Malaysian Malay Weddings.

Oh Hi Blog Visitors! ヽ(=^･ω･^=)丿
(that's if i have any.....tsk tsk.)

so here is something random but "somewhat" food related......hehe

WEDDINGS.

This was an old photo of my cousin's wedding. I was the "maid-of-honor" of some sort, the picture above is the banquet table for the bride and groom and their close family. Typical Malay weddings are like this, fancy banquet table for bride+groom+close family and standard tables for other guest. Malaysian Malay wedding guest invites usually are above 300 people. The food are mostly caterings these days and are consisting of specialty rice and various side dishes from lamb, beef, chicken, fish to vegetables and fruits.

The bride and groom in red traditional Malay wedding costumes. And the one wearing white baju kurung with black tudung and smiling like a goofball is me >__<"

This one is when the bride+groom posse are "berarak" (marching) from a certain distance (usually a place just further away from the guest's views) with typical Malay's kompang group in the background (a sort of group playing a musical instrument which i don't know how to explain but you can see for yourself in the next picture).

And when the bride+groom arrives, they are seated at the pelamin for all guest to see. The bride+groom usually sits there for 15 minutes to maybe an hour or so, depending if there are guest wanting to take pictures and tepung tawar (its does not translate as plain flour....but instead it means a sort of activity where guest comes and throw fragrant shreddings of flowers/rice/pandan leaves and rose water towards the bride+groom, as a sign of blessings). 

There you can see the kompang group singing and hitting playing their instruments (which is called kompang). And of course, what's a wedding without cakes? This was a vanilla sponge cake with buttercream.

NO thanks to my cousin's GREAT photography skill, i didn't have any decent front view of the pelamin to show here but,,,i do have two other wedding pelamin that i took when i went to my other cousin's and neighbor's weddings.

this is my cousin's wedding. also with red+white theme.

this is my neighbor's pelamin. still with white theme, but with a hint of gold.

well, it wouldn't be fair if i post their pelamin but not the bride+groom..cute eh?

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

ok that's it. something random and food related. hehe

WEDDINGS. i love them, especially the all you can eat FOOD.

how do you do weddings in your country?

Kerang and Mystery Drink!

Hello! Today's berbuka is kerang goreng cili or fried cockles with chilies and kerabu ceylon 

(ceylon is the name of the leafy green, and kerabu is sort of like salad where the ingredients are fresh. malay's traditional kerabu is usually spicy and are made with fresh coconut.) 

and the mystery drink....! there are lots of ingredients in it too! 

can you guess what it is???? 

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

SIX ingredients! 

1. kidney beans

2. sago pearls

3. brown sugar syrup

4. coconut milk

5. ice

6. cendol!

┗(＾0＾)┓┏(＾0＾)┛┗(＾0＾)┓┏(＾0＾)┛┗(＾0＾)┓┏(＾0＾)┛

oh ho ho...the 6th ingredient sort of gave the mystery away.....

mix it all together!

and........

yummy yummy cendol drink! yayy!

Grilled Rendang Chicken.

Oh hi again! I've just finished grilling chicken (again)..hehe. Today's grilled chicken recipe is different from all the previous versions me and mom made. This time mom made a "rendang" grilled chicken. Yep, first we cooked them "rendang" style and then we grill it.

What's RENDANG? It a traditional dish usually cooked during Hari Raya or special event (such as weddings, kenduri, etc.) And this is my mom's easy version. My mom is the kind of woman who always comes up with a simpler easier version of any typical Malay dish.

Ok this is what Rendang is supposed to look like. Spicy. Yum!

BUT, instead of cooking the chicken through, we take them chicken out of the gravy and grill them! Like this...

And then they become this! OH!

Yes yes yes. IT IS SIMPLE, TRUST MY MOM.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients to blend together:

• 3 tablespoon of chili boh (a kind of smooth blended dried chili / takes about a handful of dried chilies)
• 3 large garlic
• 2 large onions
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 inch galanga (lengkuas in malay, its fine if you can't find it but it will taste slightly different)
• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder

Other Ingredients:

• 8 chicken drumsticks
• 5 lemongrass (beat them once or twice to flatten them)
• 2 turmeric leaf shredded (its fine if you can't find it but it will taste slightly different)
• 1 tablespoon KURMA spice powder (easily found here in Malaysia but elsewhere; try finding them in Asian specialty shops or those that carry Indians spices)
• juice of 5 calamansi (limau kasturi) / or key lime.
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tin of evaporated milk OR milk of 1 coconut
• salt to taste

NOW there is NO NEED FOR OIL. i repeat, NO NEED FOR OIL.

1. First, blend all the ingredient that needed blending (my mom usually already have pre-made blended chili boh mixed with garlic, onions and ginger ready in the fridge. PS: this recipe does not use my mom's pre-made mixed chili boh)
2. Toss in ALL INGREDIENTS in a preferably non-stick pan. Including the cleaned chicken.
3. Yes, you read that right, there was NO OIL involved and i did wrote TOSS ALL INGREDIENTS IN.
4. The liquid here isn't enough to fully cover the chickens, so you may have to keep moving the chicken about to cook them evenly.
5. Cook for at least half an hour and until the liquid thickens.
6. At this moment, you may just let the chicken rendang cook until the liquid thickens more and it will be a simple version of CHICKEN RENDANG and you may serve them as it is OR
7. At this moment, you may take out the 3/4 cooked chicken and grill them.
8. If you decide to grill, then the remaining liquid can be used as gravy to be served with the grilled chicken. (You may thicken it more or as is)

That's it! Enjoy!

Beef Rice Noodle Soup

Bihun Sup Daging or Beef Rice Noodle Soup.

This is what i had for berbuka today. Yum. 

This is definitely one of my family's favorite rice noodle+soup. :) 

What's your family favorite soup?

What's Taro???

Have you had taro? how do you like your taro? do you even know what taro is???

so this is what taro is. often mistaken as yam but mind you, they are two very different kind.

most taro loving people like them in various ways such as in bread and buns, as garnishes, cooked with coconut milk, with rice or most famous, as desserts. but for my family, we like them plain and fried! :)

fried taro + sirap bandung :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRIED TARO

taro

water

flour

salt to taste

1. slice the taro (french cut)

2. mix flour, salt and water according to your personal taste (i'm sure you're familiar with simple flour batter).

3. dip them taros in the batter.

4. fry em!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SIRAP BANDUNG

1 part rose syrup to 4 part water

1 part milk or soy milk OR

1 table spoon of sweetened condensed milk (if you like more sweet)

you can even substitute the water for cream soda for fizziness

1. mix them all together according to your taste.

2. i like mine sweet so i usually use sweetened condensed milk instead of regular milk or soy.

3. best served chilled.

there you go, a very traditional "kampung-style" malay evening snack.

enjoy!