Pasar Ramadan Taman Desa

Although I do not observe fasting during the month of Puasa , maybe I should repharse that, I do not observe fasting regardless of the day/ month…I am always telling myself that I should try fasting one day… but mentally, I can’t even get past the possibility of surviving half  a (waking) day of fasting  how then ? Oh…I do fast for maybe 12 hours for the company annual blood test thingy but that was over the night , i usually make sure I am the second if not first to be in queue for the blood drawing exercise the next morning  in order to replenish my empty stomach ASAP… So for those who Puasa, I tabik you…for your perseverance and patience. 

When Ithink of puasa, I think of the pasar Ramadan ( sorry, I am not addressing the religious aspect of Puasa, but more from the gastronomical  angle), and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the colourful canopies amid the celah celah pokok  at the junction of Jalan Desa Bahagia at Taman Desa ( this is opposite Faber Tower on one side , and facing the  Taman Desa Food Court (next to the Shell Petrol Station)  which could only indicate one thing – Pasar Ramadan. If i remember correctly, for the previous years, the pasar Ramadan for Taman Desa was on the other / quieter side of Danau Desa, this ‘new’ location is definitely more noticeable and assessible.

 I forgot to count, but i think there were about twenty-ish stalls there

The ayam panggang stall…

One of the many stall selling drinks , what would you like ? Asam boi, jagong, milo, bandung + selasih, cincau + selasih, tembikai or  honey dew…

The satay makcik and her clan

Yummilicious satay by the dozens

 Buah melaka, pengat ubi plus other sweet stuff ..

The murtabak pakcik who asked me to make sure that he looked handsome in the picture

Mouth watering nasi goreng with ayam..

And my highlight for the day – Kuih Akok. This is a famous Kelantanese dessert- sweet, rich and superbly delicious . Akok are made with eggs, santan, sugar and flour.

This is how you make akok… pour the batter into the moulds…

 

Cook them over charcoal/gas fire…

Plus the friendly Kelantanese smiles…( sorry i missed part of yor head, Dik)

After a few minutes of heat – remove the fluffy and inviting looking akok from the moulds..

 It’s not easy to find good akok in KL ( maybe I have not been looking at the right places), to me the sign of a good akok is – the surface/ edges  of the akok must have crinkly ( full of wrinkles), maybe a bit of a near-char at the edges, fluffy, glistening with brown to dark brownish colouration < if the akok show signs of such appearance , then you might potentially have great tasting akok .  And this Akok stall at Taman Desa with the tagline -  ‘Raja Akok’- met all the criteria, appearance and taste. The akok are sold at RM2 for 3 pieces, these are rather larger in size than the regular akok. The Adik manning the stall is from Gua Musang and will be going home with his adik-adik on the 15th for Hari Raya.

Selamat berpuasa , Selamat Hari Raya and Happy holidays !

If you are interested in making akok, you can try the recipe from this link

Pasar Ramadan @ Putrajaya

This year,  for berbuka puasa fare,  we took a drive to Putrajaya, actually, I am not sure where the pasar ramadan will be at, but decided to head on to the masjid area where I thought it could be at, after asking around and driving around, we saw some buntings with the information that we were looking for  —- the Putrajaya Pasar Ramadan is at at  Precinct 2, the open area opposite the Ministry of Finance. The pasar is open from 4:00 – 7:30 pm.

After disembarking from our car,  parked along the same row as the Ministry of Finance, noticed that the were yellow lines along the road but as it was a Sunday, should be ok guarr  ? We walk across the road to the pasar where even more cars are parked by the roadside ( also with yellow lines) ,  we then saw 1 policeman busy writing summons and another was lifting a car wiper to secure a summon . And  before you can say ‘keropok lekor’ , we got back to our car , drove further up the road, make a U-turn ( legal, of course) and then parked our car at the designated car park area which was in front of the pasar.

Ahh…you could smell the aroma of food, see the smoke where some deep frying or panggang-ing are taking place before stepping into the pasar..

 

A lot of stuff on sticks to choose from : fishballs, fish fingers, chicken liver, hot dog, filaments sticks, and stuff not on sticks too, fried chicken, fish etc…

 

Noodles in big kuali…

 

Rows of Otak-otak being grilled

 

There is a stall where you can choose the sotong, ikan pari, other ikans that you fancy and the abang will slapped  some sauce  on these, and cook them on a banana leaf  over the grill

 

I was surprised to see a queue, maybe it’s just the courteous Putrajaya folks, but..this is the only stall where people are queuing up rather than crowd around the stall..

 

And it’s all for …. ten ten tenn….Roti John, must be good stuff…

 

The innovative air tebu seller, I checked the bin..it’s clean..don’t worry..

 

Ikan and ayam percik – the colour, the aroma…

 

Many species of Ikan being panggang-ed 

 

The infamous Kampung Baru Bubur Lambuk..

 

The more ‘modern’ buka puasa fare – pizza , wasn’t that popular with the Putrajaya crowd..

 

Apam in various stages of gestation ..

 

BBQ Lamp shanks..the abang manning the stall said to me ‘ you want a whole kambing also got, please call me, I can arrange, anytime..’

 

Jus Ori..

 

My buka puasa choice :  Nasi kerabu + a piece of chicken wing + solok lada ( stuffed chili ) = RM5

I noticed that there weren’t that many stalls selling  kuih-muih at the Putrajaya pasar ramadan , there were more stalls selling ‘proper’ meal  rather that the ‘dessert’ part of the buka puasa fare. The 2 most popular stall  : the Roti John stall ( mentioned above) and the ‘ayam golek / ayam pusing’ stall .. this is a more hi-tech version, where the ayam were pusing-ed  inside an oven rather that in the open fire

 

Pasar Ramadan Putrajaya

Precinct 2

( To avoid summonses, please park your car at designated parking area !)

Pasar Ramadan@ Jalan Sri Serdang, Serdang

Although I never sahur or puasa, I can still berbuka puasa, right ah ?

chicken wings

 

Ayam percik

Ikan cencaru sumbat

Ikan Pari goreng etc

Murtabak

 

Murtabak is also commonly found in Yemen ,  where it is called Motabbag (Arabic: المطبّق) which means “The Folded” so the name could be of Arabic origin. (http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Murtabak) 

Nasi ayam

All packed and ready to go

fishballs, nuggets and friends

Buat baik berpada-pada

Roti John

Origin of the name Roti John according to Wikipedia : The origin of the ‘John’ in the name is allegedly due to the Western origin of the Baguette and the tomato sauce used in the dish. During the years of British Colonial rule, all Caucasians and Westerners were colloquially and affectionately referred to as ‘John’ in Malay,  and as such, the nickname of ‘Roti John’ (literally ‘John Bread’) was easily arrived at.

Water colours

Dadih

 Selamat Berpuasa!!