The past Ramadan, I told myself that I had to fulfill two promises: 1. I must stay at home more often, and 2. I must be more rajin and cook for the family. Thankfully, I did manage to fulfill these two, so I wanted to share some of the dishes and meals that I actually cooked, and actually took photos of. Hahaha

A little disclaimer (gotta put up my shields before before I get all sorts of attacks and criticism on my food hahaha), the thing about me and cooking is that I don't think I'm that passionate about food. Don't get me wrong, like every other human being, I love to eat, and anyone who has ever (even just once) eaten with me will know for sure that I have a huge appetite. Aside from my unfortunate intolerance for the spicy, I'm also extremely unpicky when it comes to food. I really can eat anything. So, because of my huge appetite and my lack of pickiness, I think I've developed a very low satisfaction level for my tastebuds. Give me anything and I'll finish it. I do my best to chew a lot, but even then, the taste doesn't really get to me. The role of food on my tastebuds is just a mere passerby before reaching the true destination: filling my stomach.

Because of this, I think I'm a horrible cook. I don't appreciate the taste and texture and aesthetic and whathaveyou of food. I know so many people who do, and to say I'm like that would be an insult to the hard work and passion they contribute to their edible craft. It's amazing, it's lovely, but I'll just pop it into my mouth and smile at how my stomach is pleased.

That being said, I guess I have to work extra hard when it comes to cooking at least decently. I don't wanna rely on eating out when I grow older. It ain't an argument; both men and women will have to learn how to cook lol neither feminism nor misogyny will save you when you starve.

Now, on to the main point of this post hahaha. Here are three of the dishes I did in Ramadan. :D

We shall begin from the worst to the best yeah? Hahaha.

1. Kuay teow goreng daging


As you can see, this is an extremely simple and unfortunately bland-looking kuay teow goreng. I feel almost ashamed to be showing this on my blog – who will want to make me part of their family now? Hahahaha kidding(ish). But you'd be surprised, when I had this done, I was so proud of myself. My comfort zone is usually pasta and rice, so when I decided to work with noodles, I was excited and nervous. Also, being the very anyhow person that I am, I like to chuck in ingredients into the wok and just mix it up. But because I was fasting that day, I didn't get to taste whether any of the ingredients were more than enough, so my family had to endure the somewhat tasteless kuay teow goreng. Hahaha.

Alhamdulillah, though, because my mother said she enjoyed it. I know she may be lying but that sort of validation and encouragement is what I need in my life. Hahaha love you, Ibu. :'D

2. Jemput-jemput


I don't about yours but my family absolutely loves jemput-jemput. Wikipedia says that this popular Malay snack is the rave in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei and I feel like I can totally get why. It. Is. So. SIMPLE!!! I love how absolutely easy it is to make, and there really isn't any recipe that you must strictly adhere to in order to make it work. The ingredients I usually include in my jemput-jemput are onions, potatoes, anchovies, or baby prawns. It varies according to what's available in the pantry. Hahaha

On the day this photo was taken, I think I started making the jemput-jemput 15 minutes before maghrib hahaha so I guess the taste may have been compromised. But I'm still happy that I managed to fix it in such a short period of time. I can bring it to school more often starting next semester, since I most likely won't be staying in hall.

3. Beefball macaroni goreng

This last one that I wanna share with you guys is a macaroni goreng dish that I was very very happy to have made. Ibu directed me a lot, though, so maybe this one is more of me helping my mother cook, rather than me cooking myself. Hahaha. It tasted really great, and I felt satisfied that we used beefballs instead of beef chunks, because the softness of the former matched well with the softness of the macaroni. Wow I'm actually commenting on the texture? I've gone a long way from the first part of this post.

We used a lot of herbs like Chinese parsley (I too did not know herbs had their own races) and corriander for this dish, so it took more time than I was used to. When it comes to buka meals, I was often all about the quickness and as-long-as-I-can-eat-it, so waiting a bit more felt foreign to me. It did however teach me more about patience. And once again I was struck by how much of a superwoman Ibu is. She works from 7am to 5pm dealing with students and staff and all kinds of work but she still goes home to cook for the family. I spend a whole day rolling around and still can't take it when I have to stand and cook hahahais. So many lessons to be taken away from my amazing mother.

So there you have it, three dishes from the (alhamdulillah) many I made in Ramadan. After Ramadan the habit kinda died hahaha but I'm hoping to kick it back in slowly. I need not be an amazing cook, I just wanna feed the people around me well insyaAllah.