I missed my mother, can you feel that you missed someone so much but cannot do anything other than praying for her. I lost my mother in 1997, she passed away too soon. I wish I could have been given more time to spend with her but Mak (I used to call her by this calling name) had gone too soon. Mak, Ainie love you forever and will miss you forever and ever. I cried all the time missing you.
My Mother's name is Sarah Binti Kalam. A beautiful name for a very beautiful and sweet person. She was the best cook in the world for me, every day she would cook a simple dish yet very delicious for us. This contest is a tribute to the best mother in the world that one could have. I would like to dedicate this to my beloved mother that I called MAK.
MAK
Mak where are you
I long your hugs
I can feel your kisses still
I can hear your voice calling me
I cried for you, I miss you Mak
Rest in peace, my beloved
Forever yours, past the moon, across the stars... your daughter
For the purpose of this contest, I would like to introduce Malaysian favorite dish Nasi Lemak that we all at home really waited for the day Mak would cook it for us. Some of the ingredients, I have to use the instant ones due to time constraints to prepare this dish if I would have used all the traditional style that my mother's used like she would use a real coconut, not from the box. However, the preparation style and ingredients are of hers.
The ingredients
Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng Berempah
Coconut Rice, Fried Chicken, Sambal Tumis, Boiled Eggs and Cucumber.
Ingredients for Nasi Lemak
- 3 cups of rice
- 1-inch ginger - crushed
- Coconut milk 1 box
- Salt
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
Methods for Cooking the Rice
- Place the rice inside the rice cooker pot.
- Wash the rice clean.
- Put water according to the right measurement. I still use my finger as taught by my mother, always accurate, and never failed. The traditional way of measuring the water and the rice is that you just press your finger to check the height of the rice according to your finger measurement than add the water to the same height. To me, this is still the best style and cannot be replaced by any modern method.
- Add coconut milk.
- Crush ginger and add the crushed ginger into the pot and season with salt.
- Add cooking oil.
- Let it cook, and it keeps on stirring every 5 minutes until the rice cooks.
How to Cook Nasi Lemak until completed
While your rice is cooking let's do the sauteed sambal which is the most important ingredient for Nasi Lemak. Your sambal (Spicy Chilli Sauce) plays the most important role to determine whether your Nasi Lemak is Sedap (Good) or not. And my mother's sambal had never failed us, always the right taste all the time.
Ingredients for Sambal Tumis (Sauteed Spicy Chilli Sauce)
- Dried red chilies (1 handful)
- 2 red chilies
- 1 red onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1-inch ginger
- Anchovies (1 handful)
- Dried Shrimps (1 handful - fry first)
Methods for making Sambal Tumis (Sauteed Spicy Chilli Sauce)
- Blend all ingredients.
- Heat the wok, put 1 cup oil.
- Fry the blended ingredients.
- Once the oil rises then adds onions. Use a slow fire.
- Season with salt (a tablespoon), sugar (6-7 tablespoons).
- Add tamarind paste (a tablespoon) that you have mixed with warm water just 1/2 cup water.
- Add brown sugar (2 tablespoons). Besides adding the right sweetness taste, this brown sugar has the function of giving the sambal a beautiful color of dark red.
- Cook slowly for 30 minutes so that the sauce is long-lasting.
Blend all ingredients
How to Make Sambal Tumis until completed
Ingredients for Ayam Goreng Berempah (Fried Chicken)
- 1 chicken (cleaned and cut simply)
- 6 cloves garlic
- 7 cloves red onion
- 2 inches ginger
- 3 lemongrass
- 3 tablespoons ground dried chilies
- 2 tablespoons meat curry powder
- 1/2 tsp white cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- Salt to taste.
- Blend all the above ingredients.
- Mix well with the chicken and leave to marinate for 1 hour.
- Heat oil in a wok. Make sure there is excess oil so that the chicken sinks when fried.
- Add the chicken one by one and fry until cooked.
P/S: I have shortcut all the above steps by purchasing an instant paste. I cannot imagine how it must be very stressful for my mother to prepare the fried chicken, such a tedious step with so many ingredients to prepare.
How to Prepare Fried Chicken until completed
Boiled Eggs
While cooking sambal tumis and frying the chicken don't forget to boil the eggs.
Sliced Cucumber
Cucumber is an important side of Nasi Lemak that will always be served together. Slice the cucumber and put aside.
Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng Berempah is ready, FINALLY…
My plate
Thank you @steemitfoods / @alikococ07 for honoring all mothers in the world with this contest. You are awesome!
Mothers are the most important person on earth aside from our beloved father. Without my mother and father, I will not be breathing this world. They are a gift from God brought from heaven to care for us since we are young until we can be independent by ourselves but they just care for us unconditionally. Respect all Mother and parents of the world! And that concludes my presentation for SteemFoods Contest 5.
This is a submission for [SteemFoods Contest -5- | Your Mom's Favorite Recipe by @steemitfoods / @alikoc07]. Thank you @steemitfoods / @alikoc07 for organizing such a wonderful contest, visit this link below for more details:
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That's all for now, wishing you a beautiful day ~ Life is Beautiful.
Take care and Stay Blessed!
Yours truly,
