Malay – Page 7 – The Occasional Cook

Daging Briyani (beef Briyani)

January 5, 2014March 3, 2021 7shasha7

To go with my pilau rice, I decided to make a beef dish, something like those meat dishes I love so much at Malay weddings.

I followed a recipe from one of the many recipe books I have, but true to my own laziness, did not follow exactly. For example, the recipe called for onion paste but I was too lazy to grind onions. Then there was ‘5 green chillies’. When I opened my fridge, I saw exactly 5 red chillies (which was needed in the recipe) but no green chillies.

But in the end, my resulting dish was still amazingly a resounding success. Not to blow my own trumpet here but I received the most sincere compliment from MY MOTHER. Well, as any Asian girl will jolly well know, NOTHING and I mean absolutely NOTHING can be please an Asian mother.

But a few days after I’ve given the some of the meat dish to her, I returned to my cubicle, saw a message on whatsapp and read my mother’s message in disbelief. The day after I cooked this dish, I brought some to work and my colleagues praised me. It wasn’t the usual polite praise of thanks.

Well, my point here is after many years of cooking and experimenting in the kitchen, I have now in a way understood the art of cooking without having to look at a recipe and following precise measurements. I can use my gut feeling and go by sight, taste and some understanding of how ingredients work. In other words, I have become a real ASIAN MOTHER myself. 🙂 🙂

My beef dish recipe

In a wok add some ghee and olive oil, and then cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon stick and stir fry thinly sliced onions until slightly yellow.
Add finely chopped fresh chillies, garlic mince or paste, fresh diced tomatoes and a smashed lemon grass. (If I had the onion paste, I’d have put it in as well).
Add beef cubes which have been boiled with water till almost soft.
Then stir in half a can or a small can of tomato paste (I like to use gilda brand).
Stir in 4 heaped tablespoons of meat curry powder (I like to use Baba’s brand).
Add the water from the boiled beef. Cover the wok.
After about 20 minutes, uncover the wok and let it simmer till the liquid has reduced and thickened to a gravy like consistency.
Stir salt in.
Once beef is fork tender and the seasoning is perfect (oh when I tasted line it was a tad too acidic for me as I had added too much tomato paste so I balanced that with some brown sugar), switch the heat off.
To serve, sprinkle toasted almond slivers, raisins and coriander leaves. And, crispy fried shallots. 🙂 try this one day! Super satisfying.

Asian Dishes, Malay, Snack

Pulut Serunding

December 10, 2013March 3, 2021 7shasha7

When I was younger, I can never resist ‘pulut serunding’ – glutinuous rice balls coated with spicy shreds of coconut mix. Pulut is glutinous rice. And serunding is this coconut mixture. There are so many types of serunding, and I’ve never made them, but during Hari Raya (Eid) we’d go to this shopping centre in Johore Bahru which sells three excellent types of serunding.

Then one day last year, I decided to make them. I steamed glutinous rice and added salt. I already had some serunding which my mom had given and so rolled the glutinous rice balls in the serunding mixture. So simple to make. And I wonder why I’d pay so much for the store bought ones which can be so hard! Good pulut serunding must, without a doubt, have quality, spicy and sweet serunding but also tender soft chewy and tasty pulut.

The glutinous rice formed into balls. The next time I make, I'd make them smaller. — The glutinous rice formed into balls. The next time I make, I’d make them smaller.

And there you have it - pulut serunding. — And there you have it – pulut serunding.

Asian Dishes, Malay, Sides

Sambal potato and ikan bilis

January 16, 2012March 3, 2021 7shasha7

2012 will prove to be the most challenging year for me – balancing family life, The Little Girl (exams this year for her!) and a heavy load at work. With more stress, I usually cook less but now, I think with more stress, I will endeavour to cook more. To relieve stress, you know. I think with more organisation on my part and more discipline (to finish marking before the weekend!) I can manage a new dish a week. So let’s start from this week!

I cooked potato and ikan bilis sambal. This is not a usual dish in my family. In fact, I don’t ever remember my mother cooking this while I was growing up but I do remember eating this simple dish at the school canteen – yep, all the institutions I went to served this at one point or other. It’s so simple to make. You start by tumising (frying a paste in oil over a medium fire) the sambal paste (dried chillies, onions, garlic and belacan) and then add a bit of tamarind juice, some sugar and lastly the fried potatoes and fried ikan bilis. Serve with hot rice. Simple and delicious. In many Malay stalls, they only use fried potatoes, or just ikan bilis and fried groundnuts. I like this dish, but I doubt I’ll make it again, given my new resolve to try cook something new each week this year. ;p

IMG02575-20111227-1304 — My homemade lunch of ayam chilli padi, stir-fried french beans and the sambal potato. A typical Malay meal. Well, in my family at least.

Desserts, Malay

Bubur Pulut Hitam

September 30, 2011March 3, 2021 7shasha7

For some inexplicable reason, I felt compelled to make this local dessert that firstly, I hardly eat and secondly, I have never made before. Last Sunday then, after a visit to my in-laws, I stopped by local grocer and asked for this ‘pulut hitam’ rice. The Chinese man nodded and led me to the fridge. Puzzled, I then started spluttering in Singlish and Malay thinking he didn’t understand what I wanted. He just coolly took out this big basin, opened the lid and lo and behold, I saw lots and lots of black rice. Then, I asked the stupidest question, “Is this real one or fake?” That cracked him and The Hubby. The reason I asked was that my MIL had told me that there are poor quality of rice and that if you buy the ‘fake’ version, the rice will not turn black but just white. And so my other silly question to the shop owner was, “This one when cooked will turn black, right?” He answered, “No. Purple.” Hahahahaha. I mean, I know bubur pulut hitam when cooked can’t be black. Oh, well. Tentative, I bought 200g and made this the minute I got home.