AIDIL ADHA

Each family went home with these items in their goody bag

Jabar and Sirah

Daddy Hashim and his sweetheart Athirah

The gals with mum

Excited over their goody bag

The family in all white - Yusuf and Ros

Performance time by each family

Hazim, Hanif, Nizar and Charcoal

The winners of the Guess the number of of macaroni

I won this!

Another winner - Dhabitah

Two birthday girls cutting the cake

I love you Nenek!

Yipee! A toblerone for me

A dark chocolate for my dessert!

Fikri one of the winners in the Treasure hunt

Gee! I found a gold coin as my treasure

The game and the prizes at stake

Nasi Rawon for a feast at the table

LOVE ABOUNDS

Aidil Adha visited us again. We thanked Allah for giving us the whole family the opportunity to meet again. I had prepared the dishes to serve my siblings and after the usual morning prayers at the mosque, I began to get ready receiving them.

First, my husband and I spent some time hanging buntings, balloons and decorations for two birthday celebrations - my niece Masayu Athirah's and my sister's Fiza birthday. I then gathered some prizes for games that we would play during the celebration. Guess the number of macaroni was one game we played and the other was treasure hunt. Each family also had to perform to entertain one another.

Warong Sazatin served Nasi Rawon for our guests. There was pickle, serunding, ayam masak merah, bagedil and Brother Hashim helped out in cooking sambal sotong. Each family went home with a goody bag and some packed food.

What Aidil Adha is all about?

Aidiladha is also commonly known as Hari Raya Korban or Hari Raya Haji. Celebrated about two months after Hari Raya Aidilfitri, on the 10th day of Zulhijjah, the 12th (last) month of the Muslim calendar, it marks the end of the haj pilgrimage period (about two weeks). Every year, millions of Muslims make the journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform the haj, one of the five basic tenets of Islam.

Aidiladha also commemorates the sacrifices made by the Prophet Ibrahim (hence the word 'korban,' which means sacrifice in Arabic), who demonstrated immense faith when he was put to the test by God.

Prophet Ibrahim was commanded to offer his son Ismail up for sacrifice, and though it grieved him greatly, he made ready to perform the task. However, as he was about to strike his son, God stopped him and revealed that it was a trial. Ismail's life was spared, and a ram was sacrificed in his place.

As such, during Aidiladha, the sacrifice of four-legged animals such as lambs, goats, cows, bulls and camels is performed. The slaughter of the animal is done after the congregational prayer in the morning of Aidiladha.

The animals are killed in accordance with the proper religious rites and the meat is then distributed. One third of the meat is given to the individual who made the sacrifice, while the rest is given to the poor and deserving people in the community. Making the sacrifice (korban) is not a compulsory religious duty, but an obligations for those who are able to afford it.

The rest of the day is celebrated by visiting relatives and friends and the graves of those who have left us..

LONG LIVE GOODNESS

Deepavali desserts and traditional snacks

My ex-student Arvin designed this Deepavali greeting

May the light and joy of Deepavali be with you Annu

The intricate design of the rangoli

Dishes to explode your taste buds. I love them!

The muruku is good as a TV snack

Garlands of flowers sell well for Deepavali celebration

For the sweet tooth and the guests of the house

How could you turn down all these good stuff if served infront of you?

Road decorations lining up Serangoon Road

Mango leaves to ward off evil

Earthern clay lamps for the right ambience

Serangoon Road by night bathed in thousands of ligths

Briyani as a main dish served to guests

Ladies adorn their hands with henna-painting

Stainless steel utensils are commonly used in Indian homes

Traditional dances performed during stage shows

Prayers to thank the god are performed before Diwali

Happy Diwali to all

LIGHT VS DARKNESS

Deepavali is a festival celebrated by the Hindus. The young and the old, the poor and the rich join in this merry-making. They give expression to their happiness by lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps), decorating the houses, bursting firecrackers and inviting close and dear ones to their households for partaking in a sumptuous feast. The lighting of lamps is a way of paying obeisance to god for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame. There is another logical answer to why light the lamps? It is through the light that the beauty of this world is revealed or experienced.

If you are invited by your host for Deepavali, be prepapred to sit at a table laden with Indian cooking. Briyani, thosai, idli, apom, puttumayam, puri and naan make it difficult for you to start your feast. Dishes like chicken curry, keema, dhal, fish sambal and massala will keep your head spinning in making that important decision on what to put inside your mouth first. The Hindus would prepare numerous traditional cakes and sweets for the day too. Among them are "murukku", "omopadi", "athirrsam", "achi murukku", "laddu" and "mysore pahu". These are made a few days before Deepavali. 'Open houses' are practised to invite their non-Hindu friends over to be part of the festive mood.

On the eve of Deepavali or even weeks prior to the festival, Hindu homes are washed and kept clean. Stainless steel pots and kitchen utensils are scrubbed shining to reflect your face. Mango leaves are strung at the doorway and clay lights are lit. Rangoli or kolam are drawn in front of the door using coloured rice. The kolam forms an intricate floral design on the ground which signifies religious believes. Instead of a kolam hand drawn with rice flour what one would probably see are stickers with intricate kolam motifs pasted in front of a Hindu home in Singapore today. It is believed that the Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi, will only enter a home that is adorned with a kolam. Modern Singaporeans adorn their homes with tinsel and plastic decorations shaped to look like mango leaves. It is also common to find 11 mango leaves used to decorate the main door of the house where the Hindu believed that it will attract positive energy and charge away evils.

The morrning is welcomed with an oil bath. It is one time in the whole year that children volunteer to leave their beds long before the day begins. In fact, the traditional oil bath at 3 a.m, is the only chore that stands between them and the pre-dawn adventures. They emerge, nicely cleaned to get into their festive attire, and light up little oil lamps, candles and scented sticks (agarbathis). Then the whole family will make their way to the temples where prayers are held in accordance with the ceremonial rites.

Festivities for the day would include feasting on traditional dishes and sweetmeats, visiting friends and relatives, offering prayers to the Lord, and lighting of oil lamps around the home. The rows of oil lamps placed in the home are believed to usher in all that is good. Children celebrate the day playing with sparklers.

To Hindus, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. Therefore, lighting a lamp symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces - wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice and oppression and suffering. Most devout Hindus tend to be vegetarian, but that doesn't change the fact that Deepavali is the day to savour the many delicious Indian delicacies such as sweetmeats, rice puddings and the ever-popular murukku.

As for me, I baked some pineapple tarts and gave to my Hindu friends.

Legend of Deepavali
Once upon a time the kingdom of Pradyoshapuram was ruled under a demon named Narakasura. Under the demon rule, the villagers suffered a lot of hardship as the demon tortured the people and kidnapped the women to be imprisoned in his palace. Seeing the wickedness, Lord Khrishna set out to destroy the demon and the day Narakasura died was celebrated as Deepavali thus Deepavali is the celebration of the defeat of evil demon Narakasura, by Lord Krishna.

Images are taken from google and websites

YELLOW GOLD

The glossy golden pineapple filling tarts ready for a bite

Tarts in the shape of a pineapple.

Bolster-shaped tarts

Nicely baked tarts to tempt your salivary glands

Roll the dough on the back of a fork for this effect

Generous mound of filling heaped on golden brown pastry

The dough with the crater for the pineapple filling

The tart mould and cutter with a preset floral design

Nenas Moris which I hunted in Johor Bharu

Lots of patience required to simmer the pineapple flesh

Caramelised pineapple fillings shaped into balls

The mould and the pair of tweezers for making the tarts

My tray of tarts ready to be presented to friends

Air and coold the tarts before keeping them in bottles

One piece is never enough for you to try mine

My Deepavali gifts for my friends

PINE FOR TARTS

My mum has a wonderful recipe for the pineapple tarts she has been making since we were young. I simply love the taste of the pastry which is not too soft and crumbly nor does it coat and stick onto your enamel when you put it into your mouth. But it is perfect for the bite that you have been longing and yearning for - something sweet and lingering to enjoy a lovely afternoon tea with. The crust should taste creamy with a slight salty taste to it. The next bite should allow the pineapple filling to be mixed with the not too sweet pastry to make your eyes roll upwards while your soul float to some far away idyllic islands. The sweet and creamy combination of the pastry and the sweetened pineapple jam which by now should be moist with the enzymes in your saliva must be relished till you are ready to push the ball of heaven down your digestive tract.

Now that mum has definitely declared that the kitchen boundary is no longer under her iron-nail regime, the task of making those delicious pineapple tarts fall on me. The first thing I had to make sure was that the tarts would taste just as good or even BETTER than what mum used to bake. Off course deep down, I know that I would never beat mum’s superb culinary and baking skills no matter how hard I try.

I swear by using only one brand of butter for the dough to maintain as close as possible the quality of tarts which mum used to bake. It’s got to be SCS salted butter for me and nothing else. We have faithfully used this brand of butter since 1960s and I would never switch for another brand for all the cookies and cakes I need to bake.

Another ingredient important for baking successful fluffy tarts is the pineapples. You need to choose the right pineapples for making the jam or the filling. Honey pineapple would be too watery. Sarawak pineapples would be too coarse in texture. We would hunt for Nenas Moris to get the perfect formula and sweetness to fill in the crater of the tart dough. It’s a tough job to remove the hard and scaly skin of the pineapples. Then you have to scour those beady eyes of the fruit before chopping and blending the flesh for the right smoothness and required consistency that you desired for.

I usually discard the core stem of the fruit. However, when we were young, my siblings would devour the core as reward for chopping the flesh of the pineapples. Some of the juice of the pineapple has to be squeezed before you add the sugar. Too much juice means that you have to boil and stir it longer. The mashed pineapple is next boil over a slow fire to caramelise it. To give the extra shine and gloss, I usually add a dollop of butter as the last ritual to making the pineapple jam.

As for the flour, my top choice brand is the Orchid brand from Australia. Its lightness and airiness usually result in very good dough. Sieve and air it in room temperature for a day or two before using it. Once the dough is ready, make it into several balls. While you roll out a ball of dough, cover the rest with a piece of wet towel to prevent them from drying up. The dough should not crack or stick on the rolling board when you flatten it with the rolling pin. With the cutter, press the floral shape of the tart and lift it up gently, making sure it does not stretch and go out of shape. At this stage the dough is very pliable and has to be handled gently.

Nowadays, the tart cutter comes with a pre-cut design, so busy housewives and career women need not use any tweezers to pinch the design around the circumference of the cut and pressed round shape of the tart dough. It’s a good idea to prepare the pineapple fillings into small balls first before you put them into the crater of the dough. This way, you would ensure that the fillings are of the same size. Bake straight away once a tray is ready for the butter in the dough may melt under room temperature and harden your pastry when it is baked.

I feel great when the glossy golden pineapple filling pops out against the rich yellow pastry for attention when I pull the baking tray out from the oven. The heavy aroma of the freshly-baked tarts would envelope the house. My sons and husband would come scrambling from their hide out for a taste of the heavenly tarts. And where were they when I needed them most in the kitchen?