KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — When it comes to sticky date puddings, I am often wary. Either they're stodgy messes or just way too sweet for an enjoyable dessert so it was a huge surprise to discover this excellent version from LaZat Cooking School.
A friend had discovered that the cooking school is selling food to fund their business affected by the pandemic. She had ordered one round and her office mates had given their approval. One fussy eater even declared the pudding as the best in town. That perked my interest straight away.
From what I read, the cooking school was founded back in 2007 by Ana Abdullah. It's popular with many visitors to Malaysia who want to learn more about Malaysian cuisine.
They have been conducting virtual cooking classes because of the pandemic. In October, they started offering various savoury dishes and their iconic sticky date pudding for takeaways.
The sticky date pudding is made in aluminium loaf tins and sold for RM20. You get a loaf measuring 18 centimetres by four centimetres. If you prefer, try it at room temperature but the best way to enjoy it is heated up with that creamy toffee sauce. I like steaming mine since I don't have a microwave.
You will be rewarded with a pudding that has a light, fluffy texture. There's a distinct taste of dates with just enough sweetness to make you want to eat more. The aromatic toffee sauce is the perfect companion to the whole dessert.
I reckon I will be stocking up these date puddings for the upcoming festive season. They're such a lovely, indulgent treat and for RM20, it's a steal.
Their repertoire of savoury items are priced reasonably as the ingredients are fresh. For instance, the mee mamak is RM10 and served with five prawns.
For this round, my friend had ordered Siamese laksa, which was RM12 for a single portion. I really enjoyed the laksa as it came with a creamy, slightly spicy gravy that was chock full of flaked fish.
The Siamese laksa is basically your laksa lemak, a combination of the tanginess and similar toppings of assam laksa and the creamy gravy from curry laksa. You eat it with the smooth rice noodles topped with pineapples, onions, cucumbers, chillies, fresh mint leaves and chopped torch ginger flower. Another friend enjoyed it so much, she ordered more laksa for her family the next day.
Other items offered by the cooking school include curry laksa served with prawns and chicken, and yong tau foo. For the yong tau foo, it is sold in a set of six pieces for RM12 together with a dipping sauce. The pieces are stuffed with tenggiri fish paste without any MSG.
They also do rice dishes like butter rice served with ayam masak merah and acar timun or rice with masak lemak prawns and pineapple served with acar buah. There's also something I have been eyeing which is roti jala with chicken curry. And if you're feeling peckish, there's prawns and vegetable fritters with a peanut gula Melaka dipping sauce.
For Thanksgiving, they offered their roast turkey weighing about five kilograms with chestnut stuffing, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce. Hopefully they will bring that back for Christmas.
Even though their orders don't have a fixed minimum amount, it would make sense to order a few items to save on your delivery costs. You can place your orders a day in advance via WhatsApp to 019-2381198 whereby the cut off time is 6pm, the day before. Either pick up the orders from their Kampung Sungai Penchala place or arrange for delivery using a third party provider.
LaZat Cooking School, Lot 3312, Kg. Palimbayan Indah 1, Kg. Palimbayan Indah, Sg Penchala, KL. Tel: 019-2381198 or 019-3827878. Website: https://www.lazatcooking.com Instagram: @lazatcooking Facebook: @lazat.cooking
