Bananas and Cheese

Roti canai was on the breakfast menu this morning. The preparation of the roti flatbread is labour intensive and so many people tend to eat it at a dedicated stall. As is the wont of many stallholders in Malaysia, the first place we tried this morning was inexplicably closed. Our host knew of another good spot in Padang Matsirat, which was busy with local people breakfasting before work, some in uniform ready to go on shift.

Roti canai and teh tarik

This roti was different again to the versions we have tried before. We tucked into a double portion of crispy, flaky pieces of the fried dough, which were soft and fluffy on the inside. Creamy dal mixed with a spicy and oily red sambal was served into which to dip the roti. It was pure comfort food. We had it with teh tarik - 'pulled' tea, so called because it is poured from a great height into the cup creating a foam.

As we discovered in Thailand, breakfast stalls sell out before 9am, and this place was no exception. The dough was all used up and we left a crowd of happy faces.

On the way back home, we stopped at a small stall on the corner of the road in Kuala Teriang selling kuih - Malaysian snacks. Many of these were sweet, and so we loaded up pick 'n' mix-style, paying 1RM for every four.

Kuih and coffee

While some of the treats were familiar - tiny iced doughnuts - many defied description, being sweetened shredded coconut rolled inside a pandan-flavoured pancake, or a red sago jelly sweet. They went well with a pot of coffee as a post-massage snack.

After over a week of staying at a spa retreat, I have only just got round to having a massage myself. Such is the demand for our host's services that he has barely had a spare slot in his schedule. Today, however, I bagged 90 minutes of his time to work over the knots in my back and shoulders with the pointy end of his elbows. It was billed as a traditional Malaysian massage and was quite the most painful version I have experienced, with Vietnamese and Thai versions to choose from. This may have had more to do with the practitioner than the style.

In the evening, we took a stroll to the night market, which is at its nearest location on Sundays. It was there that we stumbled on a lady selling fried bananas and cheese as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Unholy combination

Sure enough, sliced and frittered bananas were presented with grated cheese melting on the top and mixing with chocolate sauce and hundreds-and-thousands.

Yum(?)

While I applaud the concept, which fits the Malaysian penchant for pairing savoury and sweet, the cheese didn't really deliver enough flavour to balance out the sugary sweetness. I suspect a good parmesan would have worked well and, indeed, does bring a new dimension when eaten with honey.

Apam balik 'pancakes'

Alongside the bananas and cheese, we assembled a ridiculous smörgåsbord of food, including nasi kerabu, fried noodles, a thick folded pancake stuffed with sugar, peanuts and corn (called apam balik), and some sticky rice with pandan-flavoured coconut cream topping. The apam balik was like a large English crumpet, the spongy side covered in condensed milk, creamy corn and crunchy peanuts, then folded in half, sliced and eaten warm.