5. Char kway teow (fried flat noodles)

This dish is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore. The flat rice noodles is fried and stirred with dark soy sauce, chili, prawns, cockles, egg, bean sprouts, and Chinese chives. Some stalls offer to put in add-ons like slices of Chinese sausage and fish cake. It was a dish invented mainly to serve labor as a cheap source of energy and nutrients. Traditionally, it is fried in pork fat. However, nowadays, lesser chefs are using pork fat because people have become more and more health-conscious.

Char kway teow in Singapore: Makansutra Gluttons Bay version(left) vs normal restaurant version.

Source: www.makansutera.com / www. thefoodpornographer.com

Even though you can find char kway teow in both Malaysia and Singapore, you may find that they actually taste differently from each other. Singapore version is a lot sweeter than Malaysia version because Singapore chefs put more thick dark soy sauce into it. On the other hand, you may find Malaysia version is hotter than Singapore version. This may be due to the cultural differences. In general, Malaysian can take hotter food (personal opinion, ha!).

In Malaysia, Penang char kway teow is the most famous one. Sometimes you may find that it is added with duck’s egg and crab meat to enrich the taste. Due to the increasing popularity of char kway teow amongst the Muslims in Malaysia, there is also a halal version of char kway teow.

Famous Penang char kway teow. Supperb!

Source: ieatishootipost.blogspot.com