Food Discovery : Lok Lok Food Truck

Cooks are inventors. Recipes, their creation. The diversity we find in street food is evidence of our limitless ingenuity when it comes to cooking.

The first thing that crosses my mind when I think of food trucks is Lok Lok. It's a common sight in Kuala Lumpur where I live.

According to my foodie friend, the term Lok Yat Lok means to scald or blanch continuously (again and again) in Cantonese. This refers to how food is prepared in the food truck. I guess that for convenience sake, it has been shortened to Lok Lok.  

I just call it the dip-dip truck because that's what it's all about - Dip food in boiling water, dip in sauce, then eat. I liken Lok Lok to a self-service hot pot restaurant on wheels.

The food truck looks like this:

The Lok-Lok Food Truck

Glorious Fresh Ingredients.
Notice the pot of boiling water on the left? That's where everyone dips their food.

How it works:
An array of fresh meat, seafood and vegetables is fastened to a bamboo skewer and displayed on trays. To eat, pick one up and place it into the pot of bubbling boiling water. Once food is cooked, take it out, drizzle some sauce on top and eat. This is the hot pot way.

It's not all about raw food though. Cooked food like boiled quail eggs, deep fried mushrooms and chicken gizzards are also on the menu.

The skewers are marked with colours to differentiate the price. By counting the sticks according to the markings, the seller is able to calculate the bill after you have finished your food.

Tofu, Sliced Pork Belly, Grey Oyster Mushrooms,
Enoki, Fish Balls, Long Beans ...

Dipping Sauces.
Spicy peanut, red chili, green chili , dark sweet sauce, spicy ginger garlic!

What I like to do is plonk several sticks of food into the boiling water, grab a container and fill it with sauce. Once the food is cooked, I take it all out, stand aside and tuck in! That way, I don't block anyone.

Cockles, Squid and Dipping Sauces

This Is How We Do It

Beautiful Fried Gizzard

While this is all very yummy, it may not be your cup of tea if you balk at the idea of sharing the same pot of cooking water with strangers or, if you are not comfortable dunking your food into some sort of soup that has seen many meats and vegetables before your turn.

I don't mind. I like believing that I have a strong stomach....until something happens. It hasn't.