Perak Food Fest.. the last of MFF

OMG... This is the last month for MFF.
Time flies!
Do visit Shannon's blog for her KL/ Selangor Food Fest  round up

As you all know, I am from Perak, proudly saying I am a Perakian and specifically a Kamparian.
Currently I am staying in the royal town, Kuala Kangsar due to my husband's location.

Perak is a state that was built from tin mining during its days of glory. In the 1890s, Perak, with the richest alluvial deposits of tin in the world was one of the jewels in the crown of the British Empire.

The modern history of Perak began with the fall of the Malacca Sultanate. Raja Muzaffar Shah, (the eldest son of the last Sultan of Melaka, Sultan Mahmud Shah) fled the Portuguese conquest of 1511 and established his own dynasty on the banks of the Sungai Perak (Perak River) in 1528. It is the only state with direct lineage from Parameswara, the founder of Malacca Sultanate.

source: Travelguide Malaysia

The Malays form the majority of the state. The influences on Malay cuisine comes from the Banjar, Javanese and also Sumatran migrants. Popular delicacies that are for the sweet tooth include wadai kiping, papudak, kuih limas, lemang jagung(corn) and not forgetting lempeng pisang. I think the most popular savoury delight from Perak will be Rendang Tok. A bit different from the rendang with Minang influences, this one uses a lot of spices instead of just aromatics. It is generally drier than the Minang version too. The satay found in Perak is generally sweeter, comparatively.

Lemang Jagung
Source: Trotting Gourmand

With Perak once being a mining state, there is a big population of Hakka and Cantonese here, mostly residing in the Kinta District. Kinta District is where Ipoh and Kampar lies. There aren't many places in Malaysia where you can hear Cantonese at every corner, and people from other dialects speak only Cantonese and forgets their own. It is here where Cantonese (spoken dialect) is most commonly heard being spoken.But as years go by, more and more of the younger generation have changed to speaking Mandarin.
The Foochows are mostly found in Ayer Tawar and Sitiawan and Guangxis are found along the upper river banks of Perak River, from Manong all the way to Grik.

Bean Sprout Chicken
Source: VKeong

I think the most popular food from Ipoh will be Beansprout Chicken. Perfectly poached chicken drizzled with a fragrant dressing and served together with blanched beansprouts. The beansprouts in Ipoh are known to be more delicious than those grown elsewhere and the credit goes to the mountain spring water (the myth behind the beauty of Ipoh girls,Read here). There is a lot of good food in Ipoh and I think the best way will be to read here.

Perak is blessed with the second longest river in the Peninsula and that is the Perak River. Blessed with abundant freshwater fish, I am glad to stay in Kuala Kangsar for this reason. Wild river fish does not taste the same as farmed fishes in ponds. The taste and texture is incomparable. Towns along this river such as  Lenggong, Sauk and Tanjung Tualang are famous for eating freshwater fish and prawns. Fishes such as the Chitala (Freshwater Sai Tou, or Belida) and Marble Goby (Soon Hock or Ikan Hantu) are in abundance. Even rod fished prawns are available. When you visit the restaurants famed for these fishes, you will see a long list of fish and their prices. Don't expect them to be cheap, but make sure you ask whether they are wild or farmed as the prices do differ.

Fresh Water Prawns @ Udang Galah
Source: CC Food Travel

Ikan Pekasam is a popular delicacy from the upper Perak river, around the Temenggong Dam area. It is fish that has been cured with salt and coated with toasted rice. Although ikan pekasam can be found at other states but  in Perak is where they are made with freshwater fishes.

I'm sure most Malaysians are familiar with Kacang Putih. These are snacks that are made by our fellow Malaysians of Indian origin. And in Ipoh, you seem to see the Kacang Putih man almost everywhere. Food courts, bus stations, infront of supermarkets, coffee shops and in School! Yes, there are kacang putih stalls in most schools. There is literally a village named as Kampung Kacang Putih in Buntong, Ipoh because most of them in the village makes Kacang Putih for a living, around 50 families of them. Each family makes 300kg- 1000kg of them each day and can you imagine how much these 50 families make..imagine Tonnes and tonnes! Gasp! The kacang putih that is produced is not only sold in Ipoh, but distributed nationwide and they are exported as well. Read here and here

Kacang Putih stalls, a very common sight in Perak
Source: J2kfm

One of the snacks in an industrial scale strainer.
Source: Ipoh Echo

The baking scene in Perak is mainly focused on traditional fare. Ipoh is famous for Heong Peng and Teluk Intan as well, Chicken biscuits from both Kampar and Bidor, kaya puffs from Ipoh and Kampar and not forgetting Kong Piah from Sitiwan. Langkap is a small town not too far from Teluk Intan that is currently making a name for itself with it's spiral steamed buns that comes in many flavours. But there are a few exceptions, not all are traditional fare. In Ipoh there are 2 places where one can find bakes made with Cempedak, one in the form of swiss rolls and the other in the form of butter cake.

Heong Peng
Source: Eating Asia

So here ends my 'short' story about the food culture in Perak..There's so much food here that I can't list out everything.

Recipes for your reference:

1. Lempeng Pisang@ Banana Coconut Pancake
2. Kuih Limas @ Pandan Pudding with a syrupy base
3. Wadai Kiping @ glutinous rice beads in palm sugar porridge
4. Ipoh Hor Hee @ Noodle soup with fish balls
5. Ipoh Kai See Hor Fun @ Flat rice noodles with shredded chicken
6. Kampar Claypot Chicken Rice
7. Rendang Tok - Dry beef curry, Perak style
8. Bean Sprouts Chicken
9. Kampar Chicken Biscuit
10. Kampar Curry Chicken in Bread

And if you can, make some kacang putih too (any of the snacks), to celebrate the kacang putih industry found in the state. Most of us know how to eat the snacks, but barely know their name. Here are 3 snacks that are commonly found at the kacang putih stalls

Ribbon Pakoda
Thenkuzhal 
Kara Sev

**************************************************************

TO JOIN
1. Who can join? Anyone can join. Come let's replicate some Perak food at home!
2. Prepare a dish ( sweet or savoury ) that is from Perak state, be it old time favourite, modern goodies or dishes that has been localized. Take a picture of the food or many pictures. If possible, tell us the story about the dish, share with everybody so that others will learn. Please read FAQ on what makes the dish a localized dish.
3. Provide a recipe that is credited ( from books, internet, friends or family or maybe it's your own, be specific). Submissions without stating recipe sources will not be accepted for all forms of submission.
4.Submit your entry latest by 31 August 2013 except for Facebook submissions.

TO SUBMIT

1.Bloggers
a. Prepare a dish ( sweet or savoury ) that is from Perak
b. Blog about it from 1st August- 31st August 2013
c. Include this caption below your blogpost
" I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest (link to MFF page), Perak Month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for 2..... or More (Link to this post) "

Send the following information to this email address ( wendyinkk@yahoo.com ) with the email subject as
" MFF Perak"

Name/Nickname :
Blog name :
Name of dish :
Url of post :
Picture : ( URL or attachment that is lesser than 500k)

2. Facebook user
a. Like this Facebook Page
b. Prepare a dish ( sweet or savoury ) from the state of Perak. Take a picture and upload it into Facebook ( this month's FB page link )
d. Provide recipe with picture

Bloggers can submit old recipes to Facebook. Anyone that has once cooked a Perak dish and have a picture and recipe can submit to Facebook. Not necessarily a recently done dish.
For a pictorial guide on how to submit via facebook, pls click here

3. Non Facebook users and Non Bloggers
Email a picture of the dish together with the recipe to (wendyinkk@yahoo.com) latest by 31th August, 2013 by 11.59pm ( Malaysian time )

A Round Up will be done for all blog entries and emailed in entries on September 01, 2013. Facebook entries are not included in the round up.