Cooking with Love

All these cooking and cake making without any doubt gives one some kind of a satisfaction. It feels great when the food is all finished and all the hard work of slogging in the kitchen is appreciated.

However, doing all the chores by yourself is no fun. Trust me when you have to do EVERYTHING from peeling the onions, cutting vegetables right till clearing the dishes, urggghhhhhhh PENAT!!! We do not have a maid anymore. The last one left - seperti biasa lari or in their lingo kabur; mana she went entah and I am not at all bothered to know what happened to her. This is not the first time I am faced with such a situation. Last year, I went solo in the kitchen during Ramadhan. And the situation is the same still this year. Tapi this year, umur pun dah meningkat, maka kepenatan itu pun bertambah.

Last year however, due to my new work assignment and its ridiculous hecticnes, I wasn't able to prepare much of food for our breaking of fast. There was this one kedai makan which we always frequented for our meals during the non fasting days. So obviously food for our breaking came from their kitchen. 

This year alhamdulillah, I'm quite relieved that I have more flexibility at work. Deliverables are manageable and during this fasting month we were allowed to take off early. If the roads are really, really okay (and it has been that way these past few days) I'd be pulling in to my driveway by 5pm!! Terkejut neighbours bila melihat I'm home when the sun is still bright. And what's most delighting is that I have time to cook!! 

Jadi....dapur itu sudahlah muka berasap. Simple dishes like soups, fried noodles and some lauk pauk would feast the hungry ghosts ones at home and it gives a real nice feeling when everyone is home having meals together. 

Sekarang sudah agak berkurangan ke Ramadhan Bazaar to buy food. It's not that I do not want to support these seasonal mushroom like sprouting small traders in making it big at Ramadhan. Most of the time juadah from them are rather disappointing. Not fresh, tak cukup rasa and price yang ditetapkan adalah sangat tidak berbaloi.

Early this morning at sahur, when I gulped down the dry and not-so-nice kueh kochi (bought at the Ramadhan Bazaar) my high hopes were shattered. Sebabnya? TAK SEDAP!!!

Oleh itu, akan adalah project "cuba, try, test" this weekend (kot??). Must attempt to make these sweeties – a must have for berbuka when my late grandmother was around.

Ohhh.....could just taste the sweet filling melting in my mouth. 

Kena buat jugak ni!!

Anyone remembers this batu kisar tepung? Then tepung beras kampit was no avail. To make the sweet kuehs, one would have to soak the beras pulut and later use this grinder to get that milky batter. (picture taken at a cousin's house in Air Pa'abbas, Alor gajah Melaka)

This kukur kelapa is used for shredding coconut from its interior. One needs strength to sit on this low benches. But actually, one has to learn how to use it. Tak betul cara guna, takut muscle pull akibat nya! (picture taken at National Museum Singapore)

 

Most important for kueh kochi is its sweet fillings - the inti. The coconut must be fresh and to use the best brown sugar - gula enau from Juasseh, Kuala Pilah!

Pekan Juasseh....where one finds gula enau, chendol, biskut Azan and that out of this world rojak mamak Ali Kutik.