NASI BERIYANI EMAK

Nasi Beriyani Aidil Adha

Every holiday is just like Food Fiesta for us at home... Everybody is around everything that we want is on the table... Just name any each of us favorites... Mom shall fulfill everybody's demand and she shall cook all kind of dishes. Nasi Beriyani is one of our favorites, as usual she will cook extra for us to pack and bring back home to Kuala Lumpur. She will pack the rice complete with the side dishes for each of us, she always thought that we might be missing this good Nasi Beriyani but actually it is not about that Nasi Beriyani alone, we are missing her in person. It is great to spend time with mom and dad, and I am glad to have time for another family gathering. Seeing all these beautiful faces making me feel like the time has stopped ever since everybody is right here before my eyes. Ya... that is how I feel when I am with my loved ones, the time just stopped there...
How do we enjoy our holiday??? Ya, eat and eat and eat.... We love to eat...!!! Nasi Beriyani is a rice dish cooked with ghee, herbs and spices. It aromatic, fragrant and very tasty. Normally serve with few main dishes such as beef, chicken and vegetables. Mom, as usual will cook Beef Rendang, Ayam Masak Merah and Vegetable Dhall Curry. This rice dish is just perfect for any kind of celebrations and wedding reception, it's all time favorite I may say....

Nasi Beriyani :

2 cup Basmati
4 cup water
2 tablespoon ghee
1 onion
3 garlic
1 inch ginger
1 small size carrot
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon anise powder
Bay leaf
Cinnamon
Cardamon
Salt

• Blend onion, garlic and ginger.
• Heat ghee add in blended ingredients and other spices.
• Shred carrot add in.
• Wash rice and add in water.
• Add in salt and cook well in rice cooker.
  
• Add in rice and sauted ingredients together and cook well in rice cooker.
  

LONTONG EMAK

Nasi Impit and Kuah Lodeh

Special day with special dish, this is my favorite ...lontong or Nasi Impit with Kual Lodeh. Nasi Impit is rice cooked compressed in heat proof small sized plastic pillows, which can be bought easily in supermarket nowadays. Plastic pillows filled with rice cook in boiling water till the pillows become hard filled with cooked compressed rice. Let it cool and cut into cubes ready to serve with gravy and other dish.

During old days, Nasi Impit was cooked traditionally and it was complicated... believe me... Rice was cooked with excess water to make it softer. The cook rice will be placed in a box specially made by wooden planks, place the wooden cover and weigh with traditional pounder made by stone which is heavy enough to compress the rice. When the rice is cooled and hard enough, cut into cubes to serve. It's not easy right? But now practically convenient and time saving ... This is how it got the name 'Impit' ...means pressed, the cooked rice was 'Impit' .... Thanks to food technology research and development. This is why we have to appreciate those people before us, for their knowledge and their effort.. It's because of them for who we are now... Appreciate the history for the benefit of our technology .... This is how Japanese educate their young generations to produce more history lovers and advanced in technology development.

This is how I see them during my stay in Tokyo few years back. In the city itself buildings standing tall and hi-tech but they themselves standing proud with their pride and culture, there is the beauty of history through the years.

But you don't know how much I missed this Nasi Impit and Kuah Lodeh when I was in Tokyo, It was during Aidil Adha and I was so much craving for it....
Kuah Lodeh is a dish made from coconut milk with vegetables and beancurds. Cabbage, carrot and long beans shredded, beancurd and tempe cut into small pieces and deep fried. Mix those ingredients into the yellow coconut gravy. Served well with peanut sauce, a bit spicy but just nice with milky coconut gravy. Lovely !

Masak Lodeh :

Cabbage

Long beans

Carrots

Beancurds

Tempe (fermented soya beans cake)

250 grams Coconut milk

Turmeric powder

2 Chilies

2 onions

5 garlics

Tamarind peel

Sugar and salt

• Blend chili, onion and garlic.
• Coconut milk, turmeric powder and water bring to boil.
• Add in blended ingredients.
• Add in tamarind peel, salt and sugar to taste.
• Add in shredded vegetables and deep fried beancurds and tempe.
• Ready to serve.

HAPPY HOLIDAY

American Chocolate Cake

Still on holiday, everybody is here except for two of my brothers back in Kuala Lumpur working. Ya, when I woke up it's a beautiful morning and surely it's a beautiful day... I woke up with a sleepy smiley face being surrounded with beautiful smiles. Shara serenade me with a beautiful song 'Run to you' and keep on repeating the same song over and over again. I was caught between the lyrics, IT'S BEAUTIFUL.... a song by Lady Antebellum. It's true when the time passing by, what we see around is the world turned changing, sometimes life gets harder, people going crazy and problems getting ugly... so what you need is a someone to rely on, I can't be alone, you can't be alone too, nobody can be alone...!!!

Ya, everybody needs somebody to run to ... that's how we play by the rules here, it's written there... So, that tells why I run ... we run and you run too... YEAH ...for now I have all these beautiful faces right before my eyes... the loves of my life... even the world out there is going crazy ... I am still glad that I have another day to be embraced by hugs and kisses.

For this wonderful holiday and for the love of chocolates, I made this delicious American Chocolate Cake. Moist chocolate cake layered with smooth chocolate spread, the chocolate spread was prepared earlier. It was cooked with a double boiler and let cooled for half an hour till the sauce become a little thick and poured cover around the whole cake. Sprinkle some thousands on the cake and it is just beautiful for a beautiful day... May everybody around the world have a beautiful day as well, loving is believing ...

Chocolate spread :

100 grams chocolate compound

100 ml milk

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon butter