Matrade's Appreciation Dinner for MKP (by invitation), by Obelix

Whew!  That may well be the longest blog post title but allow me to explain myself...

Matrade in a very quick nutshell is a constituent of the Malaysian government to promote, assist and develop Malaysia's external trade.  The Malaysia Kitchen Programme for the World (MKP) is an international initiative of the Matrade that aims to educate and inform global consumers about Malaysian cuisine and Malaysian products and services related to food.  The Appreciation Dinner was a celebratory event organised by Matrade to bring together participants in MKP, Matrade and the media.

The Appreciation Dinner was held at Mariott Hotel and we were honored to be invitees at this event.  Being in the theme of celebrating all yummy things Malaysian, we were treated to courses upon courses of traditional Malaysian fare with a bit of an East/West mix.  To whet your appetite for Malaysian delicacies, here's what we had:

This was my favourite for the night - crispy school prawns with fried shallots, chillies, coriander leaves, cucumber and soy.

This was the shared platter of chicken satay, beef with soy chilli honey, lamb Assam skewers.  So reminiscent of my Malaysian holiday a few months back...*sigh*

Roti with curry - light and flakey!

This was market fish (swordfish, I think) with chilli sambal.  To get our chilli freak on.

Grilled vegetables.

This is mee goreng mamak style.  Also a hawker stall fav of mine.

For a bit of East meets West - Turkey rendang.  The turkey breast was stuffed with pistashio and cranberries for a bit of festive feel.

And all the necessary accoutrements  for a fine Malaysian feast - freshly cut chilli, toasted peanuts, sambal olek, ginger and coriander paste.

Dessert was no less indulgent - coconut jelly.

A childhood fav - sago gula Melaka.

Rojak buah with joak petis and crushed peanuts.  This was an apple and pineapple mix with an unusual blend of savoury spices which was supposed to be served with the coconut jelly but I enjoyed mine separate.

Last but not least, plum pudding with a tropical twist involving pineapple and summer berries on top.

It went down very well with a cup of Teh Terik (pulled tea).


Welcome speech by Dato' Dr Mohamad Rameez Yahaya

Overall
We like to thank Matrade for inviting us to the MKP Appreciation Dinner.  As you can see from the photos, Malaysian food reflects the diversity of cultures in the melting pot that is Malaysia which makes Malaysian cuisine exciting and very flavoursome.  To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain whom I very much admire (fangirl!), when a country is a confluence of many cultures, the cuisine is unique fusion and a culinary adventure in itself.   Jom makan!  (Let's Eat in Malay)