Lemang & Serunding

My dad knows how much I love eating glutinous rice, I love ‘em in ketupats (rice cakes wrapped in a coconut leaf shell), with mangoes & coconut cream or with fried chicken as in southern Thailand & northern Malaysia. So when dad saw that The Lemang House still had some lemang, he bought a couple for me with some fish serunding. Lemangs are traditionally made by filling bamboo segments that has been lined with a banana leaf & filled with glutinous rice & coconut milk and baked in an open flame. To eat, one takes a machete & crack the bamboo open. Nowadays, lemangs are made in aluminium cylinders & are steamed. I guess the difference in taste would be the missing smokiness that’s found in a traditionally made lemang. As accompaniment, it is served with serunding ikan, a spicy (lemongrass, blue ginger, fennel, corriander & dried chilli) desiccated coconut & fish mixture that’s been sauteed for a very long time till the white dessicated coconut turns a gorgeous shade of golden. I like making big woks of beef serunding for Eid, i usually spend 4 hours stirring the mixture till its dry. Serunding cab last for a pretty long time and is delicious with lontong, ketupats & white rice.

Apam Balik

Right beside the Ayam Percik stall at the Geylang Ramadhan Bazaar is the Apam Balik stall. This Malay dessert is a must buy for me during the fasting month. It is sort of like a pancake with sugar, ground peanuts as it’s filling very similar to the Ming Jiang of the Chinese except those are muy fluffy. Anyways back to the apam balik, what I especially love is that you can find a different variation during this month, filled with the sugar & peanut mixture with dollops of creamed corn! Ooh just thinking about it just makes my mouth water Crispy in the outside & creamy & crunchy in the inside, delicious!

Ayam Percik

One food that I consider synonymous with Ramadhan Bazaars is the Ayam Percik. It’s only during this time if the year do you see this item being sold all over. What it is, is actually chicken that’s barbequed between two thick bamboo pieces that has been basted in a frangrant coconut or spicy flavoured sauce. The one I tried this year was juicy & sweetened with honey & the spicy basting sauce that was similar to spicy satay sauce. The stall that I went to was located right across from Darul Arqam, or the Muslims Convert Association. A chicken wing just costs $1.50. Cheap & good!