Ramadhan is the fasting month for the Muslims prior to the celebration of Hari Raya Aidlifitri on the first day of the following month, Syawal. This is the time when they must refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk, something that certainly would require a lot of self-control.
The non-Muslims, of course, would not need to fast except that during most of the day, all the Malay makan (eating) shops and stalls would be closed so it would not be as easy as on other days to go and eat a plate of nasi lemak or mee jawa and stuff like that. However, the Ramadhan Bazaar will open here, there and everywhere in various parts of town at around 3 or 4.00 p.m. in the afternoon selling all kinds of food…so even non-Muslims would need to exercise some degree of self-control too and refrain from over-indulging in all the delicious stuff that they have to offer. Their main concern isn’t so much the money spent but the weight gained within this one month. LOL!!!
My missus went to the main one in the town centre the other day…and yesterday, we went to the one at Bandong – my favourite haunt for all the Malay kuihs and the roti canai in the morning and the mouth-watering Malay dishes around lunch time.
There were quite a number of stalls including this one that sells ayam madu panggang (barbecued honey chicken)…
…and this one selling fried kway teow (flat rice noodles)…
…or this one with all the fritters, cakes, buns and puffs…
You can see the freshly-fried keropok lekor (fish cracker) and cucur pisang (banana fritter) among all the things available. My regular roti canai man was there busy making his roti canai kosong, roti telur and murtabak for sale and my favourite Malay food stall was open too. I did not buy anything from them as I can easily have those anytime in the year. I saw a stall selling Sarawak’s specialty, the daging masak hitam and the ethnic Iban (Dayak) delicacy, the ayam pansuh…
Normally, this is stuffed in bamboo tubes and cooked beside an open fire, the way people cook lemang but this lady does it in a pot and sells it at a much cheaper price. I bought RM5.00 worth from her but at the time of writing, I have not tried it yet so I cannot give you my verdict.
My regular kuih stall was open for business too…
…and seemed to attract quite a crowd. I saw a lot of nasi (rice)…
– the nasi kerabu with a choice of either fish or chicken, the nasi dagang (the ones on display are covered with cling wrap) and then, I spotted these – the pa’is telur ikan…
– fish roe/eggs marinated with all kinds of leaves and stuff and wrapped in banana leaf and cooked over an open fire. I bought one at only RM2.00 to try…and it was pretty good, I would say though you would not see me rushing out to buy some more, that’s for sure.
There were still a lot of stalls in the vicinity selling all kinds of things but the heat was unbearable and pretty soon, I was beginning to feel a headache coming. Thus, I left the place quickly and headed back to the comfort of my own home. Well, if I should drop by the place again one of these days, I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted. Stay tuned…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 