Khau Jhum on 30 Sept

Am trying to see if I can prepare the works spread over 2 days instead of 3 days prior to the 'day'. Finding it rather tiring, hectic and achieveable ^_^.

Started with Tuesday's morning, cleaning & deboning the fish; dry frying the cocounut & grinding it finely; and deep frying & packing the keropok in the evening.

Wednesday's morning - purchased the vegetables, plucked & sorted the herbs for the juices for cooking the rice on Thursday; packaging the required packet of budu sauce. In the afternoon, dry frying the deboned fish over low flame. By the time, I finished these, had a quick shower and then off to pick up my son from school. He finishes school every Wednesday at 3.30pm. Only this Wednesday, he bought his lunch from the school canteen.

Today, my dear hubby had an outstation trip. Got up at the wee hour of the morning, cooked the rice, and purchased the bean sprout from Tamu Muhibbah. My son had simple breakfast - cereal & a cup of milo drink. I sent my son to school @ 6.30am. After I dropped my son to school, I started packing and finished @ 9.40am. Then its off to deliver the 'Khau Jhum'. This include delivery for the 'brighton' clients as well - drove a total distance of 42 km from Lutong to Brighton.

Had a new client near GK Supermarket - wonder how she likes 'Khau Jhum'?

Chili - as part of the condiments for 'Khau Jhum'

Just finished pounding one kg of chili as part of the condiments for 'Khau Jhum'. Oh no, the chili is pretty hot! Am having burning sensation on my face and part of my body which I am not able to cover up.

Wish I have a face mask! Any idea where I can buy a face mask to cover my face ^-^?

'Balik Kampung'

Am back from 'balik kampung' with my budu sauce and keropok. Would you believe it - overweight baggage even after buying extra baggage at the last minute - 7 kg excess. Only knew of the excess after my luggages and baggages had gone into the loading zone otherwise would carry-on my son's luggage.

The next leg of journey from Kuala Lumpur to Miri, I carried on my son's luggage. Thank goodness, my budu sauce and keropok arrived in one piece. Guess my packing is able to withstand the minimum of tossing of baggage even with the fragile sticker on the boxes. ^-^

My next biz day will be 30 September with my signature menu 'Khau Jhum'. Have given an advance notice to my clients and received an immediate response of 2 packets. Mmmmm they must be indeed looking forward to it. ^-^

Long awaiting 'Khau Jhum' - Part 2

This 26th August is the "lutong" turns to enjoy 'Khau Jhum'. The news started with my informing the "brighton" clients that I can include their orders if they wish to enjoy "Khau Jhum" again after they had theirs on 12th August. Oh yes, they placed their orders to the full number of orders as per 12th August.

I was a bit worried about fulfilling the huge number of orders. This time around, my dear hubby went to the market around 5am to purchase the bean sprout. It was a nice experience for him. He helped to clean the bean sprout and sliced the long beans. My Mrs Wong came and smiled when she saw my dear hubby helping me. ^-^ Then she took over.

I started packing the 'Khau Jhum' at 6.30am and managed to clear the "brighton" orders and by the time I completed the packing, it was just after 10.15am. I left the house with the orders to be delivered.

It looks like I can managed the huge orders and will not split the clients into groups anymore ^-^.

Am scheduling 'Laksae' for this 2nd September and thereafter my Dapur Kelatae will be closed for two weeks' school holidays. Am going 'balik kampung' for the 1st week of school holiday to purchase the keropok and budu.

Long awaiting 'Khau Jhum' - Part 1

My Dapur Kelatae follows my son's schedule. If he is on school holidays, my Dapur is also on holidays. This is the time when my time is focus on him. The last biz day prior to June holidays was 20 May.

Most of the time during the school holidays, my son spent his time at Kelab Golf Miri (KGM) where he pursued his passion for golf.

Had wanted to continue my Khau Jhum after the school holidays but this was put on hold. My Mrs Wong's husband passed away on 22 June and was on two weeks' leave. Even after after her leave, she is not really herself as such. She had lost her sparkle and guess she would take a long time to get over the passing of her husband.

I had occupied myself with baking and aqua exercises. Had wanted to re-start my biz but the amount of work to be done (for those who had followed my blogs would know how time consuming 'Khau Jhum would take). There had been numerous enquiries on when I am re-starting my biz. Friends were saying that they had cravings for 'Khau Jhum' and missed it so much.

After thorough thoughts with my dear hubby, we decided to split the clients - Town to Brighton area ("brighton") and Town to Lutong ("lutong"). The clients would enjoy 'Khau Jhum' on alternate week.

As usual, on the day of biz ie 12 August, I woke up at 3 am and made the necessary preparations - rice to be cooked; onios, daun kesom, serai, cucumber and long beans to be sliced. It also included in purchasing of bean sprouts from the market. My dear hubby woke up early too and helped me to slice the vegetables. A big 'thank-you' and kisses to him.

I had earlier inform my clients (whom my dear hubby normally delivers the 'Khau Jhum' at his workplace) that delivery will now be between 11.30am to 12 noon. Was not sure that all the works could be done!

Apparently this could be done as I had found out. Even had time to sit down for my breakfast. Started packing at 6.30am after my son left for school. The "brighton" clients enjoyed their 'Khau Jhum' this 12 August. Feedback from my client quote"as good as ever after such long absence" and "vry nice yr rice" unquote.

My son is having his school exams next week hence no biz day for that week. The "lutong" clients will have their 'khau jhum' on 26 August.

Day 3 - preparation of Khau Jhum

The day, 19 May ie Wednesday, with the works to be done for the day, I thought I had better start early and finished early too. Mmmmmm ..................

After sending my son to school, I went to the wet market at Krokop Lorong 10 to buy long beans and cucumber. The quantity bought depended on the number of orders received for Khau Jhum on 20 May.

Then I proceeded to the back of Canada Hill where the farmers are planting their vegetables in the kampung area. This is where I normally plucked the herbs. Oh my goodness, they have cleared a massive area of the hill! One of the herbs is nowhere to be seen! Thank goodness, I still have another spot where I can plucked this particular herb. I still managed to pluck some herbs from this area too. Thereafter, I drove to Tamu Muhibbah where I bought the rest of the vegetables like daun kesom, bunga gantan (this time around, I managed to buy some), kunyit flower and its roots.

From there, I drove back to Krokop Lorong 10 and in one of the small lorong, I plucked this particular herb. I drove slowly back to my home in Taman Desa Seri and plucked some more herbs along the way. I have some of the herbs growing in my backyard too. After that, I sorted out and washed the herbs.

As I still have some time prior to picking up my son at noon today, I packed the required number of packets of 'budu' (fish) sauce.

Took a quick shower and then headed off to my son's school. That day, it was Teachers' Day celebration in his school and school finished at 12noon. A quick lunch at home and then I started to continue with the works.

I dry-fried the deboned fish in a saucepan under a low fire. This takes one and half hours. It was good to be in the kitchen as the day was rather warm and in a way, I had a sauna. I felt good after the sauna ^-^.

My son was engrosed in playing his psp. Its a form of relaxation for him, just for that day only as he had just finished his school exam.

I continued with the rest of the works. Grinding and/or blending the herbs and then straining the juice as well. The quantity of juice strained was dependant on the total number of orders for Khau Jhum.

Prepared a simple dinner. My son and I had egg & salad tortillas wrap for dinner. My dear hubby was away on biz and came home at night the same day.

After making sure that all things are ready for the 'day' ie Day 4, it was time for an early night. A very early day began for Day 4.

The 'day' - Day 4 of Nasi Kerabu 'Khau Jhum'

My day begins early at 3am. My cleaner comes in early too. Yes, thereabout at 3am.

First the rice are cooked, followed by washing and slicing of the vegetables. We shared out the slicing of vegetables. This time around, I managed to find the kunyit flower. It adds extra flavour to 'Khau Jhum'. It tasted better eating it whole than sliced up. Hence I left it whole! ^-^

All the vegetables and/or condiments are ready to be packed by 6am on the 'day'. They are all laid out on my dining table.

Top from Left to Right: Plastic spoons & rubber bands, grinded fish (they sure smelled fragrant!), sliced cucumber, sliced daun kesom, kunyit flower, cooked green rice

Bottom from Left to Right: Packed budu sauce, taugeh, grinded coconut, sliced long beans, sliced onions, sliced serai and 'hot' pounded chili plus an empty bowl

Then, the packing began. I started off with my list of clients on whose 'Khau Jhum' are to be packed accordingly to the time of requested delivery. First, clients from my dear hubby's office as he helped me to deliver them to his workplace; clients from Lutong and Curtin University and then to the rest of clients from and around town/Krokop area/Pelita Commercial area.

My youngest sister helped me to deliver the packed 'Khau Jhum' to my clients in Lutong and Curtin University. A big 'thank you' to her.

I took a short break to have my breakast after I completed the packing for clients of Lutong and Curtin University. Its normally a hot cup of coffee and 'take-away' kueh tiaw which my dear hubby had bought for me. ^-^

After that, I continued with the rest of the packing. By 10.30am, I finished packing and cleared the table. My cleaner helped to wash the used containers.

I am off to deliver the packed 'Khau Jhum' around 10.45am and this driving covered a total distance of around 20km for delivery to clients around town/Kropkop area/Pelita Commercial area.

By 11.30am, I am back at home. On the way back, I stopped by at the vegetarian shop in Boulevard Commercial area to buy 'take-away' lunch for my cleaner and myself. A quick lunch for us - my cleaner to continue with the cleaning works and myself, organised my son's lunch. I am off to school by 1pm to pick up my son who finishes school at 1.30pm. I have to go early to find a good parking spot.

I takes things leisurely in the afternoon. Some afternoons, I packed 'Khau Jhum' for clients who like them for their dinner.

My family and I had 'Khau Jhum' for dinner too. Yummy, yummy....

Presentation of Nasi Kerabu 'Khau Jhum'

This time around, when packing Nasi Kerabu 'Khau Jhum', I remembered the camera and took pictures of it. Below is the outline of the pictures:

Top picture shows the sample of 'Khau Jhum'. Starting from top left corner, budu (fish sauce).Clockwise from there daun kesom, grinded coconut, bean sprout, long bean, grinded fish, cucumber, onion and serai. Centre is the 'green coloured' rice with a touch of pounded chili.

Bottom picture, eco-friendly packing in brown paper with disposable spoons. Some of my clients used their own spoons, hence the disposable spoons are returned to Dapur Kelatae for next use.

All the vegetables are freshly sliced and/or cut on the day itself hence their freshness. For those who take the 'Khau Jhum' for dinner, the bean sprouts are packed separately (as it tends to wither after some time). The bean sprouts are easily refreshed by soaking in fresh water for a few minutes.

Feedbacks from clients are:

1. 'Khau Jhum' is healthy as the vegetables are raw and nutrients of the vegetables are not lost.

2. Each taste is totally different from the first taste. The more you eat it, the nicer the food become. Its an acquired taste! ^-^

3. They enjoyed the food.

4. They always look forward to the date of the next 'Khau Jhum'.

Dapur Kelatae

How my Dapur Kelatae come into being?

It first started when I was cooking the 'favourite dish' of my husband, who misses his hometown food, under the guidance of my mother-in-law. You see, my husband is from Pasir Mas, Kelantan and ulam is an everyday food - practically a must have for lunch and dinner. Ulam is a dish of raw vegetables accompanied by fried fish dipped in budu (Kelantanese fermented fish sauce). I gathered a few friends on that particular day to sample my food. They enjoyed it and loved the food especially the 'healthy' side of it i.e. plenty of raw vegetables and suggested that I start a home catering business. It was there and then on the spot that I decided to do so and hence my Dapur Kelatae come into being. My Dapur Kelatae started home catering business in March 2003.

Why was my home catering business called Dapur Kelatae?

The word 'Dapur' means 'kitchen' in Bahasa Melayu and 'Kelatae' means from 'Kelantan'. Putting together the words means 'kitchen kelatan' and it sounded nicer with the word 'Dapur Kelatae' to add a tune to the name.

Signature dish of Dapur Kelatae

The signature dish is Nasi Kerabu or 'Khau Jump'. It is a famous dish of the chinese in Kelantan and it has siamese influence on the dish. Why do I say that it has siamese influence? My mother-in-law has some siamese background from her side of the family and being in Pasir Mas, it is very near to the border of Thailand.

The dish is served with 'green' rice (rice cooked in the juices of herbs), grinded fish & coconut, raw vegetable (long beans, cucumber, taugeh, just to name of few), fish sauce (or 'budu' in Bahasa Melayu) and pieces of fish keropok (fish crackers).

When is the date of my catering business?

It is normally on alternate Thursday of the week. I have a cleaner, Mrs Wong who comes in on that day and helps me out on my business. A huge 'thank-you' to her. My customers receive notices of the day of the business day and places their orders three days prior to the actual day of the business.

The Preparation Works

To make this dish, takes 2 mornings and 1 whole day for the preparation and half a day for the cooking, packaging and delivering of the 'Khau Jump'.

The 1st morning involves purchasing grated coconut. The coconut is gently stired in a saucepan over low fire until it becomes aromatic. Then it is grinded in the mortar with the pestle until the coconut becomes fine and then left to cool. It is then stored in an airtight container.

The 2nd morning involves purchasing of the required amount of fish. The fish is cleaned and steamed until it is cooked. When it is cooled, the bones are removed and then stored in the refrigerator. In the evening, after dinner, I fry the fish keropok and pack them in small plastic bags.

The 3rd whole day involves driving around certain parts of Miri, identifying and plucking the leaves of the herbs and purchasing of the raw vegetables required according to the numbers of orders received. I normally start driving around by 8 am. Thanks goodness, I have the two main herbs in my garden. The more herbs are plucked, the rice become more fragrant. This normally takes 2 and half hours. Upon returning home, the leaves are further sorted out and washed. If time permits, I then packed the budu sauce. Then its time to go to school to bring lunch to my son. Oh yes, my son has afternoon classes and co-curriculum activity which finishes at 4.30pm. I normally buy a 'take-away' lunch for him whenever I have business during that particular week.

After making sure that my son had his lunch and then I head home to continue with the preparation works.

I then fried the de-boned fish in a saucepan over a low fire until the fish is dried and fragrant. I normally do this a few times until I finish frying all the fish.

Then, its time to pick up my son from school and brings him home. He is an independent boy and does his homework all by himself. Preparation works for tonight's dinner begins and then cooked.

After dinner, the cleaned leaves are then grinded and strained for the juices. My dear husband does this for me. He can strained out more juices for me. I can't strain the juices as my hands are allegic to the juices. He looks forward to this part of the 'works' for me. A big plus from me!

Try to be eco-friendly, I packed the food in brown paper and the sauce in small plastic bags. I then organise the number of paper (its an A-3 size brown paper) and the carrier plastic bags (sometimes my clients recycle the carrier plastic bags).

Come Thursday, I wake up very early (normally around 3am) to prepare the day's activities. I cooked the rice a few times (I have one 2.3 litre rice cooker and one 1.5 litre rice cooker) depending on the number of orders for 'Khau Jump'. The rice has to be cool before I can packed the rest of the ingredients. If the rice is hot, the raw vegetables will be damp and soggy and the 'Khau Jump' will not taste good.

My cleaner comes in early too, for that particular day. She helps me with slicing the vegetables finely. I too, also cut some of the vegetables myself. She also looks forward to this as it brings excitement somehow or rather to her routine cleaning works.

Come 5am, I off to the 'Tamu Muhibah' to purchase some taugeh. To and fro the 'Tamu' takes 20 minutes or less (if there is not much traffic on the road).

At 6am, I started packing the food. Some of my clients like to have 'Khau Jump' for breakfast and some collect 'Khau Jump' on their way to work. My dear husband helps me to deliver those clients from his office. A life saver! He has it for lunch too.

My husband looks after my son for his breakfast and send him to school as well. I normally takes a quick breakfast around 8.30am and my coffee (a must, to keep me alert!). Then the packing continues.

All the packing will normally finish around 10.30am, then I am off to deliver the 'Khau Jump' after making sure that the number of packets are in order. My clients stretches along the route from Lutong to Centrepoint and Brighton (if my husband is travelling on that day). My clients have the 'Khau Jump' for lunch hence delivery before noon is a must! After delivery, I head home.

Having a quick vegetarian lunch (which I take-away from the vegetarian shop) with my cleaner, Mrs Wong and I am off to pick up my son from school.

It's quite a tiring day but am satified that I have customers who enjoys my food and my family also have it for dinner as well!