Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A Javanese Soul Food

Nasi ambeng is a traditional Javanese rice dish. I consider it as my soul food, as I am being mainly of Javanese blood. I loved it when my late father came back from a kenduri with a pack of nasi ambeng in his hand and I made it a point to buy it at the local pasar malam whenever I go balik kampung.

So what is nasi ambeng consists of? Nowadays commercially-available nasi ambeng has a number of side dishes (lauk) to choose from, somehow spoiling its authenticity, but I consider the 'true' nasi ambeng consiting of these:
- steamed rice
- fried noodle or fried vermicelli
- ayam masak kicap (chicken in soy sauce)
- sambal goreng* (most of the time replaced with stir fried green beans, suhun, tempeh and tofu)
- salted fish (any dried fish will do but usually 'ikan bulu ayam' (as it resembles chicken feathers)
- serunding kelapa
- fried tempeh (usually none as tempeh is already a key ingredient in sambal goreng and/or fried green beans)
*mixture of beef liver (which I gladly put aside), prawns (also set aside), glass vermicelli (suhun), tofu, tempeh, coconut milk and spices (sometimes with potato added)

Looks just like your slightly above-average nasi campur right? The final stuff to make it great is banana leaf. As many have known, banana leaves impart subtle flavor to dishes. In this case, the whole shebang is served on a banana leaf.....hmm yummy!

As mentioned before nasi ambeng is now commercially available but back in the 80s (and even earlier) it was the staple of Javanese households holding a kenduri. However the rice is not served in plates but in large, round trays which served 4 per tray. Traditionally, the guests however just ate a bit, and after dividing the rice and its dishes into 4 equal parts, proceeded to pack them inside the banana leaves, to be brought home so that the guests' families can also have a taste. But more usually, at least in my neighbourhood, separately packed nasi ambeng were given to the guests, known as nasi berkat @ bontrot. This Javanese tradition (adapted by the rest of the Malay community) helps foster closer ties in the neighbourhood - whilst the head of the household is invited to a kenduri, the rest of the family is not forgotten. 

There is another, not really noticeable function of the said practice, which is now probably negated by the commercialisation of nasi ambeng. By bringing back berkat@bontrot, the wives of the guests can be certain their husbands really went to a kenduri instead of using the kenduri as the cover for their extra-marital activities!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Ubat Pandai

Dalam Metro hari ni, aku terbaca iklan satu iklan syarikat perubatan alternatif (yang sebenarnya ada setiap hari, cuma kali ni aku terpanggil nak menulis). Iklan tu kata produk dia, antaranya minyak sapuan yang telah 'dibacakan 30 juzuk Al-Quran' (sepertimana produk2 dia yang lain). Lepas tu macam biasa ada testimonial. Terstimonial tu kata 'Anak saya malas belajar, asyik nak main video game bila balik sekolah...taknak ulangkaji dan buat homework. Dekat2 peperiksaan, saya calit minyak ni kat dahi dia dan campur dalam air mandi dia. Dia terus cemerlang dalam peperiksaan dan KINI dia dah terer dah, manjang dapat nombor satu! (lebih kurang macam tu le)

Aku bukan menidakkan mukjizat Ayat-Ayat Al-Quran...dan kalau Allah kata 'Jadi!' maka jadilah perkara yang dikehendaki-Nya, cuma aku sangsi sikit dengan testimonial tu....takkan setakat calit minyak kat anak tu automatik budak tu terus jadi genius dalam exam? Ni bukan kes budak tu dah study, dah pergi tiusyen dah pergi kelas motivasi tapi dah bahagian dia tak pandai-pandai jugak...ni memang kata anak dia tak study langsung, asyik main aje? Sedangkan Allah dah berfirman dalam Surah Al-Ra'ad, Ayat 11 yang dalam Bahasa Malaysia ".... Sesungguhnya Allah tidak mengubah apa yang ada pada sesuatu kaum sehingga mereka mengubah apa yang ada pada diri mereka sendiri." Dan dalam ayat ni kekefahaman aku ialah sesuatu kaum tu kena berusaha secara lahiriah dan batiniah untuk mengubah nasibnya...bukan main calit-calit aje tanpa usaha sebenar.....Wallahualam....

p.s. Macam mana dia bacakan 30 juzuk Al-Quran depan produk-produk dia? Ada orang tadarus depan beribu2 botol? Atau guna CD Al-Quran aje? Ada guna equivalent 3x Surah Al-Ikhlas = 1 Al-Quran? Serta guna konsep 'air Yasin' (Air yang baca depan orang baca Yasin, bila nak habis, top-up aje...kira masih ada khasiat....) Jadi tak perlu berkali2 nak duduk depan botol2 air...cuma baca sebotol lepas tu expand air tu....