Malaysia

• Pumpkin with spinach Malay style

  Cooking time: 15 min. / 15 min.Difficulty: easy

  Simple and tasty recipe I learned in a small restaurant above a fish market on Borneo. It is a great combination of a tender sweet pumpkin with fibrous spinach and spicy chilies.

  

• Black bean fish

  Cooking time: 10 min. / 10 min.Difficulty: easy

  This delicacy I had in a small restaurant on Borneo island. It was so good I couldn't resist and went there again following day. The waiter spoke English a bit, so I mentioned that I love cooking. When I wanted to pay, he brought me three pieces of paper. One of them was the bill, the other one was recipe for the dish I had just finished and the third one was for the fish in a black bean sauce I had yesterday here. I love Asia and approach of local people, who are happy when they make other people happy.

  

• Kelapa muda puding - Young coconut pudding

  Cooking time: 5 min. / 5 min.Difficulty: easy

  This refreshing pudding you can find by the road when wandering around Sabah in Borneo. It tastes exactly like a young coconut juice and unlike "western" puddings is suitable for vegetarians, as the gelatin used is not animal origin, but is made of agar agar powder, which comes from an algae seaweed.

  

• Hinava - Raw mackerel salad

  Cooking time: 15 min. / 0 min.Difficulty: easy

  Always, when I am by the ocean, I love eating fresh fish. And when I am really sure the fish is super fresh, it literally asks for getting it raw. Like this special from Sabah on Borneo. Light and refreshing. I simply couldn`t resist and it was a very good idea.

  

• Ginger beef

  Cooking time: 10 min. / 10 min.Difficulty: easy

  Amazing combination of flavours. And this Malay recipe with Chinese roots is very easy and fast too. I got it even without asking for it. It was enough to mention in the restaurant I was enjoying this dish that it is really delicious and that I love cooking and I got the recipe together with the bill.

  

• Rice porridge with anchovies

  Cooking time: 5 min. / 15 min.Difficulty: easy

  Hurrayyy, next time, when I have some rice leftovers, I can do something else than risotto or a fried rice ..... these were my thoughts when I was enjoying my first meal on my arrival to Malaysia, rice porridge. It can be called both porridge and soup, depending how watery it is. You can garnish it nearly with anything and It is a great soup for hangover too.

  

• Latok - Grape seaweed salad

  Cooking time: 3 min. / 0 min.Difficulty: easy

  May be it is daring to call this a recipe, as it is as simple as it gets. Still, when I got it for the first time in Borneo, I was really impressed. It is refreshing, has nice chewy consistency, is full of minerals, iodine and magnesium and it is not slimy at all. You can serve it as an appetizer, salad or as a side dish with a fish for instance. If the salad like this seem too lean for you, add tomatoes and onion. But then the taste of latok will not excel that much.