Have it all…

I dropped by this bakery that day because I was thinking of getting one of their very nice Swiss rolls for my girl. The lady, probably the baker’s wife (I never saw her there before), said they were not ready yet and it was already past noon. I did not see anybody busy baking at the back so I was not sure whether they would be doing it or not.

I must say that things did not look too good. There was nothing on the shelves on display, just a few trays of very limited choices, all buns, placed on the tables by the door. There was no sign of the Indonesian helper who used to be there all the time – perhaps, she had gone back home. In the end, I decided not to buy anything and left the shop.

As I was walking past the coffee shop a few doors away, I noticed that the Malay stall was open. The lady did not have any dishes for nasi campur though – probably she would only fry some noodle or rice dishes upon request as it is presently the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. As a matter of fact, I was quite surprised that it was open – in the past, many would just take the whole month off. I guess times are hard so many can no longer afford the luxury like in the good ol’ days before the pandemic.

I went to another coffee shop at the end of the block and yes, there was nasi campur available at the Malay stall there. I saw that there was sotong (squid) and I was quite sure that my girl would love it so I bought some home for lunch, RM5.00 for this much…

I would say that was cheap because if you order a plate of meat or seafood at the Chinese chu char (cook & fry) places or restaurants, it would definitely be more than RM10.00, perhaps exceeding RM15.00 for two persons even.

I could not resist the chicken liver so I bought RM5.00 of that too…

I always enjoy how the Malays cook it!

I shared the above photograph on Facebook and my cousin in Australia commented: Chicken liver fried with canned Ligo corn kernels and daun sup, one of my fav childhood dishes…and that brought to mind what my mum used to do in my growing up years too.

Way back then, she would buy live chickens from the market (and at times, she would rear her own) and she would slaughter the poultry singlehandedly all by herself and she would use the innards to cook that sweet corn dish in the exact same way her sister (my cousin’s mum) did. Those days, we would have it all, the whole chicken inside out and nothing went to waste.

These days, we would just buy the chicken parts and don’t ask me to slaughter any as I would not know how to go about it! Usually, we would go for the thighs so no, unless we buy some from the chicken seller, we would not have any chicken liver to cook and enjoy. At times, I may order a bit at the Malay stalls or those Chinese chicken rice stalls, that’s all – they usually have some plain boiled/steamed ones.

SING LONG CAFE (2.292595, 111.835979) is located in the Fortune Commercial area (behind Rejang Medical Centre), Lorong Chew Siik Hiong, directly opposite the nursing college (KOLEJ ITA).