Always A Delight

By FARIDAH BEGUM


Soaked brown squid with water convolvulus in a sweet spicy sauce is a great appetiser.

Soaked brown squid is a delicacy that often innocently makes it way on to the dining table and steals the thunder from other dishes.

Often cooked in a spicy sambal and devoured with Nasi Lemak or plain rice, it is also a wonderful appetiser in the form of the Malaysian favourite, Sotong Kangkung. No food court or hawker joint is complete without this on the menu.

What must be right is the sauce, which is not unlike the sweet bean sauce that comes with your chee cheong fun and this version has either ground peanuts or lots of roasted sesame seeds.

The squid must also be done well. Sometimes, the squid can be a pure let-down, especially if it becomes soft and without bite.

Crunchy and thick, you are on your way to more than just a good plate of appetiser with the dish.

Apparently from reading about Malaysian food, we found that sotong kangkung is very popular in Sabah and Sarawak and they have a good number of stalls that sell this fare, although some have commented that it is a tad too sweet as compared to the ones in the Peninsular. Whatever, it is the tastebuds of individuals and different people will taste different degrees of sweetness and saltiness in the same plate of food.

While many have responded to our sms call last week, here are just a few good places to look for your sotong kangkung.


Sotong kangkung rebus: A delicious snack food.

At the Grace Point and Bukit Padang in Kota Kinabalu, the sotong kangkung comes highly recommended as the portions are generous and the sotong done just right to provide bulk and crunch. The kangkung or water convolvulus is also very fresh and blanched just enough to maintain a good crunch for vegetable lovers.

In Kuching Sarawak, the Kuching Open Air market also has a stall selling sotong kangkung and is said to be quite good too. The Hui Sin food court here also has a sotong kangkung stall that serves an authentic version of this simple fare and is said to come with a generous sprinkling of roughly ground peanuts.

In the Peninsular, sotong kangkung is a very popular evening and dinner dish among friends, hence it being more commonly sold at night than during the day.

In the north, specifically in Gurun, Kedah, Kedai Kopi New Light, which is opposite the Gurun Magistrate’s Court at 294, Main Street, the sotong kangkung is a must as it is said not only the sauce is good, it is the kangkung that makes all the difference!

At Madras Lane, well-known previously for the exotic meats that were sold here, there is a stall that serves a good sotong kangkung and assam laksa here.

The portions are big and is good to share, besides the gravy here, one of the most important components to hold the dish together, is very tasty, so say those who have gotten a taste of it as it is a non-halal stall.

The eat street on Jalan Sayur in Pudu, which was featured in last week’s Sunday Metro, also has a stall selling sotong kangkung and again, we are told that the dish has been constant in taste as the years evolved.

For those in Petaling Jaya, drop by Tony’s char kway teow at Store 1073, Uptown Hawker Stall in the Uptown Centre of Damansara Jaya, Petaling jaya, and here, you will find the sotong kangkung, although many say it tastes better when had with the char kway teow than on its own.

The Pantai Remis Kopitiam with origins from Perak at the IOI Mall in Puchong also has sotong kangkung on its menu and is said to be as good as those sold in the open air stalls.

Further south at the Neighbourhood Coffeeshop in Taman Equine, Seri Kembangan, one of the many stalls here sell sotong kangkung all day long and is said to be popular with the residents around.

Crossing the Selangor border and moving down south, a stop at the back alley on Jalan Bunga Raya will bring you to a stall that serves an authentic sotong kangkung, Malacca style.

Spicy and sweet with loads of brown squid, it is delicious and you may not want to share. Again, the sauce makes it good.

In Johor, at the Tepian Tebrau, most Johoreans get their sotong kangkung fix here, again with the sauce being the source of this enjoyment.