Satay in Johor Bahru

[Chris]

Satay is probably the most simple and tasty ‘street meat’ I have ever had. Satay is a simple example of cross cultural cuisine, and is available everywhere on Malaysian street corners. Your main choices are beef or chicken, and sometimes mutton too. It is related to middle eastern kebabs but was brought to Malaysia by the South Indian Muslims (Sathai meaning ‘flesh’ in Tamil). Your meat on a stick will be served with a dipping sauce made from peanuts and chilis - two ingredients brought from South America by boat to Malaysia by the Portuguese in the 17th century.

Outdoor satay stands serve up sizzling and mouthwatering barbecued meat late into the night

Satay was traditionally sold from portable stalls with clever compartments that rested on either end of a carrying pole. Today it is still best-enjoyed from plastic stools under street lighting. When you are done, the vendor would traditionally count the number of sticks by your plate (in our case it was a lot!) and then charge you based on current meat prices at the market and mutual trust.

Sara could see that our chopsticks skills have deteriorated since China and gave us a lesson.

Sara Sam and her family helped us try several new fruits - Papaya, Passion fruit, dragon fruit. It’s no wonder she was a little dismayed by the selection waxed apples, oranges and bananas we choose from supermarkets when she lived England. Her local Malaysian night market even made the selection of the huge Saturday farmer’s markets in Paris look a little boring. Our absolute favorite was Mangosteens. They broke into a lovely handful of bite sized sweet morsels - a completely new taste. Then there was Durian - What the heck was this alien fruit? First of all, when we got off the plane a sign told us we could be fined 500 dollars for eating it on the subway…Sara then told us it’s also illegal in hotels… what could be so dangerous about a fruit? We later learned that this ‘king of all fruits’ has a potent smell and bizarre, messy texture, but most Malays do love their durian. They tip them out of fruit carts into mountains of spiky fruits on the streets of Chinatown. If you are brave, go for it.

Mangosteens

The Tan Family later explained that fruit played an important part in Chinese cultural to maintain a balanced body health each day through what you eat. Sara’s Dad took us all to their favorite local restaurant to further our education. And to top it all off, her Mom made an enormous Christmas day dinner, with all the traditional turkey, gravy, purple potatoes (!), Christmas pudding and even an apple pie! It was a feast. Our homesickenss had been cured by our incredibly warm and outgoing hosts.