Merdeka Open House 2012: Uniquely Malaysia Round Up

This year, Malaysia celebrates her 55th Independence Day which is also known as Hari Kebangsaan or Merdeka in the national language of Malay. We are proud to host the 7th installment of the annual virtual open house - Merdeka Open House.

As with the other years, let's pay respect to the country by starting off with our national anthem, NegaraKu.

NEGARAKU

Negaraku
Tanah tumpahnya darahku
Raykat hidup
Bersatu dan maju
Rahmat bahagia
Tuhan kurniakan
Raja kita
Selamat bertakhta
Rahmat bahagia
Tuhan kurniakan
Raja kita
Selamat bertakhta

Just like the past 6 years, a theme is selected and this year's theme happened to be Uniquely Malaysia. Participants just need to post up something they have cooked together with the recipe based on this theme. Other than that they'll need to write up about this dish and how it relates to them. This year's theme has to be something that is only found in Malaysia... well not something that other countries could lay claim that it belong to them. It's hard to lay a hand on food or dishes as the country has migrants from all over the world especially from around Asian region. They tend to bring along their knowledge, spices and goods with them. Best part is they marry them with the local items.

It's a difficult topic to argue about but we do certainly have quite a number of dishes that we can claim to be uniquely Malaysian. As I've mentioned in the announcement, some of the examples are Char Koay Teow, cendol, Teluk Intan Chee Cheung Fun, akok and the list could go on and on.

I would like to apologise first as the entries submitted for this year are just a handful. My mistake for announcing this late and I did not promote it hard enough like what I did last year. I will have to kick myself to buck up next year!

Without delaying, here are the dishes submitted for this year's open house, yummeh!

Wendy, the famous masterchef from Perak, Malaysia who blogs at Table For 2... Or More sent in a delicious Durian Cendol Melaka. It's something that we can't resist each time we step foot in Malacca. Fine shave of ice topped with delicious red beans, cendol, coconut milk and durian palm sugar, the best concoction ever on a hot day!

The ever supportive Alice of Jom Makan from Kuala Lumpur shared with us her adaptation of a delicious Yam Cake. I love yam cake but I'm kinda picky cos I only like those packed with yam. So homemade ones are the way to go. Do check out Alice's yam packed recipe

Next up we have sort of like our national dish of Malaysia, Nasi Lemak with Sambal Ikan Bilis & Petai, contributed by Sue Momster of Kajang, Selangor. Sue blogs at Cooking Momster. Well Nasi Lemak can't be unique since our neighbouring country has their own version but Sambal Ikan Bilis cooked with Petai certainly can. Petai is also known as stinky bean is something of an acquired taste but if you really like it like me, you'll definitely agree with me that sambal ikan bilis & petai would be something that will bring nasi lemak to another level.

Husband and wife team, Nate and Annie from House of Annie, now resides in Kuching, Sarawak. Now... their submission of Durian Flowers with Sambal Belacan is something really unique eh? Apparently durian flowers doesn't smell anything like durian but just like any other fragrant flower. If you're in Sarawak when these flowers are in season, make sure you do try them out.

3hungrytummies from Melbourne, Australia, submitted a dish definitely fits the bill. Back in the old days where chinchalok is not freely available on the shelves, we only get to savour them whenever it was given to my parents as buah tangan (gift). The submission of Chinchalok Relish with Shallot, Chili and Lime really brought back lots of memories. I also love Chinchalok Omelette!

Shannon of Malaysia of Just as Delish sent in 2 entries. Yippeee...! The first is actually my favourite of Gerang Asam (Spicy & Sour Curry Fish). This is a famous Malaccan Nyonya dish that I can eat bowls of rice because the spicy and sour gravy is so appetising.

Shannon's second dish is Nasi Ulam. I know a lot of people love Nasi Ulam just that it requires a good knife skill to shred the herbs really really fine. Quite tedious to prepare actually even though the recipe is simple. I teaches this dish in Kampung Cuisine theme at Bayan Indah... whenever I demonstrate how the herbs ought to be shredded, you can see the participants eyes rolling around haha.

Lastly my own submission of Bubur Lambuk Ayam to cap it all. This spicy chicken rice congee dish usually makes its appearance during the fasting month of Ramadhan. A congee of spices with coconut milk, it's certainly very special indeed as compared to the Chinese style congee.

That's the round up for our Merdeka Open House. Just a handful but I'm glad I managed to host it again this year albeit a little rush. I must really buck up for next year. Maybe we might want to do something different instead huh. Thank you to all the participants for submitting your entries for this virtual open house. Looking forward to the next one ;-) As I was rushing this out, do let me know if I've made any mistakes or missed out your post ok.

If you think this event is interesting, you might want to check out our previous round ups:

2006 - Malaysian Recipe Long Forgotten
2007 - Muhibbah
2008 - Mee and My Malaysia
2009 - My Sweet Malaysia
2010 - Food From Our Hearts

2011 - Makan Through Malaysia

Selamat Hari Merdeka!