The Malay Palate

At the Monsoon Empress hotel, in Kochi, Executive Chef Shihab P Kareem provides Malaysian dishes for local as well as international guests

Photos: Executive Chef Shihab P Kareem. Pic by A. Sanesh. The various dishes

By Shevlin Sebastian

A few years ago, Shihab P Kareem had gone to Kuala Lumpur to work in the Menara International five-star hotel. One day, he stepped out to have some local food. At a restaurant, he decided to have vegetarian food. So, he ordered a sayur champaur. But when the dish arrived, Shihab was shocked. Apart from carrots, cauliflower and beans, there were prawns, squid, chicken and fish.

But it does not mean there are no vegetarian dishes in Malaysian cuisine. “It is usually made of beans, sprouts and tofu,” says Shihab. “In fact, they use spinach in almost all their meals including fried rice and noodles.”

All these thoughts came to Shihab’s mind when he joined the Monsoon Empress in Kochi in May last year as its Executive Chef. He realised that there were guests from Malaysia staying at the hotel. They had come mostly for medical tourism. That was when he decided to introduce a few dishes on the menu.

On a recent afternoon, Shihab got started with the Laksa soup. This is a popular soup in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. “It has a bit of coconut milk and yellow curry paste, apart from ginger, garlic, lemongrass and Pandan leaves,” says Shihab. “These leaves are very nutritious and have a distinct flavour.” But the main ingredient is seafood: prawns or squid. Expectedly, with the mix of so many flavours, it is tasty, with the juicy prawn being a welcome value addition.  

Interestingly, there are 90 per cent spices in all the curries, noodles and rice. At the same time, the Malaysians add a bit of sugar. So the taste is unique. “Nevertheless, despite the sugar, you can end up crying after a meal, because of the chillies,” he says.

And in a 360-degree turn, in all the sweet items like pastries and desserts, they will add a bit of salt. “That creates a different experience,” says Shihab. “And any drinks which are hot, like tea or coffee, they will fill only half the glass with the liquid, and add scrapings of ice. As for juices which are taken cold in India, like lime, they will warm it.”

Shihab now moves on to showcasing the Ikan Sambal dish. “Ikan means fish, while sambal is a popular sauce in Malaysia,” says Shihab. “It is made of shallots, small onions, and chillies. You can use small fish like the anchovy or the snapper. But it has to be presented as a single piece.”

Again the spices create a tangy feeling but the inside of the fish (sea bass) is white and looks baked, very similar to a Western style, even though it has been fried. And this can be eaten along with rice or noodles.

Interestingly, noodles are one of Malaysia’s most popular dishes. For 2-minute noodles, similar to the Maggie noodles in India, there are more than 25 different varieties. “Malaysians will eat noodles 25 days a month,” says Shihab. In the Mee Hailam noodle dish, Shihab has added prawns, squids, slices of carrots, beans, cauliflower, baby corn and capsicum. The overall effect is simply awesome, with the noodles floating in a spicy gruel.

And like all Indians, the Malaysians like their rice. So, in Nasi Goreng Kampong, there is a garnish of a fried egg single side up placed on top of the fried rice, apart from long beans, prawns and shrimp paste.

Asked whether there are similarities between Malaysian and Kerala cuisine, Shihab says, “In both, coconut milk is used for a few preparations. The locals like the Malaysian dishes because there is not too much of a difference, and yet, the taste seems unique.”   

The Aluva-born Shihab has worked in Thiruvananthapuram, Dubai, Kovalam, Kumarakom, and spent five years on the international cruise liner Carnival. Asked his working philosophy, Shihab says, “I would like my guests to be physically as well as mentally satisfied after they have my food.”

(The New Indian Express, Kochi and Kozhikode)