HEROINA moda marynarzy i artystów al`a Newsweek

Handel narkotykami od czasów II wojny światowej związany był z finansowaniem tajnych operacji zbrojnych, prowadzonych przez CIA... Międzynarodowy handel narkotykami jest metodą zabezpieczania przewagi ekonomicznej imperium handlowego.

Międzynarodowy system finansowy zaangażowany jest obecnie w operację prania 1,5 biliona dolarów rocznie i generuje około 500 miliardów dolarów dochodu w czystej gotówce. Celowi temu służą „raje finansowe”, takie jak np. karaibskie Kajmany, gdzie zarejestrowanych jest ponad 430 banków i 70 000 korporacji, czyli 1,5 na każdego mieszkańca tej niewielkiej społeczności...
„Problemem społecznym w naszej cywilizacji narkotyki stały się dopiero w XX wieku, a mówiąc dokładniej – po I wojnie światowej” – ogłosił kiedyś z beztroską ignorancją w artykule „Stulecie narkotyków” Marek Karpiński na łamach magazynu Newsweek, głównego promotora politycznego dyletanctwa w Polsce. „Problem społeczny”, czyli – jak pisze – „modę” na narkotyki zawdzięczamy rzekomo marynarzom i artystom. Wielkie zło, jak powinniśmy rozumieć, przybyło do naszej cnotliwej kultury z dalekich Chin.
Mało rzeczy wiąże się ściślej z historią polityczną kapitalizmu niż kultura mafijna i handel narkotykami. Organizowane przez korporacje bale w stylu „Chicago lat 20.” są tylko epizodycznym wspomnieniem wielkiej tradycji. Nie wzbudzają na pewno kontrowersji, choć temat, trzeba przyznać, pozostaje w tym samym stopniu delikatnym co tajemniczym.
Marynarze i artyści

„Początek współczesnej ery handlu opium datuje się na rok 1773, kiedy to brytyjska Kompania Wschodnioindyjska objęła kontrolę nad eksportem opium z Indii do Chin” – pisał w swojej obszernej pracy historycznej „The Politics of Heroin. CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade” profesor historii Azjii południowo-wschodniej na Uniwersytecie Wisconsin-Madison, Alfred W. McCoy. Po zmonopolizowaniu przedsięwzięcia eksport opium do Chin wzrósł z 75 ton (w latach 1770) do 3200 ton w połowie XIX w. Chiny, które bezskutecznie przeciwstawiały się importowi tego towaru, zmuszone były stoczyć z imperium brytyjskim dwie wojny, które przeszły do historii, jako „wojny opiumowe”, niezbyt chwalebnie wpisujące się w schematy historycznych stereotypów na temat ideałów gospodarczej wolności, za którą walczyli z krzyżem na piersiach nieustraszeni bohaterowie zachodniej cywilizacji.
W pierwszej połowie XIX w. brytyjski handel zdołał przekształcić opium z artykułu luksusowego w towar masowy, uzyskując obrót podobny do innych popularnych stymulatorów, takich jak kawa, herbata czy kakao. Pomimo iż całkowity tonaż nie przekraczał obrotu, uzyskiwanego z rocznego zbioru herbaty na poziomie 90 000 ton, jego wartość handlowa była znacznie wyższa. Bezspornie, opium stanowiło w XIX w. główny towar całkowitej międzynarodowej wymiany handlowej, zdominowanej i nadzorowanej przez mocarstwa zachodnie
W 1821 r. brytyjski pisarz Thomas De Qeicey jako pierwszy zwrócił uwagę na problem uzależnienia, publikując esej „Confessions of an English Opium Eater” (wyznania angielskiego konsumenta opium). Pochodne produkty opium, takie jak morfina i niezwykle trudna do otrzymania heroina były zdobyczami nowoczesnego przemysłu farmaceutycznego. Morfinę, uzyskaną po raz pierwszy w 1805 r., wprowadziła na rynek w 1827 r. niemiecka firma E. Mereck&Company z Darmstadt. W 1874 r. angielski badacz C. R. Wright uzyskał, w wyniku kilkugodzinnego procesu chemicznego, diacetylomorfinę. Testy prowadzone na psach wykazały, że środek wywołuje „wielkie wyczerpanie organizmu, lęki, ospałość... i lekką tendencję do wymiotów”. Angielski chemik zdecydował zaprzestać dlatego dalszych eksperymentów. Mimo tego w 1898 r. niemiecka firma Bayer Company z Elberfeld rozpoczęła masową produkcję diacetylomorfiny, wprowadzając na rynek swe „lekarstwo” pod nazwą „heroiny”. (3) W ten sposób „marynarze” i „artyści” wwieźli do zachodniej cywilizacji „problem społeczny”, który prestiżowe czasopismo polityczne Newsweek nazywa naukowo „modą”.

Pomimo iż badacze medyczni zaczęli analizować problem uzależnienia od opioidów jeszcze w XVIII w., powszechna świadomość zagrożenia ze strony cudownych leków (w tym m.in. heroiny, morfiny, a także kokainy) ugruntowała się dopiero pod koniec XIX w. Potrzeba było dziesięcioleci aby wiedzę medyczną uwzględnić w reformach legislacyjnych. Dlaczego? Gdybyśmy wszyscy rozumieli, jak funkcjonuje system kapitalistyczny, potrafilibyśmy to łatwo zrozumieć. Niestety, poznanie historii kapitalizmu z wielką skutecznością i nieskrywanym cynizmem utrudniają nam takie czasopisma jak Newsweek, wg którego do I wojny światowej „problemu uzależnienia jeszcze nie rozpoznano”. By skompromitować tę wyssaną z palca tezę wystarczy przypomnieć, znaną chyba każdemu, najsłynniejszą i najczęściej cytowaną frazę Karola Marxa „Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes“, która nie pozostawia raczej wątpliwości, w jakim stopniu uzależnienie od opium musiało być rozpoznane aby metafora miała szansę zaistnieć w 1848 r. i rozpowszechnić się z tak spektakularnym powodzeniem.
W XIX w. „handlarze opatentowanych leków byli największymi reklamodawcami prasowymi w USA, Wielkiej Brytanii i Australii, konsekwencją czego w interesie prasy nie było publikowanie informacji szkodzących sprzedaży”. W 1905 r. w magazynie Collier’s, Samuel Hopkins Adams odnotowywał, że wiele czołowych amerykańskich gazet związanych jest długoterminowymi kontraktami reklamowymi, zawieranymi z handlowcami patentowanych leków, które to kontrakty posiadają klauzulę, że umowa może zostać zerwana, jeśli ustawodawstwo ograniczy sprzedaż ich produktów”. Chroniony przed krytyką handel środkami medycznymi rozwinął się w potężny przemysł, którego obroty w 1900 r. osiągnęły wartość 250 mln. dolarów”. „Opium - pisał historyk Terry Parssinen – było wiktoriańską aspiryną, jak Lomotil, Valium i Nyquil, którą można było nabyć w chemicznym sklepie za rogiem dosłownie za grosze”. (4)
Głównym powodem, dlaczego nasza wiedza i wyobrażenie na temat narkotyków są tak dziwaczne i zabobonne, jest polityczne tabu. To właśnie tajemnica z tym związana wymaga aby w narkotykach dostrzegać tylko „problem społeczny”, czyli problem „marynarzy i artystów”.
Polityczne tabu
Międzynarodowy handel narkotykami - podkreśla Peter Dale Scott, kanadyjski dyplomata, profesor Uniwersytetu Kalifornijskiego w Berkeley - jest metodą zabezpieczania przewagi ekonomicznej imperium handlowego. Obrona tej praktyki handlowej – przemytu opium z Indii do Chin przez Kompanię Wschodnioindyjską – była motywacją do napisania „On Liberty” przez Johna Stuarta Milla. (5)

Handel narkotykami spełnia do dziś identyczną rolę. Międzynarodowy system finansowy zaangażowany jest obecnie w operację prania 1,5 biliona dolarów rocznie, (wg danych Międzynarodowego Funduszu Walutowego) i generuje około 500 miliardów dolarów dochodu w czystej gotówce. (6) Celowi temu służą „raje finansowe”, takie jak np. karaibskie Kajmany, gdzie zarejestrowanych jest ponad 430 banków i 70 000 korporacji, czyli 1,5 na każdego mieszkańca tej niewielkiej społeczności, która nie byłaby w stanie zaludnić Gniezna, Zamościa czy Głogowa.

Uzależnieni od narkotyków Amerykanie są więc ofiarami najbardziej dochodowej działalności kryminalnej, w którą zaangażowanych jest miliony chłopów w górskich regionach Azji, tysiące skorumpowanych przedstawicieli rządowych, wyspecjalizowanych karteli kryminalnych i agencji rządowych USA. Ofiary narkomanii stanowią końcowe ogniwo łańcucha tajnych transakcji kryminalnych. Transakcje te, mające swój początek na azjatyckich polach makowych, prowadzą - poprzez tajne laboratoria chemicznej produkcji heroiny w Europie i Azji i za sprawą doskonale zorganizowanych sieci międzynarodowych połączeń handlowych - prosto na ulice wielkich miast. Opinia publiczna zmuszona jest wierzyć, że wwożenie na teren USA setek ton narkotyków rocznie odbywa się w sposób „niewidoczny” dla państwa, uzbrojonego po zęby w system satelitarnej kontroli planety, o którego możliwościach obywatele nie są nawet informowani.
Handel narkotykami od czasów II wojny światowej związany był z finansowaniem tajnych operacji zbrojnych, prowadzonych przez CIA.* Choć związek ten powinien być ewidentny dla każdego początkującego gliniarza, to w umysłach osób głęboko wierzących w symbole cywilizacji, spowijać może go gęsta mgła niepewności, uniemożliwiająca krytykę narzuconej hierarchii politycznej, która identyfikowana jest z najwyższymi wartościami kultury. Niepewność ta prowadzi do rezygnacji z prawa do kwestionowania przemocy, stosowanej przez aparat władzy i kształtuje postawę, którą, nie bezzasadnie, nazwać można by mianem „proamerykańskiego fundamentalizmu”. Jej siła polega na niedopuszczaniu do świadomości wszelkich racjonalnych argumentów, które kwestionują dominującą hierarchię i godzą w symbole władzy.

Krótko po inwazji amerykańskiej na Irak, w maju 2003 roku, pakistański dziennik Balochistan Post donosił, że Bagdad – który nigdy wcześniej nie miał problemu z narkotykami i nigdy nie widział nawet heroiny – nagle został „zalany narkotykami – z heroiną włącznie”. Brytyjski Idependent donosił, że narkotykami handluje się na ulicach, a do czasu inwazji USA w kraju tym nie były dostępne żadne narkotyki. Nagłówek prasowy brzmiał: „Tam gdzie działa CIA, tam kwitnie handel narkotykami – po Afganistanie heroiną zalano Bagdad”. Do 2001 r. rząd Talibów w Afganistanie zdołał zredukować – kiedyś bardzo wielką - produkcję opium do 180 ton w skali rocznej. Po inwazji USA, pierwszy rok zbiorów (2002 r.) - według szacunków ONZ - przyniósł plony wielkości 3700 ton, a rok 2003 odnotował kolejny rekord na poziomie 4000 ton. W listopadzie 2003 r. agencja Reutera doniosła, że obecny zbiór maku był nawet 36 razy wyższy od plonów, zebranych w ostatnim roku panowania Talibów. W roku 2004 spodziewano się dalszego wzrostu produkcji nawet o 50%. Trzeba wspomnieć, że jedną z pierwszych rzeczy, jaką siły zbrojne USA i CIA dokonały w tym kraju, było zwolnienie z więzień wielu, znanych z produkcji opium, mafiozów, którzy, jak oświadczono, mieli asystować siłom zbrojnym USA. Wypuszczony na wolność Ayub Afridi został zatrudniony przez CIA z zadaniem zjednoczenia miejscowych liderów.
Najbardziej chyba charakterystyczną cechą, rozpętanej przez Busha seniora „wojny z narkotykami” był fakt, że w jej wyniku spożycie narkotyków w USA nie zmalało nawet o gram. Od lat 80. konsumpcja kokainy w USA utrzymuje się na poziomie około 500 ton rocznie, co wydaje się niezwykle interesujące, biorąc pod uwagę fakt, że w 1979 r. (przed neoliberalnym objawieniem republikańskich wartości) spożywano jej tylko 80 ton. Co ciekawsze, biorcą największej od lat pomocy gospodarczej USA w Ameryce Łacińskiej jest Kolumbia. Rządzony przez mafijną juntę kraj, jest eksporterem niemal całej kokainy konsumowanej na świecie, przy czym wskaźnik nadużyć związanych z łamaniem praw człowieka (tortury i polityczne egzekucje) daje temu państwu niezagrożoną pozycję lidera na półkuli zachodniej.

W maju 2001 r. korporacja finansowa Citigroup za sumę 12 mld dolarów przejęła Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex). Właściciel banku Roberto Hernandez - znany powszechnie na „Półwyspie Kokainowym”, czyli Jukatanie, jako właściciel największej pralni pieniędzy mafijnych w Meksyku – zasiadł w radzie nadzorczej Citigroup wraz z byłym dyrektorem CIA Johnem Deutschem i byłym sekretarzem skarbu Robertem Rubinem. Nic w historii współczesnego kapitalizmu nie współgra ze sobą w sposób bardziej harmonijny i przebojowy niż kwartet: mafia-CIA-Waszyngton-Wall Street. Nazwiska sześciu spośród siedmiu pierwszych dyrektorów CIA – pisał na początku lat 70. Peter Dale Scott – znajdowały się na nowojorskim „social register” (spisie najbardziej wpływowych i zamożnych osobistości, tworzących elitę miasta).

Jednym z głównych wątków największej afery politycznej administracji Reagana, było wykorzystanie narkotyków jako tajnego źródła finansowego wsparcia oddziałów Contras, stanowiących zbrojną opozycję do rządzącej w Nikaragui ludowej partii politycznej Sandynistów. W raporcie Kerry’ego, złożonym przed amerykańskim Senatem w grudniu 1988 r., stwierdzono oględnie: „w istocie wyżsi urzędnicy państwowi USA nie byli nieświadomi faktu, że fundusze z handlu narkotykami były idealnym rozwiązaniem problemu finansowania oddziałów Contras”. Przyznajmy, że styl, może nie do końca marynarski, ale z całą pewnością artystyczny.
Pierwsze wydanie klasycznej już dzisiaj pracy historycznej Alfreda McCoya „The Politics of Heroin”, traktującej o współudziale CIA w światowym handlu narkotykami, ukazało się w roku 1972. Od tego czasu publikacja, kilkukrotnie wznawiana i poszerzana, stanowi jedną z najważniejszych pozycji historycznych, nie tylko dla studentów politologii ale dla każdego, kto chce zrozumieć funkcjonowanie międzynarodowego handlu narkotykami i rolę, jaką odgrywa w nim Centralna Agencja Wywiadowcza. W artykule „Stulecie narkotyków”, zamieszczonym na łamach opiniotwórczego magazynu politycznego Newsweek - ponad 30 lat od pierwszego wydania książki McCoya - trzy litery: „CIA” nie pojawiły się ani razu. Fakt ten zasługuje na refleksję.
Jest prawdą, której zaprzeczanie wykracza poza sferę zdrowego rozsądku, że każda instytucja totalitarna (jaką jest np. korporacja medialna The Washington Post Company, właściciel magazynu Newsweek) przeciwstawia się demaskowaniu faktów, których ujawnienie podważałoby rację jej istnienia lub utrudniało działanie. Funkcjonowanie struktur autorytarnej władzy możliwe jest tylko dzięki tajemnicy, utrzymywanej w celu uniemożliwienia kwestionowania logiki, która sankcjonuje ich istnienie. Wiek przemysłowy, w którym byliśmy świadkami powstawania wielkich, totalitarnych imperiów korporacyjnych i kooperujących z nimi hierarchii państwowych, ukształtował kulturę intelektualną, zaangażowaną w tworzenie przyjaznego środowiska dla rozwoju i istnienia systemu ekonomicznego. Nie ma najmniejszego powodu przypuszczać, że poznanie historii kapitalizmu, a więc naszej rzeczywistości – a w szczególności historii dramatu ofiar, przemocy i zbrodni, jakie z rozwojem ery przemysłowej były, są i będą nierozerwalnie związane – możliwe jest w środowisku intelektualnym, jakie kultura korporacyjna wytworzyła i jakie sponsoruje.

* II wojna światowa doprowadziła praktycznie do wyeliminowania konsumpcji opium, którego spożycie w tym czasie spadło do najniższego poziomu w historii. Zniszczone szlaki handlowe zostały jednak odtworzone w wyniku tajnej współpracy rządu Stanów Zjednoczonych z mafią. Pierwszą fazą była Operation Underworld, w której swoje nieocenione usługi oddali dwaj najwięksi nowojorscy mafiozi Charles „Lucky” Luciano i Meyer Lansky. Sycylijskie koneksje Luciano (którego fragmenty życia posłużyły Mario Puzo do wykreowania postaci Don Vito Corleone w powieści „Ojciec Chrzestny”, odtworzonej później przez Marlona Brando w filmie Francisa Forda Coppoli pod tym samym tytułem) umożliwiły CIA skuteczną walkę z włoskim ruchem robotniczym po wojnie. Światowym centrum produkcji heroiny uczyniono wówczas Marsylię, gdzie przetwarzano transportowane z Turcji i Iranu opium. Na centrum międzynarodowego handlu i dystrybucji narkotyków na półkuli zachodniej „Lucky” Luciano wybrał w 1947 r. Hawanę, która stała się jednocześnie karaibską stolicą hazardu. Wydarzenia polityczne lat 60. wymusiły reorganizację światowego handlu opium. W 1968 r. jeden z ostatnich bossów mafijnych dawnej ery Santo Trafficante Jr. udał się osobiście do Sajgonu, Hongkongu i Singapuru by odtworzyć stare kolonialne koneksje w Indochinach. Główny ośrodek produkcji opium i heroiny został przeniesiony w ten sposób do Azji Wschodniej, będącej areną największych operacji terrorystycznych CIA w czasie wojen indochińskich.

Singapore Hurry What's in a Curry

I have always been fascinated by curry. Not just because I love the delicious spicy flavours it serves up, but rather how well it travels around the world dishing up in a variety of accents.

So what is curry? It appears that the Portuguese and British who were in India hundreds of years ago had taken to describe all Indian spicy dishes as curry. The Portuguese had adopted the terms “caril” or “caree” from various words in south Indian languages. In Kannadan and Malayalam, the word “karil” meant spices for seasoning. In Tamil, the word kari had a similar meaning. This eventually became “curry”.^[1] And as the British enjoyed their curries and began to cook them as a variation on one theme in their kitchens, the variety of spices that were grinded to make that favoured dish was reduced conveniently to curry powder, which can be easily purchased. Lizzie Collingwood found that by 1850s, British cookery books simply called for a spoonful of curry powder in their Indian recipes.

The tendency to label all spicy stews as curries has carried on in the rest of South East Asia. Today, we will casually mention of Thai Green Curry or Red Curry, or a Malay Curry or Nyonya Curry. Anyone who enjoys food or cooking will know how different they are from each other and from Indian curries.

Unlike Indian curries, Thai, Malay and Indonesian curries are generally based on a cacophony of local fresh herbs such as lemongrass, galangal, coriander leaf, fresh tumeric, lime leaves and coconut. Favoured Indian curry spices of cinnamon, cumin or coriander seeds are seldom used, and if they are, their foreign origin is amply ascribed. The Thai Mussaman Curry is one such example.

More likely, many of these dishes are indigenous to their area and possess local names. Thai Red Curry is “geng dtaeng”, while in Singapore, one of the Malay chicken curries is also known in its local name of “opor ayam”. Just as in India, curry is a convenient label for all spicy dishes, and this use has taken root locally in much of Singapore’s history. Are the British to blame, carrying this practice from India? Probably.

To start, there are few a local food historian to work on. Food writer, Sri Owen who writes a lot about Indonesian food commented, “For whatever reason, almost all Indonesian recipes, even in the highly literate societies like that those centred on the kraton of the Central Javanese sultans, have been handed down by example and word of mouth, and we have no way of knowing how they have changed or developed in the process.” This is the state that we find ourselves in when delving into the food history of this region.

But not all is lost. Historical records from Chinese and European visitors to the region do shed some light. What we know from historical records of food eaten in about the 15^th century in Southeast Asia is the predominance of rice, fish, fish-paste and tumeric. Although Southeast Asia was famed for its production of numerous highly sought after spices such as cloves and nutmeg, neither accounts from Chinese nor European visitors had remarked about the spiciness of local food.According to the historian, Anthony Reid chilli pepper from South America was only introduced to the region in late sixteenth century. It was enthusiastically embraced and the Dutch could report in 1596 that it grew in parts of Java.

The popularity of chilli grew and it was soon entrenched in the diet of many. More than a hundred years later, Sir Joseph Banks who accompanied Captain James Cook on his round the world voyage, found cayenne pepper, which will probably be chilli pepper in almost all the foodstuff in Batavia. Sir Joseph Banks stayed in Batavia, Java for three months in 1770 and he wrote, “In the article of food no people can be more abstemious than they are. Boiled rice is of rich, as well as of poor, the principal part of their subsistence: this with a small proportion of fish, buffalo or fowl, and sometimes dried fish and dry shrimps, brought here from China, is their chief food. Everything, however must be highly seasoned with cayenne pepper.” These could well be a 18^th century version of rending and a Malay fish sambal or curry. From here we take a leap to curry eaten in colonial Singapore, much of which would be inspired by Malay cuisine and the Indian curries. Indeed, we know that curry in whatever guise was much eaten in colonial Singapore by the Europeans. John Cameron who was in Singapore in the 1860s was much impressed with the curries served at lunch and dinner. Describing a typical dinner, he wrote, “The substantials are invariably followed by curry and rice which forms a characteristic feature of the tables of Singapore, and though Madras and Calcutta have been long famed for the quality of their curries, I nevertheless think that those of the Straits exceed any of them in excellence. There are usually two or more different kinds placed on the table, and accompanying them are all manner of sambals or native pickles and spices, which add materially to the piquancy of the dish. During the progress of the substantials and the curry and rice, the usual beverage is beer, accompanied by a glass or two of pale sherry…”

In N B Dennys' 1894 "A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya”, he wrote of the Curry from the Straits Settlement as characterised by its use of coconut milk, tumeric and the pods of the moringa tree (drumsticks). He went on to say there were two main types of curry, primarily “black” and “white”, and the generic name of curry in Malay was gulai.

Tucking into curry as part of a huge meal with a variety of other meats and fish usually cooked in European ways was not uncommon among the Europeans in Island Southeast Asia. It is often found on the tables in Dutch East Indies as much as the Straits Settlements and Malay States. This practice persisted through to the 20^th century, when having a curry on Sundays had become a custom for the Europeans in Malaya. In P Allix’s 1953 “Menu for Malaya”, she proposed menus “more in European style, but also in the tradition of Malaya.” One of her Sunday Lunch menu is as follows,

Cream Frankfurt

Prawn Salad with Mayonnaise

Mutton Curry and Rice

Sambals

Cold Roast Pork and Corned Beef

Red Cabbage Salad with Apples

Sago Pudding Gula Malacca

Cottage Cheese

Hot Buns

Coffee

Some curries they had may be of Indian style, but the discerning suitably recognised the indigenous dishes when they saw it, terming it a Malay curry and such. In P C B Newington’s collection of recipes published in 1947, his curry section is well compiled with a collection of Indian curries, Malay curries which are based on local herbs using ingredients such as lemon grass and belachan, and even European curries! Quite similar to Britain where , a new strand of curry emerged as it was adapted to European cooking, with the addition of Worcester Sauce, tomato sauce or even as an adaptation to Malayan taste, Soya Bean Sauce. Mother’s Curry is a good example,

Mother’s Curry

Fry a large chopped onion in 2 tablespoons butter. Add 2 tablespoons Curry Powder. Fry several minutes and if dry add stock. Now add 1 tablespoon each of Worcester sauce, tomato sauce and vinegar. Salt to taste. Now add cubes of cooked cold meat and enough stock to cover. Simmer 2 hours or more, stirring.

As Newington is rather influenced by Malayan cooking, he suggested as an improvement to Mother’s Curry, the substitution of coconut milk for stock and to add ground chillies.

Before World War Two, very few European women cook in Malaya, leaving such duties to their local cooks and servants who are usually Chinese, Malay or Indian.The food they ate would have filtered to the local population thanks to the cooks they employed. Among them are many Hainanese Chinese, who till today are celebrated for their Asian-inspired “Western food” such as Hainanese pork chops and chicken pies.Curry could have been another dish they learnt in cooking for the Europeans, considering that curry is foreign to the Chinese palate.

Among the Chinese, the Hainanese continued to be known for their curry. My grandmother whom I interviewed, recalled fondly of buying curry from the Hainanese hawker in the 1930s and 1940s in the Clarke Quay area. Although she was born in Malaya in the 1920s, her parents were new émigrés from China, and thus cooked and ate Chinese food at home. Curry was a treat to be had from the Hainanese hawker in the neighbourhood coffee shop.

Cooking a 1940s Curry

I decided to try a chicken curry recipe from P C B Newington's Good Food one weekend. Trying to keep true to the kitchen implements in the 1940, I valiantly decided to pound the rempah and spices instead of giving them a buzz in the food processor. I wondered of the pots and stove he would have used, for that can change the flavour of the dish. In the end, I cooked it in a wok on my gas stove and the result was a flavourful dark curry. Cooking with old recipes are not for the novice. Unlike the precise instructions and enticing photos in today's cookbook, cookbook of yester-years are simple affairs with vague instructions at time. But it was fun! If you will like to give this a go, the recipe is transcribed in its entirety in the following.

Chicken Curry

1chicken-jointed, 2 pieces ginger, 6 small onions, 3 green chillies, 1 coconut (no. 1 and 2 santan), Coconut oil, 1/2 dessertspoon jintan puteh, Vinegar, 1 piece cinnamon, salt, 8 red chillies (dried), Garlic, 1 dessertspoon ketumba, 2 stalks serai, limes

Slice onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. Pound other ingredients. Slightly heat a pan and pour in coconut oil, when smoking hot put in onions, garlic, ginger and chillies and mix well, then add ground curry stuffs. After all has been well mixed, put in chicken with vinegar (or ketchup) about 1 tablespoon and salt. Cook for a shortwhile then add No. 2 santan and cook till tender. Then stir in No. 1 santan and heat thoroughly but do not boil. Add juice of 1/2 lime.

(My notes : jintan puteh = white cumin seeds, ketumba = coriander seeds, santan no.1 = the first squeeze of coconut milk, santan no 2 = the second squeeze of coconut milk.)

With the exception for the Straits Chinese or the Peranakans who lived in the Malay archipelago for generations and are accustomed to spicy food and cooking with spices, herbs and coconut milk., I can only imagine how curry will seem alien to the new Chinese emigrants in colonial Singapore. Probably like the British and Portuguese in India centuries earlier, they would be bewildered by the array of spicy dishes and their understanding of curry will be influenced by their own cuisine as well as coloured by the mems and tuans that they worked for.

Lois T Kao who taught cookery in Singapore in the 1940s and was schooled in Chinese cooking, learning her art in Shanghai and Hong Kong gave a Chinese twist to her curries. In her book, “Cookery Book on Local Food”, she coated the beef or chicken with tapioca flour before adding to the pot with fried curry paste^.Coating of meat in flour before frying is reminiscent of Chinese cookery. Her rendition is but one of the Chinese adaptations to curry.

The legacy remains. Many Singapore Chinese love spicy food and curries but are more familiar cooking with curry powder or curry paste for a dish then to assemble the spices and cooking the curry from scratch. In contrast, the Malay, Indians and Eurasians are more comfortable using spices. Today, there are a wide array of curries to be enjoyed in Singapore, from Devil’s Curry, Curry Fish Head, Chinese Chicken Curry, mutton curry, Rendang to sayur lodeh. They shared some common history, yet in each is a story to be told, reflecting the diverse culinary heritage of the community and the people that it fed.

Singapore logistyka

Singapore jest jednym z najwiekszych i najnowoczesniejszych centrow logistycznych na swiecie.Obsluguje 1/5 kontenerow na swiecie.Od przyjazdu tira do bramy wjazdowej portu i dojazdu do kontenerowca mija nie wiecej niz 28 sekund.Kierowca pokazuje karte z chipem radiowym i tablica 5 m przed nim wsakazuje dokladnie miejsce zaladunku.W ciagu niecalej minuty kontener jest zaladowny na tir,przez zdalnie kierowane dzwigi z centralnego punktu obslugi. Kontenerowce przewoza od 2000-8000 kontenerow.Port PSA obsluguje 20 milion kontenerow rocznie Rozladowanie sredniego kontenerowca(4000 kontenerow) trwa ponizej 8 godzin.Wiecej http://www.singaporepsa.com/

Wszystko o Singapur -gdzie religia jest robienie zakupow,jedzenie i ogladanie ludzi

Dzis 9 Sierpnia Swieto Niepodleglosci w 1965 roku Singapore uzyskal niepodleglość od Malazji
Czy wiesz że Singapur
Ma najmniejszą przestępczość na świecie
Jest calkowity zakaz palenia w miejscach publicznych
Nie wolno pluć
Nie wolno wyrzucac niedopałków lub smiecić w miejscach publicznych
Żucie gumy oraz posiadanie jej jest karalne-dlatego że kiedy uruchomiono metro ludzie często wciskali gumę do żucia pomiędzy drzwi metra powodując że drzwi nie mogły się otworzyć
http://www.langara.bc.ca/prm/2003/singapore.html
Dlatego jest to najczystsze miasto na swiecie,chociaz w niektorych miejscach zauważyłem drobne smieci,ale nie jest tam tak brudno jak w Polsce i wielu innych europejskich krajach.
Częstą karą za drobne przewinienia jest chłosta w szkole jak również w wymiarze sprawiedliwości jest stosowana za wszystkie przewinienia.
Posiadanie wiekszej ilosci narkotykow jest karane smiercią
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa360012004

80% samochodow ma mniej niz 4 lata
Siec autostrad liczy 3000 km, a u nas w Polsce około 900 km w tym roku oddano do ekspoltacji 7 km autostrady
Tory kolejowe sa wlasnoscia Malezji
Singapore jest 7 najwiekszym eksporterem na swiecie.
Singapore jest jednym z 20 najmniejszych krajow na swiecie ,obszar wyspy liczy tylko 682.7 kilometrow kwadratowych. USA jest 15,000 razy wieksze.
Oprocz Monaco, Singapore ma najwiecej mieszkancow na km kwadratowy(6430)
W Signapore jest 22,491 restauracji i 10,665 fast food restauracji.Razem 33,056, co czyni z tego miasta kraju,najwiekszym zapleczem gastronomicznym na swiecie .Jedna restauracja przypada na 131 mieszkancow.Jednak niektórzy twierdzą że jest ich aż 40,000
Brytyjska violinistka Vanessa Mae Nicholson urodzila sie w Singapore i przeprowadzila sie do Wielkiej Brytanii ,kiedy miala 4 lata .
Pierwszy spis ludnosci w 1824 stwierdzil ze w Singapore mieszkalo 10,683 ludzi.
W 2005 spis ludnosci wykazal ze mieszka tam 4.5 million ludzi.
9 z 10 mieszkancow Singapore mieszka w blokach ktore sa wlasnoscia miasta(public housing).
Drink Singapore Sling pierwszy raz byl serwowany 1915 w Long Bar w hotelu Raffles http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapur

Middle Eastern Cooking and Flavors and Recipies

Great value is attached to cooking in the Middle East. In that world of strong family ties, large clans and women at home, hospitality gregariousness are deeply entrenched; offering food is the central act in the highly developed art of pleasing.
The cooking is different in every town, every village and indeed in every family: There are rural foods and urban ones, foods which belong to the desert, others which belong to the mountain, the plain or the seacoast, nomadic foods and street foods. Middle Eastern cooking outside the Middle East shows its own variations, too. But there are nonetheless many general characteristics which all these foods, and all the countries, share.


It is a very sensual kind of cooking, using herbs, spices and aromatics generously. Certain methods, like skewer cooking over charcoal or long, slow simmering in unglazed covered pots, are typical of the whole region. All the countries have rice and wheat dishes, stuffed vegetables, pies wrapped in paper-thin pastry, meatballs, thick omelettes, cold vegetables cooked in oil, scented rice puddings, nut-filled pastries, fritters soaked in syrup and many other common elements. You find raisins with pine nuts everywhere, garnishes of chopped pistachios and almonds, and the same food combinations, such as chickpeas with spinach.


It is a shared history, including that of two great world empires, which has brought unity to the kitchens of the Middle East. The spread of Islam and the establishment of an enormous Islamic state stretching across Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean was the most important factor in the development of a gastronomic tradition comparable to that of France and China.


As the state grew, the Arabs brought to each new region their own tastes as well as those of the countries they had already conquered. Styles of cooking traveled within this vast area with the massive migrations of people; large-scale transport brought into the cities, and even into distant parts of the empire, local produce such as truffles from the desert, olive oil from Syria, dates from Iraq and coffee from Arabia. Crops such as rice, sugar, eggplants (aubergines) and spinach, originally from outside the state, spread throughout it.


The Abassid period, from the ninth to the 12th century, when Islam was the most powerful influence in the world and Baghdad was the political and cultural hub of the state, saw great marriages of cooking styles and great refinements in eating habits. A prosperous cosmopolitan ruling elite had emerged whose members led a life of luxury. Everyone - poet, astronomer physician and prince - took an interest in gastronomy and dietetics. Writings on food were abundant and popular. The taste for spiced foods and sweet things appeared then: Before that, spices had been only merchandise. Aromatics were used in tiny quantities but in great number and in a variety of combinations. Cooking was transformed into an art which reached magnificent heights.


The banquets at the courts of the caliphs of Baghdad were proverbial for their lavishness. A court cuisine had developed which made use of expensive ingredients and elaborate and sophisticated techniques, and in which visual appeal was extremely important. It amalgamated the peasant dishes of the area and the Bedouin foods of the desert with those of Syria Damascus had been the capital of the empire before Baghdad - and, especially of Persia.


The enormous Ottoman Empire, which expanded right into the heart of Europe from the 14th century and into the 20th produced a new court cuisine in its turn. The sultans' courts became notorious for their luxury and their devotion to the pleasures of the table. The imperial kitchens catered for some 4,000 or 5,000 people on the days the Divan (cabinet) met, and for up to 10,000 on special occasions such as the reception of a foreign ambassador. An army of cooks was required and that, in turn, required codification: Strict rules were adopted so that chefs could more, easily train apprentices, and these rules formed the basis of a classic Ottoman cuisine.


In the early days of the Ottomans, all the palace cooks were slaves who had been captured, bought or given as gifts by Venetian traders. A cooking school was established for their children. The position of cook was important, even glorious., and it meant that, by ingratiating themselves with their noble employers or even the sultan, individual cooks could rise to become part of the ruling class. Köprülü Mehmet Paşa, the Ottoman Empire's most powerful vizier, began his career as a cook.


The first Turkish-born cooks employed in Topkapı Palace were recruited as camp cooks in the mountain region of Bolu, in northwestern Anatolia, where the sultans went hunting. It became the tradition that every boy of Bolu left at the age of 13 to work in the palace kitchen or in the houses of the nobles in Istanbul.


The type of cooking that was passed on grew out of an amalgam of traditions borrowed from the empire's conquered territories. The tastes of Byzantium and of the Arabs predominated, and nomadic Turkish foods combined with Chinese and Mongolian ones passed on through Turkestan. The result was the sophisticated cuisine that spread from the Danube to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, from the Balkans to the shores of North Africa and to parts of what is now the USSR - often by means of the battalions of cooks that marched with the Ottoman armies.


The cooking of the Middle East can be broadly divided into four main general styles: Arab, Iranian, North African and Turkish.


Iranian cooking, based on rice, is the most complex and the least known. Arab cooking is highly developed in Syria, where Aleppo is considered the great gastronomic city, and in Lebanon - one of only two Middle Eastern countries to have developed a restaurant tradition. (The other is Turkey.) It is Lebanon, with her emigrant cooks and restaurateurs, which has brought the grilled meats and mazzah of the Arab restaurant menu to the attention of the world. This menu evolved 70 years ago in the region of Zahlah, in the open-air cafés along the cascading river Bardawni. The cafés, which filled the valley, vied to attract customers with an ever varied selection of appetizers, which were in fact the local village foods.


Moroccan food is the richest and most varied of North Africa, and that which has not bean influenced at all by France. It illustrates the kind of kaleidoscopic diversity that exists in the Middle East. The national dish, kuskus (couscous), is of Berber origin. Many other dishes were brought by the Arabs in waves of invasions which started in the seventh century; they have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages. Still other dishes have their origin in Spain and bear witness to the long Muslim domination of that country. The food of Marakesh is Berber with an African element, while the bourgeois cooking of Fez, the dominant cuisine, is more Andalusian, as is that of Tetouan. And on the Atlantic side of the country certain strategic locations reveal the Portuguese incursions of the 15th and 16th centuries. Food in the mountain regions is predominantly Berber, while the desert has the usual food of the nomadic Arab tribesmen, based on dates. There is hardly any Ottoman influence except in Tetouan, where there was an exchange of cooks when the Ottoman army stopped.


Turkey There is great regional diversity in Turkey, but the classic cooking we know abroad belongs to Istanbul. Despite the diversity, restaurants all over modern Turkey offer the same menu of meat and appetizers because professional cooks, who still mostly come from the region of Bolu, cook the same dishes in the same way. It is called saray (palace) cooking. The food trade is highly specialized, and its division into guilds is a legacy of the rigid hierarchy and elaborate organization of the imperial Ottoman kitchens, where butchers, grocers, icemen, collectors of herbs, soup-makers, confectioners and bakers were all organized into separate corps with their own quarters and sometimes even their own mosques.


Finally, each of these general kinds of Middle Eastern cooking is cut across by other divisions. The cities of Iraq, for example, each exhibit the effects of different culinary influences - Iranian in one, Turkish in another, Syrian and Indian in a third and fourth. In another example, while the cooking of Istanbul is like that of Cairo and Jerusalem - they were also major Ottoman centers in their day - it is different from that of other Turkish cities whose imperial role was less important.


All these currents and connections have to do with the centers of power and the network of influence of the historical Middle East. Today, picking up a fork is as much a historical act - and as potentially illuminating - as picking up a spade at a Middle Eastern archeological site.


The Flavors of Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula has been closely linked with spices throughout its history. Spices were appreciated everywhere in the Middle East for their fragrances and their medicinal properties, as well as for their enhancement of flavor in food. Herodotus, "the father of history," wrote in the fifth century BC of the spices of Arabia that "the whole country is scented with them, and exhales an odor marvelously sweet." For centuries the Roman Empire, with its insatiable demand for Eastern spices, kept caravans crisscrossing the Peninsula, bringing such important spices as pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, spikenard, nutmeg and cloves to the West. Muhammad himself, as a young man before the Koran was revealed to him, accompanied caravans across the Peninsula to Syria, carrying goods which very likely included spices. After Islam was established believers came to Makkah from all over the world to make the Hajj, or pilgrimage, and enriched the Peninsula with an enormously varied culinary acquaintance. Arabian cooks developed a mastery of flavoring, using a multitude of spices in each dish to create a taste which is rich and subtle, never overpowering but magnificently enhancing the food.


In many other regions of the world where the climate is hot, the food is, too. In southern India, Mexico, and parts of Africa, for example, many dishes are served that will literally scorch your tongue if you're not used to them, and make beads of perspiration stand out on your forehead. Perspiration has a cooling effect on the body, of course, and it is generally accepted that this is the purpose of such spicing. In contrast, spicing in Arabian cuisine is not extremely pungent. Although there are, as everywhere, individuals who enjoy a good hot red pepper, or a large dose of ginger, mustard or onion, the flavoring in Arabia is tasty enough to awaken an appetite in the heat, but not so hot as to induce a loss of the moisture so essential to life in an arid or desert land.


Certainly, in most cities of the Peninsula there are sophisticated supermarkets where you can find spices sold in rows of uniform bottles containing colored powders. But it is more common - and more fun - to buy the spices whole in some tiny, fragrant shop or stall in a suq. These whole spices are interesting in that they reveal, to a certain extent, which part of the plant has yielded the spice, whether bark or berry, seed or sap. More importantly for flavor, they will be stronger and more aromatic since the volatile essential oils are lost much more rapidly after the spices have been ground. The spice seller will often grind your spices for you on the spot, if you prefer, or he may offer to sell you a pre-ground mixture which he will assure you is excellent for specific dishes, such as a rice pilaf or a vegetable stew, but whose ingredients remain his secret.

Dates have always been an important food in the Peninsula, where several varieties are cultivated in ancient groves in the large oases; dates are a common condiment at any meal and with coffee. Various nuts - almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts and pine nuts - all of which grow in regions of the Middle East, lend texture as well as flavor to Arabian foods. Familiar spices and herbs like cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, hot red and green peppers (Capsicum spp.) and allspice, ginger, mint, parsley, bay leaves, basil, dill, rosemary, garlic and onions all are used frequently. A few others which are becoming more commonly known in the West are popular as well, such as cumin, caraway and coriander - both the tan, spherical seeds of the coriander plant and its parsley-like fringed green leaves, known in the West as cilantro. But beyond those there are still other spices and condiments important to the flavor of Arabia that are relatively unknown in the West today.
Sesame seeds, the pale, small seeds of a tall herb grown in many parts of the Middle East, are extremely important to the cuisine of the region. The seeds are pressed to extract a high-quality oil; lightly toasted, they add their nutty flavor to a large number of breads and pastries, or provide a tasty coating for sweet Medina dates stuffed with almonds. Tahinah, a paste made from sesame, is mixed with mashed chick-peas, garlic and lemon juice to make the beloved dip hummus. Sesame seeds mixed with honey are a nutritious, sweet snack. Perhaps Ali Baba commanded the cave to "Open, sesame!" because the seed pods of this plant (except for modern commercial varieties) burst open suddenly and forcefully when the seeds are ripe, scattering them widely.
Cardamom is an essential ingredient in that ubiquitous symbol of Arab hospitality, coffee. In the Arabian Peninsula, coffee is usually a straw-colored brew, made from lightly roasted beans, lavishly perfumed and flavored with crushed, large green cardamom pods, and served unsweetened in miniature handleless cups in a stream of generosity that ends only when the guest's thirst is unquestionably satisfied. As it is one of the world's most expensive spices, cardamom's generous use is intended as an honor. In addition, coffee brewed from dark-roasted beans, and usually prepared with sugar, is drunk occasionally. That brew is sometimes spiced with a little ground cardamom seed as well. Cardamom is by no means limited to coffee; its pleasant, camphor-like flavor combines well with any food or beverage, hot or cold. (I challenge you to find an exception.) The seed pods, slightly crushed, are a standard spice in the traditional Arabian dish kabsah, a lamb-and-rice stew, and it is a common ingredient in fruit desserts.
Dried limes lend a bright tang to stews, some varieties of kabsah, and fish dishes The limes may be used whole and fished out of the dish before serving, or pounded to a fine powder. To make your own dried limes, boil the small round variety of lime vigorously for a few minutes, then dry them in a sunny or otherwise dry and warm place for several weeks until they turn brown and feel hollow.
Mahlab, the aromatic kernel of a kind of cherry with a black fruit, that gives that distinctive flavor and scent to the sweet braided yeast bread popular all over the Middle East. The droplet-shaped kernels are ground into a powder and used in this and other breads and pastries. In addition to providing "the bread spice," this versatile tree has several other uses: Its fragrant oil is used in making perfumes, its hard, heavy wood is valued in turnery, and the tree itself provides grafting stock for cherry growers in southern Europe and western Asia.
Mastic, the resin exuded from the bark of a small evergreen shrub closely related" to the pistachio tree, is best known in the West today for its use in such products as varnish and paint, but cooks in Arabia continue their centuries-old custom of enjoying its unique fresh, resinous aroma and flavor in meat soups and stews and in puddings. Mastic melts into the food rather than dissolving, so it is best to pulverize the translucent light-yellow lumps before adding them. Mastic is one of the many ingredients used in the popular shawurma, that elaborate construction of marinated meat, fat and flavors which rotates on a vertical spit placed close to a fire.
Nutmeg is the seed of a large evergreen; tree native to the Spice Islands (the Moluccas) of what is now Indonesia. The fleshy yellow, peach-like fruit of this tree splits open when ripe, revealing the nutmeg encased in a dark-brown shell, which is in turn wrapped in a bright red net, or aril; this aril is the spice mace. Nutmeg has long been in popular use in the Middle East, as in the rest of the world, both as a flavoring and a medicine; however, its medicinal properties have caused it to be classified officially as a drug and it is therefore banned in Saudi Arabia today. Very large quantities of nutmeg can produce hallucinations followed by ferocious headaches, and an overdose can be lethal.
Rosewater and orange-blossom water lend their sweet perfumes to a wide variety of foods, notably puddings and pastries but also to some fruit drinks and salads. They may be used separately or together, depending on the dish and the taste of the cook. The essences are distilled from the petals of the flowers with water, a process developed by the Arabs; the flower waters on sale today are usually a dilution of this product. Rosewater is one of the earliest distilled products ever made, and its manufacture has been an important industry in the Middle East for about 1,200 years. Rosewater and orange-blossom water are added to food simply for the pleasure their fragrance gives, rather than for flavor.
Shaybah, also known as "old man's beard," is a tree lichen found in the Arabian Peninsula whose complex bitter, metallic flavor is popular in meat and vegetable stews. A small piece of curly black-and-silver lichen will flavor a large potful.
Saffron is commonly used in the more elegant rice dishes, both savory and sweet, as much for its beautiful yellow color as for its unmistakable earthy taste. Chicken and fish are also often flavored with saffron. This spice, the world's most expensive, is made up of the stigmas of an autumn-flowering crocus native to the Middle East. The stigmas and parts of their styles are dried to brittle red threads which, when ground, yield a yellow powder. Each flower has only three tiny stigmas, and something like 80,000 flowers are needed to produce a pound of spice. Most of the saffron in trade today comes from Spain, where it was introduced by the Arabs in the eighth or ninth century.
Sumac Powdered dark-red sumac berries provide a pleasant lemony spice which tastes especially good on meats such as shish kebabs. Although it is produced by a small Mediterranean/Persian tree related to the poisonous sumac of North America, and it is sometimes used in tanning leather, the agreeable acid of these berries is in no way harmful. Sumac was mentioned nearly 2,000 years ago in the writing of Dioscorides, a Greek physician serving in the Roman army, as having healthful properties; Dioscorides says it was "sprinkled among sauces" and mixed with meat. Modern-day eaters find it excellent on pizza. Sumac is also generally considered an essential ingredient in the spice mixture za'tar,
Tamarind it is a small tropical tree similar in appearance to an acacia. Its name is derived from the Arabic for "Indian date." The pulp of its long brown seed pods yields an extremely viscous syrup with a distinctive sour flavor that is excellent in vegetables, meat and fish dishes. Tamarind syrup makes a delicious and refreshing cold drink, prepared like lemonade with water and sugar. This spice is not so exotic in the West as it may seem at first: Tamarind is an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce.
Baba ghannuj - A dip made of mashed cooked eggplant mixed with lemon juice, garlic and tahinah.
Baklava - A pastry made of many paper-thin sheets of dough (filo) brushed with butter, layered with nuts, and coated with sugar - or honey syrup.
Burghul - Cracked wheat. Made by first boiling, then drying and grinding whole wheat; available either fine - or coarse-ground.
Halal - Prepared according to the requirements of Islam. In the case of meat, the procedure includes invoking the name of God and bleeding the animal.
Hummus - Literally, chickpeas, but usually refers to hummus bi tahinah, a dip made from mashed cooked chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic and tahinah, and eaten with bread and olive oil.
Kabsah - A lamb, chicken or (less commonly) fish stew with rice, tomato and spices.
Kubbah - A mixture of ground lamb, fine burghul and grated onion pounded to a paste and served raw or cooked in a number of ways.
Kunafah - A sweet pastry made with strands of butter-coated dough that look like shredded wheat, filled with ricotta-like cheese or nuts.
Kuskus - Couscous, a steamed semolina dish served with a meat-and-vegetable stew.
Labnah - "Yogurt cheese," or yogurt that has been drained of its whey. Usually eaten with olive oil.
Lahm m'ajun - "Arab pizza," pita bread topped with a thin layer of finely ground meat, onions, tomatoes and seasonings.
Mahshi kusah – Zucchini (courgettes) hollowed out, stuffed with a mixture of fried ground meat, spices and pine nuts, and baked served with tomato sauce.
Manqush - Bread baked with a topping of za'tar mixture and oil. Also called simply za'tar.
Mezzah - Hors d'oeuvre such as stuffed grape leaves, hummus, baba ghannuj, pickled turnips, olives and raw kubbah.
Mulukhiyyah - A dark green leafy plant with a sour, viscous juice, used to make a chicken dish or a soup much loved by most Arabs. The plant is a member of the mallow family.Substitute with spinach and okra
Sambusak - Deep-fried pastry triangles stuffed with spiced ground meat. Familiar throughout the Islamic world under many names and in many variations.
Shish kebab - Cubes of meat grilled on skewers, often separated by bay leaves or pieces of vegetable.
Schwarma - Layers of marinated and ground meat of different kinds, interleaved with fat and flavoring, roasted on a vertical spit.
Tahinah - A paste of crushed sesame seeds, used as the base for sauces and halvah, and as an ingredient of many other dishes.
Water-buffalo milk - This extremely rich and creamy milk is widely used from southern Asia to southern Italy. Diluted with cow's milk, it is used to make butter and ice cream; the heavy cream is used on some pastries.
Za'tar is the Arabic name for the herb thyme, but it also denotes a delicious mixture of two parts thyme, one part sumac, one part sesame seeds and a little salt. (Proportions may vary, and other spices may be added according to each family's taste.) Served with a high-quality olive oil and flat Arab bread, it is a popular breakfast throughout the Middle East. Eaten with labnah or olive oil and bread. See manqush, above.
Zaytun - Olives.
Arabian Recipies from all Arabic countries

Facts about Singapore-Singapore religion is shopping,people watching and eating

Singapore consists only of one main island and 63 other tiny islands. Most of these islands are uninhabited.
Singapore is among the 20 smallest countries in the world, with a total land area of only 682.7 square kilometres. The USA is about 15,000 times bigger.
Apart from Monaco, Singapore is the most densely populated country in the world, with 6,430 people per square kilometre.
There are 22,491 full service restaurants in Signapore and 10,665 fast food restaurants Singapore became the 117th member of the United Nations on 21 September 1965.
Symbolism of the National Flag: Red symbolises universal brotherhood and equality of man while white signifies purity and virtue. The crescent moon represents a young nation on the rise and the five stars signify the ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.
The national flower of Singapore, Vanda Miss Joaquim, was first discovered in 1893 by Agnes Joaquim, an Armenian. The orchid is a natural hybrid between V. teres and V. hookeriana.
The Merlion, a half-fish, half-lion beast, is a fitting symbol of Singapore. The "Singa" or lion represents the animal that a Sumatran prince saw which resembled a lion, and the fish is a tribute to Singapore's history as "Temasek", the ancient sea town.
Singlish, a Singaporean patois mixing English with the odd phrase of Chinese, Malay and even Tamil, has two entries - lah and sinseh - in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Although English is the official working language and the most widely used language in Singapore, the national anthem 'Majulah Singapura' is actually sung in Malay.
The flying fox, the world's largest bat with a wingspan of up to 1.5 metres, can be found on Pulau Ubin, one of the islands off mainland Singapore.
Singapore is a stopover point for thousands of migratory birds travelling the East Asian Flyway.
The world's first night zoo, The Night Safari, is located in Singapore.
Despite being largely urbanised, Singapore is the largest exporter of ornamental fish (25% of the world market).
The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore contains more species of trees than the entire North American continent.
The highest natural point in Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill, which is only 164 metres high (Singapore has a very flat terrain).
Buildings in Singapore cannot be higher than 280 metres. There are presently three buildings of that height: OUB Centre, UOB Plaza and Republic Plaza.
The world's highest man-made waterfall, standing at 30 metres, is located at the Jurong BirdPark.
The largest fountain in the world is located in Singapore at Suntec City. Made of cast bronze, it cost an estimated US$6 million to build in 1997.
The buildings of Suntec City have been built in the shape of a palm of a hand symbolising good "feng shui".
80% of cars in Singapore are 4 years or less old.
In 2003, Singapore's Changi Airport won the award for "Best Airport Worldwide" for the 16th consecutive year from the UK/Europe edition of the Business Traveller magazine.
The Guinness book record for the longest human domino chain was set in Singapore on 30th September 2000. Formed by 9,234 students, it measured 4.2km.The world domino topple record (303,621 men) was set in Singapore on 18th August 2003 by a 24-year-old woman from China.The record for the biggest ever game of pass-the-parcel was set in Singapore on 28 February 1998. It involved 3,918 students removing 2,200 wrappers from a 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.5 m parcel.
The record for the most number of people participating in line dancing was set in Singapore in May 2002 with 11,967 dancers.
The Great Singapore Duck Race, an annual event that raises funds for charity, set a new world record in 2002 when more than 123,000 toy ducks took to the Singapore River.
Russell Lee, a pseudonym for a team of ghost-writers, is the hottest-selling local author in Singapore. His 11 volumes of True Singapore Ghost Stories have sold more than 600,000 copies to date.
The fastest selling book of all time in Singapore is Hello Chok Tong, Goodbye Kuan Yew: The Untold Story. Written and drawn by political cartoonist George Nonis, it sold 40,000 copies in two months.
The highest grossing movie of all time in Singapore is Titanic, raking in S$6.65 million in 1997.
The highest grossing locally made movie of all time is Money No Enough, raking in S$6.02 million in 1998.The first Singaporean film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival was director Eric Khoo's 12 Storeys in 1997.
British pop violinist Vanessa Mae Nicholson was born in Singapore and moved to England when she was four.
More Singaporeans are born in the month of October than any other month of the year.
The first population census taken in 1824 revealed that the total population was 10,683.
The 2000 census showed that the population of Singapore is 4.2 million.
Nearly 9 out of 10 Singaporeans live in public housing flats.
The most common Chinese surnames in Singapore are Tan, Lim and Lee.
Singapore has more than 3,000 kilometres of roads. Stretched end to end, they can cover the distance from Singapore to Hong Kong.
8 in 10 people in Singapore own cell phones. In fact, telecom companies issue new numbers at the rate of 30,000 to 40,000 per month.
Singapore's best showing in the Olympic Games ever was a silver medal won by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang in Rome in 1960.Swimmer Ang Peng Siong was ranked world number one in the 50m Freestyle in 1982.
The Singapore Sling was first served in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel. The ingredients are gin, Cointreau, cherry brandy, Dom Benedictine, pineapple juice, Grenadine, Angoustura bitters and limes.

Indonesian Food History and recipies

On Aug 29 .2007 I and Samy went to Bintan an Island in Indonesia.The trip took 50 min by hydroplane from Singapore. We stayed at http://www.perfectescapes.com/Luxury_Hotel-PID1250-Bintan_Island_-Bintan_Lagoon_Resort-67901.html
http://www.bintan.net/
http://www.expat.or.id/sponsors/bintanislandresorts.html

Indonesia, the fifth largest country in the world, an archipelago consisting of 18,000 islands, spanning one-eighth of the globe and occupied by 250 ethnic groups. Here tremendous ethnic diversity coupled with wave upon wave of cultural influence adds up to a world of pleasure for the culinary adventurer. Indonesia's indigenous techniques and ingredients merge with influences from India, the Middle East, China and Europe. And then there are the New World products brought by Spanish and Portuguese traders long before the Dutch colonized the islands.
Most restaurants abroad and English-language cookbooks focus on the foods of Java and Sumatra with tastes of tourist-haven Bali. But the cuisines on these islands alone provide us with plenty of opportunity to keep our taste buds happy and our tongues tingling or dancing as the locals say.
Rice is Indonesia's main staple except in Maluku (the Moluccas) and Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) where sago palm flour, sweet potatoes and cassava reign supreme. As in the rest of Southeast Asia, other dishes are eaten in extremely small quantities. Meat, fish and vegetables are condiments designed to flavor the staple. Sauces such as fiery sambals lend added character. Westerners, accustomed to eating much larger portions of meat and fish, find much of Indonesian food scorchingly hot.
Natural resources include rich volcanic soils and endless coastlines as the islands arc through both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Although some coastal areas are fished out(my friend Samy and I went fishing off Bintan Island in July 2007 and all we caught was a palm size fish) fresh water possibilities include lakes, rivers, ponds,aquaculture and flooded rice paddies. Not surprisingly, fish and crustaceans, fresh and dried, play a major role in the Indonesian diet.
Flavorings indigenous to the islands establish strong family ties between Indonesian food and that of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Coconut milk, or santen, plays a critical role here as well as in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines. Indonesia shares the flavors of galangal, kaffir lime leaf and pandan with Thailand. Lemon grass and dried shrimp appear in the Philippines and Thailand both. Shrimp paste permeates the flavors of all three and Vietnam as well. Meanwhile delicious fruits and vegetables are common to the entire region.
But Indonesia's culinary ties are closest to those Southeast Asian countries strongly influenced by India. In fact, if there are ancient Buddhist or Hindu sites to be found on a country's soil, you can almost bet its cuisine will include ingredients such as cumin, coriander, ginger, and/or caraway. And you will find curries -- highly spiced sauces often diluted with coconut milk and served with bite-sized bits of meat, fish and vegetables to enliven the blandness of rice.
Arab traders ultimately converted Java from Hinduism to Islam and exercised their culinary influence as well. Kebabs, marinated meat cubes threaded on skewers, were reinterpreted to become satay. Dill and fennel entered the repertoire of spices. Today Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. Not surprisingly, goat and lamb are important meats, while pork is forbidden. It is eaten only in Hindu Bali and within the Chinese community.
Chinese merchants and traders meanwhile added their own indispensable contributions to the cookpot. Indonesian food would be unrecognizable without the wok, stir-frying, the soybean and noodles which thread their way throughout the cuisine in countless ways. Among their many vegetables, the Chinese brought mustard greens, mung beans, daikon radish and Chinese cabbage.
The Dutch, attracted by the nutmeg and cloves of Maluku, waged wars over the Spice Islands and ultimately colonized the entire archipelago. Colonization caused much suffering, but added the finishing touch when it came to flavors. Chili peppers from Mexico added their unmistakable sting. Peanuts from the Americas provided sauces for satay and gado-gado a sa;ad made from marinated vegetables. Cassava from the Caribbean and sweet potatoes from South America furnished Maluku and Irian Jaya with their staples.
In this exotic world, Dutch colonizers sought the flavors of home. They imported cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, string beans, potatoes and corn, adding to the already vast array of vegetables. They also created an entertainment institution designed to present scores of different dishes at a single sitting. Rijsttafels might contain up to a hundred different dishes. Servants stood behind the chair of each guest ready to provide soothing morsels when necessary to cool a burning palate.
Indonesian cooks adopted new tools, techniques and ingredients and indigenized them -- some of the nearly beyond recognition. Ingenious home cooks used new techniques and forged ingredients unique to Indonesia.
Today soybeans provide not just nutritious beans for cooking on their own, soy sauce, tofu and sprouts, but tempeh, toasted soybean cakes fashionable in Western health food circles. Chinese soy sauce plays a role similar to fish sauce in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. But Indonesians enrich it by the addition of sugar, star anise, salam leaf and galangal to become kecap manis or sweet soy sauce, a key ingredient and a dynamite addition to any cook's pantry. (Pronounce that "ketchup." It's the Indonesian origin of the English word.)
Not surprisingly, Indonesia has created a mix of flavors which exerts its own influence abroad. Satay has crept up the Malay Peninsula to become one of Bangkok's favorite street foods. Indonesian food plays a major role in the melange of cuisines found in Singapore. After years of colonial intimacy, the Dutch are avid fans and some of the best Indonesian restaurants abroad can be found in the Netherlands.
Certain ingredients unique to Indonesian cuisine such as kemiri, a thickening agent, and salam leaf may be marketed under English names as candlenut and Indian bay leaf. Pandan leaf is occasionally used in Thai cooking and may be found in stores catering to Thai customers.
Recipies
http://www.indochef.com/
http://asiarecipe.com/indonesia.html
www.baliguide.com/balifood/basic_recipes.html
http://www.hawaii.edu/indolang/masakan.html
http://www.spicecuisine.com/recipes.php
http://indonesian-food-recipes.blogspot.com/
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=indonesian
http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/plduffyrc/Subjects/languages/indones/indofood.htm
http://www.archaeolink.com/indonesia_cooking_anthropology_o.htm
http://www.indonesia/ ok.com/recipes.htm
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/indonesian/sambal-balado.html Crunchy Beef
http://www.indo.com/restaurants/recipe.htmlhttp://recipes.wuzzle.org/index.php/62

Grilling Fish Techniques and Recipies

6 tips for turning out moist, tasty fillets
If you have shied away from grilling fish, now is the time to put the fear aside.Here are six great grilling tips for fish:Trust your eyes Fish are done when the flesh becomes opaque but is still moist,Too often, people mistake that moistness for raw wetness, and keep fish on the heat too long. Residual heat will continue cooking fish a minute or two after you remove it from the grill.If you think the fish is ready, cut into it at the thickest point. Salmon will have lost its orange gloss and be pink but moist-looking. Tuna can be cooked rare (dark pink, almost red in the center, with just a seared outside), medium rare (a thick band of pink in the center) or medium (slightly pink). Scrod or other white, flaky fish will be opaque white, slightly moist-looking and flake easily in largish pieces. If overcooked, flesh will be dry and crumbly.
Know your grill
Gas grills provide more even heat, fewer "hot spots."Charcoal grills' heat can be erratic, but experience and observing the cooking process, moving the fish around on the grill to cook evenly, can solve that problem.
Invest in useful gadgets
Grill woks (which have sloping sides) and flat grill plates, both of which are perforated, provide a more stable surface than a regular wire grill. Hinged, or clamshell, grill baskets hold flaky fish firmly and allow it to be turned without danger of the flesh flaking apart.
Baskets hold several rows of shrimp or scallops securely, and allow turning many pieces of fish all at once, with a long, cool handle, rather than one at a time over the hot fire.
Keep it clean
Keep all grilling surfaces scrupulously clean with a wire brush and a grill scraper. Clean grilling surfaces, and spray with non-stick cooking oil before adding fish, to prevent sticking and breaking apart of flesh.
Enhance flavor
Experiment with marinades to boost flavor before grilling. Keep in mind that long marinating of meat will tenderize tough cuts, but you marinate fish only to enhance flavor. If you marinate fish all day in a soy-based marinade, all you will taste is salt. If you let fish sit in a citrus marinade for a couple of hours, you get ceviche. Fish is spongy and absorbs flavors easily."Limit time in soy marinades to one to three hours and citrus marinades to 30 to 45 minutes. Often, all you need to do is brush fish with a flavored oil.
Experiment with flavored butters, mayonnaises, sauces and salsas as a flavor garnish after fish is grilled:Herbed butters are very easy to whip together and last indefinitely in the freezer, to be pulled out at the last minute. Summer fruit salsas require some time to peel and dice but otherwise are easy to concoct.
Know your fish to know how to grill it
Oily fish: bluefish, mackerel. Flesh is dense and takes well to high-heat grilling. But flavor is strong and texture is firm. Citrus marinades work well to offset strong taste and soften texture. Oily fish go off quickly, so freshness is a must.
Firm fish: salmon, tuna, swordfish, mahi-mahi, tilapia. Easiest to grill for the novice, especially tuna steaks because doneness can be controlled by observing change in interior color, much like beef. Skin-on salmon is also good, because the flesh holds together well.Flaky-fleshed fish: cod, scrod, halibut. Best to grill on a grill plate, or in a clamshell basket, which holds flesh together and is easy to flip. Covering grill with foil and poking holes will help make a firmer surface but will reduce the smoky flavor of charcoal reaching the fish.
Shellfish: scallops, shrimp. Both cook quickly. Shrimp changes color as it cooks, indicating doneness, and takes well to marinades and sauces. Scallops should be "dry" scallops, not treated with preservatives such as tripolyphosphates, which leach the sweet taste out and prevents scallops from browning. Dry scallops brown attractively on the grill and are easy to visually judge doneness.
Recipies

Grilled Shrimp Quesadillas
2 teaspoons olive oil2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced3 green onions, finely sliced1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removedSalt and pepper, to taste4 (10-inch) flour tortillas1 cup roasted tomatoes4 ounces shredded cheeseFresh basil, choppedTo roast tomatoes: Cut out cores, but leave skins on. Cut tomatoes into wedges, coat generously with olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning blend, and roast in 400-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until soft, wrinkled and collapsed-looking. About 8 tomatoes are needed.To make shrimp tortillas: Heat olive oil in skillet and saute garlic and green onions over medium-high heat until softened, 2 or 3 minutes. Set aside. Brush shrimp with olive oil mixture and grill in a grill basket, grill wok or on double skewers until cooked through, about 1 minute each side. Add to the skillet with onion mixture and toss. Add salt and pepper, to taste.Heat tortillas briefly on the grill to soften. Divide the grilled shrimp among the tortillas, top evenly with roasted tomatoes, shredded cheese and chopped basil. Fold in half, pressing edges to seal. Place on hot grill for 2 to 3 minutes to melt cheese and brown the tortillas. Cut each quesadilla into 2 pieces and serve immediately.Makes 8 servings.
Approximate values per serving: 191 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 86 mg cholesterol, 22 g carbohydrates, 15 g protein, 260 mg sodium, 2 g fiber, 24 percent of calories from fat.
Grilled Salmon With Tropical Salsa
Salmon1 side of fresh salmon, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds 1/4 cup olive oil3 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or very finely minced 1/4 cup maple syrupSalsa1 mango, peeled and cubed1 papaya, peeled and cubed1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and diced1 green bell pepper, seeds removed and dicedJuice of 1 lemon 1/2 cantaloupe, seeds removed and chopped1 ripe tomato, seeds removed and chopped1 small sweet yellow or red onion2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other fruit liqueur2 tablespoons chopped mint2 tablespoons chopped basil1 pint fresh strawberriesTo make salsa: In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except strawberries. Chill until time to serve. When ready to serve, slice strawberries and add to mixture. To cook the salmon: Brush the grill grate with oil or spray with non-stick cooking spray; heat grill to high.Combine olive oil and garlic. Brush salmon generously with oil and garlic mixture. Place salmon, flesh-side down, directly on the grill. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes and turn. After turning, brush salmon with maple syrup. Continue cooking on skin side until done - time will vary with thickness of fish. Fish is done when flesh is opaque but still moist. Finish salmon with final glaze of maple syrup. Serve garnished with tropical salsa.Makes 6 servings.
Approximate values per serving: 496 calories, 17 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 118 mg cholesterol, 35 g carbohydrates, 47 g protein, 164 mg sodium, 5 g fiber, 31 percent of calories from fat.
Grilled Tuna With Wasabi-Lime Soy Vinaigrette
4 yellowfin tuna steaks, sushi grade4 tablespoons light soy sauceSalt and pepper, to tasteVinaigrette3 tablespoons light soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon wasabi paste or horseradish1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice1 tablespoon mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) 1/4 cup vegetable oilSalad1 pound baby greens or mesclunBean sprouts or alfalfa sprouts for garnishCover the tuna steaks with soy sauce and let stand until ready to cook, but no longer than 1 hour.Combine vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until combined. Taste, adjust seasonings and set aside. Season tuna steaks with freshly ground pepper and salt.Heat grill to high heat. Cook tuna quickly so the outside browns and the inside remains a reddish-pink - about 1 to 2 minutes per side, depending on thickness of tuna. Transfer tuna to cutting board and slice thinly.Divide the greens among four plates. Arrange sliced tuna in a fan pattern over the greens and drizzle with wasabi-lime vinaigrette. Garnish with sprouts.Makes 4 servings.
Approximate values per serving: 343 calories, 15 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 77 mg cholesterol, 5 g carbohydrates, 43 g protein, 1,128 mg sodium, 1 g fiber, 39 percent of calories from fat.

Malay food history,restaurants and recipies

History
Malay cuisine is an amalgam of traditional dishes from Penisular Malaysia, with strong influences from places like Sumatra and Java. Rice is the staple food, balancing the spicy cuisine of this region. Pork is not used due to religious reasons.
Indgredients
Coconut is an important ingredient. The flesh grated and squeezes to make the coconut milk which is used in gravies as well as cakes, drinks and desserts. The freshly grated coconut is also sprinkled over many cakes. Another vital ingredient is pungent dried shrimp paste (belancan) often combined with pounded fish chillies to make the universally popular sambal belacan. Varying amounts of chillis are used in most Malay food. Fragant herbs like the kaffir lime leaf and lemon grass, shallots and garlic, rhizomes such as ginger and galanagal, and gried spices including coriander and cumin are all skilfully blended.
BELACAN IS ONE OF THE VERY IMPORTANT SEASONINGS OF MALAYSIAN COOKING. THE TINY SHRIMPS ARE FERMENTED WITH SALT IN ADDITION TO ADDING A SUBTLE FLAVOUR TO CURRY OR OTHER MEAT, FISH OR VEGETABLE COMBINATIONS, THE USE OF FERMENTED SHRIMP OR ANCHOVY PASTE OR ESSENCE HAS A COMMON THEME IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. THE BURMESE, THAI AND VIETNAMESE USE A LIQUID FISH SAUCE, CALLED VARIOUSLY, NAMPYAYE OR NAM PLA. THE INDONESIAN USE TRASSI, A SPINOFF OF THE SAME
THING WITH A TOOTHPASTE CONSISTENCY AND THE MALAYSIAN PREFER BELACAN, BELACAN CONTAINS CONSIDERABLE PROTEIN.

Food
Satay is the best known Malay dish- skewers of succulent pieces of seasoned mutton, beef or chicken, cooked over a charcoal flame. They are often eated with Satay sauce ( rich coconut sauce thick with ground peanuts sliced cucumber), sliced cucumber and onions and chunks of compressed rice.
Many Malay food outlets offer Nasi Padang, a range of spicy meat, fish, poultry and vegetable dishes which originated in the padang district of West Sumatra. Another local Malay favourite, based on a Javanese dish, is Soto Ayam, spiced chicken stock served with chicken, beansprouts and either potato croquette or compressed rice. Beef Rendang, chunks of geef cooked with lashings of coconut milk, spices and herds, is a perennial favourite. Malay desserts and cakes, generally rich incoconut milk, are great for those with a sweetooth.

Restaurants in Kuala Lampur that I have eaten in
http://www.saloma.com.my/
http://www.serimelayu.com/
Both offer excellent Malay buffet(Beef Rendang is a must try) and an excellent cultural shows
Sea View restaurant-Port Dickinson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Dickson an excellent meal of New England lobster served with green onions and lobster and the best seafood rice I have ever eaten.
Al Diafah Restaurant Middle Eastern
43-1 and 45-1 Jalan Radin AnumSeri Petaling Kuala Lumpur Tel No: 03 - 9059 6237
On a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Samy has decided to check out the Middle Eastern restaurant in Sri Petaling called Al Diafah,he has previously eaten there and has given the place a high marks. the restaurant is owned by Saudi father and son teamThe place is enormous and looks like inside emir's palace, basically they took over two shophouses and renovated all three floors. The ground floor is where the date and baklava shop is while the first floor is the restaurant. Although it seems to be a strange place to have a Middle Eastern restaurant, it seems their location was chosen because there is an International School nearby which is frequented by Middle Eastern expatriates.
Mendy Lamb and Rice, the dish we wanted to try out was simply delicious. It reminds me of version of Nasi Briyani but it's ten times nicer since their rice is so fluffy, fragrant and buttery without it being oily. The lamb pieces are cooked in the rice are so tender that the meat tears away easily. If you don't like lamb, they also do a chicken version on the menu.
The Hummus (made from chickpeas) is a favorite of mine which is a must order with their pita bread. The Baba Ghanoush wasn't too bad either
We also tried their mixed grill - lamb,chicken kebabs which were nice.

Their desserts are limited to a creme caramel and their fruit salad. The creme caramel is pretty good - not to sweet which is how I like it. They also serve hot date juice.
Recipies

http://www.rasamalaysia.com/
http://kuali.com/recipes/advresults.asp?c=24
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Market/7773/malaysia.html
http://www-ieee.eecs.berkeley.edu/~soh/recipe.html
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/malaysian
http://www.malaysianfood.net/Malayfood.html
http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blss89.htm Malay Oxtail Soup
http://www.yummymalaysia.net/
http://malay-recipes.blogspot.com/
http://www.indiasnacks.com/recipe/518/Malay-Curry.php Malay Curry
http://www.spicysteve.com/recipes-07-malaysia.html
http://www.newwomen.net/malayrecipes.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/20371/mnrecipe.htm

Molokhia Egyptian recipies

How's that spelled?
It seems as if Egypt's Molokhia and Senegal's Ceebu Jën are competing to see which can be spelled the most ways. Molokhia and Melokiyah are the most common, but the word is also spelled Meloukhia, Melokiyah, Milookhia, Milookhiyya, M'Loukhia, Molohia, Molokhiya, Molokhiyya, Molukhyia, Mulukhia, Mulukhiya, Mulukhiyah .

This is a very common plant through out the middle east known as molukhia in arabic
Jew's mallow, Jute or Bush okra (Corchorus olitorius) A tall leafy herb, whose leaves are used as a potherb, spinach or as a salad. The leaves are lanceolate and serrate and are used fresh and dried. In Egypt and the Middle East mostly used in soups, in India as a spinach substitute and in the Caribbean as a salad.Sometimes used as a source of jute, but c.capsularis is the more important source of fibre.
Native to Africa, Jew's mallow is sold in many markets as bunches of uprooted young plants. It is usually boiled separately and added to stews and soups later to make them thicker and more mucilaginous. It is usually planted 3 rows on a meter-wide raised bed. Leaf harvest begins in 5-7 weeks. High temperatures and soil moisture are more critical to good yield than fertilizer. In Africa, yields of 5 to 8 tons of greens per hectare are typical.

If you like molokhia, consider yourself lucky that you didn't live in Egypt a thousand years ago: Consumption of molokhia was banned (along with a great many other things) during the reign of the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (c.1000 AD).
What you do
Chop the molokhia leaves as finely as possible. This should leave them bright green and slightly slimey. In Egypt, the perfect tool to finely chop molokhia leaves is a makhrata -- a curved knife with two handles similar to the Italian mezzaluna. (Get one of these kitchen cutters and you'll love it so much you'll be using it by the light of a half-moon!) Some Egyptian cooks prefer to cut the molokhia leaves by rolling them into a tight bundle and using a very sharp knife to shave them into thin slices.
Molokhia substitute
Molokhia is prized for its mucilaginous quality, a quality which spinach lacks. If using spinach, the addition of a few tender okra pods, very finely chopped, will serve to thicken the soup.


Molukhia.....jews Mallow Soup Melokhiyya Masriyyah
Molokhia (Melokiyah, etc.) is a traditional dish in Egypt and Sudan -- some people believe it originated among Egyptians during the time of the Pharaohs. Others believe that it was first prepared by ancient Jews. Molokhia is a mucilaginous, nutritious soup made from a type of greens, known as molokhia or Jew's mallow (also called Nalta jute, Tussa jute, Corchorus olitorius), which is found throughout Egypt, the Levant, and similar climes elsewhere.
Unless specifically designated as burani, Mulukhiya denotes the course prepared as a soup, with finely chopped or shaved Mulukhiya.
Chop the molokhia leaves as finely as possible. This should leave them bright green and slightly slimey. In Egypt, the perfect tool to finely chop molokhia leaves is a makhrata -- a curved knife with two handles similar to the Italian mezzaluna. (Get one of these kitchen cutters and you'll love it so much you'll be using it by the light of a half-moon!) Some Egyptian cooks prefer to cut the molokhia leaves by rolling them into a tight bundle and using a very sharp knife to shave them into thin slices.
Over high heat, bring the chicken stock to a near boil in a large pot. Add the molokhia, stirring well. Add the tomato paste, chile pepper, bay leaf, and onion (if desired), and black pepper, continuing to stir. Reduce heat and simmer. The molokhia will simmer for about twenty minutes. (Allow an extra ten if frozen molokhia is not completely thawed.)
After the chicken stock and molokhia have simmered for about ten minutes: heat the oil (or butter) in a skillet. Using either the back of a spoon in a bowl or a sharp knife on a cutting board, grind the garlic, ground coriander, and the salt together into a paste. Fry the mixture in the oil for two to four minutes, stirring constantly, until the garlic is slightly browned.
After the garlic has been browned and the molokhia is nearly done (after it has been simmering for about twenty minutes and has broken down to make a thick soup), add the garlic mixture and the oil it was fried in to the simmering molokhia. Stir well.
Add any of the remaining optional ingredients that you like. Continue simmering and stirring occasionally for a few more minutes.
Adjust seasoning. Serve immediately, hot. Molokhia soup is often served over boiled Rice and sometimes with boiled chicken.
The fried garlic and coriander mixture is known as ta'lya (ta'leya, ta'liya) and is used in many Egyptian dishes. Some cooks leave out the salt; others add the onion and/or the tomato paste to the ta'lya. The ta'lya can also be added to the molokhia earlier.
A richer Molokhia Chicken
soup can be obtained by boiling a pound of cut-up chicken meat in the chicken stock before adding the molokhia leaves. Some cooks add a bit of cardamom or cinnamon.
6-8 servings 35 min 5 min prep
4-5 cups chicken broth
4 pieces chickens
2 (14 ounce) packages frozen molukhia (minced or chopped, not whole leaves)substitute spinach frozen or fresh and add okra to thicken it
1/2 cup diced onions
2 maggi chicken bouillon cubes
3/4 tablespoon allspice (optional)
1/4 cup corn oil
4-5 garlic cloves
jews Mallow Soup Recipe 2
60 mins
Season chicken and boil chicken in water, until done, make sure you skim the scum off the top of the water as chicken boils.
Make sure you have the above chicken broth, if your running low after chicken has boiled add a bit of water.
Open and add the frozen mlokhia to the boiling broth.
Add maggi cubes.
Add allspice.
Let boil until molukhia has defrosted into the broth, then let cook additional 5 minutes.
Smash garlic up with a mortar and pestal, until its almost like a paste, you may add a bit of salt in the mortar and pestal to help smash.
In a small saucepan, add oil and let oil get hot, place garlic in oil and keep an eye on it stirring frequently.
Once garlic has reached a deep golden brown, but definately NOT BURNT.
Pour oil and garlic into the molukhia.
Stir let set, serve next to bowl of rice.
Taking a spoonful at a time, place of rice and eat together.
If desired squeeze lemon over the bowl of mlokhia before eating to add an extra kick.
Jew's Mallow with Chicken Melokhiyya Masriyyah 3
Serves 7 persons
1lb (1/2 kg) Jew's mallow leaves
2lb (1 kg) chicken
10 cups water
1lb (1/2 kg) stewing meat with bones
1 tablespoon salt
1 ½ cups coriander, chopped
1 tablespoon dried ground coriander
1/4 cup ghee or butter
3 garlic bulbs, peeled
1 onion
1/2 teaspoon each pepper, cinnamon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Draw, singe, clean and cut the chicken into pieces.
Place the chicken pieces in a pot with the stewing meat, bones and onion.
Add 10 cups of water and bring to the boil.
Remove the scum, reduce the heat and cook for one hour. Season.
Wash the Jew's Mallow leaves and spread them on a big cloth to dry.
When completely dry, chop finely using a special knife.
Crush half the amount of garlic cloves with the dried coriander. Add the other half (uncrushed) to the meat and allow to cook in the pot.
Sauté the crushed garlic with the dried and fresh coriander in the ghee or butter. Stir the ingredients until they become soft.
When the meat and chicken are well done, remove them from the broth. Bone the chicken and strain the broth.
Put the strained broth over medium heat in a pot with the stewing meat, the garlic and coriander, lemon juice and the Jew's mallow leaves. Salt to taste.
Allow to come to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve in a large platter garnished with the chicken pieces.
This dish is eaten with cooked rice along with one minced onion mixed in a cup of vinegar.
Molokhia Egyptian Greens Soup
Molokhia (Melokiyah, etc.) is a traditional dish in Egypt and Sudan -- some people believe it originated among Egyptians during the time of the Pharaohs. Others believe that it was first prepared by ancient Jews. Molokhia is a mucilaginous, nutritious soup made from a type of greens, known as molokhia or Jew's mallow (also called Nalta jute, Tussa jute, Corchorus olitorius), which is found throughout Egypt, the Levant, and similar climes elsewhere. Dried or frozen molokhia greens may be obtained from Middle Eastern or Asian grocery stores worldwide.
What you need
six cups chicken stock
one pound fresh molokhia leaves or frozen molokhia leaves (thawed) -- or -- a similar amount of spinach; stems removed, cleaned, rinsed in cold water, and patted dry (frozen molokhia is usually already cleaned and chopped)
one tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
one hot chile pepper, cleaned and chopped (optional)
one bay leaf (optional)
one small onion, finely chopped (optional)
black pepper, to taste
two tablespoons olive oil, butter, or any cooking oil
several cloves (or more) of garlic, minced
one teaspoon ground coriander
one teaspoon salt
one tablespoon fresh coriander leaves (also called cilantro) or fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)
juice of one lemon or a teaspoon vinegar (optional)
ground cayenne pepper or red pepper, to taste (optional)

Molokheya with rabbits
Molokheya is a popular national dish in Egypt, second only to Ful Medames.
This is just one variant.
Serving 4
Preparation Time
1 hours
Ingredients
1 rabbit.
1 pack molokheya.
1 1/2 tablespoon garlic , crushed.
1 1/2 tablespoon coriander , ground.
3 tablespoons margarine or butter.
Salt.
Cooking Instructions
Wash rabbit well then boil until tender.
Strain and reserve 3-4 cups of rabbit soup.
Cut rabbit into portions.
In a skillet add 2 tablespoons margarine or butter.
Fry rabbit pieces until golden brown.
In a deep pan heat reserved soup and bring to boil over high heat.
Add 1 teaspoon coriander and 1/2 tablespoon garlic.
Reduce heat and add molokhia and leave to boil once, uncovered.
While molokhia is boiling, in a small skillet heat 1 tablespoon margarine or butter then add 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 tablespoon garlic and stir until golden brown.
Immediately pour components of skillet onto molokhia in pan. Don't stir.
Stir molokheya just before serving.
Serve in a bowl, with rabbit and white rice on the side.
Chopped Fresh or Frozen Mulukhiya with Chicken
Ingredients
1. 2 kg fresh Mulukhiya, or e packets (1/2 kg each) frozen
2. 2 chickens, 1 kg each
3. bayleaf
4. 4-5 cardamom grains
5. 1 onion, cut in half
6. 15-20 garlic cloves, crushed
7. 1 tablespoon coriander powder
8. 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
9. cooking oil
10. salt
1. If used fresh Mulukhiya, chop, and cover until needed (see above).
2. Boil water with onion, salt, bayleaf, and cardamom tied in muslin bag.
3. Then, add chicken and cook until tender.
4. Remove chicken, cut into neat joints, and fry.
5. Discard muslin bag and mash onion.
6. Boil soup, add Mulukhiya, adjust seasoning, and simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Do not over cook, as Mulukhiya has to suspended; overcooking makes leaves fall to the bottom of the pot.
7. Mix crushed garlic with salt and coriander.
8. Saute (fry) this mixture for 3-5 minutes (known as ta'liya) until golden. 9. Then, toss into the boiling Mulukhiya.
10. Simmer for 2 minutes.
11. Add lemon juice (optional).
12. If using frozen Mulukhiya, slide the Mulukhiya into the boiling pot, stir until completely thawed, then proceed as with the fresh
.
Ta'lya Mulukhiya
Another way to cook Mulukhiya is to boil the ta'liya with the soup for 3-5 minutes before adding the Mulukhiya. This makes the ta'liya taste stronger.
Ta'liya
This mixture is added to almost all stewed vegetables, cooked with or without meat. Ta'liya means frying, but it specifically calls for fried garlic with ground coriander - no other spice.
Ingredients
1. 20 garlic cloves, crushed.
2. 1 teaspoon ground coriander.
3. 1 teaspoon cooking oil, salt, and pepper.

Procedure
1. Mix crushed garlic with salt, pepper, and coriander until smooth.
2. Saute (fry) this mixture for 3-5 minutes (known as ta'liya) (until golden). 3. Then, toss into the boiling Mulukhiya.
4. Ladfle one spoonful of the cooking broth back into frying pan, stir, and toss again into the cooking pot.
This will ensure that all the ta'liya is used. A pleasant 'tishshshsh' sound always follows tossing the ta'liya into the pot.
5. Simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Add lemon juice (optional).
Tomatoes Mulukhiya
Another way to cook Mulukhiya is to add 1 or 2 peeled ripe tomatoes and boil with the chicken and onion. Mash both tomatoes fruit and proceed as above. in this case, omit the lemon juice.
Rabbit with Mulukhiya
Another way to cook Mulukhiya is to boil rabbit and rabbit soup can substitute for chicken.

Mulukhiya Muluki - Mulukhiya Royal
Ingredients
1. Same ingredients as "Fresh or Dried Mulukhiya", plus the following:
2. 1 cup cooked rice
3. 2 loaves crisp local bread
4. 3 onions, chopped very fine
5. 2 tablespoons vinegar
6. 1 tablespoon tomato paste
Procedure
1. Cut the bread into small morsels, 2-3 cms square, and set aside.
2. Soak two chopped onions in vinegar. 3. Saute the remaining chopped onion to a rich golden color.
4. Thin tomato paste with 1 cup of water, season, pour over fried onions, and cook for 10 minutes.
5. To serve, line each plate with a thin layer of bread and moisten with Mulukhiya.
6. Spread another layer of rice and soak with Mulukhiya.
7. Sprinkle with tomato sauce, onion, and vinegar, and top with chicken.


Mulukhiya Bi-L-Samak - Mulukhiya, cooked with Fish
Ingredients
1. 2 kg fresh Mulukhiya or 2 packets (1 kg total) frozen)
2. 1 to 1 1/2 kg fish
3. 1 onion, chopped
4. 10 garlic cloves, crushed
5. 1 teaspoon ground coriander
6. oil
7. salt, pepper, and cumin

Procedure
1. Chop or shave Mulukhiya and cover until needed.
2. Cut fish into large chunks, coat with seasoned flour, and fry lightly.
3. Mix garlic, salt, and coriander.
4. Fry onion and garlic mixture until nicely brown.
5. Then, add two cups water, cumin, seasining, and boil.
6. Gently slip the fish into boiling pot and cook until tender.
7. Remove fish from broth and keep warm.
8. Mash onion, add to the broth, and Mulukhiya.
9. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Beef Mulukhiya Burani - Mulukhiya (unchopped - 1st Way)
Ingredients
1. 1 1/2 kg fresh Mulukhiya
2. 1/2 kg beef
3. 1 onion, coarsely chopped
4. 10 garlic cloves
5. 2 teaspoons lemon juice
6. cooking oil
7. salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Cut beef into bite-sized cubes.
2. Lightly fry Mulukhiya leaves until they wilt. then remove onto wire sieve.
3. Fry onion until nicely brown.
4. Then, add beef and fry until it reabsorbs its juice.
5. Peel garlic, halve diagonally, and add to beef with seasoning and enough water to barely cover.
6. Boil for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Then, add Mulukhiya and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
8. Turn off flame and add lemone Juice.

Beef Mulukhiya Burani - Mulukhiya (unchopped - 2nd Way)
Ingredients
1. 1 1/2 kg fresh Mulukhiya
2. 1/2 kg beef
3. 1 onion, coarsely chopped
4. 10 garlic cloves
5. 1 teaspoon ground coriander
6. cooking oil
7. salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Cut beef into bite-sized cubes.
2. Cook beef, onion, and Mulukhiya leaves with seasoning until tender.
3. Prepare Ta'liya and toss into cooking pot.
4. Let simmer for 5-7 minutes.