Mouth-watering Malay meals

Apologies for there being no post last Monday - Hubby and I were off to Kota Kinabalu for my university alumni reunion - some photos are on my photo-blog. There were lots of catching up along with lots of eating.

On the subject of eating, I love food even though I may not be a whizz in the kitchen. Besides eating, I also love cookbooks, especially when produced by people I know. The most recent addition to my cookbook collection is Nostalgia Medan Selera, the re-publication of Medan Selera that was first published in 1958 in Jawi. The Rumi version came out in 1971. The book is a  compilation of the recipes of the late Haji Ahmad Yaakub Al-Johori, who used to cook for the Johor royal house. This latest edition is an updated version put together by several of his great-grandchildren. Incidentally, he was the grandfather of my uncle-in-law, Abdul Manaf Mohd Noh, who inherited the cooking gene.

The front cover.

A little 'history' of the book over the decades.

Recipes from the book. Not all recipes come with pictures.

From the northern state of Perak comes A Taste of Batu Gajah, a collection of recipes by Datin Norsiah Bakhari that were produced into a book by her daughter-in-law, Datin Seri Raihan Abdul Rahman. I have a close association with Datin Norsiah, whose late husband, Dato' Zabidi Shamsuddin, had served as the Malaysian Education Officer in Wellington, New Zealand, when I studied there. Dato' Zabidi and Datin Norsiah loved to invite students to their house, an invitation no-one in her right mind would refuse. Other than their warm hospitality, a visit to their house meant being treated to delicious Malay food.

The front cover.

Each recipe comes with a mouth-watering photo.

The recipes are divided into sections.

Malay language translations of the recipes are found in the back pages.

The cuisine of the east coast state of Kelantan is represented, for me, in Nik's Kitchen, a book of recipes by Puan Sri Nik Esah Nik Ahmed Kamil. I was privileged to have edited The Benchmark, a compilation of newspaper articles written by her late husband, Tan Sri Harun Mahmud Hashim. There is also another link. Both of these books were produced by Yasmin Gan Abdullah, with whom I wrote Hajj - the Humbling Journey.

The front cover. 

Some background on Kelantan.

A Kelantanese classic.

Kelantan is well-known for its very sweet desserts.

These cookbooks are not just a compilation of recipes. There are stories that go with the dishes. Food is not just a putting together of this or that ingredient; there are memories associated with the many kinds of food placed on the table. And then there are the feelings of comfort and good cheer. Oscar Wilde couldn't have said it better when he declared, "After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives."

Bugis roots and books

Once upon a time in 1850, Abdul Jamak Majok of the Bugis tribe of Wajo was born on the island of Sulawesi. He came to the Malay Peninsular with his father and later married Aminah Derima @ Dirwa, also a Bugis and descendant of Raja Chempa and Daeng Pabitah of the Royal Bugis Council of Johor. Living in Parit Bakar, Muar, Johor, Jamak and Aminah brought up a family of ten children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining eight, one of whom was my great-grandfather Andak, eventually married and gave their parents 52 grandchildren (the second generation). By 2008, the Jamak clan was down to its sixth generation with 1,550 direct descendants.

The story of the Jamak clan is told in The Jamak Family - Continuation of a Bugis Heritage by Shadida Ibrahim, a third generation Jamak, who had the help of members of other branches of the clan to produce it, including yours truly as chief editor.

The book begins with an overview of the clan's Bugis heritage before relating the story of Abdul Jamak Majok. It then goes on to cover the first and second generation Jamaks, some prominent members of the clan and those of the greater Jamak family. The book even shares a few Bugis recipes...

... and ends with charts of the eight branches of the Jamak clan up to the third generation, an example of which is:

My great-grandfather Andak Jamak and his wife Marjilah Yusof were a bit more productive, with nine children who then went on to add 45 of their own to the clan.

The uniqueness of this book is that it was produced for the First Jamak Family Reunion held on 20 December 2008, when about 800 members of the clan, ranging from those in their 80s to just a few months old, congregated at Puspanitapuri, Putrajaya. Organising the reunion was no easy feat - it took a committee comprising members of the Andak and Abdul Majid branches a whole year to put together. But even that would not have been possible without the detailed family tree drawn up by second-generation Jaffar @ Mohamed Abdul Majid, a man with a priceless sense of humour. After he passed away, the responsibility of documenting the family tree was taken up by his son Jalaluddin Jaffar. 

Jalaluddin, or Pes as we call him, is the undisputed penghulu (chief) of the Jamak clan - he knows everyone and everyone knows him. In conjunction with the Family Reunion, he produced a comprehensive directory of the clan as at December 2008.

The directory is remarkable in that, for each branch of the Jamak clan, the members are listed by generation, together with the names of their spouses and children, marital status, years of birth and passing away, and even house telephone numbers, mobile numbers and e-mail addresses (if provided). Each is also assigned a reference number.

The reunion was a brilliant family team effort, with my graphic designer brother Zaid roped in as well to design and produce the programme booklet. Guess who took the photos for the booklet?

Co-Chairpersons Siti Zainab and Datin Kalsom.

Joint Secretaries Zawiyah and Zuraidah, Treasurer Roslina, and, clockwise from left, 

Mohd Amir, Ungku Shereen, Jamaludin, Ungku Balkis and Noridah 

of the F&B Committee.

Faridah, Hashimuddin and Ungku Marsila of the Activities & Exhibition Committee.

Jalaluddin (Pes), Jalaludin and Hanafi of the Protocol & Invitations 

(+ Pes - Family Directory) Committee.

Clockwise standing left, Normah, Alina, Rafeah and Puan Sri Azizah 

of the Sponsorships & Gifts Committee, and Shadida and Sharifuddin 

of the Publication, Video & Photography Committee.

Hood, Hashimuddin and Pes of the IT & Website Committee.

It was a professionally-run event, which shouldn't be a surprise given the backgrounds of the committee members. Everyone wore colour-coded name tags identifying his/her family branch and generation. And MC extraordinaire Dato' Mahadzir Lokman, also part of the family, ensured the day's programme proceeded smoothly (the pictures below are from the commemorative album produced after the reunion). A highlight was the soft launch of Datin Kalsom Taib's biography of her father, Taib Andak - In a Class of His Own.

Registration desk.

Souvenir tee-shirts for sale.

Lots of food for everyone.

Fun activities for the kids.

Poco-poco, a form of line dancing.

Giving respect to the elders and ending the event with Geylang Sipaku Geylang, 

a Malay folk song of goodbye with the hope of meeting up again someday.

An event this big was bound to find its way into the newspapers, but the committee made sure it happened by preparing a press kit. It worked!

The best remembrance of the Jamak Reunion is the group photograph of those who came (almost all; some were too shy while others were outside busy doing other things). The photograph had to be shot in three sections and then put together into one panoramic image. It could be ordered in different sizes and we opted for the six-foot-long version, which hangs proudly on the wall leading to the dining room of our home.

A gem of a book

What makes a good book project? First on the list would be that the project is top-driven by a client with a clear brief and open to new ideas. Often, clients want a book but are clueless about what sort of book they want, such that the project becomes a time-wasting process of elimination - okay, he doesn't want that; no, that one isn't working for him either; afraid that isn't quite it.

Next on the list would be a small team comprising top management members (three is a good number) that is empowered to make decisions on the book, a team that doesn't have to refer to the chairman or the council at every turn. And third, which is important to get the project moving along, is a liaison or link person, someone within the organisation, who is committed and excited about the project. This person has to know what materials are required and who to talk to, and be able to sort out meetings and interviews.

My brother Zaid Omar of Milk Design and I were fortunate to have the above when we worked on the tenth anniversary coffee-table book for the Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers. We enjoyed the same experience with the book commissioned by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) to commemorate its 40th anniversary. The team responsible for the book couldn't have been more top-driven - the members were MIA's president and vice-president at that time, Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid and Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff respectively, and council member Dato' Khalid Ahmad. And the person pushing the project along was head of communications Iszudin Mohd Amin.

What they didn't want was a boring blue book. They wanted a fresh contemporary design and liked the concept of employing art in the book. When we suggested caricatures of key people to accompany quotations, they were all for the idea. The book utilised the ruby, the gemstone denoting a 40th anniversary, as its main design element. The red of the ruby was perfect to signify "a vibrant profession that plays a vital role in Malaysia's economy" and its facets were carried through as a feature within the book's pages.

The book cover of Malaysian Institute of Accountants: 

National Aspirations, Global Ambitions 1967-2007

The sharp facets of the ruby are reflected in the side-bar and captions on the page above 

and the illustrations below.

Some of the people interviewed are depicted in caricatures to accompany their call-out quotations.

Five original art-pieces set the stage for each chapter in vivid colours and flamboyant figures.

Tracing the History

Strengthening the Profession

Educating Accountants

Promoting the Institute

Going Forward

Zaid and I found the MIA book project team brilliant to work with because its members trusted us to deliver what we do best, i.e. to design and write. They didn't impose their personal styles on us and, thanks to their international exposure, they appreciated contemporary design. For example, on seeing an opening page as follows, some clients would balk and say, "What? So much space wasted!"

To their credit, the MIA team members knew what white space and balance on a page were all about. Working closely together with them, we succeeded in producing a gem of a book.

My aunt the author

Datin Kalsom Taib (who I call Auntie Chom) and my late father are first cousins. Her family and that of my father's are especially close and, at the age of twelve, I was one of two bridesmaids, the other being my cousin Rozila, at her wedding reception in December 1966. A teacher then, little did she realise that she would go on to become one of the country's foremost human resource practitioner, gaining and honing her expertise in multinationals Shell Malaysia, Malaysia Mining Corporation and Nestle Malaysia. She retired from Nestle in 1997 as its Human Resource Director.

But Auntie Chom is not one to keep still. She has boundless energy. After her retirement, her extensive human resource experience made her a much sought-after consultant in the field. And if that wasn't enough to keep her busy, she turned a family waffle recipe into a business, setting up Waffle Stop together with her son. It started as a food kiosk in busy Jalan Bukit Bintang and now has several outlets, the busiest located in Alamanda Shopping Centre, Putrajaya.

And then Auntie Chom found her true passion - writing. Within two years, in 2009 and 2010, she researched and wrote three biographies of people dear to her: father Tan Sri Taib Andak; mother Puan Sri Zainab Ahmad; and husband Dato' Shafee Yahaya.

The first book, Taib Andak - In a Class of His Own published in 2009, records the life and times of her father (Tok Yeb to me), including his lifelong friendship with Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. It traces Taib's contributions to Malaysia as a civil servant, as the man trusted by the prime minister to get FELDA off the ground, and as the one tasked with strengthening Maybank after it had suffered an image-tarnishing run in October 1966. The book begins with a look at Taib's Bugis roots and ends with reflections from family members of a much loved father and well respected Malaysian. Taib, born on 4 June 1916, passed away peacefully on 19 August 1997.

I was the editor of this book, an involvement that gave me an insight into Auntie Chom's tenacity in achieving her goal. The research itself was a labour of love, as she poured through family documents, tracked down records and sifted through countless family photographs to write the book that she wanted. Then came the production phase, an aspect in which Auntie Chom was so hands-on that her visits to the MPH office to check on the book's progress must have created anxiety in more than one person. I accompanied her on a few of these visits and I'm convinced that she has been the only author allowed to pop into the rooms of the senior people there with a hello, a cheerful smile and a box of cupcakes, and look over the shoulders of the designer with suggestions on where to place this photograph and that. I truly admire her dedication, determination, persistence and refusal to accept second-best. 

There was no rest for Auntie Chom after her first book was published. She felt that her mother (my Tok Nab) also deserved to have a book of her own, "as an example of a woman who has lived her life to its fullest without regret, took her challenges in stride, and who has touched the lives of so many people around her... (a story) that encapsulates little 'life' lessons." With the same drive that had resulted in the book on her father, Auntie Chom wrote her second book, Zainab Ahmad - A Truly Remarkable Woman, and got it published in time to be launched on Tok Nab's 90th birthday celebration on 7 May 2009. Born in 1919, Tok Nab continues to amaze us with her dignity and love of life. 

And then came Auntie Chom's third book about her husband Shafee Yahaya (Uncle Shafee to me), who overcame challenges in his early life to become a respected and incorruptible civil servant, retiring as head of the government's Anti-Corruption Agency. This book, The Shafee Yahaya Story - Estate Boy to ACA Chief published in 2010, almost didn't see the light of day. The reason for this rests in chapters 10 to 14 of the book, a gripping revelation of Uncle Shafee's shabby treatment by the political administration that he had loyally served. The publisher of Auntie Chom's earlier two books declined to produce it but she was undaunted. She set up her own publishing business and did the book herself. 

Having achieved so much in such a short time, you would think that Auntie Chom is ready to take it easy. Well, she isn't - next in the pipeline is a book of family recipes. And she is walking the talk of her convictions by accepting an offer from Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to head the women's wing of Angkatan Amanah Merdeka.

"If you are in doubt about the propriety of an act, do not do it. Rather, you should do only what you know to be good. Truth blesses you with peace of mind whereas falsehood torments you with uneasiness and tension."

Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), as narrated by Tirmidhi