It's a good time to pick up cooking.
Kalsom and Hamidah tested and photographed all the dishes in the book in Kalsom's own home. Photos: ART CHEN/The Star
Kalsom and Hamidah painstakingly researched and tested hundreds of traditional recipes for their sophomore cookbook, some of which they had never even heard of before. “So I looked around to see what books they had on the subject and I couldn’t find any. So I went to the department and said, ‘Have you got any books on the 213 traditional foods – the recipes and all that?
Still, there were challenges aplenty in putting together the final product. Kalsom realised that the list of 213 gazetted local traditional foods was just that – a list. There was no categorisation of any sort, which meant they had to do this themselves. The next challenge was in finding recipes for all the dishes in the cookbook. Luck was on their side, as the two had already documented 30 recipes inthat were on the gazetted list. Additionally, Kalsom is a huge collector of cookbooks and has hundreds of cookbooks in her arsenal, some of which proved useful in terms of source recipes.“I didn’t have to go to the Internet. I have Chinese, Indian, Malay, Kristang, Bugis and Sabah cookbooks, so plenty of books to refer to.
“So then I searched on the Internet and found a lady who makes homemade kek lapis. Her name is Azah Hassan. I called her and asked if she could share the recipe and process of making it with me and she said ‘Yes’. So I credited her in the book. Kalsom prefaces each recipe with short, well-written introductions, which serve to bolster understanding of the meals, some of which may be completely foreign to most Malaysians – think kasui, kuih getas and ganti tandan jagung.
There is clearly a lot of thought that gone into this labour of love, which is deserving of its place in the archives of everyday Malaysians looking for a slice of culinary heritage.Which is why Kalsom actually believes thatis a much better effort from her and her cousin than their first cookbook.
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