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Kuih-muih

1 September 2009 6 Comments

Kuih-muih: celorot, sampan, bongkol and koci

The fasting month is proceeding apace. This year, I have three children fasting from dawn to dusk, Munirah is fasting from dawn till when she returns from school, and Najihah is fasting from breakfast all the way to lunch. With so many earnest young fasters, the iftar spread is of vital importance to bolster their thinly-spread iman. So every evening on my way home from work, I stop by our friendly neighborhood bazaar/pasar for goodies.

All the specialties of the season are on display: fancy sweets, colorful drinks, pan-fried stingrays. The market is packed for hours before sunset; not even swine flu can keep them away. Several stalls sell the triumvirate of fast-breaking drinks : Air kelapa, sugarcane juice, and soy milk. Of the three, our household prefers the fresh-pressed sugarcane, dark dark green with a grassy flavor to the sweetness.

Malaysian sweets – kuih – are almost all made from the same few ingredients, but little differences in preparation and presentation result in dozens of variations and permutations on the theme. The packaging is amazing – leaves of banana, pandan, coconut and others are cleaned, cut and wrapped into distinctive shapes, often fastened with a small pin made of bamboo or lidi. Some of our favorites are tapai nasi, bongkol, tako jagung, celorot, koci, and kuih sampan (I think).

For many of the kuih, the wrapping is part of the recipe. The tako jagung (santan over agar-agar with corn in the middle) is wrapped in a pandan box, which gives flavor and aroma as you spoon it out. The bongkol is wrapped in a banana leaf that is smoked first, given a smoky flavor to the creamy santan, sago flour and gula apong mixture inside. The celorot is wrapped in a coconut leaflet in such a way that you can press the base and it will squeeze out the top – like a push-up ice-cream.

It is quite a change from my Michigan Ramadans where I survived on bread, zaatar, labne, olives and 5-litre bottles of olive oil – all but unavailable here. But perhaps diet is best suited to climate and this is how we do it at 1 Degree North Latitude.

6 Comments »

dawood said:

Ramadan karim to you and your family! And I have to say, it looks like you have a number of veritable treats to choose from, nothing beats those freshly made… no wonder children (and those of us young at heart) enjoy fasting so much!

# 2 September 2009 at 3:03 am

nnydd said:

Is kuih sampan similar to kuih limas (called kuih tepung pelita elsewhere outside Perak)?

We used to enjoy tako until doubt seeps in on whether the jelly is made using halal-certified sources or not. We have abstained from buying anything that has jelly, and fish balls/cakes too (e.g. fried mee, beehoon, kuay teow, char kuay teow etc) unless we are completely certain of its source. I would ask the seller what type/brand of jelly or fish balls/cakes they use. I was surprised that most sellers dont care or dont think the use of Halal-certified product is of utmost importance, despite, being in Malaysia, having the choice to do so.

# 2 September 2009 at 11:02 am

bingregory (author) said:

I haven’t had kuih limas, but the kuih sampan (which might not be the proper name) is a layer of creamy santan + flour mixture laying over a thin layer of gula apong. Basically the same as what is inside the kuih bongkol, minus the smokey banana leaf flavor. (Most of the traditional Sarawakian kuih use apong instead of gula malacca. It’s less sweet.)

# 2 September 2009 at 9:57 pm

MaryamH said:

hmm tapai..i’m not sure if its halal, because its made of fermented rice, and if left for a certain time it will form alcohol. might want to check up on that since i’m not sure about the exact details.

# 8 September 2009 at 10:16 am

nnydd said:

I hope MaryamH could read Malay:

http://www.brunet.bn/gov/mufti/alhadaf/janmar05/index6al.htm

# 9 September 2009 at 3:47 pm

sabiwabi said:

At one degree north latitude, I would definitely have my Snoopy Snowcone Machine with me at all times.

LOL.

# 16 September 2009 at 10:41 pm

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