Assalamualaikum. Welcome to the last  chapter of Ramadan  an event to share and Eid  mubarak to our readers. This event has introduced me to so many beautiful bloggers who are doing their work exploring their regional cuisines . One of them is our charming  & beautiful Nooriah Kak (Sister) who blogs at Bicara Kak Noor. She is from tiny nation Brunei located in between Malaysia & south china sea. As this is the last post of this event, I wanted to end with Eid celebrations. Nooriah Kak was so kind to share her family photographs showing the glimses of Eid festivities. Over to you sister.

First of all, I would like to say thank you to our dear Huma Kalim for this opportunity to share my passion in cooking with all your readers as well as to share my Ramadhan and Shawal experience. I am Nooriah, also known as Kak Noor (Kak is a Malay word stands for elder sister) from the fellow bloggers. I originated from Malaysia, married a Bruneian gentleman and finally settled in a peaceful country of Brunei Darussalam in the Borneo Island. Cooking is my biggest passion. Be it dessert or savory food, I would love to try them all. I am just a humble homemaker with five grown up kids (one married) and a lovely grandson.

My Ramadhan experience may just be about the same like all Muslims around the world. In the morning, I usually spend my time reading the Quran, whereas after Isha Prayer, the whole family will then start to gather for Tarawih Prayer. Every Ramadhan, without fail, the whole family will try to gather every night to recite the Quran together.

Eid in Brunei may be a lot different than Eid in anywhere else in the world. If in most Muslim countries people will just spend the first week of Shawal to celebrate Eid, the Muslims in Brunei will actually spend the whole month of Shawal. What do we do? Mostly we visits all of our Muslim relatives and friends. Mind you, the majority population of Brunei are Muslims. So we do have a lot of people to visit. It is a very famous Bruneian culture to visit relatives and friends near and far during Eid.

During Eid, I usually cook and bake all kinds of Malay food and sweet delicacies for the guests coming over. Here, we called these Malay sweet delicacies as ‘kiuhmuih’. One of the ‘kuihmuih’ that has become all-time favorite among my guests are Tart Nenas (Pineapple Tart). Here, I would like to share with you its recipe in hope that you can try them out for your Eid Celebration this year.

Tart Nenas (Pineapple Tart)

Ingredients:

• 250 gram butter
• 300 gram all-purpose flour
• 90 gram custard flour
• 90 gram corn flour
• ¼ teaspoon of baking powder
• 50 gram icing sugar
• 2 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoon evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoon milk powder
• Store bought Pineapple Jam

Method:

1. Combine all-purpose flour, custard flour, milk powder, icing sugar and baking powder together. Sift them and put aside.
2. Mix the evaporated milk and the egg yolk together.
3. Rub the butter into the flour mixture. Mix them together using hands until it turns into dough.
4. Add the milk and egg mixture slowly to the dough and mix them well.
5. Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently fold dough over on itself. Press into a ½ cm each round. Cut out the dough using a biscuit flower cutter.
6. Put the cut flower dough inside a small paper cup and place the pineapple jam on top. Place the whole paper cup inside a cupcake baking tray, so that when you bake them, the tart will not become flat.
7. It is up to your creativity, but I usually take some of the dough into a piping bag and pipe them using a spiraling motion onto the pineapple jam.
8. Bake them at 220^oC for 20 to 25 minutes.

On the first day of Eid, right after the Eid prayer, our whole family will go visit my husband’s parents at the nearby village. After Eid greetings, seeking forgiveness to each other and enjoying delicious home cooked meal, we will go home as by noon we will have friends and families coming over to visit us.

Compulsory family photo on Eid

I want to share with you one of the most famous Malay traditional dish that people usually serve during Eid, not just in Brunei but also in the neighboring Malay countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. The name of the dish is ‘Lemang’ which is actually a combination of glutinous rice with coconut milk. Traditionally the dish is cooked in bamboo but as it is a hassle to find bamboo nowadays, most people end up cooking them by wrapping the ‘Lemang’ in banana leaves instead.

Lemang Kukus (Steamed ‘Lemang’)

• 1 kg glutinous rice
• ½ kg concentrated coconut milk
• Pandan leaves, knotted
• Salt
• Cooking string
• Banana leaves

Method:

• Heat up the coconut milk in a pot. Add a little bit of water. Wait until it starts to boil
• Add in the glutinous rice, pandan leaves and bit of salt.
• Add in more water into the pot until it flooded the rice. Make sure the water level is higher than the rice by about an inch. Stir them well.
• Let the rice become half-cooked. Once it is done, put it aside to cool.
• Wipe the banana leaves clean and lay them flat with lines on the leaf running horizontally.
• Ladle some of the glutinous rice onto the leaves and roll them into a cylindrical shape tightly. Tie up both ends of the leaves with the string and make sure there is no tear in the banana leaves.
• Bring a large pot of water to boil. This pot is going to be used for steaming the wrapped ‘Lemang’. Steam the ‘Lemang’ for about 20 minutes.
• Leave the ‘Lemang’ to cool before slicing them into discs.

Usually Lemang can be enjoy together with rendang. However in my family we prefer to enjoy them with our version of Malay Curry. So here is Malay Curry recipe for you to try with your Lemang.

Malay Curry

Ingredients:

• 1kg of beef meat (you can also use fish or lamb)
• 3 tablespoons of curry powder
• 1 tablespoon of chili paste
• 5 pieces of shallots, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 inch of ginger, minced
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of toasted desiccated coconut
• Some cooking oil
• Salt and sugar to taste

 Spices Ingredients to Stir Fry:

• Cinnamon sticks
• Clove
• Anise
• Cardamoms

* the amounts are up to you. You can add more if you prefer to have spicier curry

Methods:

• Heat up some cooking oil in a pan. Stir fry the shallots, garlic and ginger. Add in the spices ingredients. Stir them often until the shallots turn golden brown.
• Mix the curry powder and chili paste with some hot water. Pour them into the cooking pan. Let them cook using small heat until the oil breaks to the surface.
• Add in the meat into the pot. If the mixture is too concentrated, add a little bit more water. This will take a while depending on the size of the meat. Cook the meat until it has become soft.
• Once the meat is cooked, pour the tomatoes into the pot. Seasoned the curry with salt and sugar according to your taste.
• Finally add in the desiccated coconut and coconut milk. Mix them well. Let them cook using low heat until the mixture become a bit concentrated.
• Malay curry is ready to be served with your ‘Lemang’ Kukus.

To connect with Nooriah Kak , check her Blog, Facebook

Assalamo alykum. In a day or two insha allah , we will be celebrating Eid. Today we have Areej from Jordan. Her blog “OnMyTable”  captivates us with beautiful pictures of middle eastern delights.Welcome to second last chapter of Ramadan An event to share with a Jordanian ramadan and eid celebrations.

Ramadan Mubarak, my name is Areej Alsmadi and I blog at “OnMyTable” . I am originally from Jordan and  currently I live in  the USA. A housewife and a mom of amazing 4 kids, and I have a passion of cooking food, styling it, and shooting it:). I wanna thank my dear Huma for inviting me to participate in her Ramadan event, may Allah SWT makes it a very blessing holy month upon all of us.  Continue reading →