Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: April 2018

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Jotaro's Food Review

Nasi Manggey @ Warung Kita, Kampung Melayu Sungai Buloh

Kampung Melayu Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia - April 2018
On and off we cycle from Sungai Buloh to Tasik Biru Kundang or even onwards to Rawang. It is an easy to medium cycling route and the bonus is along the way there are many rural kampungs with nice food with local flavours that are seldom found in the city. Previously we had tried very good Nasi Melayu at a stall with a good view of Tasik Biru. And another time we had roti canai by Pak Sarip, one made by Malay ladies and were fluffy and nice to bite into.
This time round Ann introduced me to Nasi Manggey from Warung Kita, a big stall somewhere within Kampung Melayu Sungai Buloh. This dish originated from the East Coast state of Kelantan and it's steamed rice served with deep fried chicken topped with some curry. Instead of chicken one can opt for Ikan Tongkol (Mackerel Tuna). The name comes from the word mManggey, the localized way of saying the Malay word memanggil which means calling. The dish is so good that it's calling one to come eat!

The Nasi Manggey here must be very good, long queues had formed of people coming for lunch. Fortunately we had come earlier for brunch, at that time there was hardly any queue.

The rice was served in a conical wrapper with a banana leaf inlay with the rice put in first followed by pieces of fried chicken and finally a scoop of their tasty curry. I wanted to try their Ikan Tongkol but unfortunately it was not served today. For eating in, the top is left opened; while for take-away it is closed and fully wrapped. Those who want more gravy for take-away has to bring their own containers.

So fried chicken it is then!
These are small cuts of chicken seasoned with spices before being deep-fried.

I opened up my serving; it came with a generous quantity of rice together with several pieces of fried chicken. The rice is steamed rice and did not stick together in clumps, each individual grain could be seen apart.

The rice is was very good, by itself it was slightly creamy AND together with the slightly sweet curry which it had soaked in well... it was just heavenly. The chicken although deep fried was not very oily and the meat relatively dry. They had been seasoned with tumeric, some ginger, a bit of soy sauce making them very tasty.

And what better way to balance off the spicy curry then with a serving of Kelapa Baldi (Coconut Water in a Pail).

The coconut water is a big serving coming in a stainless steel pail; and one can opt to have it with ice or not. I went for the iced version which almost filled the whole pail and was good enough for two persons.

Time to scoot around a bit; inquisitive me went to the kitchen first. To ensure that the rice are cooked evenly - instead of boiling, the rice are steamed cooked and to cater for the volume required, trays of the riced are stacked up in tiers to be cooked simultaneously.

The fried chicken are fried in traditional kampung style, in large kwalis (woks) using gas burners instead of electrical burners. It is a manual process and the cook has to be experienced to get the timing right. After cooking the chicken are scooped up in a large sieve and the oil allowed to drain off.

In the drinks corner, piles of coconut have been cut, their water drained into these small stainless steel pails together with the scooped flesh. They had selected the coconuts well, full of juice with tender flesh.