Keeping the tradition alive...

Tradition dies hard so they say but with globalization it would soon die if we all are not careful... So in our family like all other Malay families we tried hard to keep some of the tradition alive, like the wearing of the traditional Malay dress and the preparation some of our traditional foods so that it would be there forever, come Hari Raya day... Take the case of the Ketupat and Rendang..It would not be Hari Raya in the Malay world without these two traditional foods, that only the Malay know how to do it best, perfect and well... To me personally the Ketupat and Rendang should be there on the table come Hari Raya...For without it the real atmosphere of a perfect Malay Hari Raya would be a great miss...So what is so great about this Ketupat and Rendang....Well the Ketupat is special because it is simply an authentic Malay food...It is actually rice cook in a container made of coconut Leave intricately woven into a small box like container and then rice is put inside it and boiled until it is cook solid with a soft texture of its own...It is then cut into cubes. Because it is cooked in containers made of coconut leaf, it retained the taste and aroma of the leaf, thus it peculiar smell and taste, that could not be got when the same is boiled using plastic container...As for the Rendang..It is an original of the Malay for it is cook entirely with various herbs and coconut milks...Except for the chilly no spices are use, although it look spicy....It actually do not contain any spices at all..Thus when well done it has a taste of its own and an aroma that comes only with the Rendang...It is done either with Chicken, Beef or Mutton and if it is well done, it would stay fresh for days without refrigeration... The Ketupat is then eaten with the Rendang, thus the saying "Ketupat and Rendang"....To me these two are a must for the Hari Raya spread... It surely would not be a perfect Hari Raya or Eid Mubarak in the Malay world without these traditional special....