Merdeka Open House 2013: Treasures From Sabah & Sarawak Round Up

This year Malaysia celebrated her 56th Independence Day but the establishment of Malaysian Federation was only marked on 16 September 1963. This day commemorates the day where Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore joined together to form Malaysia. This was the main reason why I've pushed the 8th Merdeka Open House to today in celebration of the union with the theme Treasures From Sabah & Sarawak. It's a pity as I did not push hard enough to email past participants to invite them to take part hence there is really just a handful of entries.

Just wished this could have been a real open house rather than a virtual one as I imagine how delicious it would be to taste dishes from Sabah and Sarawak as I've never been to that part of the country personally. I've heard so much of the cuisine from friends and relatives who have been there. For this open house, participants need to cook a special dish from Sabah or Sarawak and post up the recipe and a bit of write up about the dish.

So here's the round up:

My utmost supportive friends, Nate and Annie, from House of Annie, who were based in Kuching for a while but now back home in San Jose, California, USA. Nate mentioned that a friend had shown them how to make this Dabai Paste while they were still in Kuching. This "Sibu olives" is technically not a true olive but is only grown in central Sarawak around the town of Sibu. It's a pity that we might be able to taste this only in Sarawak as I was told these dabai doesn't last long when fresh hence it can never get travel out of the state. I know one day, yes one day, I will get to try some of these babies.

Ardent cook cum masterchef, Wendy (Table for 2 or... More) had submitted Fish with Iban Eggplant. The special eggplant was sent to her by a fellow blogger who resides in Sarawak. It is always great to see something new, what more than cooking something new and learn to love it too.

On my front end, I did 3 Borneo dishes for dinner in one shot and had a great time exploring the dishes and getting to know the dishes as well. The first is Ayam Likku which is literally galangal chicken, famous in Tawau. Surprisingly it turned out very delicious and I supposed if bake the chicken after cooking ala ayam percik would render a crispy skin :p but that would have been bastardising the recipe already!

Another surprisingly delish dish was this Sambal Bawang Kampu. Totally different from our usual sambal as this sambal does not have any chillies except for the fresh green chillies to be stirred fried with the spring onions. This recipe is a keeper.

Next, a recipe loved by Sarawakians using manicai. Simple and pretty straightforward, Stir Fried Manicai with Egg but absolutely tasted amazing.

Well, that's all for the round up for this edition of Merdeka Open House. Thank you for all the participants for submitting your entries for this virtual open house.

Check out the different themes from our previous round ups:

2006 - Malaysian Recipe Long Forgotten
2007 - Muhibbah
2008 - Mee and My Malaysia
2009 - My Sweet Malaysia
2010 - Food From Our Heart
2011 - Makan Through Malaysia
2012 - Uniquely Malaysia

Selamat Hari Merdeka & Selamat Hari Malaysia!

Merdeka Open House 2013: Stir-Fried Manicai with Eggs

Was first introduced to this Stir-Fried Manicai with Eggs in my earlier days of blogging when I used to stalk blogs belonged to Sarawakians. They were literally crazy over manicai which in Cantonese is shue tzai choy or in Malay cekur manis. One of them, Eddie who lives in USA literally have a box of these plants growing in his living room and he really took care of the plants like babies :p

I've never got around to cooking this dish cos preparing the vegetable is ermmm quite time consuming. The plucking and picking the leaves that is. I do love manicai in soups and especially so in pan meen. Hates it when they serve pan meen soup using substitute vegetables.

And so I did a bit of search and what more from a pretty lass with beautiful voice, Kelly Siew, who is a native of Bintulu. She had carefully listed down the steps to do with the leaves which I would never have known to salt the leaves to squeeze out the liquid before using. The reason for doing so is to get rid of the certain bitterness from the leaves.

Being the ever careless cook, I tend to forget to add ingredients hehe yeah even at work. Can you imagine the amount of times my boss would roll her eyes over this carelessness! And so I did the same with this dish which was so simple to make hahahaha... sighhh I've forgotten to add the water even though I've measured and place next to the pan, can you believe it? Darn fail!

Anyway the verdict from Capt'n Hook was good and I thought so too. I think I like my manicai slightly crunchy with a bite but would have gone if I had added the water. So in my recipe, I would say water is optional. You can even use chicken stock if you wish. I've also omitted chicken powder nor MSG since I don't use them in my cookings.

Stir-Fried Manicai with Eggs
Serves 2 - 4

200 g manicai (plucked weight)
1 Tbsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
50 ml water (optional)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp soy sauce

Pluck manicai leaves, wash and soak like the usual way you would do it. Drain and mix in the salt, tearing some of the leaves in between. Set aside for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the liquid from the manicai. Rinse out the leaves with a few washes of water and squeeze them dry another round. Set aside.

In a hot pan, heat up the oil. Add garlic and fry till fragrant. Stir in the manicai leaves. Add in water now if using. When it's quite dry, make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs. Let the eggs set before stirring them all together. Stir in soy sauce and mix evenly before dishing up.

This is my third entry for 8th Merdeka Open House 2013 Date & Theme: Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak.

Merdeka Open House 2013: Sambal Bawang Kampu

Out of the three dishes I've made for 8th Merdeka Open House 2013 Date & Theme: Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak, this Sambal Bawang Kampu came out unexpectedly delicious! Just that they're a tad salty so I've adjusted the recipe a little. This recipe also came from Her World CookBook Vol 78.

This sambal has no red chillies but aromatics like shallots, garlic and galangal. What's so unique is the sambal is stir fried with loads of spring onions (that's where the bawang name comes from) and green chillies! Kampu is actually Kampung!!!

I've used much less green chillies than I should but I really think the freshness of the green chillies add a whole lot more dimension to the dish. So essentially the spring onions and green chillies are the star of the dish together with the sambal. This is something that I will make again and again as Capt'n Hook seems to agree with me, other than too salty because of the sheer amount of dried shrimp, this dish is a winner.

Sambal Bawang Kampu
Serves 3 - 4

200 g spring onions, cut into 5 cm lengths
3 green chillies, slice thinly at an angle
50 g dried shrimp, wash and rinse until water is clear then soak for 30 mins
4 shallots (40 g), thinly sliced
1 cm galangal, minced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cm piece belacan (10 g), roasted
2 Tbsp tamarind water
1 tsp palm sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Heat oil in a pan and fry dried shrimps will lightly golden brown. Stir in galangal, garlic and shallots. Fry until fragrant. Crumble in the belacan and stir. Add tamarind water and palm sugar.

Add in green chillies and spring onion, stir to mix well quickly. Dish up and serve with rice immediately.

Merdeka Open House 2013: Ayam Likku

My first entry for 8th Merdeka Open House 2013 Date & Theme: Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak would be this Ayam Likku which is actually Galangal Chicken. I've first discovered this recipe in Her World Cook Book Vol 78 which has the theme Food Journey Across Malaysia.

This was introduced by Amber Chia who says that this Ayam Likku is a very famous dish from Tawau, Sabah. It's a traditional Bugis dish where the main ingredient is galangal (likku).

As I browsed through the ingredients, sounds simple enough to prepare. However, I was a bit concerned when it need to cook coconut milk with the chicken for 45 minutes... won't it split? As I was cooking, then I realised that the coconut milk was merely the liquid to get the chicken cooking and as it cooks, it actually turn into oil which in turns will saute the aromatics as it continues to cook. Brilliant I would say!

Capt'n Hook said this chicken was really delicious which is quite rare lol when it comes to my cooking as my low salt nature really turns him off! He loves how aromatic the gravy was. Anyway, I've reduced the recipe size using 2 chicken legs instead of 4. So the recipe is my take with observations and whatever not.

Ayam Likku (Galangal Chicken)
Serves 2 - 3

(A) Finely minced:
5 cm galangal
1 stalk lemongrass
2 cloves garlic
4 shallots (40 g)

2 chicken legs
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
125 ml thick coconut milk
1/2 Tbsp turmeric powder
Sugar & salt to taste

In a hot pan with lid, heat up the oil and saute (A) on medium high heat until the aromatics are properly fried through and smells fragrant (takes about 15 - 20 mins).

Pour in coconut milk and turmeric powder, mix in well. Season with salt and sugar (remember to taste). Slip in the chicken legs and coat them evenly with the mixture in the pan. Cover the pan and simmer on low heat.

You'll need to stir and scrape the aromatics at the bottom of the pan to prevent burning and sticking every now and then. To add a little colour to the chicken skin, do cook them skin down and turn them around when done.

I've used free range chicken so the cooking time was about 25 minutes. Serve hot with rice. Yums!

Last Day of Submission for 8th Merdeka Open House 2013

Just a gentle reminder that today is the last day of submission for The 8th Merdeka Open House 2013 Date & Theme: Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak. Dead line is midnight but as usual late comers are welcome as well, will slot in when I can.

Thank you ;-)

Announcing The 8th Merdeka Open House 2013 Date & Theme: Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak

My apologies for the long silence after the intense posts on Zespri 14-Days Challenge. Not only need to recharge but it was school holidays which is usually the busiest time for me. Also for the absolute silence on this year's Merdeka Open House. Nope, I did not forget nor neglect this yearly virtual open house held in conjunction with the Independence Day in Malaysia.

Map sourced from Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_map_of_Malaysia.svg

We are celebrating 56 years of independence this year and I was thinking what theme we have not explored. We have done long forgotten recipes, Muhibbah themed dishes, noodles, sweets, food from our hearts, eating thru Malaysia and uniquely Malaysia. So what's next? As I was pondering over this... it just suddenly strikes my mind, why not something to do with our Eastern sisters from the Borneo Island. How about celebrating this Merdeka Open House on Malaysia Day which falls on 16th September with the theme Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak???

From wikipedia:

Malaysia Day is held on September 16 every year to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia. The formation of the new federation was planned to occur on June 1, 1963, but was later postponed to August 31, 1963, in order to coincide with the sixth Hari Merdeka. Several issues related to the Indonesian and the Filipino objection to the formation of Malaysia delayed the declaration to September 16 of the same year. The postponement was also done to allow the United Nations team time to conduct referendums in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak regarding the two states participation in a new federation.

I think will be great honour to do this year's Merdeka Open House on Malaysia Day. I was really worried like goshhh what am I going to cook up, where the heck to get sago worms? hahaha freaking out a little but it's all good. There are many dishes from Sabah & Sarawak ranging from Sarawak Laksa, Kek Lapis, Umai, Ambuyat, Hinava, Konpia, Pansoh Manok, Pinasakan, Kolok Mee etc. So there are many dishes we people in West Malaysia will get to play masak-masak with.

We would like to hear why did you choose the dish, give a little introduction of the dish (well whatever research you can rake up online but make sure it's at least trustable). You'll need to post up the recipe as well to share with us and the rest of the world and as usual photo(s) is a must! 

All Malaysians, local and abroad, are eligible to participate. Spouses married to Malaysians are encouraged too submit their entries too ;-)

What you need to do:

1. For this theme, you will need to cook a local dish uniquely found in East Malaysia. We would love you to introduce the dish to the world by telling us about the dish, and why did you pick this dish. We do not just want recipes and photos BUT would love to hear a beautiful story.
2. Take a picture of your dish, type in your write-up and the recipe (if you have one, otherwise your ingredients and method would suffice if you're the guesstimate/agak-agak type). Do stick to traditional recipe without any shortcuts or replacement of ingredients to make it modern or fusion but it is all right for overseas participants due to limited ingredients. This open house is something for us to cherish our wonderful roots and we hope we could preserve the recipes that our ancestors have hand down.
3. Post it up in your blog between 6th - 12th September 2013 to ease me in rounding up by 16th September.
4. All entries must reach me by 12th September 2013, midnight Malaysian time at babe_kl(@)yahoo(dot)com. Our virtual party will be on 16th September 2013 (Monday). In your email, attach a picture of your dish (minimum 500x375 pixels) and please state the following details:
   
   Name or nick
   Location
   Permalink/URL of your post
   Name of the dish

If you do not own a blog but wish to participate, kindly do your write up and send it together with the picture to me. I’ll post it up for you.

I can't wait for your submissions and participation. Do help to spread the word around so that we have more Malaysians taking part in this event. Thank you :D

I guess I would also need to kick my lazy bump to start off my Facebook Page so that there will be a special round out in there which could be fun with interactive comments.

A recap of our previous years' themes:

2006 - Malaysians Recipe Long Forgotten

2007 - Muhibbah

2008 - Mee and My Malaysia

2009 - My Sweet Malaysia

2010 - Food From Our Hearts

2011 - Makan Through Malaysia

2012 - Uniquely Malaysia

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!

Uniquely Malaysia: Bubur Lambuk Ayam

Here's my entry for Merdeka Open House 2012: Uniquely Malaysia... Bubur Lambuk Ayam (Spicy Chicken Rice Congee). As I've mentioned in the Ramadhan recipe - Bubur Lambuk Ayam courtesy of Chef Fazli of Makan Kitchen, Doubletree by Hilton; Bubur Lambuk is a dish that is hard to forget. Once you've tasted it, you'll crave for more. This rice congee dish usually gets very popular during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan. The local community will congregate at the nearby mosques and cook up huge pots of this spicy rice congee to be distributed around to be served during breaking fast.

I was lucky to have tasted the famous version distributed by Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru and that was before it was crowned Bubur Lambuk Agong by the late Sultan Salahuddin of Selangor! Whilst I was researching on the net, it seems like different states would have their own version of Bubur Lambuk. Terengganu's version have shredded leafy herbs added, while the northern states like Kedah would have seafood added. Johor's version has dried shrimps and vegetables added.



The recipe is very simple, just like normal way of making rice congee, just that need to fry up the aromatics and spices before adding the rice and water. I've tried to use Chef Fazli's recipe but as I was measuring up the amount of spices, I find that it was wayyy too much for our tastebud. So I've reduced the spices and increased the rice in order to serve up a recipe for 3 - 4 servings. Traditionally beef is used but it's a hard to source ingredient in my area so I've used chicken instead.



So here's my take of Bubur Ayam Lambuk which Capt'n Hook and BoiBoi gave thumbs up. The aromatic and spices taste was just nice and not overpowering. Just like how I've remembered it to be ;-)

Bubur Lambuk Ayam
3 - 4 servings 

220 g rice, washed and drained
300 g minced chicken, mix in a pinch of salt and white pepper
2 Tbsp oil 

(A)
60 g (1 medium sized) onion, sliced into thin half rings
3 cloves (20 g) garlic, chopped
2 cm (20 g) young ginger, shred thinly
2 lemongrass, bruised 

(B)
1/2 Tbsp (20 g) star anise
20 g cinnamon sticks
1/2 Tbsp (20 g) cardamon, pound a little to release the seeds
1/2 Tbsp (20 g) cloves
1/2 Tbsp (20 g) corriander seeds
2 Tbsp oil 

1.5 Litres water
4 x 250 ml hot water (depends on the rate your type of rice absorbs water)
100 ml thick coconut milk
Salt and grounded white pepper, to taste
A pinch of sugar 

Garnish:
40 g fried shallots
30 g Chinese celery (daun sup/ketumbar), sliced finely
30 g spring onion, sliced finely
20 g red chilli, optional 

In a pot, pour in 2 Tbsp oil. Once heat up, add in the minced chicken. Fry till the meat is lightly browned. Loosen the meat when you stir them along. Dish up and set aside. 

In the same pot, add in remaining 2 Tbsp oil. Fry (A) until fragrant and onion a little brown on the edges before adding (B). Stir and fry till the spices are aromatic before adding the rice. Stir to mix well. Pour in the 1.5 litres water. 

Let it come to a boil before turning down the heat to medium low. Stir occasionally to prevent from sticking at the bottom. Now, the tricky part... once you noticed the water is almost dry down, pour in 250 ml of hot water. Continue to do this and add water until the rice is all broken up ala Cantonese style. I have to do this 4 times in total. The family prefer thick congee so that's how I've cooked mine. So you'll have to adjust the water level according to your liking. There's no hard or fast rules for cooking rice congee. In between adding the water, add in the cooked minced chicken. Adjust seasonings accordingly. 

Towards the end, just remember to keep a close watch and stir the congee once in a while. Once done, turn off the heat and serve while it's hot. Topped with garnishes before serving.

Reminder: Last Day Of Submission for Merdeka Open House 2012

Last reminder... cut off time for submission is today's at midnight . This year's theme is Uniquely Malaysia!

Merdeka Open House 2012: 3 More Days

Sorry for not doing much to promote this year's event as one know it's the Raya and school holidays season. I think this year's event might see the lowest number of entries but it doesn't really matters huh when the spirit is there.

Just a reminder, 3 more days to go to submit your entry. This year's theme is Uniquely Malaysia!

Announcing 7th Merdeka Open House 2012 Theme

Sorry guys, I know a little late... in conjunction with 55th Independence in Malaysia, yes, we shall honour it with true Malaysian style... open house... albeit a virtual one :p

I've gone through my previous posts on Merdeka Open House and there was one suggestion in a poll that caught my eyes. I gave it some thought and well why not??? Since there's always "fights" with our neighbouring countries about the origin of the food... so let's get on with it and lay claims to those food that we know where it originated. Well we can't claim it to be Malaysian 100% as ingredients used are very similar, not helping when we have migrants all over Asia centuries ago either but at least shall we identify that they're uniquely Malaysian? Yes that's it.... the theme is Uniquely Malaysia!!!

Do give the theme a thought of something that is very unique in Malaysia that you know that is only available in our country. Off hands I could think of a few items already such as Char Koay Teow, Hokkien Mee (both Penang and blackened fried ones), Gerang Asam, all the delish laksas from various states (omgs yummy), kek lapis Sarawak, Teluk Intan chee cheung fun, akok, satar, cendol??? Initially I did have my doubts but as I typed in the examples... they just came rolling!

We would love to have the dish introduced and why is it so uniquely Malaysian. You will have to post up the recipe to share with the rest of the world and of course photo is a must. So remember, it's not just recipes and photo but also some words about the dish and how it relates to you.

All Malaysians, local and abroad, are eligible to participate. Spouses married to Malaysians are encouraged too submit their entries too ;-)

What you need to do:

1. For this theme, you will need to cook a local dish uniquely found in Malaysia. We would love you to introduce the unique dish to the world by telling us about the dish, and how the dish relates to you. We do not just want recipes and photos BUT would love to hear a beautiful story.
   
2. Take a picture of your dish, type in your write-up and the recipe (if you have one, otherwise your ingredients and method would suffice if you're the guesstimate/agak-agak type). Do stick to traditional recipe without any shortcuts or replacement of ingredients to make it modern or fusion but it is all right for overseas participants due to limited ingredients. This open house is something for us to cherish our wonderful roots and we hope we could preserve the recipes that our ancestors have hand down.
   
3. Post it up in your blog between 20th - 28th August 2012 to ease me in rounding up by 31st August.
   
4. All entries must reach me by 28th August 2012, midnight Malaysian time at babe_kl(@)yahoo(dot)com. Our virtual party will be on 31st August 2012. In your email, attach a picture of your dish (minimum 500x375 pixels) and please state the following details:
   
   Name or nick
   Location
   Permalink/URL of your post
   Name of the dish

If you do not own a blog but wish to participate, kindly do your write up and send it together with the picture to me. I’ll post it up for you.

I can't wait for your submissions and participation. Anyway, please help to spread the word around so that we have more Malaysians taking part in this event. Thank you :D

A recap of our previous years' themes:

2006 - Malaysians Recipe Long Forgotten

2007 - Muhibbah

2008 - Mee and My Malaysia

2009 - My Sweet Malaysia

2010 - Food From Our Hearts

2011 - Makan Through Malaysia

Merdeka Open House 2009: My Sweet Malaysia Round up

Updated 14 Sept 2009

Erina from Penang of Sembang and Talk, made this Red Bean Soup but she added a special ingredient inside which is alkaline dumpling. My mom does this too! It makes the soup super smooth and the chewy dumpling bits added great texture to the soup. Yeah this is a late entry due to streamyx issue. Thanks Erina for the effort even though you're so busy now.

------------------------


Updated 12:31pm

I'm so daft hahaha I've put in everyone's entries except mine!!! So here we go I added mine right at the end.

------------------------

Just like our previous open house, let's pay respect to our country first by singing the 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


This is the fourth installment of Merdeka Open House that I've hosted. I'm glad that I soldiered on this year even though I was a bit lazy earlier and now I'm really swamped with work. It's really crazy busy!

For our first open house, we came up with the theme Recipe Long Forgotten where we made recipes of our grandparents era. The subsequent year we have a Muhibbah themed affair. Last year we have a fantastic Mee and My Malaysia with a record of 27 entries.

This year we're going on a very sweet theme of My Sweet Malaysia. Actually I would really apologise for choosing this theme without knowing there will be a shortage of sugar in the country. It's funny but I guess someone's hoarding the load to inflate the price for the start of our festive seasons.

Without further adieu, let's sweeten up this 52nd Independence Day (Hari Merdeka Ke-52) with the following entries that I've received...

FoodnTravella of Kuala Lumpur made some Sweet & Colorful Glutinous Rice Balls for the occasion. In Cantonese, they're known as Tong Yuen or for the Nyonya it's Kuih Ee. These glutinous rice balls are served with sugar syrup. Do check FoodnTravella's version of the colourful glutinous rice balls.

Jin Hooi who is residing in Melbourne owns Smell & Taste Are My Memory attempted Ondeh-ondeh. I love how I could stuff one whole ondeh-ondeh inside my mouth waiting for the burst of gula melaka!




Lianne of Imbi n Itchy has recently married and shifted to Ahaus, Germany came up with a beautiful Honeycomb Cake. I tell ya, it's not easy to achieve the honeycomb texture but she had done it so well. Atta girl!



Alice hails from Malaysia and blogs at Bits of Taste. She concocted our fave dessert of Sago Gula Melaka. It's hard to say no to this dessert of pearly grains topped with thick gula melaka syrup and creamy fresh coconut milk.



We have our second Onde-onde recipe submitted. Sam residing in Adelaide, Australia blogs at Come Have a Bite made these lovely chewy textured balls coated with grated coconut with a melted gula melaka filling.



Nyonya Food is a very young blog even though it's owner has been blogging at a different blog for years. She's very famous and this Penang lass stays in Irvine, CA, USA. Yes, I know she hardly make sweet stuff but I can count on her to cook up something for My Sweet Malaysia. She submitted one of Malaysian's favourite tong shui (sweet soup), Bee Koh Moy (Bubur Pulut Hitam).




Another USA resident but from Pennsylvania, Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets submitted Kuih Koci. This kuih is wrapped individually with banana leave and once you open the parcel, you'll find the kuih of glutinous rice flour with a gula melaka flavoured grated coconut filling.


Tummywise from Penang cooked up a delish looking Kaya, a spread made of coconut milk and eggs. Seriously, I could hardly find anyone who makes their own kaya these days as it's rather tedious to keep stirring the concoction for hours :P since we could easily buy them off the shelves but of course homemade ones can't beat the commercial kaya. Well done Tummywise!

Sam of Adelaide, Australia sent me a second submission. This round she made a Kuih Bakar. I'm not really a kuih fan but I liked this kuih bakar. Perhaps the action of baking make it really fragrant coupled with the usage of pandan juice got me hooked.


I would like to apologise to Little Chef of Yau Tuck Sek from Kuala Lumpur for rejecting her entry earlier as her Mama's Moist Chocolate Cake is not something traditional. I was in a dilemma actually but what the heck, we'll accept this huh in the spirit of Merdeka. This is her Ma Ma's recipe which looked so simple to make, perhaps I should try this one of these days.


Ching of Little Corner of Mine resides in Colorado Springs, CO, USA, made everybody's favourite Red Bean Soup but her version have homemade glutinous rice balls also known as tong yuen which add a rather Q texture to the soup.


I tell ya, I always look forward to Kong Kay's submission cos he always spring me surprises. Who can forget the year he submitted the sago worms??? That post was a hit with foreign bloggers! Kong Kay from Kuching made a very very apt dish this time to celebrate Malaysia's 52nd birthday. A T'nee Mee Sua (Sweet Longevity Tread Noodle) is basically mee sua served in sugar syrup with red hard boiled egg. According to him, this noodle is a traditionally served to the elders in Hokkien households where the daughter-in-law would need to cook this up in the morning and serve it ala tea ceremony. Do hop over to his blog to view the step-by-step guide to make this special dish.


Thanks to Sugar & Spice for kicking my butt this year to make this open house a success. If not for her, I would just let this year go by just like that. Sugar & Spice from Kuala Lumpur blogs at Masala Heaven made a very delicious and creamy Kulfi. Seriously, I never realise Kulfi is so easy to make!!! Do you think this will be nicer if made in an ice-cream maker? I've been itching to lay my hands on one of this machines!


Dedicated mummy, Sue Momster from Kuala Lumpur who blogs at Cookingmomster made these beautiful Kuih Gula Hangus (Steamed Caramel Cakes). I can imagine sinking my teeth into these soft cakes with sweet caramel taste.


Reese from Boston sent me the recipe for Kek Pisang (Banana Bread) which I've posted on my blog on her behalf. Thanks Reese for the lovely looking loaves.


From Vancouver, BC, Canada, Angie of Sea Salt With Food cooked up Bubur Ca Ca. Bubur Ca Ca is another Malaysian favourite tong shui (sweet soup). Capt'n Hook will be crazy enough to drive to Pulau Tikus, Penang for a bowl!





Hahaha Sam of Come Have a Bite equalled my record with 4 entries! She made two tong shuis (sweet soup) - Sweet Potatoes Soup and Bubur Cha Cha! Thanks Sam for being such a sport ;-). I hope you can break this record next year!


Newly wed Daphne from Perth, Australia who blogs at More Than Words made Bubor Char Char as well. Told ya it's a Malaysian favourite, so good enough that there were a total of 3 entries!


Pei-Lin who was studying in USA but should be back home in time for Merdeka celebration blogs at Dodol & Mochi. I'm impressed that she took the effort to make Tambun Biscuits (Tau Sar Beng). I guess when you're overseas and crave for some, the only way is to make them yourself huh but for us who stays in the country really take these widely available biscuits for granted heh :p


By now Nate and Annie from House of Annie should be settling down in Kuching. I can't imagine how they manage to cough up with a Honeydew Sago dessert in the midst of packing. I guess it must be so hot that they have to make one to cool themselves down. Well, I wish both of them great new adventures especially in terms of the discovery of Sarawakian food.







Baking Quinn who is currently in Adelaide, Australia made it just in time for the event. She blogs at Quinn's Baking Diary. She submitted two entries. One of them is Angku Kuih in the shape of Disney's characters! She uses her Peranakan grandmother's recipe. The next entry is Kuih Seri Muka which is basically steamed coconut milk infused glutinous rice topped with a sweet pandan custard. I recently tasted a good Seri Muka at my cousin's wedding party, she got them from Lulu Kueh (you can find the kiosks at various malls).


Lisa all the way from Netherlands of Lekker lekker lekkerste made one of my fave kuih raya - Kuih Makmur. I liked it just the way she did... the pleasure of the sweet melt-in-the mouth dough followed by the exploding texture of crushed peanuts!








On my side, I've made my favourite kind of doughnut, Kuih Keria that is made up of sweet potatoes. For prosperity, I've cooked up a pot of 8 Treasure Tong Shui (Sweet Soup), something very different from the ordinary red or green beans.


Thank you to all participants for being such a sport to cook up such a feast. To the readers who feasted their eyes on our virtual open house, thanks for coming by. Till the next installment of Merdeka Open House, Selamat Hari Merdeka to all Malaysians.



Note: I've merely crop your pics into squares so that they looked uniform. Hope you don't mind.





Technorati Tag: merdeka open house 2009

Merdeka Open House 2009: Entry is Closed

All right, entries to Merdeka Open House 2009 is officially closed. However, if you've already made your sweet little something, you could still send them to me by today. I won't guarantee that it will be posted together with the earlier entries that I've received as it takes time to prepare the round up. They might be posted up later but I'll try to include them all before the open house. Email me your entries ASAP!!!

Thanks. Do come back and feast your eyes on all the sweet treats on the 31st!

My Sweet Malaysia: Kek Pisang (Banana Bread)

I'm posting this on behalf of Reese Darragh who is residing in Boston, MA. Reese is submitting a Kek Pisang (Banana Bread) which is best served with Kopi O or Teh Tarik.



Actually I can't decide whether to admit this or not cos from the look of it, the cake doesn't look like our local Kek Pisang but since Reese is such a sport, I decided to accept this entry since I've always been flexible about this. Thanks Reese for participating and I hope you'll contribute next year, perhaps this would entice you to start a blog soon :p

Kek Pisang (Banana Bread)

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter
* 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 5-6 overripe bananas, mashed
* 3/4 cup of chopped walnut
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 8-cup mini loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and dark brown sugar. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Add chopped walnuts into batter. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan, then turn out onto a wire rack.

My Sweet Malaysia: 8 Treasure Tong Shui (Sweet Soup)

I just made this today, so I decided to include this for Merdeka Open House as well. It's my first time making this after tasting it at Zun Kitchenette. It's basically a tong shui (sweet soup) that consists of 8 different type of ingredients to signify a prosperous ending to a meal.

The 8 types of ingredients I've used were red beans, green beans, black eye peas, pearl barley, gingko nuts, dried longans, lotus seeds, and sago pearls. May our country Malaysia will prosper and the citizens continue to live harmoniously and peacefully.

8 Treasure Tong Shui

100g red beans
100g green beans
100g black eye peas
100g pearl barley
150g gingko nuts
150g dried longans
1 rice bowl full of lotus seeds, soak with hot water for 20 mins and remove stems when soften
20-30g sago pearls
water
rock sugar to taste

Boil red beans, green beans, black eye peas and lotus seeds with about 2" amount of water above the beans. Simmer in low heat until they are almost soften before adding longan, gingko nuts and pearl barley; taking care to add more hot water when it dries up.

When all ingredients are softened, add more hot water until to the level you prefer your tong shui to be, either thick or thin. I liked mine half ingredients, half water. Add in rock sugar to taste (you can use normal sugar). Turn off fire and serve hot.

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

My Sweet Malaysia: Kuih Keria

I was kinda proud when I decided on the theme for this year's Merdeka Open House. I thought it would be so easy to simply pick any of the lavish sweet traditional spread we have in Malaysia but how wrong I was. Well, all due to so many things I could cook up but I tell ya, it's not easy to decide on which recipe... decisions, decisions, decisions!

Anyway I ended up making Kuih Keria, one of my favourite local "doughnut", the other being the simple fried up dough with castor sugar coating which we can find in our local market or hawker stalls. Kuih Keria is doughnut shaped kuih made of 4 ingredients that are sweet potatoes, self-raising flour, baking powder and sugar for coating. Simple as that... usually the yellow variety of sweet potatoes are being used but this smart alec decided to make some multi-coloured ones just to spice up the entry.



I bought some purple, orange and yellow (well, I thought it was yellow but after steaming they still look whitish!!!) sweet potatoes just to experiment. After steaming them separately, I mashed them up. I find the orange version is easist to mash and it's soft plus very moist where else the other two were kinda dry. I had to add a little water to bind the dough up. After frying them up, I noticed the orange ones puffed up nicely but the other two retained it's original shape.



The original Kuih Keria usually have a hardened sugar syrup coating but I find them too sweet, hence I just coat mine with caster sugar.





The test bunnies only gave praise to the orange version and I know Capn't Hook would loved to throw the other 2 versions at the wall to see if they could make any dents on the wall hehe. So I should know better to adhere to the experts (recipe/cookbook writers) by using the said ingredient instead of pandai-pandai (cleverly) modifying them to my fancy.

Kuih Keria

300g yellow or orange sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
120g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups oil for deep frying
Caster sugar for sprinkling

1. Place the cubed sweet potatoes on a plate and steam until soft, about 15 mins. mash them, removing and discarding any fibre.

2. Placed the mashed sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl. Combine with self raising flour and baking powder. Knead into a soft dough.

3. Divide dough into 30g pieces. Dust hands lightly with flour and roll each dough piece into a round blall. Flatten it slightly with the back of your hand until it's about 7cm large. Slowly using your finger to poke a hole through and fashion dough into a ring. Set aside. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

4. Heat oil in a wok over medium-high fire. When smoking hot, add dough rings in batches. Deep fry for 5-8 mins or until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towel.

5. Sprinkle caster sugar over and serve hot.

Do wait up and come back on Merdeka Day for the round up of all recipes submitted for this year's Merdeka Open House!

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

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