Lepat Labu @ Steamed Pumpkin Parcels

Lepat Labu is one of my favourite Malay kuih. 

But, it’s not easy to find one that is not too heavy with flour. 

I prefer it soft and supple, and with plenty of coconut filling. 

It’s easy to make. 

Asam Pedas Melaka

I love asam pedas. It's so appetizing. I have guests coming for dinner and it's perfect! Dishes like this is hard to cook with just 2 adults eating. Lots of work involved.

I went to chat with my colleague who married a Malaccan and cooks Malacaan food quite often. She told me, Asam Pedas Melaka is spiced, and if I were to cook Merlimau style, there has to be burnt coconut, as taught to her by her mother in law. As she is not staying with her in laws, she just played with the dish, adding anything she fancies. Yeah, that's what I will do too, if I'm not blogging about heritage dishes.

Nasi Kerabu

Nasi Kerabu is from the state of Kelantan. Famous Famous!

Usually when it's sold not in the state itself... it always comes in blue. But if one were to eat it in Kelantan, it can come in yellow or even dark green, depending on what is used to tint the rice. It's like a salad rice, tossed together to be eaten, healthy, depending on which side dishes you take.

Tosei or Dosa

I’m writing this post with my phone.
Malaysia is currently under  Movement Control Order for Covid19. Stuck at home, can’t dine out, we yearn for food that we love eating out. My kids have Tosei once every fortnight and they love it.

So I plucked up my courage and tried making this at home.
Many recipes online require raw rice , like idli rice. It’s not something I can get easily in Malaysia and most recipes don’t provide exact water amount. Vague instructions like ‘just enough’, ‘not too thick not too thin’ doesn’t help the noob like me who has never ever seen it made from scratch. Eyeballing takes experience, like real life experience seeing and feeling the batter.

I messaged one of my readers , Thenmathy on Facebook, and she guided me from purchasing to fermenting... I’m grateful for her help.

So here is my version of Tosei, that will remove the guessing game.

Ji Jor

Chee Jor or Ji Zhor depends on how one is going to romanize it..It's a chewy sweet potato finger.

The non-muslim community in Kuala Kangsar will know of this snack.This is sold at a small hawker stall near the town's supermarket, only available evening onwards, made by a Hokkien lady who resides few doors away from my old residence, a family friend.. It's like those sweet  potato balls, but made into fingers.

Torch Ginger Chiffon Cake

First of all, I know it sounds weird. Very weird to use Torch Ginger in a chiffon cake.

Few weeks back, I was in Taiwan, and I had my taste of ginger flower in a chiffon cake in Neiwan, Hsinchu. The flower I tasted was Hedychium coronarium known as 野姜花, and it's a type of ginger not found here. Maybe not that I know of, maybe some people do plant them in Malaysia, but I've just never seen it myself.

Talam Keladi Berlauk ~ Taro Cake, Malay Style 马来芋头糕

The Chinese community in Malaysia has a kuih called WooTauGou 芋头糕 or some call it as Yam Cake or Taro Cake. Usually sold at old fashioned breakfast joints, or tea break stalls, or some even sell it as supper fare. It's a flavourful savoury kuih loved by many.

This talam keladi berlauk, translated as 'Taro Tray with Savoury Toppings' is not the same as the Chinese version. The flavour is richer, much richer, although it looks similar.

Dry Mee Siam

Mee Siam comes in wet and dry versions. So far, I have only eaten the dry version before.

I do not know if it comes from Thailand or Siam, back in those days, but Mee Siam is the name of this spicy tangy fried noodle. I did not cook this the 'traditional' way because I made a prawn broth with the prawn shells to flavour the noodles. Fried prawn shells , especially the heads, have a wonderful flavour, that I believe should not be wasted in cooking this noodle.

Kuih Bangkit ~ Gluten Free Coconut Cream Cookies 薯粉饼

Kuih Bangkit.... It is a local traditional cookie, one of the staples for Chinese New Year and Eid.
Some people will make this with tapioca starch, some swear by arrowroot flour for best melt in the mouth effect and some will use sago flour to replace that elusive arrowroot flour.

In the olden days, this cookie was baked over charcoal. And I have only seen that being done once in my life, at my kindergarten teacher's home. I'm glad that in recent years, I had the chance to eat charcoal baked kuih bangkit again, made by distant relatives, and they are soooo much better than oven baked. The base of the charcoal baked ones were brown and the cookie was so flavorful and fragrant.

Ants' Nest Cake ~ Kek Sarang Semut

I first had a piece of this, not too long ago, maybe 5 years back? And I was smitten by the taste and texture. My SIL baked it for the 2nd time and I asked her if she put in any cocoa powder, because it felt like I was eating a bouncy chewy chocolate cake. She said no, it’s just caramel. I was totally taken by surprise.

Then 3 years ago, I had this sudden “want” to bake this cake and eat it too, I asked my SIL for the recipe. She actually got this recipe from a fellow church friend Mrs Elaine Wong. My SIL was smitten by Elaine’s cake and that got her to request for the recipe. The love bug for this spreads....

Mrs Elaine Wong  ~~  SIL  ~~~  Me  ~~~~  Annielicious (after she ate this)

Kuih Koci Pulut Hitam 鸡脚指~ Black Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Coconut

Kuih Koci is a chewy dumpling wrapped in banana leaf, with sweet coconut filling. The 'skin' can come in green, purple or white, depending on the ingredients used.

The Cantonese community here calls this as 鸡脚指 'gai geok jee' that means Chicken Claws. It's just a nickname due to the similarity in the sound 'Kuih Koci' with 'Gai Geok Jee'. I'm not sure if there are any other names for this kuih.

Kuih Ketayap

This kuih goes by many names

Kuih Ketayap
Kuih Dadar
Kuih Gulung
and my ex students from Selancar calls them kuih hijau

Malaysian school's home science textbooks calls this kuih ketayap.
Period.

Tomato Rice @ Nasi Tomato

In my school, the afternoon session teachers love to organise 'makan makan'. Makan means eat in Malay. Food makes conversation and brings relationships closer, and so, we who are in the afternoon session are a cooperative close bunch. Back in those days we will take turns to treat each other. I can't bring home cooked food, so, each time I will just buy KFC, hehehe, and everybody's happy.

Nowadays, the practice slightly changed, we organised potlucks or collect money to order food.

Kuih Bakar Pandan

Kuih Bakar Pandan is a dense and rich baked cake, almost like a tropical clafoutis, but better.

Some people do it in a flower shaped mould and hence the name changes to Kuih Bakar Kemboja. I'm not sure the Kemboja here refers to the Frangipani (Plumeria obtusa) or Cambodia, the country. In the Malay language, the same word is used for both flower and the country.

Anyway, I'm just baking it in a pan, so, it just stays with Kuih Bakar Pandan. :)
Easy, no confusion.

Kuih Lompang Pandan

I do get occasional cravings for this kuih. No food colouring used, all natural.

Bad. As my pandan plant is half dead, so I need to buy the leaves and now that I'm working, it's not that easy for me to drive out and get it as I wish. I have time constraints.

Some northern Nonya cookbooks will call this as Kuih Kosui Pandan, but in Home Science books, they are called as Kuih Lompang, the kuih in a cup that comes with a crater filled with grated coconut. Kuih Lompang is the general name used in the Malay community.

Fish with Iban Eggplant - Merdeka Open House

During Sarawak MFF, I got to know Julina, the lady behind Hunter's Food., a blog that focuses on Sarawak Ethnic Cuisine. Thanks to her, I learnt a lot regarding Sarawak Ethnic Food and from there tried cooking two ethnic dishes like Manuk Pansuh and Pig Stomach with Pineapples.

She sent me some Sarawakian food stuff and one of them is this. Thank you Julina.
I have seen another participant to our virtual event cooking seafood with this eggplant and so, I tried cooking it her way, but with only fish.

Actually I cooked this dish last September, which is almost a year ago.

Sekinchan Shark Porridge

Sekinchan is a small town on the northern coastal area in Selangor. It's major industry is fishing and rice planting.

This small town has a lot of seafood restaurants (compared to its size and population) and one of the popular treats in this town is shark porridge. Found cooked in two ways:- original and spicy. I chose to replicate the original version as I have kids at home.

Amy Yip Steamed Buns - KL Sel MFF #5

These buns were not well known for the taste.
It's for the size.

Amy Yip was an infamous actress back in the 90's, she's famous not for her acting, but for her F sized asset with a 21 inch waist. As to why these buns were named so... you should be able to guess why :)

Bubur Lambuk Agong Kampung Baru - KL Selangor MFF #5

First of all, a blessed Ramadhan to all my Muslim friends and readers.

Each year during Ramadhan, Masjid Jamek in Kampung Baru will distribute a much loved porridge called Bubur Lambuk Agong to people in need of food to break fast with. So much so, that they cook around 100 pots each day for distribution. Each pot can provide 400 packs, so altogether 40000 packs each day! Volunteers come to help and donors chip in to make this tradition an annual event. It's a huge thing! They are not just known within Kampung Baru, or KL city, or Klang Valley, but so much so until people from Brunei will ask their friends and relatives to post the porridge over. Nowadays, the porridge is not only collected by people in need, but just anyone, anyone who queues up since 2pm can have some too. Read here to have a better understanding about Bubur Lambuk Kampung Baru

Getuk Ubi - KL Sel MFF #2

If it's not for a book Shannon showed me, I would've forgotten about this yummy snack I used to have back in those bus chasing days. I am not sure if they still exist around the Pudu and Kotaraya area as I haven't been there for 10 years.

This snack brings back nostalgic memories.