Sadap!

Sometimes, the spice of friendship is found sprinkled all over our plates. And the ties that bind countries are usually delicious.

Our links with neighboring Malaysia are to be savored – this I found out at a recent preview of the forthcoming Malaysian food festival ("A Taste of Sarawak") at the Century Park Hotel.

Now, if all our differences could be settled over a bowl of beef rendang and our pride over border differences swallowed with chicken adobo, wouldn’t this be a better world?

More and more, I am savoring our ties with our Asean neighbors – especially with Malaysia. One of the most enjoyable lunches I had recently was at the Malaysian food fest, held at the Café in the Park of the Century Park, a portion of which was spruced up with batik tablecloth, sprinkled with fresh orchids.

Our food has similarities – their beef rendang is like our mechado with a twist. They like coconut cream-based sauces and enjoy a sawsawan (dip) of bagoong (shrimp paste) with calamansi.

The Malaysian food during the lunch couldn’t have been anything but excellent – it was prepared by no less than Century Park’s new general manager Paul Gill, who was once an executive of the Hilton in Kuching, East Malaysia. In fact, it was while at the Kuching Hilton that Gill met his lovely Malaysian wife, Connie Dominic, who like most Filipinos, is Catholic. They have been married for eight years now. Part of their married life was spent in Cebu, where Gill managed the Cebu Plaza Hotel.

"Malaysian food is the original fusion cuisine," says Gill, who points out that Malaysian food is a true blending of east and west.

For the press lunch and the forthcoming festival, Connie herself brought to Manila from Kuching 71 kilos of spices like chili paste, coriander, lemon grass, galangal (Malaysian bagoong, which comes in cubes), cinnamon bark and curry among others. Dear Connie, your effort made a world of difference!

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Anyway, for starters, we had Sarawak Laksa, a spicy shrimp and coconut broth with rice noodles. For our sawsawan, we had something very familiar to Pinoys: shrimp paste with calamansi. Our main course consisted of beef rendang, a stew cooked in coconut milk with Malaysian spices; Satay Ayam (chicken skewer with peanut sauce); Ikan Panggang (grilled maya-maya fillet); Paku Belachan (sautéed jungle ferns with dried shrimps, the paku is similar to our pako from Bulacan); Pumpkin Masak Lemak (pumpkin cooked in coconut milk, just like our ginataang kalabasa); and Nasi Putih (you guessed it, steaming white rice as in, puti).

For dessert, we had Nasi Pulot (steamed glutinous rice with palm sugar, just like our bibingka) and Agar-Agar Lapis (layered seaweed jelly with coconut milk – in other words, good old gulaman).

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The Century Park Hotel will be flying in two chefs from the Kuching Hilton (where Gill and Connie met more than eight years ago) to participate in the "Taste of Sarawak" food fest to be held at the Café in the Park from March 17 to 27.

Both chefs are also from Kuching. Chef Dunssy is a veteran of many food festivals throughout the world, in such places as Korea, Hawaii, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Tokyo. Chef Abdillah, one of Malaysia’s up and coming young chefs, will assist him.

I don’t think Paul Gill himself will have the time to cook for the festival as he did during the press lunch, but I’m sure Connie will be there to make sure everything served will taste exactly as it does back home.

Not all Malaysian dishes are spicy, but to cope with those that are, make sure you put the food far from the tip of your tongue. Food editor Chona Trinidad shared a tip she learned from Kessara Arnold, the Thai wife of Dutch Ambassador Theo Arnold: the tip of the tongue is the most sensitive to hot spices. So next time you want to savor something spicy and not have smoke come out of your ears, roll the food a little up your tongue.

My verdict on the food fest? Sadap! (You guessed it, this means, sarap).

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For those who want to try out Connie’s beef rendang before the festival begins on March 17, here goes:

Beef rendang is usually cooked by the Malays for joyous celebrations. A lot of effort and care is put into the preparation of this meat dish which can take hours. It has to be stirred constantly over a low fire, till the santan and spices have been absorbed and the beef rendered to a superb tenderness. This recipe is a variation with the addition of black peppercorns. Serves four.

Ingredients
480 gm. beef, cut into cubes
4 tsp. chili paste

Grind together
20 gm. coriander seeds
2 cm. turmeric
1 tsp. fennel powder
10 gm. ginger
10 gm. black peppercorns
3 turmeric leaves, thinly sliced
1 stalk lemon grass, crushed
1 fragrant lime leaf (daun limau purut)
1 litre santan
1 tsp. sugar

Method

In a bowl, combine the ground ingredients, chili paste and meat. Mix well.

Heat oil in a pot, add santan, seasoned meat, sugar, turmeric leaf, crushed lemon grass and fragrant lime leaf.

Cook on high heat for 15 to 20 minutes then lower the fire and simmer until the meat is tender and the liquid has evaporated, stirring regularly to prevent burning.