SINCE MY FIRST DAY HERE, I promised my homestays that I will cook up an authentic Malaysian feast for them someday. After idling around their house for almost three weeks now, I finally took up the initiative to cook today. (It needs courage to serve something to a great cook like my homestay uncle).

Uncle Hsieh bought most of the vegetables from his supermarket, but I insisted to buy some of those ingredients myself, so I can sort of chip in some money into this dinner. There’s this Hong Kong Supermarket which is quite popular among the local Chinese community. The fresh produce here are cheaper than their American counterparts and you can find lots of Asian produce. I tried looking around and was so shocked to see so many Chinese food on sale, you’ll think that you’re in a wet market in Taiwan.

MY MASTERPIECE OF THE DAY is a vegetable curry and a Gado-gado salad with peanut sauce. My homestays loved them, and I made sure that the curry isn’t too spicy for their taste. I loved the Gado-gado. Although I used instant peanut sauce for today’s dinner (yeah, they have ‘instant’ everything nowadays) I’ll still give you my recipe for the sauce that is way better than the commercially packaged ones.

Here are the recipes for the day:

Vegetable curry
Ingredients (I go freestyle so the amount does not matter, as long as it is within acceptable ranges):
Cabbage, carrots, eggplants, long beans, potatoes, tomatoes, fried tofu squares, coconut milk, Idaman Suri Meat Curry powder.
Instructions
Stir fry the curry powder paste in oil until fragrant. Add in coconut milk and water. Throw in all those chopped vegetables and cook until soft. Add salt and brown sugar to taste. (The vegetables need to be really well cooked, up to the point that they start getting mushy)

Gado gado with peanut sauce
Ingredients
Bean sprouts, water spinach, eggs and potatoes.
Grounded roasted peanuts, oil, brown sugar, salt, chili powder, lime juice and grinded lemongrass.
Instructions
For the vegetables, blanch them separately and cool immediately in ice cold water. Drain and set on plate.
For the peanut sauce mix altogether according to taste, and stir in with the vegetables. Easy?

Having tried all the different cuisines here in New York (Italian pizza and spaghetti, Greek falafel, Mexican burritos, chili and chips, American burgers and salads) Malaysian food is still the best for its aroma and excitement. Haven’t tried French food in New York yet. I’ll compare that too, when the time comes.