End of Ramadhan With New Inspiration

This year has been, indeed, different. We had a new stall selling Tepung Talam and other sweet dishes at where we were doing our business, which is a welcoming sight. However, about 10 days ago, we were chased off the area by the Alor Setar City Council, or Majlis Bandaraya Alor Setar (MBAS) for "creating traffic hazards". Coincidentally, their visit was about half and hour after the Datuk Bandar of Alor Setar (head of MBAS) came to buy Nasi Arab from Chet. It was an irony which we find it hard to swallow.

We were forced to relocate about 300 meters away to a Medan Selera located next to the Esso gas station. I find the place quite bizarre as there was nobody selling anything in the food court. Sales for both Nasi Arab Pak Tuan and my dishes dropped as many thought we stopped selling and many more didn't know we were there despite Chet's banner at the old location. I realized MBAS just wanted to somebody to "liven" up the place as it is dead almost every Ramadhan season. The location, next to a school and a traffic light junction after the new bypass made the area laden with a horrendous traffic congestion, putting off a lot of people from going there as parking was a problem.

Our old location? Well, it remained the same as we found out that we never created any taffic obstacle. In fact, there so many stalls located by the side of the road along Lebuhraya Sultanah Bahiyah that MBAS never bothered to see. The Ramadhan Bazaar next to Insaniah posed a more dangerous traffic scenario where masses of vehicles simply park and double park along the road with accidents almost daily. However, since the Bazaar was endorsed by MBAS and the vendors are paid for, MBAS never bothered to monitor.

Anyway, this year saw the emergence of my sister's beef curry-puff and baked macaroni with cheese (pasta) above the others. Close at third will be my Bengkang Susu. One of my customers remarked that, at RM5 (RM2.50/slice), it is more filling and tastes better with a bigger size compared to the Lasagna bought at an international fast food joint. Usually if I crave for pasta, I would buy 2 pieces first before selling the rest. I also understand that my sister supplies about 400-500 pieces of karipap daily to a stall operator at the Bazaar Ramadhan at the stadium, and the vendor still find it hard to meet the demands from his customers.

As the last business day is today, Friday 17th August, I was quite hesitant to make too many kuih. Fridays are usually slow as people usually prefer to stay home and cook or go and eat outside for the breaking of fast. Being in the new place doesn't really help my confidence either, plus, it was raining in the first half of the day. However, I still prepared triple the amount of what I always bring, plus the extra trays of godam (shepherds' pie) and bengkang susu that some special customers reserved. My wife and my son even decided to go along and assist me. Alhamdulillah, the whole supply was sold in less than one hour.

My stall received visits from a number of friends and close relatives, just like the years before, and I really appreciate them coming over and I really hope that they enjoy the food we prepared.

My cousin showed me a picture of his mother's godam, which was more traditional and original compared to mine. That really gives me an inspiration to revise my godam preparation for next year. Her pie follows the authentic style where the mashed potato is used as the base and crust of the pie, with the beef filling in between. My version is a more modernized and simplified version where, due to the size of the cup, it has no base. The beef filling is at the bottom and the mashed potato is on the top as the crust. In fact, the original rustic shepherds' pie in Greece, as prepared by farmers, are more in the style of my aunt's, which is hard enough to be sliced and held. Looks like I'll be experimenting a lot on this for the next 11 months.

If we are to be in the same location next year, I think by that time, many of our usual customers will know of it by that time. To my customers, thank you very much and I really apologize to those who did not have the chance to try my dishes when they came over.

I wish all, Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir Batin, from Syed Alfian Barakbah, Sharifah Rafita Shahab and Syed Muhammad Zulkifli.

Kerabu Daging Mentah: Raw Or Cooked, It's A Meaty Affair

Kedah, like the other northern states in Peninsular Malaysia. has one way or the other influenced by Thailand. Many parts of Kedah, in the past, spoke Siamese on a daily basis. There are also cultural influences that can be found in Kedah, despite the urbanization and modernization today.

In certain village areas, they still maintain the tradition of slaughtering a cow for festive occassions, and the dishes they make for the feast, will have beef as its main ingredient.

I was at a kenduri in Pendang with my family and my mother, and true to its core, a cow was slaughtered in the morning. I was really rearing for the occassion as I was told that they made Kerabu Dagimg Mentah (Raw Beef Salad) as one of the dishes. I spent more than 2 decades hearing about this dish, and missed numerous occassions when they dish was served at a number of kenduris that I missed.

Some might think, "Raw Beef?" or even "raw beef for salad?" but this dish is simply a-must-try. It is traditional, and it is a one of the old Siamese influence in the Malay culinary world.

Kerabu has been loosely translated as salad, popular in South East Asia, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore. Asian greens and herbs, meat and even seafood are combined and is usually healthy because it uses no oil. The Malaysian kerabu differ slightly from the Thais as it sometimes incorporates kerisik, which is grated coconut that has been toasted and later pounded until the oil appears. The Thai kerabu usually uses toasted nuts or cashews for fat.

I am sure many people have tasted this kerabu, but this is my first, and my relatives seem to notice it. They seemed to enjoy every one of my inquiries on the dish, and from what I gather, the dish is always made using fresh beef. The beef is usually wrapped in paper to absorb the blood. Once that is done, it is blanched in hot water for a very short period of time. I am guessing that this procedure cooks and seals the outer layer of the meat. The beef is then cut fine or minced, using knives. The term "mince" is used roughly here as the beef is, despite being cut fine, it is still chunky, not too fine like the machine-minced beef you might buy at hypermarkets. Onions, lemongrass, galangal and pepper, which have been finely ground is added to the beef and mixed together. Kerisik and lime juice is added as well, along with ground toasted rice. All of these produce a rich, fragrant and delicious kerabu. Maybe the term "salad" used being used too loosely here since the closest elements you get to vegetables in here are the herbs used to mix with the beef. I guess that's the closest I got to the recipe as I couldn't understand some of their slang. They are from Kedah, but living in a kampung where talk with a more Siamese-like slang which can be melodious, but slightly difficult to understand.

The kerabu was very good, and for first-timer like me, I enjoyed it so much, even without rice. The beef was so tender and with all the spices and herbs, you won't even know that the beef is raw. The taste and texture resemble a lot like kerabu perut (cow tripe salad), except for the fact that it uses raw beef.

We had 4 dishes for the white rice, and 3 of them are beef: Beef (with liver) curry, a soup made of other cuts of the cow's meat such as tripe, lungs and other, the kerabu daging mentah and wild bamboo shoot cooked with spices. We were enjoying the dishes while other guests outside were already enjoying their tea time, ketupat and beef rendang.

The dishes are simple, yet hearty. The curry and soup doesn't use much spices in there but I have mentioned before, fresh beef is the star of the show. I would understand that people who takes health seriously will give this a miss. But I always prefer kampung-style kenduris compared to the stereotypical town kenduris where nasi minyak, ayam masak merah are always the main dishes. Even the beef curry was prepared in a typical kampung-style instead of the usual indian-influenced style of the city.

I am glad and happy to be related to people who are still of the Malay-Siam culture. The rich combination yielded many a great thing, especially in the culinary world. I am not sure about elsewhere but I can be sure that kerabu daging mentah is not sold in restaurants. If it is, please tell me where. If you are in a kenduri where they serve Kerabu Daging Mentah, try it.