All the Things I Want to Eat but Cannot Because I Don't Know How to Cook Them

Okay seriously. After a loooooooooooooong hiatus I am back. Talking about food I want to eat. All of a sudden. Apehal?

Anyways... I am a kid of negeri sembilan. Abah was born in Ampangan, and Mak was born in Jelebu. My atok  (mak's side) came from Minangkabau while my other atok (great-great atok, abah's side) came from India. =D Because of that, I dig negeri sembilan / padang food and I LOVE indian food, which explains why I loved it when I was sent to India, twice. And prolly why I craved for Shalimar's biryani when I was pregnant with Kimi, which of course, tak dapatlah husband yang saya sayang tu fulfil. Its ohtay.

Right. I thought of this entry because 1) I am currently famished - the cafe on the Ground floor dah tutup for nearly 2 months now, and the nearest cafe is really far - I'm too lazy to walk to get my food. 2) I miss mak and all the glorious, wonderful negeri sembilan food that only mak can cook the way I like them. So this entry is entirely dedicated to mak and her wonderful N9 dishes. (My sister can cook like mak too, but she cooks them the healthier version i.e. less santan - healthier but not necesarily sedap)

Dish No. 1: Gulai Labu

SMSS made me a fan of gulai labu - but seriously, nobody makes gulai labu like my mom. The cafes, they usually make it with a bit of rencah, usually ikan bilis or udang kering and that's it. But mak throws in daun kunyit, serai, and a little bit of black pepper into the santan... the combination of daun kunyit, labu and serai is a winning one. 

This gulai is best eaten with sambal, which brings us to dish No. 2. 

Dish No. 2: Sambal. Any sambal.

I was raised to believe that no gulai is complete without sambal. I can survive with sambal scrambled egg + bilis  + potatoes with kicap, just like that.  Contrary to Ach, he thinks sambal is makanan main-main. Like people lazy to cook one. But salah tu, masak sambal susah okey. Because you have to goreng the lauk first. 

Okay okay. So mak cooks the best sambal udang, sambal daging, sambal ayam, sambal ikan keli, yadda yadda. Anything can be sambal-ed. But they are best eaten with a gulai sayur, like gulai labu above. 

http://resepisedap-nennie.blogspot.com/2010/04/sambal-ayam.html

Dish No. 3: Gulai Sayur Tempoyak

Okay yang ini, serious susah gila nak dapat kat mana-mana kedai makan nasi campur. Tak tau kenapa.. prolly because it's a bit leceh to prepare - you have to mayang all sayur and then, sayur dia pelik-pelik pulak tu, daun kaduk, daun betik, daun ubi, and tah apa lagi tah. And its taste depends on the quality of the raw tempoyak that you use. Which is why I can never cook this as good as mak sebab I will NEVER taste the raw tempoyak because I dont eat durian. But I eat this gulai. This gulai tempoyak is best eaten with sambal.

This is truly a warisan orang negeri sembilan. Too bad that Ach doesn't enjoy this as much as I do. Weird, since he likes durian. Oh how we complement each other!

http://www.tiffinbiru.com/2008/08/tempoyak-daun-kayu.html

Dish No. 4: Gulai Pajeri 

This I can make, though not as sedap - tapi malas buat sebab leceh - because the types of spices used are just too many and I lazy la to go cari all. No need picture la ha.You know how terung and nenas looks like.

Dish No. 5: Pindang Cendawan

Haaaa. Ini, memang takde sapa pernah buat and I have never seen orang lain buat. Truly mak's. You make it first by shredding the cendawan tiram into small pieces. Throw it in kuali together with daun kunyit, serbuk kunyit, cili boh, ikan bilis as rencah and santan pekat. Kacau all until santan came to a boil and pecah minyak, masukkan asam keping, garam and biarkan sekejap and then rasa. Serve hot, best eaten with sambal. Haaa, tgk, family aku memang tak boleh takde sambal punya. 

Aku buat tak sedap. Mak buat sedap gila. 

And sorry, no pictures sebab it's not googleable. 

Alright there you go. My Mak's heritage which I hope I will inherit sooner or later. =)