Malaysians take much pride in the unique blend of flavours in our food. We have the privilege of enjoying cuisines from different ethnicities and if you’re a foodie, you’ll know that it can get rather challenging to watch your waistline while you dig into Malaysian food all day and all year round!
If you love Malaysian food, just like the team at 1Twenty80, you’ll want to try the recipes below. We’ve teamed up with food lover and author of 11 cookbooks and counting, Annie Xavier, to add some spice to your kitchen without compromising your waistline. Try these family recipes out and enjoy them, minus the guilt!
CHICKEN SHORBA
| INGREDIENTS | |
|---|---|
| 800g | Free range chicken (chopped into bite sizes and wiped off excess moisture with kitchen towel) |
| 100g | Water |
| 100g | Greek yoghurt |
| 30g | Cooking oil |
| 5g | Ginger (skin peeled) |
| 2 | cloves of garlic (skin peeled) |
| 1 | Small onion (about 100gm, skin peeled and cut into quarters) |
| 1 | Medium-sized tomato (about 150gm, cut into quarters) |
| 3 | Cloves |
| 3 | Cardamoms |
| 1 | Cinnamon stick |
| 1 | 1 Bay leaf |
METHOD
- Marinate chicken with all the marinate ingredients for 30 minutes or longer. Set aside.
- Place ginger, garlic, onion and tomato into a blender and blend until fine.
- Heat up cooking oil. Add in blended ingredients, cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon stick and bay leaf and sauté everything until fragrant.
- Add in chicken, water and yoghurt, stir well and bring everything to a boil. Cover pot with lid, reduce heat to medium low and allow chicken to cook on a slow simmer, cook until chicken is cooked through.
- Dish out and garnish with chopped spring onion.
SAMBAL CAULI RICE
“This recipe is enough to feed three to four people. If you are not on a strict low carb diet, you may use regular sugar to replace lakanto (monk fruit sweetener).” – Annie Xavier
| INGREDIENTS | |
|---|---|
| 550g | Cauliflower florets |
| 30g | Cooking oil |
| 20g | Water |
| 30g | Cooking oil |
| 10g | Dried anchovies |
| 3 | Shallots (skin peeled) |
| 1 clove | Garlic (skin peeled) |
| ½ tsp | Salt (or more depending on own taste) |
METHOD
- Cook the sambal. Place garlic, chilies, lime leaves, tomato and shallot into a blender and blend briefly for a coarse consistency. Heat up cooking oil in a pan on medium heat. Add in blended ingredients and the rest of the ingredients and sauté for a few minutes. Dish out and set aside.
- Cook the cauli rice. Mince the dried anchovies, shallots and garlic. Set aside. Place cauliflower florets into a food processor and pulse a few times until you get a coarse and rice like texture. Alternatively, you can manually grate the florets using a coarse grater. Heat up cooking oil in the same pan on medium heat. Add in minced items and sauté until fragrant. Add in cauli rice, water and salt and sauté until cauli rice starts to soften.
- Dish out and drain out some of the liquid (if any) from the cooked cauli rice. Add in 2 tbsp or more of the sambal and mix everything together until well combined.
- Serve with the additional fried anchovies.
