Indian Dessert: Putu mayam

6:49 PM |

A Peek into Indian Dessert - Putu mayam


Hi there! Today, I will be continuing last week's topic, which was based on Indian main dishes here in Malaysia. This week, we will know about their dessert. Well, we all know that their desserts were not bad and actually taste good as well just like other dessert that are available here in our home nation, Malaysia. We will start off with one of Malaysian's favorite, Putu mayam.



As we all know, Putu mayam is actually a malay word. It is known as Idiyappam in Tamil and it is a tamil dessert from southern India. It is commonly known in southern India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and also Singapore. The process of making it is rather simple than expected. It mainly consists of mixing rice flour or known as idiyappam flour with water and/or coconut milk. Then, you are required to press the dough through a sieve to make vermicelli-like noodles. These are steamed, and usually it is added with juice from the aromatic pandan leaf or known as screwpine as flavoring. The noodles on the other hand are served with grated coconut or preferably, gur which is date palm sugar. 

Meanwhile in Malaysia, it is known as putu piring which is Malaysian version of the same thing. The rice flour dough is used to form a small piece of cake around a filling of coconut and gur or juggery. Same with putu mayam, they are commonly sold as street food from market stalls or carts here in Malaysia and also Singapore. In Indonesia, it is called as Putu mayang and is served with palm sugar added with coconut milk.



It is totally different if we compare it with the ones that in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Right there, it may be eaten for breakfast with the addition of vegetable stew or aviyal, fish curry and so on. But here, it served with some additional things too but we serve it with other sweet stuffs such as gula melaka. Putu mayam or Idiyappam is a typical dish in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other southern Indian states. Sri Lanka were also famous with this dish. It's no surprise that commercial Iddiyapam is sold as a sort of instant way to make all of these dishes came true.

Well, that's all from me. Make sure you tune in to this blog from now on to know about Chinese's main cuisine next week, right here on foodelicious. Ciao!
 Putu mayam. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1749_2011-01-05.html 
















Irwan Nazreen bin Azroie
0110942@kdu-online.com

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Posted by Irnie Furzannie binti Azroie

Indian Cuisines

10:10 PM |

Muhammad Amir Hakim
0111623@kdu-online.com


A Peek Into Indian Cuisine – Chapatti
In Malaysia, there are many types of races that can be found such as Malay, Indian and Chinese. When it comes to Malaysian cuisine, there are thousands of super fabulous food that we could find in this beloved country. During these times, we have been exposing to all our readers about the wonders of Malay cuisine on both sides which are the main course and the desserts. Those food that were being posted seems to be so delicious. As for this week, we will be highlighting on the main course that is related to Indian cuisine which is the very well-known flatbread, Chapatti.

Chapatti is originally from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Chapatti is also known as Phulka, Roti and Poli. It also spelled as Chapathi and Chappati.  Some people said that each country has their own style of making Chapatti. Basically, Chapatti is made up of wheat. For the Indian people, Chapatti is an important dish as rice for us. One of the oldest versions of Chapatti came from the North India. Next, the word “chapat” in Hindu means ‘to slap’. This is because the traditional way to make rounded shape is by slapping the dough between the cooker’s palms of the hands. With each slap, the round of dough is rotated.



In the Indian country, Chapatti is mostly served with curry. People in Malaysia eat Chapatti in many ways. Normally, the ‘mamak’ stall will serve the customers as the traditional way in which the Chapatti is served with curry or dhal. In the other way, Malaysian people also eat Chapatti with red spicy sauce or we called it as ‘sambal’. As we all know that Chapatti is a nutritious and low calorie food, people that are on diet are usually advised to have Chapatti as their breakfast or snack. The way the Chapatti is cooked made it more healthy compared to other types of bread as it is cooked in a dry way without having to use cooking oil.

Notice that all of the ingredients being used to make a Chapatti are very healthy and easy to get in most supermarket here in Malaysia. The main ingredient that you should have is the whole wheat sieved flour or ‘Atta’ wheat. ‘Atta’ is made from Indian wheat and it is more fine compared to the western-style wheat flours. Next is a cup of water; it depends on the quantity of Chapatti that you want to make. Optionally, you can put a pinch of salt if you want the taste to be slightly salty.


Besides of not using cooking oil in its cooking process, Chapatti is also cooked traditionally without using any pinch of salt. The reason that it is prepared this way is to ensure the taste of Chapatti which is to be served with spicy gravy such as curry. It is easy to prepare and to cook Chapatti. Firstly, after the dough is completely prepared, they will be formed into round balls. The balls were formed by pressing the dough between the palms of the hands as mentioned earlier. After this stage is completed, the rounded balls will then be turned into disc shaped which are then dipped into flour and rolled out on a circular rolling board using the rolling stick. After that, it will turn into a perfect circle. Then, at this stage, the perfect circle dough will finally be thrown on the preheated griddle and cooked on both sides.

Finally, the Chapatti is ready to be served. If one wants to make it more delicious and moist, the Chapatti surface can be brushed on with ghee or melted butter. However, it is best to eat them using the old style which is without having to put on the ghee as to preserve its traditional taste.

Tune in next week as we will be bringing you more about the wonderful and mouth-watering Indian cultured food.
[1] Dash, M. (2015). Food Story: How India’s favourite flatbread Roti was born.
     The Indian Express. Retrieved from

     http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/food-story-how-indias-favourite-flatbread-roti-was-born/

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Posted by Anonymous

Malay Desserts

5:14 AM |


Kong Lian Jiek
0111539@kdu-online.com

 Title: The Wonders of Malay Cuisine ( Desserts Edition )
Last week on Foodelicious, we have shared about the iconic Malay main dish which is the Nasi Ulam and of course; that is not the end of it certainly. I have lived with this very principle for as long as I can remember and now, I wish to share it with all of you guys out there who is reading this blog. "There is no such thing as a complete meal if there is no dessert on the table". Many of you would have agreed with me and can relate to it well as desserts is a must in our daily lives. Hence, here are some of the most popular desserts or 'kuih' in the Malay culture that we can savor and feast upon in Malaysia.

 Ais Kacang

 Ais kacang, literally means "ice beans" are also commonly known as ABC throughout Malaysia, which stands for Air Batu Campur. This dessert is also well-known in Singapore and Brunei. Ais kacang is usually prepared traditionally by using an ice machine which churns out shaved ice and is operated through hand cranking it although many has seems to move on with the technology era and most of the ice machine now are often motorized. 

 During the old times, it was originally made out of only shaved ice and red beans as the toppings though the number of ingredients has now expanded. The ais kacang that we can see today has brighter colours and it comes with a variety of fruit cocktails and dressings to accompany it. In Malaysia, almost all ais kacang is served with :

  1. attap chee (palm seed)
  2. red beans
  3. sweet corn
  4. grass jelly
  5. agar-agar (jelly/nata de coco)
  6. ice-cream
After that, it is topped with the final dressing of evaporated milk, condensed milk or coconut milk drizzled along with red rose syrup and sarsi syrup. There are also different versions of ais kacang that are served with gula melaka syrup instead.

Apam Balik

 Apam balik, translated into English which is "Turnover Pancake" is a type of griddle pancake that is common in the Southeast Asia. It is usually sold at specialist roadside stalls and is available throughout Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.

The pancake's batter is made from a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, baking soda, coconut milk and water. After preparing the the batter, it is then cooked upon a thick round iron pan which is covered plenty with palm margarine to avoid the batter from sticking onto the surface of the pan during the cooking process.

After the batter is poured in, other ingredients will be sprinkled in as the fillings which includes :

  1. sugar
  2. peanut granules
The ingredients above are the main and most common of all though more and more people are starting to put in chocolate sprinkles and cheese as the alternate flavours nowadays. Apam balik also has another name, which is called the "terang bulan" due to its shape which is big and round before it is folded. After folding, it is then cut into several pieces before sold. In Malaysia, the apam balik has been declared a heritage food by the Malaysian Department of National Heritage and is widely enjoyed by all who loves its crispy texture.

Dodol

 Dodol is a sweet toffee-like confection that originated from Nusantara and is popular in most of Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. In these countries, dodol are commonly served during festival like Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as sweet treats for children and to those who came to visit. In Malaysia, dodol is quite popular especially amongst the Javanese-influenced eastern states, such as Kelantan and Terengganu.

Dodol is made from coconut milk, jaggery and rice flour hence its stickiness, thickness and sweetness. Dodol also consists of many other flavours such as dodol durian which contains durian. There is also dodol that has soursop and jackfruit in it.

The process of cooking dodol is absolutely not an easy task as it requires a lot of attention and patience while preparing it. It takes up to 9 hours for the cooking and  the dodol must always be stirred while  in the big wok. Even a brief pause can ruin the taste and aroma of the dodol or worse, causing it to burn. When the dodol is completely cooked, it is firm and does not stick to one's fingers when touching it.
Process of cooking dodol


Join us next time as we, the writers of Foodelicious continue to bring you more mouth-watering and savoring food posts all across the states.

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Posted by Anonymous

Malay Cuisine : Nasi Ulam

7:34 AM |

Danial Sabri
Dannydjent@hotmail.com
  

Title: The Wonders of Malay Cuisine.
Food does not only represent a culture or a race, but it also determines people’s personality. Malaysia is made up of different types of cultures such as Malay, Chinese, and Indians where each culture consists of different types of what we call ‘traditional’ food. Malaysian food is also famous to other races and also tourists. When it comes to Malaysian food, there are just too many food to choose from, whether traditional or modern cuisines. Firstly, Malay food mostly consists of rice just like other Asian countries. Malay food also consists a lot of herbs like lemongrass, dried chilies, and mostly ginger and garlic. Such food for example is the famous Nasi Ulam; which is a dish consisting of steamed rice that includes various types of herbs such as pegagan leaves or lemon basil and also eaten with various types of side dishes. Most Malaysians prefer to eat Nasi Ulam with a side dish of fish to which makes it much more delicious.

Nasi Ulam is a signature dish by the Malays and is still popular till now due to its unique style of cooking. Unlike many dishes, other cultures also has different versions of the unique dish, especially the Peranakans who created the dish and became famous till now.  Besides that, it is also known as “Queen” of all Peranakan rice dish. Moreover, Nasi Ulam was originated from Kelantan and Terengganu where by the dish is mostly prepared with prawn or fish as it side dishes. Moreover, this dish can also be found in Indonesia, and Thailand. In Indonesia, there are two types of Nasi Ulam, whereby one is wet which is mixed with soup, which is available in northern Jakarta, and a dry one which is available in the southern part of Jakarta. The Indonesian version is mixed with dried chili, sliced cucumber, and sprinkled with peanuts on top.
Besides that, Nasi Ulam has the most basic herbs compared to the Western green salad which is usually marinated with European style dressings. This unique dish is also often eaten with sambal (chili paste) to give it an extra kick while eating with the various herbs. When it comes to Nasi Ulam, the Ulam (herbs) plays an important role while preparing it as its usually only half cooked in the heat of the freshly steamed rice, to maintain its freshness and crispiness of the vegetables in raw form. In addition, Nasi Ulam in Malaysia is slidely different compared to the Indonesian one. Its steamed rice is mixed with various herbs such as daun pegagan (pegagan leaves), and lemon basil and sometimes cooked with raw fish which is known in the Northwest Peninsular Malaysia. Nasi Ulam is mostly enjoyed by all and is more popular amongst the elderly people because it provides an aromatic taste and also healthy which is a bonus to the elderly people.
The basic ingredients that are needed to cook Nasi Ulam are :
1)    Chopped red onions
2)    Pudina Leaves
3)    Pegagan Leaves
4)    Red chilies
5)    Dried Shrimp (optional)
It requires patience and takes a lot of time while preparing the dish. The herbs is then mixed together with the steamed rice and then served.






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