Wednesday, January 28, 2009

.: Kitchen sessions :.


5th day of holidays.


My parents are here, so mum roped me in her cooking spree. Coincidentally, my cousin MSNed me asking whether I'm going anywhere since I still have a long stretch of holidays. I said yes, and the destination is the kitchen.*Family are fairly used to my level of irony. coughs*

The leafy greens are i.e. Daun Kunyit [turmeric leaves], Daun Pisang [banana leaves], Daun Kari [curry leaves]. If these sound familiar to you, it's also used in Indian cookery. As I'm feeling cheeky today, I'll list out a few Malay herbs i.e. Daun Kesum, Daun Kaduk, Daun Mengkudu, Pucuk Ubi and I doubt anyone is still with me now. :) Truthfully, I don't think there are any English names for it. *Anyone can prove me wrong on this?* Otherwise, I am clearly unaware of it. Lastly, is the tempe [fermented soy beans], a synonymous ingredient in southern cooking.



  • Samosa filling wrapped in Popiah skin :: Did a few triangular samosas, then I became sluggish. Had a smashing good time pounding the coriander seeds to smithereens. ^^
  • Kuih Kaswi :: Steamed rice cakes mixed with palm sugar, normally eaten with slightly salted grated coconut. In the old days, mum used to use Chinese porcelain tea cups as moulds. I must have broken most of it as a kid, so we had to make do with the plastic ones.
  • Kuih Lopes :: Steamed glutinous rice, sprinkled with slightly salted grated coconut, drizzled with palm sugar. Thought that mum made bak chang. Never felt so cheated in my whole life.
  • Sweet Popiah :: Stuffed tahina [sesame seed paste] in the leftover Popiah [Spring rolls] skin. In Malacca, they're famous for their Ais Krim Goreng [fried ice-cream]. Wanted to imitate it by stuffing ice-cream, but I ended up consuming the ice-cream instead. *pathetic*
  • Pais Ikan :: Fish stuffed with paste, steamed in banana leaves. Besides steaming, another method is to grill it. *We had this for lunch today* :)
  • Poori :: My aunt made curry. Decided to make poori as we were tired of rice. Astonishingly, it turned out good for a first time. Aunt did the frying, I ate. *haha~!* Other than eating, I made the dough, kneaded and rolled it. :) First time I had Poori was in school. Enchanted on how efficient the Indian lady was doing it, I was resolved in having a go at it. She was all the more obliging to entertain me, although she only allowed me to make chapatis in fear I might scald myself when frying the pooris.
  • Caramel Custard :: A year had gone by yet I'm still not over this craze over the devilishly tantalizing caramel custard. We had ice-cream and fruit cocktail left behind, therefore I threw those in. *We had this after lunch today* :) Quite a hot day, so it was just what we needed. Would have made some tong sui, alas I succumbed to my cravings. :)
  • Pancakes :: I prefer to call it lempeng [Malay pancakes]. Made some cinnamon flavored ones, topped with ice-cream, butter and golden syrup.
For the time being, mum is having a blast teaching me food chemistry, having talks on recipes, even cooking methods. I suppose, this can be taken as an approach in strengthening our mother-daughter relationship. Moreover, aunt and sis have become the ultimate food critics. Who says cooking can't be nerve-racking?

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Once during lunch, we brought one of my brothers
*in some way, I think of him as more of a dad* to a Malay restaurant, complete with the traditional Malay settings to have a taste of authentic Malay food. *there were a couple of other foreigners in our group*

Brother :: So sister, can you cook this?
Me :: Yeah. Taste will differ a little, but yeah.
Brother :: So does that mean we can come to your house?

Now he's just being cute.
6.09pm Malaysian Time

10 comments:

Aisyah Mazelan said...

pais ikan tuh sama dengan otak-otak ke?

Hajar Alwi said...

Takda aih. Otak-otak is spiced fish paste. Pais Ikan is chili or spiced paste stuffed in the fish aka stuffed fish.

Boleh dikatakan same macam ikan sumbat. Ikan dibelah tak sampai habis, pastu disumbat dengan rencah. :)

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hajar

Anonymous said...

Very sweet :) And the food looks and sounds delicious :)

Ya Haqq!

Unknown said...

Wow, Hajar! You've made so many kuihs (ada ke?) and dishes! I know most of that dauns but not daun kaduk. And your pancakes sound delicious. Ummm...yummy. I've got to try it.

Ms.Unique said...

This is sooo tempting Hajar .... they look sooooooooo deliciousssssss .... ;)

Hajar Zamzam Ismail said...

Mom's associate cooking and feeding people with the love overflowing from their hearts. She's trying to teach you in this art so that when your time comes you will also rise to the challenge (of feeding those you love).

Hijabee said...

Looks so yummy!!!! & you've been tagged!!!

Hajar Alwi said...

Brother Irving :: Sweet of you to say that. Thanks. :)

KakChik :: Haha~ I think the correct term might be kuih-muih. Tapi bahasa dah dirojakkan, jadi samelah tu. :) Daun Kaduk is hardly used in cooking. As far as I know, it's used in Botok-Botok, a Javanese cuisine. By all means, do try it! Pancakes are quick fix-ups for breakfast @ tea, and can be accompanied with mostly anything that your heart desire. IMHO that is. ^^

Ms.Unique :: LoL~ Sorry for teasing you with the pictures sis. :)

Hajar :: You sound precisely like my mum. ^ At of now, the challenge is to feed myself. :P

Hijabee :: O-hey! Cool~ Ehh ... I'm off to do some more baking sessions. Will get to it later. ^

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hajar

Ms.Unique said...

U've been tagged hajar ... :)

Hajar Alwi said...

Masha'Allah, thanks sis. :)

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hajar