My granny and her roti canai @home
Today, we had supper with uwan. dropped Aliya for her Math tuition & decided to visit uwan while waiting for Aliya to get done. Uwan sat there at the sofa..She looked radiant. Munching our Cekodok pisang (pisang from kampong ucu sent thru ejan) one after another..Wah.. Uwan looked healthy perhaps the wind ~ the weather in Bukit Jelutong.... probably having those cicits around. Obviously, at her cucu sulong's house - She seemed comfortable. These are the cucus she used to threaten with her seludang when we delayed taking our bath before maghrib..
with her unpredictable sense of person, place and time, she asked for Aliya..the cicit she used to bath and care.. she at times could remember her two children: Si Putih (my mom) and Si Ani(ucu) who used terms of endearments of 'Intan' and 'Manja' repectively and whose real name were actually Hamidah(Maslira) and Jamilah. How challenging can that be to help her recall 2 important persons in her life with so many names & references. Stil she would ask, "Mak kau pi mana?" as I replied, "dah tak de uwan..." She just swallowed the last bit of cekodok. As if not hearing what I said and not affected by it. one strong lady as we all know her but not sure what she was thinking.
Last weekend, we had one round of homemade roti canai. Over the years my roti canai has been improvised (though happen less regular nowadays - once in a blue moon). I remember having roti canai festival in Lincoln and broke my food processor just to serve ourselves - refugees who missed home cook roti canai. But not the same with uwan's.
Uwan's roti canai is always special. I could ask her for the recipe again and again, she would just mumble. But hers the one she used to make for us were cryspy on the outside and tender inside.
She would knead it the night before with condensed milk, roll on her palms into small rounds and soak them in oil. the next day, spread and stretch the dough into thin layer over a round dulang. when it is done, roll it and wrap it with a newspaper (not bothered if the carbon could harm us then..). we normally ate with sugar..not bothered to worry abour sugar intake.. Oh..when it's roti canai weekend, we just could not resist...Uwan, with or without your power to remember.. you have made us remember you the queen of olde smoke kitchen full of ashes...We love you always..
with her unpredictable sense of person, place and time, she asked for Aliya..the cicit she used to bath and care.. she at times could remember her two children: Si Putih (my mom) and Si Ani(ucu) who used terms of endearments of 'Intan' and 'Manja' repectively and whose real name were actually Hamidah(Maslira) and Jamilah. How challenging can that be to help her recall 2 important persons in her life with so many names & references. Stil she would ask, "Mak kau pi mana?" as I replied, "dah tak de uwan..." She just swallowed the last bit of cekodok. As if not hearing what I said and not affected by it. one strong lady as we all know her but not sure what she was thinking.
Last weekend, we had one round of homemade roti canai. Over the years my roti canai has been improvised (though happen less regular nowadays - once in a blue moon). I remember having roti canai festival in Lincoln and broke my food processor just to serve ourselves - refugees who missed home cook roti canai. But not the same with uwan's.
Uwan's roti canai is always special. I could ask her for the recipe again and again, she would just mumble. But hers the one she used to make for us were cryspy on the outside and tender inside.
She would knead it the night before with condensed milk, roll on her palms into small rounds and soak them in oil. the next day, spread and stretch the dough into thin layer over a round dulang. when it is done, roll it and wrap it with a newspaper (not bothered if the carbon could harm us then..). we normally ate with sugar..not bothered to worry abour sugar intake.. Oh..when it's roti canai weekend, we just could not resist...Uwan, with or without your power to remember.. you have made us remember you the queen of olde smoke kitchen full of ashes...We love you always..
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