New dish alert: Carbonara Teh Tarik Kurang Manis
Malaysians are pretty loyal to our local staples of nasi lemak and roti canai with a glass of teh tarik on the side. It doesn’t matter if it’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or supper – we’re always up for classic combos that guarantee a filled tummy any time of day.
Showing that there are some of us who need a little extra Malaysian flavour even in their Western food, a Malaysian man has come up with Carbonara Teh Tarik Kurang Manis. As its name suggests, he’s gone and replaced eggs in the sauce with – you guessed it – teh tarik.
Classic carbonara dish gets a localised touch
The unique teh tarik pasta combo and recipe you can try out yourself was shared on Instagram by user @ashhryyyyy. His minute-long video, with a hilarious rapid-fire lelong-style narration to boot, shows just how you can start to cook this dish with typical seafood pasta ingredients such as cheese and prawns.
But then comes the twist in the recipe.
Look out for the star ingredient – BOH Teh Tarik
Image adapted from: @ashhryyyyy
The well-known foodie, who makes easy-to-follow recipes and entertaining Instagram-based videos online, begins his video by washing a handful of prawns before moving on to chopping up vegetables and boiling the spaghetti.
He then starts on the dish by simmering capsicums, pepperoni slices, mushroom, shrimp, and garlic all conveniently in one pan. All seems to be going well. That is, until he starts making a cup of teh tarik with not just one, but three 3-in-1 BOH Tea instant sachets.
Image adapted from: @ashhryyyyy
While most of us go for this drink on the side when we need an afternoon pick-me-up, he pours the contents of the entire cup into the pan along with a bottle of pre-made, instant carbonara sauce. This results in a brown-tinted carbonara sauce, unlike its usual pale appearance.
Image adapted from: @ashhryyyyy
In his video caption, he promises viewers that his unique carbonara recipe that replaces eggs with instant teh tarik kurang manis is well-blended and tasty.
Image adapted from: @ashhryyyyy
Netizens have mixed reactions over the unique combo
With how out-of-the-box the recipe is, netizens quickly went on to share the video on other social media platforms, including Twitter. User @KhairulAqmal’s repost of the video gained just as many reactions.
Many seemed confused over the whole thing, with Twitter user @Hopeily responding to the tweet: “We get offended when white people butcher our food. Yet we pull this stunt.”
Image adapted from: @Hopeily
Others were just curious about the taste, with @AizatAizma tweeting out a genuine response, “Curious what this tastes like.”
Image adapted from: @AizatAizma
But some were just at lost for words, including Danish Harraz, a popular self-taught 13-year-old chef in Malaysia, who could only tweet a GIF of a shocked Kung Fu Panda when asked to rate the recipe.
Image adapted from: @_tashbunny
Teh tarik pasta leaves netizens confused and amused
We love our local staples, but are just as game to combine them with cuisines from cultures beyond Malaysia – even if it means mixing a drink into a meal where it has never gone before.
While this Carbonara Teh Tarik Kurang Manis seems almost too outlandish to be good, we can’t help but be curious about it and give @ashhryyyyy a hand for thinking out of the box.
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Cover image adapted from: @ashhryyyyy