Tosei

Homemade tosei

Ingredients

3 cups rice
1 cup urad dal (a type of bean/lentil you can get an Indian grocers)
Salt to taste
Oil/margarine/ghee

To prepare the batter

Cooking the dosei itself may take a short time, but the preparations require at least two days.
1. Soak the rice and urad dal in separate containers for at least eight hours.
2. Finely grind the soaked rice and urad seperately until it reaches the consistency of pancake batter. Add some water if needed.
3. Combine the rice and urad dal pastes and let the mixture ferment at room temperature for 16 hours after which the batter will double in size.
4. Add salt to taste and mix well.

To cook tosei, you will require:
1. A flat skillet or large shallow pan placed over a medium fire.
2. A flat bottomed cup to scoop and spread the batter.

To make the tosei

1. Heat the skillet until hot. Sprinkle some water on top.
2. Scoop some batter and pour it onto the skillet. Use the flat bottom of the cup to quickly spread the dosei over the skillet in a circular motion. Tosei cooks fairly quickly, so watch carefully so as not to burn the pancake.
3. Place a dab of butter/ghee on top of dosei and spread.
4. If needed, flip dosei over to cook for a few seconds. Before frying another piece of dosei, wipe the top of the skillet with a piece of kitchen tissue.

Serve while hot with dhal and coconut chutney or chicken curry.
- from : http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:TVEP17qrlhUJ:www.tourismpenang.gov.my/page.cfm%3Fname%3Dlc09p+recipe+tosei&hl=en

I love Tosei, personally i think tosei is very healthy food. Its not that oily as roti canai. I ate that tosei at one of mamak restaurant in Malacca. Uitt..its make hungry thinking about foood!!!

Cat fish @ Ikan keli

Cat fish belong to Clariidae family have different species such as clarias batu, clarias macrocephalus and etc. I never try freshwater fish, because since kids my mum never served us with freshwater fish. My mum said freshwater fish taste too fishy unlike saltwater fish. But a few months ago, when I was in northern peninsular of Malaysia, I saw lots of fried catfish with sambal served in the food outlets at the highway or even in the town. I was influenced by my colleagues from West Malaysia to try catfish or know as ikan lele in Indonesia. So, out of my curiosity, I tried. Emm...it tasted just like other fish and delicious.

In fact, catfish was claimed to have medicinal benefits. Fresh Omega-3 can be derived from the polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids in catfish. Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to many health benefits including cardiovascular, brain, and visual improvement. Another freshwater fish, Ikan haruan (ophiocehalus striatus) or knows as snakehead fish is also good to heal cuts. I still remember after I had undergone major surgery before, my mum forced me to take Pati Ikan Haruan….it tasted yuck, but I have no choice. It’s good to heal internal incision.

Beloved mum

Emm...this morning I'm a bit emotional...sad. I told my mum I want to fast last night. Last year I couldn't complete my fasting because of medical reason. My mum always being herself...a very concern and caring mother. She woke up at 4 am today just to prepare me for my sahur. I don't ask her to do so. Actually I'm not surprise, because that what she always did. Her concerned is more than anything. It’s make me think, am I able to do the same to my mum when she's getting older....as the eldest son, my responsibilities towards my parents is very big. I promised myself to be a good son and fulfill my duty towards my parents. Thank you mum!!

Time flies

Sorry no updates for a while. My life seems very busy but I hope whatever I did in the past few weeks at least benefit me in one way or another. But, do believe that I had learned something new. Actually every second in our life is considered as learning process, whatever we experience in our day life, will contribute to knowledge.

"Love, work, and knowledge are the wellsprings of our lives, they should also govern it."

Pause

"Each one of us has something that we must do, whatever happens, have faith and accept". (Laila & Qaisy)

Yea...its make me think...I have things to do in my life, as son to my parents, as brother to my siblings, as believer to ALLAH, as individual to society, as lecturer to students and bla bla....the list will go on and on. However our existence in this world comes with millions of responsibility. And all of this will distinguish us from others. In fact which way we opt, bad or good...it all depends on us, our environments, family and etc. Once in a while, we must pause, sit and look back. What had we done and are we on the right track? If we are divert from straight path, do something and back to the right path. If we ignore it, from day to day we will adapt easily to faulty things, and it become more difficult to disengage as times fly. That’s why early improvement better than ignoring it. People said, actually good deeds is difficult to perform as compared to bad deeds. But what ever it is, the most important thing is that we must ensure, yesterday is better than today and tomorrow will be better than today...

Jealousy

Jealousy....who is more jealous, man or woman? For me, both are if they can not control their emotion and minds. I read somewhere saying, jealousy is the heart diseases. In fact jealousy is claimed to be the first sin that was committed. Its happened when ALLAH said to Iblis to bow down to Adam, but Iblis refused to bow because he was jealous of the honor that Allah gave to Adam. This is followed by the first crime on earth due to jealousy among Habil and Qabil, the son of Adam. Qabil killed his brother because of jealousy. They fight for one woman. So it is proven that jealousy can caused a major trouble if it is not control. I believe jealousy is the inner thing, where all of us have the sense of jealousy but at different level. We can manipulate jealousy for a good cause. For example we can create the sense of competition but not by betraying people. It must be healthy competition.

This is the beautiful supplication or du’a to protect us from evil – jealousy;

“I seek the protection by the most perfect words of Allah, from the evil of every devil or creature and from every evil look.”

Finale

Emm...so busy this week. Up to one stage, I feel I couldn't breath. Every single things seem against me. I reached home after 11 pm from Monday to Friday. Yesterday was the finale....so I work more than 12 hours per day. Even today, I have to go to office but I just leave the office at 1 pm. I need rest and got headache already. I will try to forget about work till tomorrow. Monday I will start to rock and roll again....seems that heavy workload never end....

"Work as though you would live forever, and live as though you would die today".

"Work is love made visible".

"Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating".

Postcard

I wrote about cancer in the previous posting. And today, after a visit to my sis and play with baby Farhan, we all (my parents and me) went to shop at the nearby supermarket. I saw a collection of postcards for free. So, I took all different kind of postcard. But one special postcard reminds me of my friend as I mentioned in my previous posting.

Liver Cancer

Sorry, it had been long time…it takes me about “sepurnama” to update my blog. I am too busy with work. Actually lots of thing I want to share.

Well I just received bad news. A friend of mine is very ill at the moment. He’s a good virtual friend that I have. I still remember, I met him in the Islamic chat room and he’s the first person respond to me. I am kind of lost in the virtual room since it was my first time. Those day, he’s healthy till after sometimes, he informed me that he had been diagnosed having Cirrhosis of the liver. All the symptoms showed from time to time. He suffered from this disease and in and out from hospital. He experienced Jaundice, lost appetite, lost weight, pain etc. One time he disappeared with no news. When he online again, he told me that he was admitted. I read about cirrhosis and I’m aware of all the stages. When he told his condition from time to time, I know that he’s not doing well. His condition getting worst. But I just keep it to myself and I told him to be strong. But sometimes he told me that he wouldn’t last longer. I felt hopeless too and I just don’t know how to respond. The only think I told him, just pray to ALLAH the Almighty.

He always on off, till a few months ago, he disappeared. I am so worried and asked around but other friends also have no news about him. Till 2 days ago I got news that he had been in the hospital all this while. He had been diagnosed liver cancer. Now he’s at home, very ill. Wish I can talk to him, ask him to fight. I performed my solat hajat for him and wish he will be fined and ease from pain.



What is Liver Cancer?
There are two main kinds of liver cancer. Heptoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Heptoma is cancer of the hepatocytes. (The main functioning liver cell). Hepatoma is primary liver cancer. Hepatoma usually grows in the liver as a ball-like tumor, invading the normal tissue surrounding it. A history of infection with the hepatitis B virus puts individuals at risk of developing heptoma.
Cancer of the bile duct cells is called cholangiocarcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma originates in the bile ducts and is often caused by infestation with the liver fluke Clonorchis (a parasite). The cancer grows along the bile ducts in sheets or lines,and is hard to find on X-ray studies.
Most cases of liver cancer are actually cancers that started in another organ. This is called metastases. Because of its very high blood flow and many biological functions, the liver is one of the most common places for metastases to grow. Tumors that originally arise in the colon, pancreas, stomach, lung or breast can spread to the liver.
Liver cancer is much more prevalent in many of the developing countries than in the industrialized world. Its incidence is highest in subSaharan Africa, China, southern Asia, and Japan. Japan is the exception of the industrialized countries. China accounts for about 45% of the world's cases.
What Causes or Increases Risk for Liver Cancer?
Once cause of liver cancer is exposure to vinyl chloride. Other causes of liver cancer are unknown. However certain risk factors have been identified. The risk factors are: Chronic Hepatitis, Cirrhosis of the liver and liver flukes (parasites).
http://www.mamashealth.com/cancer/livercancer.asp

Umar

Emm...through my friend’s blog, I always listen to nasyid. He has good collection of nasyid in his radio blog. One of my favourite is "Aku Hanya Umar". When you read and digest the lyric, it’s all about the famous Caliph Umar. Caliph Umar is the successor of Caliph Abu Bakar.

AKU HANYA UMAR

Sebelum disapa sinar iman,
kau bagaikan singa yang mengganas,
membunuh anak perempuanmu,
tanpa rasa belas dan kasihan,
dipandu hati sekeras batu,
jahiliah yang menyesatkan.

Bila nur al-quran menusuk ke jiwa,
lunturlah segala keangkuhanmu,
berubah dan beralih arah mu,
terbentur segala kekejaman,
menjadi wira miskin nestapa,
membela yang tak berupaya.

Tidurmu dirimbunan tamar,
tenangmu tiada tercalar,
berbantal lengan tanpa pengawal,
berselimut embun keimanan.

Di malam yang hening,
meratap menyesali diri,
pada dosa kealpaan,
dibasuh dengan air mata,
memohon keampunan tuhan.

Engkau khalifah berjiwa hamba,
mentadbir tanpa singgahsana,
menghina diri dihadapan Allah,
kemuliaan diri manusia.

Mulia hidup bersulam taqwa,
mulia mati mu kau syuhada,
pergi rohmu ke alam tinggi,
terbang menuju ke syurgawi.

Aku hanya seorang umar,
kemuliaanku kerna islam,
semua ke syurga kecuali dia,
ku bimbangi dialah diriku.

Hati sekeras batu,
berubah menjadi selembut air,
jadi teman kebenaran,
jadi musuh kepada kebatilan.

Kelengkan - keringkam

When I was in Kota bahru, me and my parents went to Istana Jahar, which houses the Museum of Royal Traditions and Ceremonies. This unique palace was built in 1887 by the then Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Ahmad (1886 - 1889) for his son, Long Kudin who succeeded him as sultan. The name Jahar was taken from the tree that stands at the entrance, also known as 'Flame of the Forest'.

But what attracted me most were the fine display of songket from Malaya as well as Bali, India and Sumatra. There are selendang known as kelengkan. It’s quite a surprise looking at this selendang kelengkan. Kelengkan reminds me of keringkam, the traditional selendang of malays in Sarawak. It’s almost the same as what we have in Sarawak. It’s also from gold thread. In fact the name sound alike. I took a photo of selendang from my mum collection. Red in color is belong to my mum, she wore it during her wedding and the dark brown belong to my late grandma. Sarawakian call this selendang as tudung keringkam.

Touching

It was Sunday. I watched a movie called Christmas Shoes aired by TV3. It is a good movie but yet very touching. I just couldn't stop myself from being so involved with the storyline. I feel kind of stupid for being emotional after all it’s just a movie. It is a good movie indeed, great movie with all good family values.

Here is the synopsis;
He didn't know he needed a miracle, until one happened.
Robert Layton (Rob Lowe), a successful attorney, is on the brink of losing his marriage. Nathan Andrews (Max Morrow), an eight-year-old boy, is about to lose his young working-class mother (Kimberly Williams), to illness. When Robert crosses paths with Nathan on Christmas Eve, Robert's life is changed forever. Something as simple as a pair of shoes was going to make all the difference in the young boy's life. And by helping Nathan, Robert realizes the true importance of family, faith and love.
http://www.cbs.com/specials/christmas_shoes/story.shtml

Actually this movie was adapted from a novel wrote by Donna VanLiere,the New York Times best-selling author.

Prunus armeniaca

A few months ago, Safuan, a friend of mine sends me herbal medicine from Cairo. He also send fresh apricot or known as Al- Barquq in Arabic through his friend whom returned to Sarawak. Actually I don’t even know how the fresh apricot looks like because what I am familiar with is dried apricot. The scientific name of Apricot is Prunus armeniaca under the family name of Rosaceae.

This fruit is believed have originated in China, where it has been cultivated for over 4,000 years. It was introduced in Europe during the time of Alexander the Great. In Middle East, apricots were very popular for their taste as well as for their invigorating perfume.

The best thing about this fruit, it is classified as food of heal. There are lots of medicinal values can be found from this fruit. It is beneficial in the treatment of Constipation due to high of cellulose and pectin contents. Besides that it helps people suffer from anemia in account of high content of iron in this fruit. It is also good cooling drink when the juice mixed with honey.

Busy-eventful-occupied

Assalamualikum friends…. Sorry for no updates for long time. At first I thought I will enjoy this 3 months semester break. Free myself from busy life dealing with lectures and students. But it’s totally out of picture. I hardly find times for myself, works seem endless. New semester begin soon but my notes have not ready yet. There is a lot of administrative works to deal with.

You may have heard the saying,

"If you climb to the top of the mountain but haven't enjoyed the journey, then it wasn't a successful climb."

Am I so busy climbing to achieve my goals that I was missing out on the views along the way? I guess I am. Maybe I should pause for a moment to reflect on my busyness; not only about what I am busy doing but also how I could be doing things differently – with less effort and stress, and with more ease and fun.
I hope after this, I’m moving forward, rather than away from, a more enriching and enjoyable life.

Canarium odontophyllum

Dabai or known as "Sibu Olive" is very famous in Borneo Island. It is called Kembayau among Bruneian. I tried Dabai fried rice before but not fresh dabai.




"Quality fruits have oily yellowish appearance when the outer dark purple skin is removed. The edible portion is the unctuous mesocarp about 6 - 8mm thick that surrounds the hard 3 angular seed. The whole fruit is soaked 5 - 10 minutes in hot water to soften the mesocrap and eaten with sugar. The seed containing the whitish compressed cotyledon can also be eaten. It has a fine flavour, crunchy with rich ‘lemak’ taste.

Kembayau trees grow easily from seeds. There is a 50:50 chance of obtaining female trees. Normally male trees are removed. The presence of wild male trees is sufficient to produce pollen for female flowers".
http://www.brunet.bn/org/bsmehp/invest/agroindu/smecrop.htm#kembayau

A Perfect Day

Emm...just got back from outstation. It was a tiring journey. Anyway, I managed to finish reading one novel. Spend my free time reading the book when I was on flight, airport and also in the hotel room. Good novel on family values...a story about a man who has rediscovered his priorities after finding money and fame. This is the second novel I read from the same author; the first one is "The Carousel".




"I have learned that each day is a miracle unearned" pg 338

ulat mulong

If people come to Sarawak and have the opportunity to visit Pasar Minggu Satok, might capture the cute, fatty worm selling by the farmers. This worm is known as ulat mulong or sago worm or grub, a famous delicacy in Sarawak. Ulat mulong if leave matured will turn into the beetle, a family of Rhinchophoridae or large weevils.



According to some people, to cultivate this ulat mulong, the sago palm will be fell and purposely left to rot. This rotten palm wills soon invaded by the ulat mulong weighted up to 8 gram per ulat mulong.



Ulat mulong believe to contain 3-7 % of protein, 10-30% fat and the rest is water. In Sarawak, Sibu is the heaven for this delicacy. I still remember, my student just came back from Mukah, Sibu brought the smoked ulat mulong to be shared with friend in my class. She offered me, but I decide not to have it. In Islam, they said this ulat is halal because it is from the palm. It just like worm in fruits which is allowed to be eaten.

Mother's day

Emmm..it had been a long time. So busy to update my blog. Actually I got a lot of thing to share but just bear with me.

Anyway….HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to my mum and all mothers out there.
Last Sunday, my family and I were celebrating Mother’s day. I got my mum a present and we went to Chinese restaurant for dinner. Some of my friends argue about celebrating mother’s day. They said it should be everyday. Yea I agree with them but somehow I’m not a millionaire to give my mum present and treat her for dinner everyday. So, at least during mother’s day, I can buy her present and spend time together. So, I don’t see any problem with celebrating mother’s day. But just don’t take for granted, only entertain our mum on mother’s day. Even if we don’t stay at the same place, we should make an effort to come and visit them. Or at least call them as frequent as possible.

You were always there,
Even when it wasn’t easy…
You always understood,
Even when I
Found things hard to explain.
And you always had time for me,
Even when you didn’t have
Much time for yourself…
You’ve always let me know
How much you cared…
And I’ll always love you for it

(quote from the card send by my sis to my mum)

Funeral Blues

I'm back...after having enough rest. Actually after my trip to Kota Bahru, I got a fever, luckily not Typhoid Fever. Its an outbreak in Kelantan at the moment. From KL to KLIA, we took ERL which is much better. The non-stop journey from KL Sentral to KLIA only took 28 minutes, faster and no worries about traffic jam. While in ERL, I saw a very nice poem on the board written by W. H. Auden, the American Poet, borned in York England. He was a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 1954 to 1973, and divided most of the second half of his life between residences in New York City and Austria. He died in Vienna in 1973.

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood,
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W. H. Auden, April 1936

Time fly

Fuhhh..time fly so fast. I had been busy with work. The worst thing is that my computer "kong". I just collect them from the "hospital". Both computer and laptop course me RM350. Actually my laptop cost me that much, changed the hard disk. Well, it's time... because it almost 3 years old. According to the technician, 3 years is the common life span for the hard disk. After that, you need to replace it.
Anyway, sorry to my friend...because I didn't update my blog for quite sometimes. Bear with me….and I will disappear again next week. I will be away for a week starting 12-17 April. I will travel to KL for work and then Kota Bahru for Cuti Cuti Malaysia. It’s ashamed because there are a lot of places in Malaysia I have not been to. Well, my excuse is that while still young, we better travel far to other countries in other continent. When we are getting old, have no energy to travel far, then we can visit a short distance places in Malaysia itself..hehehe..

Talking about times, I remember that al ustaz did mention about this during the kenduri arwah that I attended last nite.

Ibn Abbas (ra) said:

The Prophet (salalahu alahi wa salam) was giving an exhortation or advice to a man, so he said to him

"Take benefit from five before five: your life before your death, your health before your illness, your spare time before you get busy, your youth before your old age and your wealth before your times of poverty."