MALAYSIAN MAMAK FRIED CHICKEN

MALAYSIAN MAMAK FRIED CHICKEN

[ezcol_2third]

INSIDE A RED PLASTIC BUCKET AND 2 GIANT ROARING WOKS BY THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE ROADSIDE OF KUALA LUMPUR… NIRVANA

The best moment on a travel, for me at least, is when you’re already being in a place where you know you’d be drowned in delicious foods, standing at an unnamed corner in a lost moment, you still find yourself pleasantly overwhelmed.  If that’s kinda your thing as well, then Malaysia is your kinda place, specifically, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

I have been longing to return for quite some time now.  But since I’m currently under some sorta physical lock-down, you can tell evidently from my effort since – a full-blown laksa, a slack-off laksa, and these bag-loads of banana donuts – that this is not my first mental prison-break.  I want to remind you now that none of them were actually the climatic screaming food-gasm of that trip, but you already knew that.  I mean of course, naturally, one does not jump hastily to food-gasm at hello.  How rude.  Because one induces foreplay first.  A little bit of teaser here, and a little bit of appetizer there.  In a slow and respectful courtship, 2 whole damn years after we left the streets of Kuala Lumpur, one says, OK.  I think I’m ready to re-create the best damn fried chicken I’ve ever lay my tongue on in my entire life.

The yo mamak’s fried chicken.

[/ezcol_2third] [ezcol_1third_end]  [/ezcol_1third_end]

[ezcol_1third][/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third][/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end][/ezcol_1third_end][ezcol_1third][/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third][/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end][/ezcol_1third_end][ezcol_1third][/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third][/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end][/ezcol_1third_end]

[ezcol_1third]  [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end]

No, there was no typo there.  This is not mama’s fried chicken, but mamak, a word that’s used to describe the fusion flavours between Indian and Malay.  Mamak food-stalls can be found everywhere on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, but if you’ve ever been there during Ramadan, food-vendors as far as the eyes can see lit up around 6pm on the sidewalk like twinkle-lights on Christmas trees.  And there it was, inside a large red plastic bucket and two roaring woks of hot grease, by the hustle-and-bustle roadside of Jalan Sultan Ismail, where I found… nirvana.

I’ll admit that I didn’t see it coming, the high.  Because it was seemingly just another mamak street-vendor where you can build your own curry platter, and might I add, that this was after a marathon of binge-eating that should’ve left our enthusiasm relatively jaded.  But over a bed of annoyingly superb biryani on an alarmingly melty plastic container, two pieces of fried chicken with oily but crispy skins, sticky and juicy flesh, plus your best-imaginable flavour-profile of ginger and Indian spices, really, really, blew my mind.  I stood, astonished, at how I could ever be surprised again by something as widely studied as fried chickens.  I looked, intensely, at the crispy gingery fibers adhered tightly all over the crusts that were about to go on and floss my happiness.  I said, possibly out loud, that my stomach will not rest until I crack this mamak.

And here, I hope you would agree, that I did.  Adding a few twists of my own – incorporating more Malay flavours such as shrimp paste and lemongrass, and adding a paper-thin crust for desired crunches – this is possibly, the most pleasurable prison-break you could pull from whatever physical reality you’re escaping from.  Sink in.  Lick your fingers.  See you on 2015.

[/ezcol_2third_end]

[ezcol_1half]

[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]

---

A few things that you’ll find different about this recipe from others:  First, this recipe is re-created from memories of flavours and observations from sneaking around the food-stall where I found the best fried chickens.  It incorporates more Malaysian flavours such as dried shrimp paste, lemongrass, fish sauce, coconut milk and etc than other recipes available.  Mamak fried chickens usually aren’t breaded, but I felt a little thin crust wouldn’t hurt.  Based on a nice tip from a friend, the mixture of all-purpose flour, rice flour and cornstarch will make a light, crispy crust that shatters easily between bites.  If you don’t have rice flour, you can use 2 cups all-purpose + 1 cup cornstarch instead.  Then at last, mamak fried chickens are always mixed with lots of crispy fried curry leaves, which don’t always come by easily.  I couldn’t find any close substitute so I didn’t use any, but if you want, you can use crispy fried cilantro to scratch the itch.

---

*This sounds weird but there’s a better Malaysian-style fried chicken since this recipe and it’s this one.  

[/ezcol_1half_end]