The Cocoanut

Last Sunday marked the start of Ramadan, when Muslims begin their month-long fasting ritual. Although many people understate the challenge of abstaining from food and drink for the better part of the day, I personally find it to be quite a daunting task. Every evening as I break fast, I am humbly amazed at my own, albeit small, personal achievement in this annual test of faith.

Of course, just as it is with school tests where most merely pass and only a few succeed with flying colours, my fast is completed with many imperfections and faults. But I am extremely grateful to belong to a religion that seeks the best of its followers, yet at the same time immensely tolerant and understanding of human frailties. And so I begin each day with the hope that each fast will be better than the last, and pray that I gain more from this test of faith than simply hunger and thirst.

Fasting always brings back the best memories of growing up in Malaysia. The Ramadan Bazaar is a Malaysian institution equal in stature to the venerable pasar malam (night market), where we would browse through stall after stall selling the most cherished dishes in the country, from nasi biryani gam to nasi dagang, the common kuih talam to kuih pelita, those fragile puddings delicately flavoured with pandan and coconut milk, filled in rectangular cubes of banana leaves. And then there will be at least one stall selling ayam percik, grilled chicken basted with a spicy gravy, that will provide the unmistakable smoky aroma and air pollution that accompanies every Ramadan bazaar.

For tonight, I find myself with a rapidly ripening avocado. Avocadoes, like bananas, bruise quickly, and so I decided to make an avocado smoothie, if only to get rid of the avocado before it goes to waste. It was in fact, a really good way to get rid of avocado, as the resulting smoothie was thick and rich. Every heavy gulp was a luxurious thirst-quencher, the neutral but unmistakable creaminess of avocado counterbalanced by the faintly-sweet addition of a drizzle of honey and sugar (actually, it was more than a drizzle).

For the main meal, it was a simple, traditional Malay arrangement; rice with an accompanying dish of vegetable and meat. The vegetable dish was a stir-fried assortment of deep-fried eggplants, capsicum and Chinese broccoli, liberally drizzled with a dressing of soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. The meat was opor ayam, chicken slowly cooked in coconut milk and kurma powder until most of the liquid has evaporated.

To finish off the meal, I baked chocolate macarons. To be honest I’ve never had macarons before so I’m unsure if my macarons turned out into what they’re meant to be, but all the same I’m quite happy with the result; a chewy shell that gives way to a very moist chocolate ganache filling.

To all Muslims, have a blessed Ramadan ahead.

In the world we live in, one of the most precious commodities, besides oil of course, is perhaps time itself. Despite the advent of new technology such as laptops and PDAs that promises to increase efficiency and cut down on the amount of time spent working, we seem to be even busier than before. Time seems to obey the same principles that govern the Rules of Roads: the more roads you build, the more traffic jams you get caught in. The more time we set “free”, the less time we have for ourselves.

However, there are in fact many ways of filling our stomach without resorting to Macca’s or KFC. For a quick food that is both easy to prepare and exotic, I almost always turn to noodles. They are more versatile than rice, in that they take less time to cook, and you don’t have to worry about making accompanying dishes (unless you’re happy eating rice with fried eggs, in which case I salute you for your lack of fussiness).

I keep a packet of Japanese noodles (ramen, soba or udon) in the pantry together with a packet of instant noodle soup powder. Purists might read this in disgust and abandon me altogether but I really can’t be bothered making my own broth. In any case, I plunge my noodles into the hot soup and simply add any salad or leafy vegetable that’s soft enough to cook in its own steam. Slurping my piping hot noodles, I am a happy man.

Desserts, the highlight of the meal, are normally not quick to prepare. A speedy dessert would simply be ice cream, or if I’m feeling a bit industrious, I’d make a hot chocolate sauce to be poured on top of the ice cream.

Brownies are really easy to make; simply combine flour, nuts, sugar and chocolate pieces (I’m being very general here, obviously there’s more things to add and measurements to consider). Sticky date pudding is a popular Australian pudding that’s not as revered as the Pavlova or even Peach Melba, but I personally find that it’s the best of the lot. Like the brownies, it takes only about half an hour to bake in the oven. I normally let them bake while I enjoy my main meal and have them straight out of the oven for a rich and sweet finish to another long day…