South East Asia is nothing if not diverse. Historically (and partly because places like Singapore and Malaysia were along key maritime trade routes) there has been a huge mishmash of interesting things - and people - melding local influences. Today, Japan and S Korea are fashionable throughout the region, and so you'll find these East Asian colours reflected in South East Asia's clothing, make-up, food, tech, music, brands, design and more.
And here's a typical hybrid: the Apam Balik Kakigori. Which I was treated to on my birthday this year, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Apam Balik is a traditional Malaysian crepe - with Indian origins. It's a folded coconut/rice pancake, containing crushed peanuts, sweetcorn, and sugar. Variations might include fragrant pandan and other ingredients. Apam (appam or aappam) is the name of this pancake in Malayalam or Tamil - as it comes from Southern India. Balik literally means 'to go or come home' in Malay; in this case referring to the folded, turnover aspect of the pancake.
Kakigori (yes even more kakigori!) is a Japanese shaved-ice dessert, with modern versions quite trendy in hipster cafes region-wide.
So this was a hipster version of a Japanese dessert, nodding to a traditional Malay sweet, which was already nodding to India. And (even though I am currently quite obsessed with all kakigori) it was also delicious!
The sweet cream / topping was flavoured with pandan (with lime meringue pieces, actually!) Then there was corn-custard, and surprise sweetcorn and crushed nuts inside the fluffy ice construction.
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| An apam balik hawker stall in Malaysia |
Photo of apam balik stall: HungryGoWhere
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