On the eve of Hari Raya, we had lemang sold by an Indon lady by the roadside.
Lemang is a traditional food made of glutinous rice, coconut milk and salt, cooked in a hollowed bamboo stick lined with banana leaves in order to prevent the rice from sticking to the bamboo. It is commonly found in maritime Southeast Asian countries, especially Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Some lemang recipes add corn and some use a mix of white and black glutinous rice. Lemang is usually eaten with chicken curry or beef rendang and sometimes with grilled fish, durian or tapai. Lemang can be found throughout Malaysia especially during the popular Muslim festival of Hari Raya Adilfitri. You can easily notice lemang stalls along the road during during Hari Raya.
I can’t remember when the last time was that we ate lemang. I had a sudden crave to indulge in lemang when I passed by the stall and saw the familiar Indon makcik tending to her lemang at the fireplace. I made a U-turn and stopped at the stall to get some after the girls concurred with my whimp. At RM13 for the short bamboo and RM15 for the long one, the lemang that I bought was scrumptious. The glutinous rice was santany, creamy, slightly salty and the texture of the glutinous was soft and chewy. The rice has a hint of smoky taste coz at the time when we bought the lemang, the lemang-filled bamboos were still being cooked at the fireplace. Such affordable street food could taste like a thousand dollars. For someone who doesn’t like rice, I kept popping the addictive lemang into my mouth, while being corroded with guilt!
This is how the lemang looks like inside the bamboo, which the seller chopped into half and got it wrapped in newspapers for us to bring back.
I also bought 2 portions of Indonesian style chicken rendang at RM5 a portion to go with the lemang. Alycia who doesn’t like spicy food ate the lemang with my papa’s homemade pandan kaya.
On the first day of Hari Raya, we left the house at 10 a.m. and only got home after 9 p.m. We were out gallivanting the entire day with our usual group of buddies and their kids.
We first had dim sum at Jaya Palace, PJ and then adjourned to Sunway Pyramid for a day of shopping, beer and sausages.
I spent hours shopping at H&M with the 2 older girls and here, you see two very happy campers.
Dinner was at a ‘tai chow’ restaurant at PJ State.
Best friends forever – our 3 girls and this group of 5 other kids have been friends with each other since birth. Same age group with similar background. They’ve traveled near and far together umpteen times. May their friendship last forever, just like their parents with the hubs and me, of which we have known each other since we were teenagers.
Grilled stingray fish with sambal and onion dip.
Clockwise: Claypot pork belly with salted fish, braised pork belly with ‘mui choy’, ‘choy po’ omelette and deep fried fish.
Clockwise: Grilled ‘kai yue’ (chicken fish), braised bitter gourd with canned black bean fish and fruit rojak (swoon!).
When we got home at 9-ish p.m., the girls helped to clean up the house whilst I did the laundry. We had to finish all the chores coz we were to meet this same group of friends again at Sunway Pyramid (again!) for ice-skating at 8.30 a.m. the next morning (what, SO early on a holiday!). We were set for another full day jaunting around the next day. The girls couldn’t be happier to spend yet another day with their besties.
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