Lunch today

1. Gulai tumis lada hitam ikan pari
When talk about gulai (I think best translated as sauce or gravy), in Malaysia gulai means different kind of dish depending on the location you are at.
If you are in Northern part of Malaysia, gulai means Curry - the color is brownish.
If you are in some part of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan or some places in Malacca, gulai means  Gulai Lemak Cili Padi (Coconut sauce with bird eye chillies) and the color is greenish whitish--closer to white.
In Kelantan or Terengganu or maybe Pahang too, gulai is orangy red similar with curry but the spices is different.
When you are in Johor, if you are true Johorian, the gulai is usually reddish.
So if someone tells you that they ate gulai, ask them which color :p

The recipe:

Gulai Tumis Lada Hitam (Fish in pepper and chilly gravy)
I -  Main Ingredient
Fish (I used ikan pari "stingray") cut in  rectangles according to its bones
Daun kesom (kesom leafs)
Tamarind juice

II - Pound or put the following into blender
5-6 Red chillies
20-30 Dried chillies- depends on whether you want it hot
1 tsp Peppercorn
1 tsp curry powder
Shallots
Garlic
Ginger
Tumeric
Shrimp Paste
1-2 shallot slice thinly


1. Heat pan. Put in the thinly sliced shallot. Let it brown.
2. Pour in the pounded mixture. Let the ingredients cooked until its own oil comes out
3. Squeeze tamarind with a cup of water. Pour juice into the pan. Stir and add according to how thick or thin we want the gravy. If you want it thinner then squeeze more tamarind juices. Let it simmer.
4. Once boiled, put in the fish and daun kesom. Let it cooked for awhile.
5. Served with hot rice. Best eaten with hot rice and soya sauce.




2. Sayur turi masak lemak
 I haven't eaten this vegetable for ages. Sayur turi is not easy to find.

                                            This is how pokok turi looks like.
I always bought some other vegetable mistaken as turi before. But this time I saw it's white flower and I confirmed  it is turi.

Turi is best eaten when cooked with coconut milk.

Sayur Turi Masak Lemak (Sayur Turi in coconut sauce)

Ingredients:

Some daun turi. (the leaves will shrink so you need large amount- take only the leaves and flower if any)
Coconut milk
Sweet potato - peel and cut like cutting potato for soups.
Shallot
a bit of dry shrimps or ikan bilis(anchovy).

1.Slice shallots. Clean dry shrimp or anchovy.
2. Put coconut milk, slice shallots and anchovy into the pot with sweet potatoes. Bring to boil.
3.When boiled and the sweet potatoes already softened, add the leaves. Let it cooked for a while, stirring every now and then.
4. Serve with white rice and sambal belacan.

3. Sambal belacan
This is easy but a must for most Malay home.
Red chillies or bird eyed chillies or a bit of both.
Shrimp paste-grilled a few minutes.
Lime  or tamarind juice.

Pound chillies with shrimp paste. Add a bit of salt and sugar.
Once the ingredients are fine, add the juice.
Served.