Ramezoon Mobarak

Alhamdulillah today is the 2nd day of ramadhan. I'm so glad to have the chance again to celebrate ramadhan near my family. Meaning that I'm fasting for 14 hours instead of 17 in Iran. :) As every year's ritual, on the first day of fasting, my sibling will gather in mak's for iftar. As usual I'm the head of chef of the house. Yesterday the sisters ordered nasi kerabu. So I made nasi kerabu, the simple one without solok lada or ayam percik or grilled beef. They went to bazar ramadhan but it was so crowded that they only bought some ayam percik and drinks.

The day before ramadhan I craved for noodles by nearby warong (stall) near my house. My sister bought for me mee bandung and mee goreng. The mee goreng still have the same flavor like it used to be but it's disappointing that the mee bandung was tasteless. In Javanese culture, there is one ritual before ramadhan called "ngerangsom" which means people eat foods they like before ramadhan. This year my mak ngerangsom to eat cendol which she had in the evening at night market.

Oklah. I wish you all have a great and meaningful ramadhan. Taa daafe baad...khoda hafez!

Mee bandung

Mee goreng

Nowruz 1393

Chahar Shanbeh Soori

19/3/2013

The first 4shanbehsoori we're not together after 6 years. So, nothing to share. No celebration. No fire. No jumping.

Anyways, this year I decided to bake a Naan Beranji for Nowruz. I'll share it in another post.

Taa daafe baad...sorkhiyeto az man, zardiyeman az to. 

Javanese Pecal Wak Tipah's Special Recipe

Today I want to share my mom's no 1 recipe: Pecal. Pecal is originally a Javanese food. It's like gado-gado with a slightly different taste. This is the food people searching for at my house during hari raya. I asked mak why she serves pecal on hari raya because it is not a common food during the occasion. She said this culture has been passed from my grandmother which is originally Indonesian. From all her 6 siblings, only my mom inherited the recipe. Hence, my uncles, aunties and relatives came to my house to have it.

Mak always asked us, her daughters to learn how to make pecal. But then we always said mak make it better especially in blended the ingredients for the sauce. We always shouted from kitchen whenever the sauce has finished and mak will gets angry because she was busy in the living room entertaining guests. So, this year mak has decided that she wants me to make the  everything from A to Z. Luckily, nobody complained. :) Here, I write it down for my future reference.

The peanut sauce

  Tapioca leaves 

                                                                Mung beans sprouts

Cucumber

                                                              

Noodles

Ingredients (for sauce):

~ Dried chillies*

~ Onion*

~ Garlic*

~ Shrimp paste*

~ Peanut - deep fried, blend not too fine

~ Tamarind paste juice

~ Kencur/cekur - finely pound

~ Salt, sugar, msg

Methods:

1. Finely blend all the * ingredients. In a pan, heat some oil and cook the blended ingredients in a medium heat until it well cooked (dark red colour). This is the base of the sauce. Mak made this in a bunch to make the process of making sauce easier. Everyday heat it 2 times in morning and night and it can be keep for 3-4 days. 

2. To make the sauce, first mix well the chilli mixture with sugar, salt and msg. Add in peanut, kencur, some tamarind juice and water. Blend everything well not too thick. Adjust the ingredients to your liking. According to mak, put kencur more to get nice aroma. Sauce has to be make in a small quantity to get a fresh taste. If make in a large amount, make sure heat it frequently. 

Other ingredients:

~ Tapioca leaves, boil until soft with some salt and kapur makan to have a nice green color.

~ Mung beans sprouts, this is another speciality in my moms pecal because she made this by herself.

~ Noodles

~ Cucumber

~ Unripe papaya

~ Fried tofu

Actually you can put anything you like as the ingredient to eat pecal. Whatever convenient for you to find or whatever you like. 

This is  photo of last year hari raya

To date we have finished, 15kg of peanut, 20 bags of noodles, 5kg of mung beans. Tapioca trees around my house and neighbourhood also has been "kachal" (bald). Mak has stopped making pecal on 8th day of hari raya and she will make it again this weekend. Neighbours and families also being generous by giving the ingredients for pecal. Some of them gave mak some money because they knowhow complicated the process of making pecal. Alhamdulillah. Khoda ro shokr that with pecal our family's ties getting stronger. I just hope that this recipe won't extinct. Me myself will keep the culture forever. And I am proud of it. 

Taa daafe baad...salamati ba hameghi va khodanegahdar...

Ke-has-tam/khastam/exhausted

On the 6th hari raya finally i managed to write something here. My friend, Su just went back from here. I cooked some Malay foods as well as pecal.

As expected guests massively came to our house since the first hari raya. The most peak time was on second hari raya. Our living room had no more space for them to sit, even guests that arrived later had to wait for those inside house to go out first to enter house. Vehicles parked until outside of our yard. Phenomenon!

No other word can describe our (me and sisters and sis in law) feeling. E.X.A.U.S.T.E.D. I slept at 8 on the fisrt hari raya, 10 on second and 11 on third, where normally i sleep earliest at 1. What we did? Prepare the complicated ingrdients for pecal, refilling 1000 times, serve drinks, serve cookies and cakes, wash cups and plates, tidy up after each guests leave. Repeat. Repeat. Until we closed our door at 10 earliest. 

Our unsual hariraya menu for this year , nasi beriyani.i'll share the recipe later. Normally we cook ketupat and rendang but this year we didnt coz we had enough of that from the punjungan. So, my brother suggested mutton beriyani. Luckily we didnt cook the usual hari raya menus because my brothers and sisters came brought lots of it. Alhamdulillah. Plenty of foods on hari raya. 

Le Familia bedune (without) me, coz I was the one who captured the photo. pffftttt T_____T

Oh. I heard sound of motorcycles coming. Got to go.

Taa daafe baad.....khoda hafez

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri - Eyde Fetr Mobarak

Hari raya finally comes..the day we've been counting since the first day of ramadhan. How's everybody's preparation? Mine all done. Just waiting for tomorrow. This year i started the preparation 2 weeks earlier. From cleaning house, cups and plates, hang curtain, wash bedsheets, towels, and do shopping. Thus, today i can relax and just adding last touch to the prepared things. I just don't wana have aching arms on the day of eyd just like last year. This is a life of the only not married girl in a house. Everything is on my shoulder. While doing all these chores, i'm thinking how next year's hari raya will be. whoSe gonna do all these stuff? that day my mom said "when you are married, i wont be doing all these thing anymore. i wana stay at my childrens' house and celebrate haro raya there". :-( Hari raya is a big celebration in my house. Because my mom is old, many of my relatives will come to visit especially on the first week of hari raya. Plus, they are coming for my mom's specialty pecal..a jaavanese food. I really wana share the recipe in this blog for my reference. Maybe later after hari raya. For tomorrow, our menu changed from the normal ketupat and rendang to nasi beriyani hydrabad style. I'll share the recipe late!

I think for the next one week i won't be blogging. I'll keep updating how hari raya is clebrated here in my hometown. In this opportunity, i would like to seek for forgiveness for my wrong doings. For those who lives in jb or pontian, please do come to my house. 

Ta daafe baad....selamat hari raya aidilfitri...keep safe on this celebration

Kuih Siput

Siput literally means snail. This food gets its name by the shape that same as snail. Today i managed to make kuih siput with help from my niece fifin. Lets check out the recipe.

Ingredients:

500g flour

70g margarine 

3 tbsp coconut milk

1 medium size egg slightly beat

1 tbsp coriander seeds*

1 tsp white cumin seeds*

1 tsp black cumin seeds*

7 stalks curry leaves*

1 tbsp chicken powder*

2 tbsp dried shrimps*

1 tsp salt*

Methods:

1. Blend all * ingredients

2. Mix everything until a dough is formed. Add water if necessary.

3. Using kuih siput mold, take some of the dough, press and roll until small snail shape is formed.
4. Deep fry until golden brown/

The mold

Ta daafe baad...mogharebe khodet bash.. 1 rooz dige hari raya!!

Aug 1, 2013 | #Eydfetr mobarak. Berim carwash mashin tamiz konim by azreen25 on Keek.com

Hari Raya Custom: Punjungan

Punjungan which means giving foods to others is one of the custom in Javanese society. I'm not sure whether this custom exists in other state or community. This custom normally will held starting on the last week of ramadhan. We will give Javanese foods that consists of rice or rice cubes, fried noodles, stir fry veges, chicken or any foods that related to hari raya. These foods are packed in food container (plastics) and will deliver before iftar, normally from 5pm upwards. In the past, we used 'mangkuk tingkat' whereby we have to wait for the house owner to clean it before returning to us. However, now plastics has made our job easier for mass production about 40 packs of foods. The foods are given to neighbours and close relatives. 

It's tiring to make punjungan. The works started on the day before. Doing groceries shopping, cleaning, cooking, packing and finally delivering. But the best thing about this custom is that I no need to cook foods for iftar on the third week of ramadhan. Lets say we gave foods to 40 houses, that 40 houses will reply back by giving their foods to us even not all. :) 

Last but not least, on the day of our punjungan of course all family members will gather. Here is the newest video of aaron that had started learn to speak. enjoy..

Jul 30, 2013 | #aaronharris never get bored with #abc song. Bird will always included in each of his sentences. by azreen25 on Keek.com

Ta daafee baad...khoda negahdar

Raya Cookies: Rolled Pineapple Tart

Tat nenas gulung (in Malay) is one of my favorite hari raya cookies. Every year without fail I made this cookies. Normally I will make everything from scratch including the pineapple jam. Mak planted many pineapple trees around house. But, this year I bought the ready made pineapple jam from bakery shop since I have limited time lately. Making pineapple jam would really take hours and patience which I don't have now :-P.

Because of the store bought pineapple jam, this time I had to bake the tart in two batch since the amount of the jam is a lot. Yesterday I've done the first batch and tonight I finished the second which end up around 150 pieces of tarts. Sounds too many but I am sure it's not enough for this house's guests. Maybe on the 4th day of hari raya all will gone. On the first week of hari raya usually there are extremely many guests will come to my house just because of one attraction, pecal. Oh, i'll tell on other post about that. For now, let's check out the recipe for my pineapple tart.

Ingredients:

~ 250g butter

~ 2 tbsp castor sugar

~ 2 tbsp ghee (for aroma)

~ 1 egg yolk

~ 1 tbsp custard flour*

~ half cup corn starch*

~ 3 1/4 cup flour*

~ a pinch of salt

~ Pineapple jam

~ 1 egg yolk**

~ A drop of yellow artificial color**

~ 1 tbsp water**

Methods:

1. Sieve all * ingredients

2. In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy/white color.

3. Add in ghee, egg yolk and salt, continue beating.

4. Add in sieved flour little by little until the mixture become a dough.

5. To assemble, using a mold for pineapple tart or in  my case I used mold for kuih semperit, put in the filling of pineapple jam that has been rolled into round balls, place in baking tray and rub some **ingredients to get a wonderful golden yellow tart.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, 180 degree celcius. 

Done! Aromatic, soft, melt in mouth pineapple tart. 

Taa daafe baad ba shirini ye dige..khoda hafez!!

Raya Cookies: Biskut Dahlia

Caption from Instagram:

First cookies for ‪#‎hariraya‬ biskut dahlia. Mak sat near me when im making the cookies. she told story about bapak that used to bake cookies alone in the middle of night after all the children fall asleep, just like what im doing now. Then she asked me to color the dough to 3 colors like bapak made biskut dahlia but then i said i'm not as patience as him. Now near to 1am im waiting the last batch in the oven. ‪#‎aidilfitri‬ ‪#‎malaysia‬ ‪#‎malay‬‪#‎exhausted‬

Dahlia is a flower's name. Below is the picture of it.

Let's check out the recipe.

Ingredients: 

- 250g butter

- 125g castor sugar

- 250g flour*

- 125 g custard flour*

- 125 g corn flour*

- 3 egg yolk

- 1 tspn vanilla essence

- a pinch of salt

- decorating sugar

Methods:

1. Sieve all * ingredients

2. Beat butter, sugar and salt until fluffy.

3. Add in egg yolks and vanilla essence. Mix well.

4. Add in flour. Mix well.

5. Using mold for biskut dahlia, press the batter onto a baking tray. Decorate with the sugar.

6. Bake in oven 160C for 20 minutes.

The mold. 

Taa daafe baad ba shirini hari raya dovom...khoda negahdar..

On The Second Week of Ramadhan

On the way sending mak to surau for terawikh, a hari raya song by Siti Nurhaliza was playing on the radio. That was the first time for this year I heard hari raya song on radio. Since last two days I turned my radio to Best104, a Johor based radio station. During ramadhan is the only time i listen to Best104 for two reasons. One because of the Azan for iftar and second because of hari raya songs. Best 104 is one of those stations that play the hari raya song frequently and earlier than other stations.

On the second week of ramadhan, Radio stations normally start to play hari raya songs. Then on the way to surau I saw some neighbour houses already set up lampu raya. Wahh..hari raya mood is coming..But then there is a sorrow deep inside my heart. The place that is empty for the past 22 years. I'm wondering what my life would be if he's still alive. al fatihah bapak..i'll visit you on the first Syawal. insyallah..

رمضان مبارک...

Ramadhan (Ramezoon) come again..

This year Iran and Malaysia started the 1st day of Ramadhan on the same day unlike last year.

Unfortunately this year's ramadhan fall during summer which means people in 4 seasons country will have a longer fasting period. Khoda ro shokr that I'm in a no-season country :)

So, I'll start the routine to think what to cook for sahri/sahur and iftar/buka puasa. But for the first day, mak will cook sahur and of course iftar by your sincerely.

Hope tomorrow's weather will be fine and less hot. Guys, happy fasting..and for me this is the ideal time to detox and control my diet.

Till then..khoda negahdar..

While visiting my friend back from Mecca today

Post Election Rambling

Hello. Hi. 5th May was Malaysia election day. This is my second time voting. Went to the poll station with my sis and bro around 12pm. Not many people as my place is in rural area so there are not many voters there. For DUN it wass BN vs PAS while for parliament BN vs DAP. What I crossed? Secret lah of course :P

Around 1250 midnight they conformed that government won more than half of the chairs, but less than previous election. It was expected to be like that. And for some reasons this time election is the worst phenomenon in my country. In social media especially people saying about the misbehaved of SPR (organization that handle the election) process. Regarding "pengundi hantu" (illegal voters) from bangla, about the sudden blackout during the process of counting votes and so many more. The opposition had tried so hard to show that the election was badly managed so that government still ruling the country. At the same time also, the other side saying that all these rumors were being planned by opposition to gather people's attention to change the government. At the time I am writing this, I heard that Anwar Ibrahim (opposition leader) is going to file petition to the court for the matter. Besides I heard that people with pea mind want to get help from the white house. One of the main contributor to the fight is that about discrimination between different races in Malaysia. Malay and Chinese particularly. It's like a time bomb that can explode anytime. True what bff said to me 1 time, if Malay and Chinese fight each other, Malaysia will 'begar' (riot). I just hope the current misunderstanding can be solve quickly. People unite regardless of race or nation. The new government need to prove Malaysian what they can do, not just spending money on gaining people attention without solving the problem from the bottomline.

Some pictures from the election scene:

Campaign - notes they delivered to home

The controversial blue ink for those who voted.

Random at home. Now you know which one i've crossed :)

The night before election, we had family gathering which means foods. I'll share another time ok. 

Khoda Hafez!

28th Birthday

*delayed post

25th April i\was my birthday. It's my 28th year. How can I describe myself? I am a woman not a girl anymore. I don't know why I have this feeling, but my mind was saying that when I am entering the 28 years. Well it's better, at least I am stepping on the right ground. I mean I accept the reality that the number has grow bigger, and I should not act like a child anymore. Nowadays I prefer to call salesgirls or waitress "adik"(lil' sister) rather than "kakak"(big sister). Even sometimes people doesnt believe than I am 28. Well..thanks to collagen and "single" status. haha :-P

Even I am getting older, I enjoyed my birth day. Thanks to facebook because without that, I wont be receiving many wishes by friends. Received some presents from myself (oh yeah, I reward myself for my birthday. Just in case nobody give me present lol!), sis and of course mr. boyfriend. Bff gave me mini ipad as I told him many times I love to have one. Well that is the trick. haha. 

All in all, this is me on my 28th year of living. I hope I'll have a better life and achievement from this point onwards. Thanks for those who wished and prayed for me on my birthday. Love you all.

I chose mantou and magnae for my birthday ootd

Maash Polow.For recipe: here

Ashe reshteh. For recipe: here

Shirini - e Keshmeshi (Raisins Biscuits)

This year I get the chance to bake this for bff. This is one of the shirini (refer to dessert) that Persians have during Nowruz. The recipe is so simple and easy.

Ingredients:

~ 2 cups of flour

~ 1 cup of raisins

~ 1 half cup of sugar

~ 2 tspn vanilla essence

~ 3 eggs

~ 1 cup of butter

Methods:

1. In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until it blend well or until the color change to slightly white.

2. Add in egg, vanilla essence, raisins and lastly flour. Mix well.

3. Scoop little and place in baking tray.

4. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bottom of the biscuit slightly brown in 180 degrees.

Nowruz Celebration at UTM

The Iranian Student Society of UTM organized Nowruz celebration this year. Started at 430 pm but we arrived just before the countdown. Friends from Singapore joined us. We had quite a great time despite the boring event arrangement. Not worth the ticket price. I spent most of my times talking to bache (kids) that playing around. They were just excited to speak Farsi with me. One girl shout at me. "Chera to Malayi??!!! Chera Irani nistti??!!!" (Whay you are malay, not Iranian?) One girl said why you are kind to Iranian, why you like Iran? She said most of her dad's friend said Iran is bad for having nuclear and such drug trafficking. Another girl very eager to say that she knows malay language, came to me and count satu, dua, tiga...terima kasih..even before I went back, she came again with her dad to say that she really can speak Malay and attend very good school here and her teachers love her. So cute!! One boy keep on telling me to watch Iranian cartoon (barnameh koodaki) at Youtube and told me all the cartoons he knows. Then it was so touching when he said "man kheili dustaram eid to Iran hastam" (I like to celebrate Nowruz in Iran) "in kafsh jaize nowruz ke ghablan az Iran kharidam, negaredashtam baraye Nowruz" (I bought this shoes from Iran for Nowruz present and I keep it until today). It reflects my mind to bff which until now 7 years did not celebrate it at Iran. I hope he will next year. Inshallah..When I wanted to go I said khoda hafez to him and he said "khaleh waissa!! maman in khanoom malayi hast vali farsi harf mizane" (aunty wait, mom she is malay but can speak farsi). A girl gave me a cup of cappuchino from the available coffee machine and said "khaleh in baraye shoma chon ma doostim" (aunty, this is for you because we are friends). In such I was overwhelmed to get to know these kids because they were so cute and entertaining and kind in their ages. Also in this jashne (ceremony) I met some Iranian that I know and be able to wish "Eyde shoma mobarak" or "Sale No Mobarak (Happy New Year). All in all, I am very grateful for this wonderful memory which I wont get it elsewhere if I never met bff 6 years ago..

This parche (flag) given by the kids. They said for Nowruz jaizeh (gift). But I forget to take it home:(

Sofreh 7 Seen at UTM..

Nowrooz Mobarak 1392

Happy Persian New Year to my Persian family and friends. May this year brings all the joys and happiness to us. This is my 6th Nowruz. and I am very grateful to be given this chance to explore and love another culture. There was a special statement given by bff that I will remember forever and this was happened yesterday just right after the countdown. Thanks love.

Sofreh 7 Seen

This is my latest video talking about Nowruz. Enjoy..

100 saal be in saalha

Nowruzetun Pirooz!!

Vegetables Rice with Fish - Sabzi Polow Ba Mahi

During Nowruz, Persians normally have Sabzi Polow ba Mahi either for nahar (lunch) or sham (dinner). Since this year Nowruz is celebrate at 7.01 p.m. and I am going for the countdown at university which they provide dinner, I made this dish for lunch.

This time I tried to use fresh sabzi but I couldnt find the complete set. I used fresh cilantro, parsley and spring onion and dried dill. For fish, I used red snapper. Check out my simple recipe..

Ingredients:

For rice:
~ 2 cups rice, soak in 2 tbsp salt and water for at least 20 minutes, this time i soaked overnight
~ 2 cups of mix fresh vege (cilantro, parsley and spring onion), chopped finely
~ 2 tbsp dried dill
~ 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
~ 2 tbsp saffron liquid
~ 2 tbsp salt
~ 2 tbsp cooking oil
~ Water
~ Potato slices for tahdig

For fish:
~ 1 tbsp turmeric powder
~ 1 tsp salt
~ Cooking oil for frying

Methods:
1. Boil water with salt and some oil. Drain the soaked rice and put in the boiling water. After 5 minutes, add in the vege and chopped garlic. When the rice expanded, aldente drained it. Mix the dill with the drained rice.
2. In the same pot, pour oil and place potato slices at the bottom. Put in the mixture of rice and vege on top of the potato, place the pot on gas with medium heat until steam come up, cover the pot with paper towel, slow down the heat and let it steaming for about an hour.
3. While waiting for the rice to be cooked, deep fry the fish.
4. Served with your choice of pickles, this time I had with my home made torshi sir (pickle garlic) dated 1 and half year back, lime and piaz-che (spring onion).

For another version of this recipe using dried sabzi, please go to this link http://chiliandsaffron.blogspot.com/search/label/Rice

Chahar Shanbeh Soori 2nd Part

As I mentioned on the previous post, there was second 4shanbehsoori on last Tuesday. I didnt attend the ceremony just passed by and snap a photo. They just started the jashneh that time.

Sorkhe-e to az man

Zardi-e man az to

Chahar Shanbeh Soori 1st Round

Hoooraaaahhh!!! New year is coming..Eyd dare miyad..How time flies..one year had passed, meaning I am a year older :( This year will be the 6th year I'm celebrating Nowruz. I still remember last year I was in Korea during Nowruz. I thought this year I wouldn't celebrate Nowruz with bff coz he wanted to be in Iran..but nope! this year he's here!!! So another celebration together..

But..this year there's a bit confusion about the date. As far as I remember, for the past 5 years Nowruz was celebrated on 21st March. But this year, there are 2 different of thoughts. Some said on 21st March some said on 20th March. Not only here in Malaysia, but maman said in Iran also they've confusing about this.There is a method to determine the hours and date of Nowruz, something like if Nowruz fall on before Zohr (afternoon) it will be celebrated on the day before but if it is after Zohr, it will be celebrated on the next day, which I am not sure and do not understand. The confusion also affect the celebration of Chahar Shanbeh Soori. Because Nowruz will fall on 20th March this year which is on Wednesday, they celebrated 4shanbehsoori last night as the last Wednesday night of the year. For past year 4shanbehsoori. There was a celebration last night but I did not go. Whatever it is, Eid still coming...and of course there are lots of preparations to be done..even I am not Persian but because bff is here, I need to create eid ambiance to make sure he is not missing the happiness of Nowruz even the thesis already kill "our" mood. 

As usual, the preparations including khune tekooni which literally massive cleaning of house. Then, this year I tried to grow sabzeh which I think I started too late. I hope the sabzeh will grow green on the day of Nowruz. I'll share the Chronicle Story of Sabzeh on other post. Plans for Nowruz foods which is Sabzi Polow. Of course sofreh 7 seen. I'll share it later.. Not too much but I hope this year Nowruz will give us happiness.