Not Your Average Kitchen - The Malaysian Edition: Popular UK Based Food Business "Makan Malaysia" Shares Mouthwatering, Must-try Recipes
“Makan started because we were hungry for more. Specifically, more Malaysian food.” Join us for another installment of our global recipe series, Not Your Average Kitchen. Today’s women dreamers, Sue and Kate, co-founders of Makan Malaysia, bring mouth-watering, must try Malaysian recipes. Makan means 'eat' in Malay, and together they have set out to share Malaysia's history, art and culture through food! They also share two recipes (also vegetarian friendly) for a savory Sambalicious Curry, and a delicious Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng) Looking for some cooking inspiration this weekend, enjoy their story!
1) Tell us your stories. What inspired you to launch your Malaysian Food Catering Business and Food Blog in the UK? What was the need you saw?
Makan started because we were hungry for more. Specifically, more Malaysian food. When we first moved to the UK around 12 years ago, we struggled to find places to truly satisfy our Malaysian food cravings (on a student budget) so we were 'forced' into the kitchen and learnt how to cook the food we missed from home ourselves. And after being in the corporate world for a few years, we both found ourselves feeling unfulfilled and looking for something to do that we were really passionate about, so we turned to our one true love - FOOD! We wanted to share our love of Malaysian food with as many people as possible and use the unique flavours of Malaysian cuisine to blow the minds of those who hadn't tried it before. We are still working hard to make Malaysian food in the UK a high street regular, right alongside the likes of Italian, Indian or Thai. The UK needs more of a Malaysian food presence!
2) How do you find inspiration for your recipes? And how would you describe Malaysian cuisine in 3 words? What are some Malaysian dishes everyone must know?
Bloody. F**king. Delicious. Are we allowed to swear in this article?! Those really are the best words to describe Malaysian food - if you know, you know! For inspiration we always listen to our bellies and are led by the personal cravings we have for the food that we grew up eating. The new dishes we create are often our own personal trip down memory lane, we just hope that everyone who eats our food gets a taste of those warm fuzzy feelings that helped create it.
The non-negotiable Malaysian dishes everyone should know about and try at least once in their life (there isn't any going back once you do!) are:
- Nasi Lemak - Malaysia's national dish that consists of coconut rice, egg, cucumber, ikan bilis (fried anchovies), peanuts and sambal (a Malaysian chilli sauce). It usually comes wrapped up in a banana leaf that doubles up as a plate and we would eat this at any time of the day!
- Char Kuey Teow - wok fried fresh rice noodles and the queen of Malayisan street food! It's a simple noodle dish but the flavour from the hot wok over a big old fire and the fresh ingredients make it truly unique and addictive!
- Marmite Chicken - not a lot of people seem to know about this one, and those that hear the name are often quite wary.. but, unlike actual marmite, we have yet to find someone that doesn't love this! It's deep fried chicken in a sweet and savoury sticky glaze. And it is gorgeous!
3) Please share 2 original recipes for our audience to try (we require one of the recipes to be vegetarian. Please attach a photo of both recipes. And if there is a special story behind the recipe (ex: family recipe etc, let us know that too
Our favourite recipes are usually those that are easy, quick and have LOTS of flavour because life always gets in the way but that shouldn't compromise a tasty dinner!
Nasi goreng: Fried rice. There's nothing quite like wokful of rice for breakfast, lunch or dinner - definitely our comfort carb if choice. We used to eat this dish all the time at home, and when we moved to the UK, it was always on the menu when meeting up for dinner with our Malaysian pals! An easy, crowd pleasing dish, this can be made as spicy/not spicy as you like and with as much veg or meat as you want to pack in. We especially love how quickly you can rustle it up - more time for eating!
4) As the platform for women dreamers, what is your next big dream as a women food entrepreneur?
We are already surrounded by a lot of strong female business owners within our community but would love to see more female leads in the rather male dominated field of food, at an international level too. We have always believed in community over competition, and having more open platforms for female food entrepreneurs would be an amazing tool for helping other women businesses out - somewhere we can all share the struggles and the rewards. Because a lot of our business is based on social media and is very personable, we've often found ourselves caught in the trap of having to be bright and shiny even when we're really not, just because it seems like that's what we're supposed to do and that's what people like to see when they're buying food. But the reality is that it's really bloody hard at times and we do have meltdowns and lose our minds a little bit and it's important that we share this and other female food entrepreneurs know that's normal and it's ok - it's a hard business to be in and having people around us to support us through the darker times has really kept us going! Aside from this, we want to take over the world with our bad-ass Malaysian food and events!
Check out the recipes below!!
1) Sambalicious Curry Recipe (Vegetarian Friendly)
2) Nasi Goreng Recipe - Easy Sambal Fried Rice
Thank you ladies for sharing your stories and amazing recipies with us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
Bio: Makan Malaysia was founded by childhood best friends Sue and Kat. Makan means 'eat' in Malay, and together they have set out to share Malaysia's history, art and culture through food! In 2018 Makan Malaysia started by selling their Sambal online and hosting intimate supper clubs across various locations in London and Berkshire. With their street food gazebo, they continue to serve Malaysian favourites across the South West and also have an online shop delivering an extensive menu of chilled Malaysian food all across the UK with hopes to one day take this world wide!
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