Friday, March 28, 2008

PLASTIC GORENG PISANG WILL MAKE YOU SICK, fm GCY

This is a true story.

Mum said my uncle saw it in Tunjang (Kedah) and the pasar malam in Titi Chai Kangar (Perlis) where goreng pisang was sold on afternoons.

The hawker added a plastic drinking straw into a wok of hot oil and let it melt completely before he started to fry some bananas in the bubbling oil.

This is why some fried bananas and ubi are so crispy... For hours...!!

My uncle asked the hawker about this, but the hawker did not answer him. When my uncle told my mum about this, they realised this is how the hawkers ensure that fried food stays crispy for their customers. My mum said that in Thailand, they do the same thing to keep fried ikan bilis and fried onions crispy, even if left in the open for hours!!

Another time, I was with my family in Cameron Highlands. It was 3:00 PM and we were hanging around the market area, where there were several hawker stalls.

At one of them, there was a big wok of boiling oil with an empty plastic bottle floating in it and slowly melting. At first I thought it had fallen into the oil accidentally, but then I saw a little girl, about 7-years old, holding a pair of chopsticks and stirring the bottle around in the hot oil.

I realised, Oh my God... These people were using melted plastic to fry food, so that the fried snacks would not turn soft when it cooled down later.

Please forward to all your friends... DO NOT EAT CRISPY FRIED SNACKS from the hawkers!! Even if you don't see them melting the plastic in oil, they might have added the plastic a few hours before. After all, they keep the black oil for next day's frying as well, to save cost on cooking oil.