Today I have some food content, not something I do on the blog generally but I do often share a lot of vegan food on my instagram story and am a big fan of food (I mean who isn't?), but food isn't something I delve into on the ol' blogaroo. But when I saw that Loretta who owns Nyonya Recipe Shop was looking for people to taste test her plant based malaysian snacks I of course said I would love to.
Small disclaimer, this food was sent to me for free to review by Nyonya Recipe shop, but all opinions about it are my own (and my friend Emilie's) and this post is not sponsored, just gifted.
So I wasn't really 100% sure what to expect from Malaysian snacks, I haven't really eaten any Malaysian food before now but it seems there's a lot of cookies. Nyonya is actually a specific type of cooking style which combines Chinese techniques with Malay and Indonesian spices. As a vegan who also has an intolerance to soya I often find it hard to find snacks that are good, slightly indulgent, and won't make me too ill (Nyonya Recipe Shop's chocolate chip cookies do have soya in them, but not enough to set my allergies off). Also finding snacks from different countries that are traditionally not vegan is such a treat! I spend quite a lot of my time watching Mukbang and other food videos from around the world thinking "ah I'm never going to get to try that" but sometimes you can! As veganism becomes more mainstream the food possibilities become endless, it's a magical time to be alive.
Loretta, owner of Nyonya recipe, runs a blog showcasing Malaysian British fusion food, and a shop where she sells her handmade snacks. She often substitutes east Asian ingredients for what's available in her nearest stores and tries her best to make home comfort food! I haven't tried any of her recipes (yet) but I have tried some of her hand made snacks, which I will be talking about today. First off I have a video I made with my lovely friend Emilie but I have also written down my opinions on each food item so enjoy in whatever format you like!
Dragon Balls | Pack of 8 | Gift Box |
Dumplings and buns are something I immediately associate with East Asian food. When I was in Japan I ate Anman (a bread bun filled with sweet bean paste) any chance I could get them so I was very excited to try these dragon balls. Loretta describes these as a mung bean biscuit but I would say they're more of a dumpling or pastry. The outside is a fluffy but dense puff pastry while the inside is filled with the mildly sweet and slightly salty flavour of their mung bean filling. These weren't what I was expecting them to be, I'll admit, but I enjoyed them a lot!
They're a very versatile little snack which can be enjoyed hot or cold and would go with dipping sauces sweet or savoury. They're nice on their own, but a little plain, so I would recommend some kind of chocolate to drizzle on them, or even sweet chilli! They good both hot and cold, but they're definitely better hot as the pastry becomes flaky and there's something that much more indulgent about a hot pudding.
Though there's quite a lot of plactic packaging on them, I think the gift box of them would make the perfect small gift for a vegan friend (I'd be very happy with them at least).
Peanut Cookies | GFO
Sesame is another flavour I always associate with East Asian cooking and there is plenty of that flavour in the Peanut cookies. These taste like a biscuit version of a sesame snap (if you've ever had one of those) but sweeter and a much better texture. There's still a hint of the peanut flavour but these are definitely a lot more sesame in nature. The texture of these cookies was also my favourite out of all of them as they were similar to that of shortbread, only a bit less buttery, and as someone who with Scottish grandparents who grew up on shortbread this definitely feels quite homely. I'd say this was a very good mix of east Asian flavours with British texture.
What you also can't really see from the scale of the picture is that these cookies are pretty small, meaning they're very good as tiny little snacks. I say that but I munched my way through them in three evenings while watching TV and these were the only cookies I didn't take with me to share amongst friends because I really didn't want to part with them.
Nyonya Recipe Shop also does gluten free versions of these cookies as well as gift boxes too!
Chocolate Chip Cookies | Gluten Free / Non-Gluten Free
Now we're onto the collection of more conventional cookies (for those of us from the UK at least), these are also reasonably small cookies which are very nice to snack on; the plain chocolate chip are available in gluten free variety too.
I was surprised by the texture of these cookies, they were very light and airy, as well as perfectly crispy which is not something you always see in vegan cooking. The gluten free ones were slighly more dense, they didn't have quite the same texture, but were still very light. I think it's because Loretta uses aqua fava (chick pea juice) instead of egg, might have to give that a go myself. The chocolate inside them was also really good so a big thumbs up to these!
Also you may notice there are two different packages in the photo, this is because Nyonya Recipe Shop is moving over towards using compostable packaging for all their cookie bags! So while not all of the packaging my cookies came in was compostable they will be in the near future, we love small businesses who care about the environment!
Cranberry Cookies
Now I'm not a massive fan of cranberries, something about the aftertaste of cranberry juice puts me off, but I like these cookies. The texture difference between the dried cranberries and the crispy cookie wasn't something I enjoyed too much, and I'm not a fan of dried fruit in sweet snacks, but these were my friend Emilie's favourite cookies.
The texture of these cookies is the same as the chocolate ones, just with dried cranberries in so there's not much else to say here. They were good, but not personally my cup of tea.
Chocolate Chip and Nut Cookies
Finally, and sadly, we're onto the last cookie. This was a chocolate chip cookie with almond pieces and well, it tasted basically the same as the chocolate chip cookies. I am a huge fan of almonds but you couldn't really taste them in these cookies, there was a slight aftertaste but the chocolate overpowered the nut a lot. These are still good cookies, but we couldn't really tell the difference between these and the plain chocolate ones.
And that wraps up my adventure into Malaysian snacks. I would have to say my favourite was a tie between the Dragon balls and the peanut cookies, not only were these quite unique snacks to get in the UK for me, they were a lot more to my kind of taste, I am a huge fan of dumplings and the texture and taste of the peanut cookies together was perfect! Emilie said her favourites were the Dragon Balls and the Cranberry cookies.
I'd definitely recommend giving Nyonya Recipe Shop a go, not only are they delicious vegan snacks but by buying from them you support a small, one woman, business. A lot of these snacks are perfect gifts for the vegan in your life or to just treat yourself with so give them a look. You can also use the code
For 15% off your order at the checkout so what are you waiting for?
Thank you again to Loretta for sending me these snacks to review, I had a lot of fun as you can probably tell from the video. Have you ever tried Malaysian snacks? Are there any vegan snacks from your home town/country I should try? Let me know in the comments!
Small disclaimer, this food was sent to me for free to review by Nyonya Recipe shop, but all opinions about it are my own (and my friend Emilie's) and this post is not sponsored, just gifted.
So I wasn't really 100% sure what to expect from Malaysian snacks, I haven't really eaten any Malaysian food before now but it seems there's a lot of cookies. Nyonya is actually a specific type of cooking style which combines Chinese techniques with Malay and Indonesian spices. As a vegan who also has an intolerance to soya I often find it hard to find snacks that are good, slightly indulgent, and won't make me too ill (Nyonya Recipe Shop's chocolate chip cookies do have soya in them, but not enough to set my allergies off). Also finding snacks from different countries that are traditionally not vegan is such a treat! I spend quite a lot of my time watching Mukbang and other food videos from around the world thinking "ah I'm never going to get to try that" but sometimes you can! As veganism becomes more mainstream the food possibilities become endless, it's a magical time to be alive.
Loretta, owner of Nyonya recipe, runs a blog showcasing Malaysian British fusion food, and a shop where she sells her handmade snacks. She often substitutes east Asian ingredients for what's available in her nearest stores and tries her best to make home comfort food! I haven't tried any of her recipes (yet) but I have tried some of her hand made snacks, which I will be talking about today. First off I have a video I made with my lovely friend Emilie but I have also written down my opinions on each food item so enjoy in whatever format you like!
Dumplings and buns are something I immediately associate with East Asian food. When I was in Japan I ate Anman (a bread bun filled with sweet bean paste) any chance I could get them so I was very excited to try these dragon balls. Loretta describes these as a mung bean biscuit but I would say they're more of a dumpling or pastry. The outside is a fluffy but dense puff pastry while the inside is filled with the mildly sweet and slightly salty flavour of their mung bean filling. These weren't what I was expecting them to be, I'll admit, but I enjoyed them a lot!
They're a very versatile little snack which can be enjoyed hot or cold and would go with dipping sauces sweet or savoury. They're nice on their own, but a little plain, so I would recommend some kind of chocolate to drizzle on them, or even sweet chilli! They good both hot and cold, but they're definitely better hot as the pastry becomes flaky and there's something that much more indulgent about a hot pudding.
Though there's quite a lot of plactic packaging on them, I think the gift box of them would make the perfect small gift for a vegan friend (I'd be very happy with them at least).
Sesame is another flavour I always associate with East Asian cooking and there is plenty of that flavour in the Peanut cookies. These taste like a biscuit version of a sesame snap (if you've ever had one of those) but sweeter and a much better texture. There's still a hint of the peanut flavour but these are definitely a lot more sesame in nature. The texture of these cookies was also my favourite out of all of them as they were similar to that of shortbread, only a bit less buttery, and as someone who with Scottish grandparents who grew up on shortbread this definitely feels quite homely. I'd say this was a very good mix of east Asian flavours with British texture.
What you also can't really see from the scale of the picture is that these cookies are pretty small, meaning they're very good as tiny little snacks. I say that but I munched my way through them in three evenings while watching TV and these were the only cookies I didn't take with me to share amongst friends because I really didn't want to part with them.
Nyonya Recipe Shop also does gluten free versions of these cookies as well as gift boxes too!
Now we're onto the collection of more conventional cookies (for those of us from the UK at least), these are also reasonably small cookies which are very nice to snack on; the plain chocolate chip are available in gluten free variety too.
I was surprised by the texture of these cookies, they were very light and airy, as well as perfectly crispy which is not something you always see in vegan cooking. The gluten free ones were slighly more dense, they didn't have quite the same texture, but were still very light. I think it's because Loretta uses aqua fava (chick pea juice) instead of egg, might have to give that a go myself. The chocolate inside them was also really good so a big thumbs up to these!
Also you may notice there are two different packages in the photo, this is because Nyonya Recipe Shop is moving over towards using compostable packaging for all their cookie bags! So while not all of the packaging my cookies came in was compostable they will be in the near future, we love small businesses who care about the environment!
Now I'm not a massive fan of cranberries, something about the aftertaste of cranberry juice puts me off, but I like these cookies. The texture difference between the dried cranberries and the crispy cookie wasn't something I enjoyed too much, and I'm not a fan of dried fruit in sweet snacks, but these were my friend Emilie's favourite cookies.
The texture of these cookies is the same as the chocolate ones, just with dried cranberries in so there's not much else to say here. They were good, but not personally my cup of tea.
Finally, and sadly, we're onto the last cookie. This was a chocolate chip cookie with almond pieces and well, it tasted basically the same as the chocolate chip cookies. I am a huge fan of almonds but you couldn't really taste them in these cookies, there was a slight aftertaste but the chocolate overpowered the nut a lot. These are still good cookies, but we couldn't really tell the difference between these and the plain chocolate ones.
And that wraps up my adventure into Malaysian snacks. I would have to say my favourite was a tie between the Dragon balls and the peanut cookies, not only were these quite unique snacks to get in the UK for me, they were a lot more to my kind of taste, I am a huge fan of dumplings and the texture and taste of the peanut cookies together was perfect! Emilie said her favourites were the Dragon Balls and the Cranberry cookies.
I'd definitely recommend giving Nyonya Recipe Shop a go, not only are they delicious vegan snacks but by buying from them you support a small, one woman, business. A lot of these snacks are perfect gifts for the vegan in your life or to just treat yourself with so give them a look. You can also use the code
IzzyF&F
For 15% off your order at the checkout so what are you waiting for?
Thank you again to Loretta for sending me these snacks to review, I had a lot of fun as you can probably tell from the video. Have you ever tried Malaysian snacks? Are there any vegan snacks from your home town/country I should try? Let me know in the comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment
I appreciate all of your comments and do see them all. If you have a question I will try and get back to you ASAP. Though please don't ask me to follow you. I check out the blogs of all you lovely people and if I like I'll follow c: