Dear Readers,
Alhamdulillah with His grace and mercy we meet again here in umidishes. Today's posting,to be honest with you, is inspired by another posting by a friend in his blog called PepSaya entitled Genjer Genjer Ubi Kayu. He talked about the hardship suffered by the masses throughout South East Asia during World War II. The lack of food usually in my opinion, brings out creativity and ingenuity in all of us. Food was scarce then and people were forced to fall back on tapioca,sweet potatoes and edible shoots and herbals like Pucuk Ubi (Tapioca Shoots),sweet potato shoots,wild ferns,wild mushrooms,papaya shoots,bamboo shoots etc.
Thus today's dish is the traditional dish called Masak Lemak Pucuk Ubi (Tapioca shoots in coconut gravy). It is simple with minimal ingredients. The Pucuk Ubi can be substituted with wild ferns or any other edible shoots.I have added sweet potato to give the dish a tinge of sweet flavour to counter some of the hotness of the Thai chillies. The dried anchovies gives body to the gravy. However you may substitute it with dried or fresh shrimps or omit it altogether.
Here's the video.
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
Tapioca shoots (shredded and boiled, approximately a big bowl after boiling)
5 cups coconut milk (slightly concentrated i.e the 1st squeeze)
20 pcs. Thai green chilli/bird chilli (pounded)
4-5 pcs. tumeric (pounded)
2 pcs. lemon grass (bruised)
2 pcs. tumeric leaf (cut thinly)
2 pcs. sweet potato (cut roughly and boiled)
1 cup dried anchovies (soaked in warm water for 5 minutes and pounded lightly)
salt to taste
Method:
1) Pour coconut milk into a pot. Add in the chilli,anchovies,tumeric,tumeric leaf and lemon grass.
2. Keep ladling and stirring the coconut milk until it boils.
3. Add in the sweet potato and the tapioca shoots. Add in also salt to taste. Boil a further few minutes and remove from stove. Ready to serve.
I hope you would try this simple traditional dish, Masak Lemak Pucuk Ubi. I leave you with a Malay Pantun:
Orang Aceh sedang sembahyang
Hari Jumaat tengah hari
Pergilah kasih pergilah sayang
Pandai-pandailah menjaga diri
translation:
Achinese are in prayer
At noon on Friday
Good bye my love good bye my dear,
As for yourself, take good care
Please visit my other blog Tea With Umi if you can spare the time.It is undergoing a face lift with a new section added highlighting matters that concern us all as citizen of the this world called Earth..:) and share your thoughts with me.
Salam
Umi
source of pantun:
Persuratan Melayu 2
Pantun Melayu Sastera Rakyat
Pantun Serbaneka
Pantun Adat dan Resam Manusia
Kumpulan Pantun Melayu, DBP 1983
(pix from umidishes album)
