Smokin'

For any cook living in Asia, a visit to a wet market is something like a liter of caffiene delivered straight into a vein.  Well, it is for me, anyway.  So much activity -- the vivid colors, the aromas both sweet and nasty, the frenetic activity, the promise of many meals to come.  So many vegetables, herbs, and other ingredients -- many of which are unfamiliar, and thus intriguing -- excite the mind and get the appetite going.

I've only just scratched the surface of wet markets in KL, and there are many -- expect lots of market posts in the future.  One curious ingredient I've come across repeatedly is smoked garlic.

On a Merdeka Day (Malaysia's national day) outing to Petaling Jaya's (PJ) OUG market with a group of fellow egulleters, I asked Teepee for some tips on cooking with smoked garlic. 

She advised stir-frying it with some chopped char siu siu yok (roasted pork), kecap manis, and chili for a quick dinner.  Just then we came across this char siu siu yok vendor and I ordered up about 15 ringit's worth of what Thais call "3-story pork" (one "story" each of meat, fat, and crispy skin).

Smoked garlic is milder than raw, so I used about 15 cloves for a 2-person serving  of the dish.  The kecap manis added a spicy sweetness.  With some rice the dish made a fine, quick meal for a weeknight.

Before being smoked, the garlic is dried, so it retains raw garlic's firmness.  Apparently it's nothing new to western cooks -- a quick google search turned up smoked garlic purveyors in both the UK and the US.  The other day a Malaysian lady told me that she pounds smoked garlic with chili to make sambal, and I'll surely give that a try.  But I could also see it slow-roasted with olive oil in the oven, or chopped roughly and playing a starring role in a simple pasta sauce of roasted tomatoes and basil. 

Comments

[Shiewie]

We just use normal garlic and light soya sauce but it's pretty darn good when skin gets all crispy, the garlic caramelises and all that porky oil melds together with the soya sauce. Yummm!!!

[Edward]

Hi Robyn
It must be Siu Yok (Shao Rou in mandarin) that you were referring to, & not char siu.
There's a stall right outside Swiss-Inn in Jalan Sultan near Petaling St. that sells that dish as well. The trouble is the proprietor only starts business at 11pm at night.

[Robyn]

Thanks Edward -- of course, I should have realized it's nothing like the pork in a char siu bao.
11pm? Ugh, don't know if I'll ever make it to that stall, but it's tempting....

[umami]

We like the siew yoke from Tengkat Tung Shin. But my brother and father swear the best version they've come across is in Cheras in a food centre near Shamelin- trouble is, the operator has no fixed stall or permanent place or fixed operating hours.