Forget about gourmet, let's talk about real food.
Today, my tastebuds felt lost to me. I'm not sure if it's the effect of the Ramadan fasting month that's making my stomach feel unusually demanding and jittery, but things I ate today just didnt leave much impression, just feels like dry dust in my mouth. Even the usually honeyed taste of chiku fruit was a disappointment, idiotic me didnt know how to pick the ripe ones, so I ended up with a fruit that left a thick sappy-rubber taste instead.
I went through a mental list of stuff that usually does the trick:
Spaghetti with a hearty beef sauce
Juicy medium-rare slab of beef
Clear chicken broth with fresh rice noodles
Congee with crispy fried anchovies
But nope...these images failed to tempt the hunger, it just sharpens and frustrates it even more.
I thought of calling up my dad to ask him what HE would cook up when he finds himself in this hungry-jaded state, and then suddenly I remembered. How could I forget our favourite dish? Plain steamed rice with kampong(village) salad of fresh thai-basil and cucumber slices, salted fish and a small bowl of potent sambal belacan (chilli and shrimp paste). A humble meal but enough to leave us both with childish grins on our faces as we ate away silently, pondering and enjoying immensely the intense burst of cool-crispy, salty and hot flavours in each bite. The fresh basil with it's intense fragrances and woody taste mixed with the meat of the salted fish and just a tiny pinch of my dad's fiery sambal belacan is enough to awaken the most jaded tastebuds and leave me enticed by how such simple food can produce the most flavoursome taste.
So now you know what I'll be having tomorrow :)
PS: But I also have a fall-back plan in case the market doesn't bring in thai-basil tomorrow and that will be to cook petai with sambal. Petai, otherwise known as stink-bean is, as it's name frankly implies pungently bitter. It's an acquired taste, and as with other relationships which takes some time for you to realize it's actually love, you never will get over or be cured of it once it's won you over. I dont care what people say, petai IS the new caviar!
(This beautiful photo of malay salad otherwise known as 'ulam' reproduced with thanks to photoblogger Ezra Iskandar Limm | blogmalaysia.com/ezralimm)
I went through a mental list of stuff that usually does the trick:
Spaghetti with a hearty beef sauce
Juicy medium-rare slab of beef
Clear chicken broth with fresh rice noodles
Congee with crispy fried anchovies
But nope...these images failed to tempt the hunger, it just sharpens and frustrates it even more.
I thought of calling up my dad to ask him what HE would cook up when he finds himself in this hungry-jaded state, and then suddenly I remembered. How could I forget our favourite dish? Plain steamed rice with kampong(village) salad of fresh thai-basil and cucumber slices, salted fish and a small bowl of potent sambal belacan (chilli and shrimp paste). A humble meal but enough to leave us both with childish grins on our faces as we ate away silently, pondering and enjoying immensely the intense burst of cool-crispy, salty and hot flavours in each bite. The fresh basil with it's intense fragrances and woody taste mixed with the meat of the salted fish and just a tiny pinch of my dad's fiery sambal belacan is enough to awaken the most jaded tastebuds and leave me enticed by how such simple food can produce the most flavoursome taste.
So now you know what I'll be having tomorrow :)
PS: But I also have a fall-back plan in case the market doesn't bring in thai-basil tomorrow and that will be to cook petai with sambal. Petai, otherwise known as stink-bean is, as it's name frankly implies pungently bitter. It's an acquired taste, and as with other relationships which takes some time for you to realize it's actually love, you never will get over or be cured of it once it's won you over. I dont care what people say, petai IS the new caviar!
(This beautiful photo of malay salad otherwise known as 'ulam' reproduced with thanks to photoblogger Ezra Iskandar Limm | blogmalaysia.com/ezralimm)
posted by Medusa aka expiringpoet at 12:16 AM
13 Comments:
sometimes the best food are the most simple ones. i could finish a big bowl of plain white rice porridge on its own. also i cannot forget the steamed ikan bilis or garopa with just soya sauce and oil, during my kampong days.
btw, the stink beans, are these the ones that shaped like a kidney?
i tried once with belachan and it was quite good. :)
plain white rice porridge just like that? really? and steamed ikan bilis? wah, never try before but bound to be smelly, no? yes stink beans are shaped abit like kidney, they come in a long pod usually and u gotta remove it from the pod and dip in belacan or fry with sambal...sedapppp!!!!!
Thanks for using my photo in ur blog :)
Yeah, i love petai sambal tumis too...
Ahh... the kampung food. Terengganu, my kampung, is very well known for Budu, a cousin to Cincalok I'd say. I was surprised to find this one stall in Tekka market selling Budu. It's made of fermented ikan bilis mushed to a thick dark brown soya sauce consistency. Add crushed chili padi and the limau nipis lime and it becomes one of the best dips in my opinion to the humble plain (no salt, no pepper, no nothing) charcoal baked/barbecued fish. Of course a side dish of ulam is a must. In my kampung, we can find daun gajus, pengaga, ulam raja, daun kesum, daun kunyit, kacang botol, long beans just to name a few. You can of course get some of these in Geylang, but its just not as fresh as picking it up straight from the backyard garden. My soul kampung food :)
Dear Ezra,
Thanks for dropping by, waiting to see what new photos and poems you'll be putting up soon :)
Wani!!!!
Finally I see you in my blog!
Eh, your budu sounds NASTY! And SMELLY! But i love smelly. Yes, yes i do!!! Last nite, Niz exposed his armpit hair to me while he was asleep. Of cos I tried to resist pulling it but I'm not very good at controlling myself rite? So he's not very happy with me today that I disturb his sleep..hehe
Gosh, everything sounds so delicious in this thread. I'm going to go look for a nasi pandang store, haven't had good malay food in ages.
Liz,
You've come to the nasi padang expert! Yikes! Thick-skinned me, but I speak the truth lah. When it comes to nasi padang, I'm the best judge! If you haven't tried these places before,please do:
1. Hajah Maimunah ( side lane of Joo Chiat Complex, Joo Chiat Rd) This is literally a nasi padang instituition!
2. Nasi Pariaman - North Bridge Road, near the Arab St Mosque. The Malaysian Sultan comes here to buy his rice to go! But you have to be there before 11am. Everything finishes before 12pm, believe me!
3. Sabar Menanti (opposite the Istana Kampong Glam in Arab St area) . They're so famous they're listed in the travel books like Lonely Planet.
*All the above places serves well within the $10 range for a plate of rice with about 3 dishes. Very very affordable :) Oh, and make sure you leave some room for desserts after that.
One more place, Selero Bundo, just next to Sabar Menanti, lunch set special at just $3.80 including dessert, normally they serve bubur kacang hijau, or bubur hitam. Cheap and Good! Or dinner buffet starts at 6pm (or was it 5pm?) at only $9.90, great value for money :)
Goodie! Thanks for the recommendations, EP!
Wani,
Niz and me tried Salero Bundo dinner buffet once when they just opened. A tad disappointing we felt, cos the spices didnt taste as strong as at the other places above. Their rendang and oxtail soup tasted a bit muted and dull- as if it's been thinned down to suit the tastebuds of tourists and non malays. Perhaps the chef just had a bad day that day I guess.
Liz,
No prob.
Sambal petai always bring me back to when I was 15.
My boyfriend (now hubby) was taking me to tuition classes on his bicycle. I'm seated between him and the bicycle handles, quite a balancing act on his lil mountain bike!
I must have been in a romantic mood as we were seated so close together. I turn towards him to say thank you, faces only inches apart. And yep, you've guess it, I forgot I had petai for lunch. He said he almost fainted.
bittersweet,
Wish I had been there to see! hahaha!!! definitely one to tell the grandkids someday :)
boiled blue potatos, thinnly sliced smoked herring, a big old red lobster and milk poached salt cod. Lunch of kings!
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