Showing posts with label Malay Dishes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malay Dishes. Show all posts

Friday, November 18, 2011

Our first Malay wedding

On 13th November, my former neighbor whom I have known for 20 odd years finally decided to get hitched! It was not just any other wedding, but a traditional, Singaporean style Malay wedding held at the void deck! My family and I were thrilled when we received the invitation as it was our very first Malay wedding!

The human traffic along the corridor was drastically increased by at least 20 times two days prior to the big day contributed by hordes of relatives arriving in bus loadfuls from Malaysia. It was hard not to be infected by the joyous atmosphere as adults were busy chipping in their help with the wedding preparations while the kids were having a hell of a time running around and screaming their heads off!

On the big day itself, we arrived at 1pm and it was all very informal. We got to find our own table and the natural choice for us was to choose one away from the loud blasting speakers. The deejay alternated between hosting and playing love songs. It was all so casual but we never expected that friends and relatives be invited to participate in karaoke sessions!

It was buffet style dining where there was a choice of either white rice or briyani followed by 5 to 6 choices of different types of curries: chicken curry, mutton curry, beef curry, vegetable curry and some unlabelled mystery curries. Last but not least, there was also a section dedicated to desserts; mainly Paranakan style.
On each round table, there was also two containers of snacks and in addition, the children were delighted with endless supplies of chocolate biscuits distributed to them.
With families arriving in droves to take over the tables cleared out by earlier families, there was constantly a hype of activities at the void deck. And while it is almost certain to spot a multi-tiered cake in most of the weddings held in Singapore, in this case, I was fascinated to see a three-tiered wedding cake made up of glutinous rice and interestingly decorated with 'animals' such as large prawns and ducks crafted from chicken and quail eggs!
This was definitely an experience for me and I warmly wishes Isman and Suzanne marital bliss. :)

Monday, October 13, 2008

Hari Raya Puasa 2008

This year, in a way, I celebrated Hari Raya Puasa too! It's the first year I sat down for Hari Raya Puasa breakfast with my parents.

Perhaps this has got something to do with age. As one matures, priorities in life changes. When it seem so trivial to be spending time with family and loved ones, it's now slowly gaining importance in my life.

The food fare is simple, but the time spent is significant. :)


Thursday, December 20, 2007

Selamat Hari Raya Haji 2007

It's the time of the year again when there are loads of holidays, the town is heavily soaked with the festivity mood, everyone feels like Santa, nobody wants to work, productivity is at an all-time low....

Anyway, before I drift into the complain mode, my trusty neighbour served up her Hari Raya Haji morning food fare punctually at 9am. What a nice way to have breakfast on a stormy morning!

Compared to the Hari Raya Puasa breakfast 'menu' two months ago, this time round, there's my favourite satay!! The ones made by my neighbour are really makan sutra standard kind of nice. There's no fatty meat in between the chicken meat, only big lean chunks! Coupled with the savoury peanut sauce....Ohhh....

Ah...the power of racial harmony~ :)


Saturday, October 13, 2007

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to my Malay neighbours!

The preparations by my Malay neighbours for Hari Raya Puasa seems endless. One day they are throwing the old furnitures and wall clocks away, another day the family is busy cleaning the house and yesterday evening, I saw a big pot brewing atop some charcoal in the corridor. Yeah...this is the stuff that has me poking my head to sneak a peek or even a whiff of what's cooking inside. :)

Geylang Serai which is well known to be the Malay Village for the Malay Communities in Singapore is also soaked with the festive mood. Just a few days ago, I took bus number 13 to East Coast and along the way, it passes by a long stretch of Pasar Malam with hundreds of stores selling all sorts of delicious snacks, clothes, curtains, bedsheets, pillow cases...the list goes on and on. And I found myself intrigued by the numbers of stores selling the famous Ramly Burger. It must have such a large customer fan base that I observed one Ramly store being separated by the next by only two or three stores in between. And so it goes like this: Ramly store A...store x..store x...Ramly store B...store x...store x...Ramly store C...store x...store x...store x...Ramly store D...store x......

Anyway, what has all this got to do with me? So the story goes that I was awoken by a knock on the door at 9.30am this morning and I was pleasantly surprised to find my neighbour standing outside with a BIG tray of food. Heh..heh...

This definitely woke me up! So now you know why i'm extremely concerned with Hari Raya. :)


Cookies & Cakes
Clockwise: pineapple tarts, almond cookies (my favourite), kueh lapis, butter cake, peanut sugar cookies


Lontong


Ketupak
These are steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves. There are three version here. Going clockwise starting with the usual squarish Ketupak (my favourite) wrapped in weaved banana leaves in the foreground, long Ketupak with beans mixed into the rice and triangular Ketupak (it tasted the same as the first one). So normally, I would cut some of these Ketupaks into smaller cubes and mixed it into the Longtong for a fuller meal.


Sweet Coconut Flakes
This is to be sprinkled onto the Longtong and the combined taste is heavenly!


Chilli Chicken


Chilli Prawns


Isn't it lovely to live in a multi-racial country?