SUE-ON'S KITCHEN
APRIL V: 2013
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Bill and I spent April and May in Malysia, Singapore, Thailand, and China.
I did very little cooking during that time but we ate very well.
I photographed and documented many of the exotic dishes we ate.
Some of these dishes are shared on the April and May pages. . .
and many of the recipes are now in my favourite foods files section in my personal recipe book.
.Family Feasts in Yan, Malaysia
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Edah's family eat traditional style - on the floor.
No worries about dropping food off the table ;-)
I also enjoy enjoy eating with my fingers - definitely finger-licking activity!
This is the "wet kitchen". There is another one behind where I took the picture from.
It's the non-cooking kitchen. The wet one has gas stove and loads of counter space.
Normally, Kerry and Edah live here with the maid when they are here.
Other family members often come for gatherings.
Edah says they have had up to 100 from her mother's side after Ramadan!!!
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The "Blues Brothers" in the second kitchen
where they make coffee, cold drinks, toast, serve sweets, cut up fruit, etc.
The green mangoes at the back are from Kerry and Edah's grounds and
are actually ready to eat - bright orange colour and sweet :-)
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Here's my plate! This is the first time I've eaten okra whole.
I think they knew I love bitter melon, so it was one of the vegetables served.
The fish on the left are little mackerels that are fresh off the fishing boat,
rubbed with tumeric and salt, then fried in oil until crispy. YUM!
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Mashed banana fritters - called cekodok
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Lunch:
Shrimp 'n' curry, chicken, water spinach, deep fried anchovies, rice.
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These prawns were beautiful - big, sweet, and perfect for Kung Po Shrimp.
I picked up 3 kg for 30 ringets = $10.00 CAD!
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One weekend, I got the run of the kitchen!
Got up at 7 am to start preparing vegetables, meats, and started cooking about noon.
I had quite an audience as these dishes were new to the family.
Didn't take long before they lent a hand in
breading beef for ginger beef, the chciken for sesame chicken.
The miad had shelled and cleaned the 3 kg of giant prawns
and 3 kg of smaller shrimp for me.
The kitchen has gas stoves and is well in stocked pots and woks.
I was a happy cooker ; -)
Having the maids for clean-up was great too!
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We laid the dishes out on the dining room table and
called the family to gather around to fill their plates
Brother Edan with some of the nieces start to tuck into the food . . .
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More of the family gather . . .
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And even more . . .
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These are the smaller shrimp I picked up at the market.
I had two platters of each dish. Edah's kitchen has walls of cupboards,
and they are ALL full of dishes and serving dishes of every size imaginable!
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Ok...my one failure out of all those dishes. . . LOL!
Dessert was a bit firmer than planned.
I always made mango pudding at home with canned mango puree.
Of course they would NOT have canned puree here,
so we brought back 3 KG of mangoes from our trip to Thailand
- considered the sweetest kind.
With the family being Muslim, I could not use Knor's gelatine,
so I substitued with agar powder, which I hadn't used before.
I also forgot that mangoes, like kiwi, have enzymes that prevent gelling
unless the fruit is first cooked.
After 2 hours, I realized my mistake, so cooked the mixture. OMG!
It gelled in one hour - to rubber ball firmess. LOL!
It was finger food instead of pudding, but the flavour was still delicious,
especially dipped in condensed milk ;-)
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Edah, elder sister Kakpah
(who cooked for us everyday for breakfast, dinner, and evening snacks),
and I got to eat together - a wonderful family!
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A few days later I attended a betrothal ceremony for Edah's nephew.
After the presentations and clarification of the rest of the dowry,
one of the uncles led a prayer before the food was placed in front of the guests.
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Men and women were set apart.
We ladies sat towards the back of the room.
The fans helped to keep us cool, and there were 'teapots' of water
to wash our hands before and after eating.
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There were many plates of food distributed all along in front of the guests,
so no one had to reach far.
One of the local ladies asked if I would like a sppon...hrumph!
No...I will eat with my fingers like the rest ;-)
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Afterwards, the helpers got to eat.
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This elaborate tiffin was used to send food home
with the groom's family after the celebration.
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Not all of our Asia 2013 adventure involved food. . . we did a few other things.
See:
Malaysia ~ Singapore ~ Thailand
China
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