In Padang, On the Hunt for Pork

On Sumatra we met a Spanish woman taking a break from her job in Aceh province, where she works for an aid agency. We talked about travel, living overseas, and life in Muslim countries (she'd spent a few years in Jordan as well). And, of course, we talked about food. She was anticipating returning home, to Madrid, for a long leave in September.

"When you get to Madrid, what's the first thing you'll eat?" I asked.

"Ham!" she answered forcefully.

Aceh is one of a number of Indonesian provinces that have adopted Shariah law. Most Indonesians are Muslim (though there are a large number of Christians and Buddhists too, and most Balinese are Hindu), but that doesn't mean that pork can't be found in some Indonesian cities. In more conservative, Shariah-ruled Aceh, however, pork is not sold anywhere. Our friend told us that her pork-eating colleagues take advantage of weekend trips to Medan, a big city on Sumatra's east coast, to stock up on ham, sausage, and bacon.

In Padang, as in Malaysia, where there's Chinese people there's pork. If the urge for a non-halal meal strikes Padang's charming Chinatown, anchored by an old Buddhist temple and a smallish but active wet market, is the place to go.

Meandering along Jalan Niaga, a street sketching Chinatown's eastern edge, we stopped for kopi at Warung Kopi Harum Manis, a spic-and-span converted auto repair shop painted in eye-popping blues, greens, and oranges. We weren't looking for food, just liquid refreshment, but the man tending the massive smoking wok out front was beating a steady rhythm with his long-handled paddle, and every tabletop held two or three plates of his noodles. We reconsidered and added a plate of kuay teow goreng (fried rice noodles) to our order.

Chinese-Indonesian kuay teow goreng (at least as it's prepared in Padang) shares many ingredients with the Malaysian dish, featuring, in addition to noodles, egg, bean sprouts, scallions, and a bit of green vegetable. The preparation is similar as well. Noodles are fried and then pushed to the side before an egg is added to the wok.

After the egg begins to firm up, it's mixed in with the noodles.

 

Protein of the non-egg variety goes in last. In Malaysia, it's cockles and prawns and a bit of pork; in Padang it's only diced barbecued pork.

We love our seafood, but didn't miss the Malaysian version's prawns and cockles when we dug into this wok-charred treat. With just a splash of soy sauce and no chile paste, the noodles and egg were relatively 'dry', and we think this intensified their lusciously assertive wok hei (the fragrant char of the wok). Kuay teow noodles in Padang, we knew from a noodle soup we'd enjoyed the previous evening, are much thicker than the Malaysian version, lending a pleasing amount of chew. The crowning glory of this dish was the ultra smoky pork nubs hiding amongst the noodles. It all added up to an incredibly satisfying breakfast and for once, we left chile sauce untouched.

Warung Kopi Harum Manis, no. 213 Jalan Niaga, Padang. Kuay teow goreng is available from early morning until about 11am. 

Comments

[Cupcake]

It's noon, and reading your blog had made me very hungry. Ravenous. The type of hunger that won't go away till I inhale a plate of char koay teow.

:-)

[bayi]

Fried kuih teow fans are always willing to try the dish with different ingredients. But finding this dish with pork in Indonesia is a gem.

[Robyn]

cupcake - thought you were gonna stop reading EA before lunch!

bayi - worth a trip? ;-)