The Food to Die For (Jelutong Market CNY2009)

Street hawker stalls. Some people may question the hygiene but so far i have no problem with the food here. A quote from my ex-colleague Christian Hamoller "If you put it on a plate and it doesn't move i'll eat it".

The Curry Mee is good.

Curry Mee has arrived. It has cubes of pig's blood, toufu, cockles, cuttlefish and lots of mint on top. A spoon-ful of chili paste goes well with the curry soup and gives extra punch. That cup of ice-tea was also very very good and strong.

Next came the Prawn Mee. It has a few prawns and chunks of pork ribs and sliced hard-boiled eggs. Also comes with a spoon-ful of chili paste which must be added. The real difference is in the soup, which is out of this world. You csn also add Hoon-Cheong (intestine).

The Lor Mee. The starch used should be different from that in Singapore because the texture is a bit different. It has marinated pork, chicken feet and a very tasty Lor Neng ( Lu dan, or egg marinated in dark soy sauce). If i bring him to singapore i'll make a fortune.

The Fried Kway Kark is very similar to our Fried Carrot Cake. Here, you won't get the sweet sauce version. Everything is fried to a dark fragrant state using light and dark soy sauce.

This guy's porridge is also very unique because all the ingredients are chopped to small size and added on top of the porridge. There's chicken, salted egg, century egg and YouCharKuay, ginger and spring onions. You just mix the whole lot together and enjoy. Simply.... undescribably good.

This WanTon Mee is some people's favorite. But i personally prefer some of the better wanton mee in Singapore.

Fresh Vegetables and Fruits (Jelutong Market CNY 2009)

You can get a lot of different fruits here.

Lots of vegetables too.

At a stall selling interesting crops, i chanced upon the very rare Dioscorea japonica (山芋)(Japanese Yam). It is very similar to Chinese Yam (山藥, 淮山 )(Dioscorea oppositifolia). The flesh is also white and slimy. According to the seller, it is seldom seen in markets and is available only near CNY time. You can use it to make 甜汤山芋. It is suppose to be good for improving complexion and prevent aging just like 山藥. I think i need to take some quickly.

Interesting pic of 淮山 is here:- http://www.geocities.com/davidschow/foto2002/nagaimo.htm

Info on its medicinal properties here:-http://alternativehealing.org/huai_shan.htm

Coconut Seller Again (Jelutong Market CNY2009)

The coconut seller is giving the finishing touch to the top of the coconut. He would then pour the water into the plastic bag wrapped around a metal can and use a spoon to scrape the flesh into the bag.

Another bag of coconut water for the customer.

If you click on this pic, you can see the coconut water squirting out in a jet. Caught it at the right moment. I would love to have that knife.

Jelutong Market CNY2009

A lot of interesting stuff being sold here. The guy told me he has more arsenal at the back of his van. So if you want to make a lot of noise and light up the sky, you can get your stuff here.

This guy has even more to offer. In case you are wondering, those on the right are real pumpkins, not some canon balls to shoot down E.T.

Chinese New Year in Penang VI

This is the Very Very Famous Mee Goreng of Penang. Mahmood's Mee Goreng at the corner of Bangkok Lane (near the Burmese Temple). It is featured in most Penang Tourist Food Guides. Mahmood is a friendly guy and would always give us extra big helping cos my wife has been eating there since she was a little girl. I have never seen a table not ordering from him cos everybody comes to this coffeeshop for his Mee Goreng. The coffeeshop owner is auntie Lily and she is also a very nice lady.

Mahmood's Mee Goreng has cuttlefish, potatos, beancurd and he gives a big slice of green Lemon so the taste is very good. I have never tasted such good Mee Goreng in Singapore. The marinated cuttlefish is very tasty and has a slightly chewy texture. Very different from the cuttlefish you'd find in s'pore's Yong Tau Fu (Niang DouFu).

Jelutong Market Penang Part I

This is the entrance to the market which the locals call Jelutong market cos it is in the Jelutong area. Jelutong is a type of tree. This raod is actually Jalan Ipoh.

There are many stalls selling clothes, toys and other household items near the entrance.

They also have many types of bananas available here, such as the pisang Rajah, mas, belangang etc.

More fruit stalls.

More bananas.

I like to see this guy cutting the coconut with his special curved knife. Only takes a few clean chops and the coconut is pierced from the top a few times and he'll pour the coconut water into a plactic bag placed inside a tin. Very professional. There's sea coconut too.

Jelutong Market Penang Part II

There are many small stalls selling local favorites such as Prawn Mee, Fried Kway Teow, porridge, Chee Cheong Fun, Hor Fun etc. The mixed porridge, Curry Mee and Prawn Mee are must-haves. If you come here and miss them you might as well kill yourself. There is also a coffee shop with another of my favourite - Lor Mee. Must try that too.

Another view showing the sitting areas with tables and chairs outside a house.

The market has a few vegetable stalls like this one.

This is a mobile chicken abattoir. The poor chickens are in the plastic cages. The back of the van has a stainless steel top used to display the freshly plucked chickens.

Closer view of the cages.

How to get away?

Fish Market in Hong Kong

This is a clip of a wet market in Hong Kong showing some of the live fishes and other seafood available. Most of the stalls offers life fish.

Longan tree

This is a clip that i took showing the Longan tree which is fruiting and flowering at the same time. This tree must have gone crazy because it never stops flowering. The flowers would emerge immediately after all the fruits had been harvested. This time round it couldn't wait and threw out another round of flowers while the fruits are still developing. But someone told me to cut some away cos it might be too much of a burden for the tree and the quality of the fruits would suffer.

Curcuma zedoaria

This is another ginger that i bought together with the curcuma elata posted earlier. The colour is very dark purple in the beginning, turning into a bright purple later.

This ginger plant has nice leaves as well as flowers. The leaf has a purple band bordering the mid rib and runs more or less along the length of the leaf. The flower bracts on top are bright purple and the individual flowers are yellow in colour, giving a nice contrast.

Red Banana Harvesting

My Red Banana flowered a few months ago. Can't seem to find the pictures of the flower, or maybe i forgot to photograph it then? I read an article somewhere which said that the bunch must be covered using a blue plastic bag to protect it from pests. You can watch the video below to see the unwrapping of the blue plastic bag before i cut off the bunch of bananas.