Saturday, September 4, 2010

Do You Know Your Rempah Ratus?

funny thing, these rice dishes ya? they’re just plain beads of white rice that transformed magically into awesome fragrant, delicious dishes – using just a few herbs and spices. i think it’s not exaggerating to say that our beloved malay cuisine is not complete without these little fellas.

i mean, hundreds of years ago, tanah melayu had been a herb-hub so to speak – a center for spice traders from all over the globe. since then herb and spices have become a strong component in our daily dishes, desserts and even drinks!

they give the extra ummph, brings out the aroma and heightens the taste. some even have therapeutic values!

can you name them?


[rempahratus.jpg]


in bahasa malaysia, along with their english name :

  1. kulit kayu manis – cinnamon
  2. halba – fenugreek
  3. bunga cengkih – clove
  4. lada hitam – black pepper
  5. lada putih – white pepper
  6. bunga lawang – star anise
  7. buah keras – candlenut
  8. jintan manis – fennel
  9. jintan putih – cumin
  10. buah pala – nutmeg (ke ketumbar? – coriander)
  11. biji sawi – black mustard seeds
  12. buah pelaga – green cardamon

can anyone confirm number 10?

* * *

anyway, tomorrow i’m going to my sister’s house for berbuka. she’s cooking the lauk, and wants me to make the nasi minyak.

i’m not a fantastic cook who can whip up a fancy dish at a touch of the periuk. but i’m lucky that i had the chance to at least learn how to make one type of rice from my mak – that’s the nasi minyak. and i’ll be needing some spices few pieces of cinnamon, clove, star anise, and black pepper.

some people might not be able to recognize which is which, especially since nowadays they can easily be bought all-grounded, all-powdery – ready to be used in their cookings. even i can’t really name half of the stuff up there in the picture – i googled, okay! so again, i’m lucky that i have this one rice dish that i ‘inherited’ from my mak, along with the knowledge of the actual spices needed to make it tastier!

ok, now show me the kitchen!


16 comments:

Unknown said...

Number 10:
i think you r right, syigim. thats the close-up of coriander.

thank you so much, now i recognize the diff between jintam manis & jintan putih. hhihihi jarang guna, dan tak pernah ambil kisah nak mengenalnya! (shy!!)

ibu wawa said...

Syigim, rempah2 dalam gambar2 tu kebanyakannya akak kenal, cuma si jintan manis dan si jintan putih yang sampai sekarang akak tak tahu nak bezakan...

thanks for your infomation...
raya tahun ni balik malaysia ke?

Hidayah Ismawi said...

ahaha..kita fail terus bab ni .. I know what to put .. just dunno the names :) (tunjuk2 masih boleh kan..hehe)

arin said...

hari tu nak cari halba for supplement nak boost up my breastmilk. dah le rupa tak tau. tercari-cari kat supermarket. nasib ada satu paket tu tulis 'halba' , kalau tak memang le sampai sudah tak tau. bila tanya orang before tu, dok le depa jawab bulat2 kecik2 kaler cokelat/cream.erk?

Syigim said...

>> missFridaNorm, betul ye coriander? bcoz i google image pun both buah pala & coriander looks the same!

thanks!

>> ibu wawa, saya pun xbaper kenal. ni suma google2 je ;)

raya tahun ni alhamdulillah di msia :) walaupun seminggu je, jadi la tu hihi

Syigim said...

>> hidayah, yah last time i simply know WHAT to put, tapi bila time nk beli xtau nk tanya camne! :P

>> kak arin, ye ke halba bole boost bm? camne?

tp syigim pun tgk2 label je kalo nk cari herb yg tak dikenali ropenye! hihi

Pala Maldini said...

Good luck with your Nasi Minyak ... keep us posted about that (plus the secret recipe.. hehe)later will ya ?

arin said...

syigim, makan gitu. telan gitu. but excessive intake, badan akan ada bau. so, kena trial and error. maybe one time makan, telan 3-5 bijis ke.
ada kata rebus/rendam. but bau nya kuat. so tak sanggup den.

transformed housewife said...

no 10 tu nampak mcm ketumbar pun ye. Knur kenal kebanyakan rempah ratus tapi kdg2 tak sure bila kena translate namanya ke English. hehe

Nia said...

ada sekali tu masa saringan gadis melayu, dia test contestant kenal tak rempah ratus..haha

Syigim lulus dah, confirm gadis melayu dah ni..hehe

Bubbles...ooo said...

aha, TQ now i know my spices!:o)

Syigim said...

>> thanks pala maldini! ;) the nasi minyak recipe is just a simple one from my late mak. insyaAllah will share it one fine post! ;)

>> ye ke kak arin..bijik camtu pakai telan je? wah..

Syigim said...

>> kak nur, syigim pun mmg xkenal sgt - nama2 english tu beria2 google! hihi

>> nia, i mmg gadis melayu yg terlalu ayu ni hahahahaha men google jek la :P (ni namanye men tipu jgk) :P

Syigim said...

>> hey welcome bubbles..ooo :)

glad i could share! :)

Unknown said...

no.10 tu ketumbar confirm...pernah tengok masa mak masak..gud luck for your nasi minyak...besok saya ada teka rempah ratus jadi saya dapat tahu banyak nama rempah ratus dari blog ini..terima kasih diucapkan..:)

Syigim said...

kanna monica, thanks for dropping a comment :) bagus la dpt jgk blog ni membantu readers :)

good luck!

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