DIM SUM

There has been many Dim Sum restaurants that suddenly have opened  all over Klang Valley and Selangor. From the no-frills type without air-conditioning coffee-shop to the up-market type of restaurants like those by Tai Thong Group of restaurants as well as Chinese restaurants in the hotels.

Dim Sum are Chinese Hot Hors-d'Oeuvre. They take skills to make as they are all hand-made, except the 'Pau' perhaps, as nowadays they have 'Pau' making machine. The meat paste of the steamed dim sum is primarily made-up of pork (at least consisting of about 15% to 20% fat) and shrimps, minced together and  tapioca starch added to bind into a springy paste before wrapping them up with wrappers into little dim sim and then steamed. Some restaurants require you to pre-order your choice of dim sum and only then they will be steamed and served to you piping hot. The traditional dim sum restaurants have their dim sum served in a steamer trolley that goes around the tables and you just pick what you want as it goes around. This is only feasible if the restaurant are able to have their customers streaming in consistently.

I have also noticed that Dim Sum can be franchised and I have seen a few restaurants have many outlets all over Klang Valley.  The dim sum are made in their central kitchen and have been precooked before sending them out to the various outlets. Only certain items are made on the spot like their deep fried ones. I know one even offers dim sum making classes at RM5000 per course and they also throw in classes to learn duck roasting, cha siew (BBQ pork) and siew yuk (roast belly pork).

Most dim sum restaurant in Kuala Lumpur claimed that they serve Hong Kong style dim sum and yet they do not provide English mustard. Instead they provide sweet chilli sauce and Hoi Sin Sauce only as dips.

There is always a shortage of F& B staff in the Malaysian restaurants. Many employs foreign workers from Myanmar or China to man these chinese restaurants.

How to tell whether the dim sum is of good quality or not, the following points are taken into consideration:

Siew Mai :  The Siew Mai by far is the most popular item in any Dim Sum restaurant. The paste has to be springy and made of minced pork and shrimps and then top with fish roe. Yet some restaurants cheat and use coloured sago pearls to top their siew mai. Its a no-no because I feel that already we are paying so much per plate of dim sum and we want authenticity.

Meat Pau:  BBQ Pork Pau are the most popular. The filling varies in the texture of the meat BBQ pork used: for some the meat are in shreds which some are in small cubes. I would prefer the latter. When you bite the Pau, the dough should not sticks to your teeth. That would determine the quality of the flour used.

Yam Puffs (Woo Kok):  These have to made fresh otherwise they go soft when cooled. Sometimes you might get yam puffs that has been reheated by re-frying in hot oil and you can tell by its darker colour of the skin.  The outer layer of mashed yam should be at least 5mm thick otherwise you can't taste the yam at all.

Fried Radish Cake:  The method to fry this dish is quite similar to the Penang Cha Kueh Teow. The radish cubes have to be fried first to evenly brown all sides. Then they should add lots of garlic, some chilli paste, and chopped preserved radish. These three ingredients are important to get the outcome correct: fragrant (from the garlic), extra taste of the radish from the preserved radish and a certain 'kick' from the chilli boh. Beaten egg is added to roughly coat and bind everything together and then lastly, bean sprouts and chives to cut the oil.

Shanghai Dumplings (Siew Loong Pau):  The marinated meat paste is wrapped when half frozen with a white flour wrapper and then steamed. Not many people know how to eat this item. This dim sum has a little broth from the meat. To eat it, gently and carefully pick the tip of the dim sum with your chopstick and place it on your spoon. Take care not break it or else the broth will ooze out. Add some pickled ginger shreds in black vinegar and pop it into your mouth. Sometimes its not your fault that it breaks when you try to pick it up with your chopstick; its because the dim sum got stuck to the bottom of the dish. To prevent this from happening, some restaurants line the steamer with parchment paper before placing the dim sum on it.

You can tell whether the dim sums are made by apprentice cooks or the Master Dim Sum Chef by looking at the end result. Its the Art of Beguilement.

NEW ERA OF THE MALAYSIAN KOPITIAM

During the last 2 to 3 years, a new breed of Kopitiams (or coffeeshops in Chinese) has sprouted into the food and beverage industry, replacing the old style of doing business which dates back to the colonial days. In the olden times, these coffee shops were usually owned and ran by Hainanese families. These families were engaged by the British to serve (in the then Malaya) them as cooks in their homes, usually large tropical bungalows in an estate. The Hainanese learnt to make English breads and brew coffee or tea in the preferred English way. When the British left after Malaysia has gained independence, these families started to open up their own coffee shops which have evolved into the franchised kopitiam of today.

Unlike the more established franchised f & b businesses like McDonalds, KFC or Burger King, our Malaysian kopitiams are still at its infancy in terms of consistency in quality and the methods used on food preparation are not so very well defined.

In contrast to the said international franchised f & b businesses with our local ones, the former has a central food preparation centre ( like McFoods) and then distributed to the outlets. They have designed for used cooking equipment to minimise human error where quality and taste are concern. They spent money and time to train up their kitchen staff who usually work in teams before sending them out to man an outlet.

The Malaysians have talked so much about franchising and branding and so far, some businesses have proven successful, but there is still a lot of room for improvement like this one here that I am writing about.

Most of today's kopitiam are opened 24 hours similar to that of the Mamak or Indian coffee shops. This is only possible because these food outlets employ foreign workers like Burmese or Indian nationals whose salaries/wages are more affordable and they are tied down to the employment for at least 2 years, thus minimising high staff turnover.

I have visited many of these kopitiam outlets but there are still many flaws in the quality of the food and its authenticity. Here is the verdict:

The Coffee: The original coffee used are locally grown and roasted. Most of the kopitiams do use the right ones. But because of the foreign influence of Coffeebean or Starbucks, some will use imported coffee powder.

The Creamer: To protect the oil palm industry, Malaysia has stopped the import of sweetened condensed milk which were used during the colonial days until the 80s. What you see at the supermarket shelves are sweetened creamer which has a vast difference if you read the ingredients labled on the can. Sweetened condensed milk is used for 'teh' or 'teh susu'. 'Teh See' uses evaporated milk. 'Teh See' is also similar to 'Teh Tarik' just that the latter is 'dragged' or 'tarik' by using a long-spouted tea/coffee pot when pouring the drink into the cup so as to create a froth just like a coffee machine for a cappucino, but with not so fine bubbles.

The Tea: The type of tea leaves used should be Assam tea, a full bodied black tea. When making a good cup of 'Teh See' or 'Teh Tarik' the tea must be strong to start off with. 'Teh O' is a weaker tea. While it is expensive to use pure Assam tea, a good blend is acceptable as long as it is predominantly Assam tea leaves used in the blend.

The Soft-boiled Egg: Someone has cleverly invented a simple two-tier plastic gadget to cook soft-boiled egg to perfection everytime. The top container has a tiny hole in the middle at the base. It can contain a maximum of up to 4 medium eggs. Eggs have to be in room temperature. Hot boiling water is poured in up the level marked depending on the number of eggs. The water will run through the hole at the bottom into the other container at the base. When all the water has flowed through, the eggs are ready. Over the years the quality or nutrient content of eggs have diminished. The yolks and whites are more watery as compared to the ones which we call 'kampung eggs'. The latter have their yolks and whites firmer in texture which means they are richer and higher in nutrient. Recently, the local farmers have come up with a new method of breeding the eggs-laying hen by feeding them with a special diet to produce better quality eggs. They are what we call today the 'branded eggs'. Some kopitiams do use these better quality eggs and you can recognised this by the orange-coloured yolks as resulted from their diet of dried corn.

The Toast: The correct type of bread use should be the English White Bread which is very soft and white but a shorter shelf life. It should be sliced thickly, at least 1 inch thick. The bread is toasted and then sliced into half to get two slices of 1/2 inch thick each, before spreading the kaya (egg and coconut milk sweet custard) and the butter. Yes, butter NOT margarine.

The Kaya: The kaya used by the Hainanese is smooth unlike the Nyonya ones which is lumpy and thicker in consistency. The Hainanese kaya is cooked in a pot while the Nyonya kaya is steamed in a double-boiler. Caramel is added towards the end for the brown colour.

The Butter: Butter is preferred not to be spread and must be solid, not melted, so that we can sink our teeth into. The butter is sliced to about 2mm thickness and to be placed on the toast after the kaya has been spread, with a pair of tongs. Butter would have to be kept cold.

The Toaster: During the olden days, the Hainanese toast their bread over hot charcoal ambers. Today, the modern kopitiam uses an electric toaster which comes in many different designs but all has the heat from the heating element confined in the space of the toaster. This feature causes the toast to be very hot especially in the centre and when the cold butter is added, it melts almost immediately. However, when its toasted over charcoal fire, the heat is not confined and the centre of the toast is not too hot. It cool down further after it has been sliced and the cold butter is added. Soft and cold on the inside and warm and crspy on the outside! A perfect 'roti khawin' everytime! Hmmm..sedap! Satu lagi, Boss!

Sarawak Laksa at Bangsar

The Sarawak Laksa is a curry laksa, usually served with coarse rice vermicelli. The taste of the gravy is different from our local Kuala Lumpur curry laksa or the Nyonya curry laksa. The recipe for the Sarawak Laksa paste is a well kept secret by its counterpart. Even this lady who operates this stall at the Nam Chun Restaurant at the corner of Lorong Ara Kiri 2, Lucky Garden, Bangsar, flies in her laksa paste periodically from Kuching by air. This lady is Aunty Christina, who hails from Kuching, also serves other popular dishes of Sarawak's Ho Poh Hakka dishes : fried abacus disc and Kacang Ma (Kampung chicken in herbs. The most popular and oldest brand of this pre-prepared laksa paste is the Cap Burung Layang-layang (Swallow Brand) Sambal Laksa that comes in 2 sizes, 300g and 500g. It is available in most Kuching supermarkets and also at the airport. The paste can also be used for stir-frying of seafood and vegetables.

For accompaniments, the Laksa is served with shredded chicken, boiled and shelled prawns, sliced egg omelette, blanched bean sprouts, topped with a generous garnish of fresh coriander and half a calamansi for you to squeeze over the Laksa just before you dig in! For extra spiciness, she would also give a small sauce plate of fried grounded dried chilles.

I have been to a number of stalls around KL for this Laksa, but this one is still the best and affordable. Price has increased from RM4.80 to RM5.00 per bowl since two months ago. While the gravy is considered 'guaranteed' of its consistent taste, sometimes the coconut milk in the gravy would curdle. You see, when the santan is added too quickly to the gravy, the milk would cause the gravy to curdle resulting the gravy to be not in a smooth consistency.

The Remedy: the coconut milk should not be added to the gravy first until a customer places an order. The gravy will be ladled out onto a smaller saucepan, bring to a boil, add the milk and top with the noodles followed by the accompaniments/garnishings. Another point to note is that if the milk is added to the gravy too early and as the gravy has to be kept served piping, the continuous boiling will caused the santan to turn to oil. This will caused the gravy to taste less milky or rich but oily which is a turn-off.

Aunty Christina's stall is opened from 7am until mid-afternoon and taking alternate wednesdays off.