is a curry (red, green, yellow, massaman and penang).  Laotian dishes do not use this form of curry.

As there are differences there are also similarities. You will find many ingredients common to the two cuisines – lemongrass, chilis, fish sauce, (although the Lao version involves rotting fish in a brine for a year) soy sauce, garlic, shallots, spring onions, salt, pepper, chicken granules, kafir lime leaves, cilantro, mint, and galangal.   Also, eggs are commonly used in both cuisines.

Woks are used to prepare many dishes in each country and both use grills over charcoal, especially street vendors.

I think Thai foods tend to be spicier, but there are those who might disagree with that.  Everyone/anyone, feel free to weigh in on the differences between the two,

Now for the start of the ‘Penang Adventure’.

My first step was literally out of the hotel around 6 pm and down the block to Jalan MacAlister (one of Georgetown’s main streets).  Across the street I could see the start of street vendors (Hawkers) carts lining either side of a small street.  This turns out to be a well known street hawker location in Penang.  Gee, just think, it’s only a 4 minute walk to get there!

The carts extend for about 100 feet or so on either side of the street.  As a rough tally, I made about 40 different vendors.   Here I was walking down a gauntlet between cooks tossing things into woks which I had no clue about, and fragrant soups being ladled out of large pots and garnished with several different sauces.  In short, I thought I had died and gone to culinary heaven.

I made the trip down the street and back and scoped out the items on offer.  i started with a stir fry dish that included noodles, beansprouts, crunchy bacon, shrimp, a few other items, and lastly an egg cracked over the entire contents.  I ate it with chopsticks and would have licked the plate if I weren't in the midst of well over a hundred fellow diners.  As far as I could see, I was the only gringo in there.  That must say something when locals flock there to eat.

I asked the wok wielder what the name of the dish was.  He said it was a very famous Penang dish, and told me the name, which I promptly forgot.  I think that’s a very good reason to go back there this evening and have it all over again.

Next, it was a stop at a vendor selling a fragrant soup laced with noodles and some strange red cubes.  I was starting to get the hang of things.  Many carts had the name of what they served printed on the top.  This one said Curry Mee. The soup was rich, filled with noodles, seafood, and some red cubes on top.  Later I did a little research and found that ‘The basic bowl of Curry Mee comes with ingredients of cockles, cuttle fish, pig jelly and taupok in rich gravy’. 

Pig jelly by the way,( now don’t get squeamish on me) is congealed pig blood.  You and I are going to be eating some pretty strange things in the next week and a half.  But, we will still be a far cry from what Andrew Zimmerman puts down his gullet.

Lunch today was a trip.  I went to two Nynonya restaurants but found out that they are closed on Monday.  So I went to a very busy restaurant that fronts Jalan MacAllister several blocks from the hotel.  I went there because the place was packed with diners (no gringos, or, whatever we are called here in Penang).  I waited for a table, finally got one and sat down.  A waiter came over and I asked for a menu.  He used up his six words of English in explaining that I was to go to the front of the restaurant which fronted the sidewalk to get my food. 

I went and milled around shoulder to shoulder with other patrons putting food on their plates.  However, I didn't having a clue what I was supposed to do.  I was helplessly eying fully 16+ different entrees.  Finally a nice fellow showed me where to get a plate, put rice on it and then pick out what I wanted to eat.  I had noticed what other patrons were eating as I made my way past their tables to the where the food was in large deep trays, much like a cafeteria would use. (Looking at fellow diners food was a trick that came in very handy in China). 

I picked out a fish that seemed to be very popular.  It had been broiled over charcoal and was stuffed with a mixture of shallots, garlic and herbs, all bound by a tangy red sauce.  This mixture was delicious over the rice as was the fish.

This post has gone on long enough.  More on my plan of attack on Nyonya cuisine tomorrow.  Also, I have some photos on Flickr but am not happy with how they are accessed.  Maybe I’ll pick a new site, but whatever, there will be photos manana.