Selamat Hari Raya

Hi blog. I think it is still ok to wish Selamat Hari Raya to anybody who's reading this blog.
This year eid was very hectic and tiring for me. Every preparation works was done by me and a little helped from my siblings. Even though they are living nearby, but they too have house to be settled.

Starting from Thursday, I started to clean house, bought new fresh flowers, changed curtains and cushion covers, mopped floor, washed window glasses and all of other cleaning works from front to back from floor to ceiling to toilets. phew!

Baking cookies has started a week before so by Thursday everything were reading to be put on containers which I did on Friday night with my nieces. Yes, what a miracle after 3 years my brother came back with his family to celebrate hari raya with us. I cant tell how much happy i was especially to have chance get in touch with my nieces and nephews who had grown up now.

On Friday I prepared things to cook on eid day. After Subuh, me, my mom and sister went to pasar tani to buy fresh ingrediets such as veges, meat and chicken. Came back home my another sis gave 2 ayam kampung. I cleaned and frozen it for later use. Plus my another sis came and gave us tulang  lembu (cow's ribs) which I cooked soup on hari raya third. Also cow's intestine which is our family's favourite which my mom cooked "ungkep" for iftar on the last day of ramadhan. At the same time, I started to boil gallons of water and chilled it to serve to our guests on hari raya and this job continues until today. Plus kilos of sugar to be boiled to make sugar water so that drinks preparing become easier. Just pour some juice concentare and sugar water mix with water.  My house is different because guests will come continuously from first hari raya until  a week because my mom is older, the younger will come to visit. Plus the pecal! Talking about pecal, I did prepared for it too and this continues until 6th hari raya. And it was not an easy task! There are several types of ingredients and cooking methods. Maybe later I will post about how to prepare pecal especially my mom's recipe.

So...comes the eid on Sunday. Thank God sis in law was here to prepare food. So my task on hari raya morning is only to make sure house in a good condition, neat and well managed to welcome guests. After my mom and brother came back from eid prayer, we seek for apologize with each other, a ritual of every family on hari raya and then we went to father's grave, another ritual.

Then...start the tiring period of preparing pecal, washing dishes, welcoming guests, giving duit raya. On second day i could rest coz my sis said so because they were here to handle the house chores. And after they all went back, its all on my hands..Oh...so tiring..exhausted..but what can I do..this is the tradition. When I was child, all my sis did the same thing. Plus, it is hari raya babe! Once in a year..even it was hard..in the end of the day i felt happy because I made others happy..

Oh ya! On the 2nd day of hari raya, after preparing gallons of drinks on chiller and kilos of pecal and clean dishes for guests, we left mom for visiting our relatives. This is to make sure my mom need not to go to kitchen to prepare everything. On the afternoon when we came back, everything has finished and my sisters did the cleaning job.

So thats a little story of my 2012 hari raya. Eid hasnt finish yet. This weekend we have to be ready for the second cycle of guests. All in all,hari raya is the day we meet families and friends. To tightened the relationship, to seek for forgiveness and also to have a good food!!Even though bff wasnt here to celebrate, we did skype on 1st syawal with all my families. I hope next year we will celebrate hari raya together again..maybe he miss to eat ketupat, rendang, sambal goreng jawa and pecal. aint you azizam??

So here the photos of my hari raya..enjoy it.

The ayam kampung 

brother's family with mom

aaron on his malay attire

Playing fireworks

The adik with ibu

Yours sincerely :)

with puteri

time to eat - on aaron akikah day

the abang with cikhaziq

beraya on 2nd eid

at sis liza's

the 2 girls who need to strive for upsr

seeking forgiveness

hey this two munckin!

Shrimp Kabsa Rice

Hello..I made this on the second week of hari raya when my family gathered. Everybody loves it. I have improvised the methods and it turned great.

Original Source : http://www.bfeedme.com/shrimp-kabsa/

Ingredients:
~1kg shrimp, peeled
~ 2 cups basmathi rice, soaked 2hours prior to cook
~ 2 onions, diced
~ 4 garlic cloves, minced
~ 2 tomatoes, chopped
~ 1 tbsp Gulf Bharat Mix
~ 1tbsp tomato paste
~ Salt
~ Oil

Methods:
1. Just like cooking Persian rice, boil rice until aldente with some salt and oil, rinse. Set aside.
2. Heat some oil, saute onion and garlic, when the aroma arise, add in tomatoes, tomato paste and spices. Add a little water if it is too dry. When everything  mix well, add in shrimps.Taste with salt.
3. Stir until the shrimp cooked. Set aside.
4. In a pot with some oil, start with rice, make a layer of rice and shrimp sauce. You can also improvise it by putting sliced potatoes on the bottom for tahdig like what i did today.
5. Simmer for half an hour and ready to be served with salad shirazi and yogurt.

Hari Raya preparation

Hello..salam ramadhan..another 9 days ramadhan left.Which means another 9 days of Hari Raya. How is my preparation? Today I went to buy baju raya (eid outfit). Normally on 1st Shawal we will wear our traditional Malay wears which for ladies we call baju kurung which comes of several types and for men also baju kurung which normally  teluk belanga or cekak musang. I admit that nowadays baju kurung is so expensive. After surveying the whole shopping complex, I ended up buying modern baju kurung, more to dress cutting. Both for baju kurung and hijab costs me RM200. what the..for a one day wear, maybe once a year I spent that amount which for me too much. So, that is the only raya outfit for me. Enough. Because last year outfit is still good. I just wore it once! Not like during my childhood where I think I must have not less that 3 baju kurung. :P

Baju kurung done. Another thing is kuih raya (cookies or sweets). Until now I made 2. One is corn flakes cookies and another one is biskut sarang semut. Tomorrow I think im going to make pineapple tart then the next day kuih siput and last popia gulung. And I know my mom will force me to help her to make rempeyek and tumpi this weekend. That's enough i think coz i know my sis and bro will bring few types of kuih raya when they come back home on hari raya eid. Yeah, thats the benefit of having big family.

There are lots of works waiting for me at home. Like Nowruz which have khune tekuni, we also have it for hari raya (of course lah). Cleaning house is my responsibility because my other siblings will only come back home a day before hari raya and it is not an easy task!! My mom always said that I'll become night's insect near hari raya because i'll clean my house at night. The reason is that i cant stand with the heat during day plus i am fasting!

So guys..happy preparing for hari raya..and dont forget to increase our amal in the 10 last nights of ramadhan. who knows we will meet lailatulqadr night. Pray to Allah for our dreams come true..Inshallah..

Lastly, I want to show my lil nephew, Aaron Harris..

Yes, he is sooo topol (chubby)

Ramadhan..Keep me strong

It has been 3 weeks bff away..Sometimes loneliness caught me..Sometimes I feel down when facing trouble because normally bff is always there to save me. One day my car broke down and I burst into tears. Then I realized how valuable he is. I know I should not laid on him too much, but being a girl, I need a man beside me.

But thanks to technology to cut the distance, we wassaping, skypeing, emailing, oovooing, vibering and all kind of technology helps we tried. That to overcome the problem of normal sms which sometimes not reachable.

Ramadhan keep me strong. Even I do not get chance to cook for bff like I did sometimes in the past Ramadhan, I still cook. I just hope that my skills in cooking Persian foods will not fade coz I only cook it when he's around.

Croissant with dates and cream filling, stir fried water spinach, steamed seabass,Chay

Steam Seabass

Ingredients:
- 1 seabass
- "young" ginger, slice finely
- 4 garlic cloves, mince
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp crushed black pepper

Methods:
1. Mix everything and rub onto the fish
2. Steam for 20 minutes

I love to use young ginger because of the sweetness that you can eat just like that compared to old ginger which taste bitter.

Stir Fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste

Ingredients:
- Water spinach, cut into 1 inch long
- 1 medium onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 inch shrimp paste
- 1 tspn soy sauce
- salt to taste
- oil

Methods:
1. Pound onion, garlic and shrimp paste
2. Saute the pounded paste, when the aroma arise add in water spinach. Add in a little water if the bottom stick.
3. Taste with salt and dash of soy sauce

Tips for stir frying: Use high heat and cook fast to keep the freshness of vege. Dont pour too much water becoz vege will turn out mushy.