10 MUST-HAVE DELICACIES THIS RAYA (at home)

What do we look forward to every bulan puasa? Well, buka puasa of course! Whether you’re Malaysian or not, here are some dishes you absolutely must try this Raya, at home of course. It’s the best time to experiment with new recipes, especially if you’re with family!

1. Rendang

Cooked for hours in a thick coconut milk curry with a whole lot of spices, this dish is most certainly one that you cannot miss during this season.

 

2. Lemang

Lemang is made of glutinous rice that is cooked with coconut milk in hollowed bamboos. The rice is wrapped with banana leaves to prevent it from sticking to the bamboos.

 

3. Lontong

Lontong is a compressed rice dish traditionally made by boiling the rice until it is partially cooked and packing it tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf is secured with lidi semat (wooden needle made from the central rib of coconut leaf) and cooked in boiling water. Outer parts of lontong usually have greenish colour because of the chlorophyll left by banana leaf rub off on rice cake surface.

 

4. Dodol

Famous in Melaka, and all over Malaysia during Raya, dodol is a sweet and sticky confectionery made of coconut milk, jaggery and rice flour. We even have interesting varieties of dodol such as durian dodol, jackfruit dodol, banana dodol, pineapple dodol and many more!

 

5. Kuih-kuih

Raya comes with an assortment of kuih; biscuits, pastries and a huge variety of sweet goodies!

 

6. Tepung Pelita

Tepung Pelita is a two-layer traditional kuih made of santan (coconut milk) and pandan custard, steamed in square molds of banana leaves or pandan pots. The texture is soft and creamy and it is best eaten chilled!

 

7. Ketupat

This Malay staple food is a diamond-shaped rice cake made from glutinous rice and usually wrapped in pandan leaves.

 

8. Masak Lemak

Deliciously rich and spicy, the yellow colour of the gravy comes from the addition of fresh turmeric and coconut milk. Usually cooked with fish, beef or chicken.

 

9. Asam Pedas

Asam Pedas literally translates to “sour spicy”. Seafood or freshwater fish are usually used to make this dish, along with tamarind and a mixture of vegetables

 

10. Serunding

Derived from rendang, serunding is a beef floss which can be kept for A YEAR without refrigeration.

 

We’d like to remind everyone to stay home and stay safe during this time of year and celebrate amongst our loved ones with us. Merchantrade wishes everyone a Selamat Hari Raya!