Welcome to a new edition of the Newsletter. I would like to give a warm welcome to our new readers.

For this issue there are again some great topics included. One of them is specific Malaysian recipes. You can have a look at more recipes page for this edition recipes. However, you may find it more useful to get the recipes e-book which contains the same recipes as the mentioned page. Download your e-book copy here With every issue of the there will be an update of both e-book and more recipes page available.

What do we have in this special edition of the ?

• Deepavali
• Hari Raya
• Recipes

You can read our latest updates in my Blog:
http://www.pulau-pangkor.blogspot.com

or subscribe to my feed:

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Deepavali and Hari Raya

The special edition of the is completely dedicated to two up coming and very important festivals in Malaysia: Deepavali and Hari Raya. The first is the Indian Festival of Light, the second a Muslim celebration of the end of the Ramadan.

Both festivals have their own specific way of celebration which include special dishes only made on these days. Find a few examples further in this Newsletter.

If you are on the way to Malaysia, hurry up because it is a great moment to enjoy both days with the Malaysian people who celebrate their sacred days with family and friends.

And there is much more to come. Watch out for the normal newsletter with more hot items like the Raja Muda International Regatta race which will visit Pangkor Island in November. More about this in issue number 11 of the

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Deepavali

Two important festivals in just three days! It happened all on the 1st of November with Deepavali and the 3rd with Hari Raya.

Deepavali marks the start of a for Indians in Malaysia though it's not Indian New Years Eve. It's more a renewal of life and things an for that reason Indians will buy new clothes.

In Malaysia, it is celebrated as the day the evil Narakasura was slain by Lord Krishna. The triumph of light over darkness and good over evil.

Preparations for Deepavali start a month beforehand with the preparation of the various array of Indian cookies such as murukku, ommapadi, chippi, atharasum, nei orundei and the wall breaker kallu orundei.

Normally on Deepavali eve, Padayai or offerings and prayers are made to ancestors and deceased family members. After this ceremony, the women are busy in the kitchen while the rest of the family do the house by hanging new curtains, placing new settee covers and the like to welcome Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity.

At Deepvali, people get up early before sunrise, oil is applied on heads and a bath is taken. This ritual oil bath is known as "ganga-snanam" and is done to cleanse one of the impurities of the past year. Prayers are held at the family altar, after which the family gathers before the elders to receive their blessings.

Then the guests come by and food cooked is prepared "halal" or kosher so as to be served to Malay Muslims. Here again, the concept of open house is seen and an intermingling of friends of different races come by to greet a Happy Deepavali. It also is a great opportunity to dig in on some delicious Indian curry and cookies.

Most Malaysian Indians are South Indian Hindus in origin. Here, even though Deepavali is known as the Festival of Lights, there are no oil lamps being lit. Rather it is usually done on another religious festival called Karthigal Villaku which comes about a month later.

The most happiest celebrants are, of course, the children who collect gleefully the yellow packets with money in them - a mutation of the Chinese red ang pow packets. Revelers try to squeeze the the month-long festivities into one day of public holiday and four to five days of leave from work.

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Hari Raya

Hari Raya is the most significant celebration for Muslims because it celebrates the end of the fasting month of Ramadan (see the previous Pulau Pangkor Newsletter.) This year the start of Hari Raya is on the 3rd of November. The celebration is determined by sighting of the new moon on the day, before the next month on the Muslim calendar, Syawal. The words ‘Hari Raya’ mean 'day of celebration.'

Muslims starts the day by wearing new clothes and congregating in the mosques early in the morning to perform Hari Raya prayers followed by visiting the graves of the departed. The young will ask for forgiveness from their elders and have open house for relatives and friends to come to their house. Plenty of traditional Malay delicacies are served during this festive season. Houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated, and lighting of oil lamps welcomes the angels which are believed to be visiting the earth during the seven days preceding the festival. The celebration lasts for a month but most of the celebration is concentrated in the first three days

If you visit Muslim home on Hari Raya, expect a variety of special made spicy dishes like ketupat, lontong, nasi padang and beef rendang. The Muslims also give packets of money to kids when they go visiting. The packets are usually green in color and children often look forward to getting these money tokens on Hari Raya Puasa. Overall, Hari Raya is a joyous occasion for Muslims.

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Recipes

The last had some excellent recipes. Did you miss them? Click on MORE RECIPES page to see them again. Or download your e-book copy here. You will find also two new recipes of dishes you will able to get at Pangkor island.

See the recipes I have added in the MORE RECIPES page or simply download the latest version of the recipe e-book copy here

This edition of the contains two recipes related to the two big festivals in Malaysia: Hari Raya and Deepavali.

I have added two Deepavali and two Hari Raya specialities to be made, have fun in preparing and eating!

Deepavali dishes

Chakkuli:

Ingredients:

• Rice 3 measurements,
• black gram dhal 1 measurements,
• salt to taste,
• water,
• hing 1 pinch,
• jeera 1 tsp
• 2-3 tsp ghee.

Method:

Wash rice; dry in cool place (spread it on a plain cloth to dry evenly). Later dry fry it in a kadai until you get a good smell. It should not become red or brown in colour. It must be white itself. Fry on a low flame, later dry fry black gram dhal (urd dhal), it should become a bit yellowish.

Cool it, mix it with rice and make it into a fine powder/flour. To this flour, add salt, jeera, ghee and mix well. Knead well; make it into nice dough. Make little balls out of it. Put it into chakkuli maker, the blade that has a single star. Roll it into chakkuli on a plastic sheet. Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the rolled chakkulis until done and take out.

Khodbale:

Ingredients:

• Rice flour-1 measurement,
• grated coconut-1 ½ cup,
• 3-4 tsp red chilly powder,
• salt to taste,
• hing ¼ tsp,
• ghee ½ cup
• water to mix.

Method:

Mix rice flour with grated coconut, chilly powder, salt, hing, ghee and water. Knead well and make it into fine dough. Take small balls out of it and roll it into a small bangles, it should be a little fat, do not make it into a thin bangles. Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry until done.
 

Hari Raya dishes

Lontong

Ingredients:

• 5 banana leaves 6 tins (750g)
• uncooked rice (use empty condensed milk tins as measuring cups)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 pandan leaves (hold them together and tie a knot in the middle)
• Water

*Lontong moulds (or long, hollow metal cylinders will do)

Method:

• Clean banana leaves and wipe dry. Scald to soften.
• Wash the rice and drain the water.
• Line each mould with a cleaned sheet of banana leaf, overlapping the edges a little.
• Fill each mould with 1 1/2 tins of washed uncooked rice (the rice should cover exactly half of the length of the mould so adjust the amount when necessary).
• Secure cover and drop lontong into boiling water in a pot big enough to hold 4 rolls of lontong. Sprinkle salt, and drop pandan leaves into boiling water. Cover.
• Check water and fire constantly. Boil for 5-6 hours.
• Remove from pot and leave the rolls of lontong to cool.
• Peel banana leaves from lontong and cut to desired serving size.

It's usually served to guests instead of eating it themselves

Walnut Raisin Banana Loaf

Ingredients:

• 120g butter
• 100g sugar
• 3/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 large eggs
• 190g (clean weight) bananas, mashed
• 190g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 35g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 45g raisins
• 2 ½ tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

Grease sides and line the base of a 26x8cm loaf tin with greased greaseproof paper. Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in salt. Cream butter, sugar and essence until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture curdles, add a little flour into the mixture. Add the mashed bananas and stir in nuts to mix.

Fold in half portion of the sifted dry ingredients and add the rest of the ingredients alternating it with the milk and the lemon juice.

Turn batter into prepared tin and bake in preheated oven at 170°C for 50–60 minutes or until cooked through.

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I wish all my Hindu and Muslim readers and friends a happy Deepavali and Hari Raya and I hope to see all of you soon here in Pangkor. Happy holidays to you all!