Ramadan Bazaar - Kampung Kerinchi, Kuala Lumpur

I was not planning to go to this particular bazaar since I wanted to cover the bigger ones but I spied it when I was on the LRT back to Petaling Jaya and I could not resist. It has been pretty easy to track these bazaars as they have a distinctive plume of smoke emerging from them with all the ayam percik grills.

The bazaar is quite a simple but colourful one that caters for the residents within this area. After a quick tour of the stalls, I found this lilac yam/taro cakes which looked so pretty with the pink stripe. Usually the ones I see at the other bazaars are just two layers; a purple and white one but this stall added a pink layer which was so striking.



There was also a lovely golden yellow pumpkin version with niblets of pumpkin flesh scattered around the cake.



I had blogged about the kuih bakar earlier on but this was the first time I saw a savoury version. The lady called it kuih bakar berlauk and it looked like they had made savoury kuih cara but used a kuih bakar mould to bake it.



Most of these bazaars have a selection of cold drinks which you can buy by the packets or jugs. They come in all sorts of colours and flavours. These seem to be quite common in the bazaars; the pink air bandung (rose syrup with evaporated milk) that has bits of pink agar-agar inside and the brilliant green honey dew drink.



To save time when the crowd comes, the drinks stall will usually pack their items ahead. These multi-coloured packages caught my eye as they came in rainbow layers; black for the grass jelly, red for agar-agar bits, yellow sago balls, green cendol bits topped with the black and white selasih (Malay for basil) seeds.



During the ramadan season, after fasting for the whole day, you need lots of liquids and some people survive on soupy diets. There will be stalls that sell soup in a big pot like this one and you can order them plain or with rice/noodles.



I have been discovering different versions on how they barbeque whole chickens (ayam golek). I liked this one which consisted of thick steel rods that rotated over a smoky grill to make perfectly golden brown chickens.



Another version of kuih cara, this one has corn bits inside them.



What stood out at this bazaar was the varieties of agar-agar they were selling. There were two stalls peddling them and I was fascinated with the colours and what they had put into them. These ones below came in three colours (you only see two in this picture); the white one with cendol and grass jelly bits, a pinkish one with pink agar-agar bits and grass jelly and an orange one with orange agar-agar bits and grass jelly bits.



First time I have ever seen this, bread agar agar! Slices of bread are laid on the tray and agar-agar mixture is poured on top. I wonder what it tastes like?



This stall also had their version of banana agar-agar which had pieces of bananas, green agar-agar bits in a coconut milk agar-agar base.



The second stall had various types of agar-agar which they had pre-cut. When I took these pictures, it was too sunny for me to notice what they had put inside them. I only noticed that the top of the agar-agar has Marie Biscuits in them when I looked at them on my pc.



I love the multi-coloured layers of this agar-agar with their technicolour pink tops. Reminds me a bit of the colourful Bassets Dolly Mixtures.



I am not too sure what they added in this particular one but it looks like a type of bread or sponge on top while the bottom layer is agar-agar with green and pink agar-agar bits.

Ramadan Bazaar
Kampung Kerinchi
(Take the LRT to the Universiti stop and alight from there. Walk out of the station and cross the road. The stalls are in front of the low cost flats and behind the hawkers on the roadside)

Starts around 4 p.m to 7 p.m.

The local Star paper ran a series of articles on bazaars in Petaling Jaya in their Metro section. It looks like those were the journalists I saw at the bazaar in Section 17 last week. Links to the articles are below which will be "active" for a week before it is archived.

1. Bazaar goes full swing (Section 8, Sungai Way Ramadaan Bazaar)
2. Favourites aplenty (Section 17 Ramadan Bazaar)
3. Wok-ful of noodles (Section 17 Ramadan Bazaar)
4. Heavy traffic does not stop Ramadan crowd coming (Section 14 Ramadan Bazaar)
5. You can't miss this "cendul" (I think this is Section 14 Ramadan Bazaar - no mention in the paper)
6. Swimming with fishes (I think this is Section 14 Ramadan Bazaar - no mention in the paper)

The paper edition also published a list of the Ramadan bazaars with the number of stalls which is not available online and the biggest stalls allocated is for Jalan ss 6/1, Kelana Jaya with 200 stalls while the Section 17 and Section 14 have 100 stalls each. Taman Medan has 150 stalls while the Section 8, Sungai Way one featured in the Star has 80 stalls.

Ramadan Bazaar Section 14 @ Jalan 14/28, Petaling Jaya

Ikan Bakar Stall Jalan Bellamy - check out those cockles

Getting to this particular Ramadan Bazaar has been a yearly ritual for me which I have a love-hate relationship with. I absolutely love the selections here but I absolutely hate the lack of parking around this area. Section 14 is famed for their lack of parking at all hours and with the onset of this Ramadan Bazaar, it gets even worst with cars haphazardly parked. I literally went round the area for what felt like a million times before patience won and I scored a space.


Ikan Bakar stall nearer to the entrance of the bazaar with cockles and lala

Once I got the space, I was doubtful if I would be able to find new things to blog about since I had covered this place twice already. Luckily the stall owners didn't dissapoint me as I spied lots of new stuff which I was totally interested. It took a lot of will power from me to stop myself from buying the food as I had dinner plans but I vowed to return again to sample those goodies.


Lala anyone?

Although the road that leads to the bazaar is narrow, it's next to a playground area hence there's lots of space for those who are grilling items. The first stall which caught my eye was the Ikan Bakar stall when I walked in. The stall owner was frying cockles and lala on his hot plate. Looked really good and I managed to snap quick pictures of him when he was scooping the cooked shellfish into plastic containers. They looked so delicious I felt like getting some straight away to eat.


Very unusual for Ramadan Bazaar - Cockles or Kerang Bakar

Walk a bit further down and you'll spy everyone's favourite Ikan Bakar stall from Jalan Bellamy. Surprise Surprise! They were also frying cockles so I'm not too sure who copied who on this new item. I didn't notice any Lala at their stall and their cockles were cheaper at RM4 versus the other side which was selling for RM5. No idea about the portions served though so hard to judge which is better. Their stall were frying the cockles in one huge portion. He will add the cockles first and then the chili sauce on top of it before frying it.


Sotong Bakar

I also spied Sotong Bakar which looked delicious being cooked on top of a banana leaf on the hot plate.


Balitong

Continuing the shellfish quest, I snapped a picture of this Balitong dish as I remember one of my friends loves this. She's the one who demonstrated to me once how you are supposed to eat Balitong which is a feat I have never mastered.


Cendol Durian Stall

Something else unusual at this bazaar was Cendol or Ais Batu Campur (ABC) Durian. To indicate that they were serving these icy treats with the King of Fruits, the stall owner has strung up durians next to their ice shaving machine. You can mix all types of items depending on what you liked whether it was durian, pulut or tapai.


Roti Jala

I was super happy to discover a roti jala stall. Best of all, they were serving it the Northern style with Serawa Durian which is durian gravy. Ever since I found this version last year at the Kota Damansara Ramadan Bazaar, I have been dying to try it again. I also found out from the stall owner, he also owns the stalls in Kota Damansara so it's the same version. He told me he uses brown sugar for his sauce to make it nicer. Another must have when I return for dinner one night.


Grilling Satay under the hot sun

Another crowd pleaser is satay. This stall was grilling the sticks just at the side of the slope.

Satay Daging (Beef Satay)

The satay looked so tempting especially the beef version with chargrilled bits just the way I like it.


Stained Glass Agar Agar

More colourful agar agar and this stall had two types which looked great. This one uses bits of coloured agar agar on the top layer to make a stained glass effect.


Italian flag colours agar agar

I quite liked the clean colours of this tri-coloured agar agar. Too bad the green was a bit bright or else it'll resemble an Italian flag with it's red, green and white colours.


Popiah Basah - check that queue out

And don't forget the ever famous Popiah Basah stall. See the long queue which never changes every year.


Popiah basah

This year, he has someone to help him out in making the popiah so hopefully the wait time is shorter. For those of you who don't want to wait, you can get his popiah basah at the Medan Selera when it's not Ramadan time. Here's my previous post on the location.

I did find this year's Ramadan Bazaar's stalls have shrank in size but this place remains a favourite of mine. There's also the Sup Tulang stall and the Masakan Minang food stall if you like to eat rice and curries. Check out 2006 and 2005's entries on this Ramadan Bazaar too.

Ramadan Bazaar

Located along Jalan 14/28

Starts from opposite Utusan Melayu until the playground

Section 14, Petaling Jaya

(If you are coming from Jaya supermarket, turn right where the new Digital Mall is and drive straight down. You will see the stalls on your left hand side, just before Right Angle's shophouses. There is a mosque on the right hand side.)

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Ramadan

Ramadan Bazaar @ Section 14/28, PJ

Yesterday I decided to try out a Ramadan Bazaar that is pretty small but carries quite a few memories for me since it's one I have been familiar with since school days. I used to visit this place for Putu Piring but sadly the man who used to sell here is no longer trading here. Last year, it was the first Ramadan Bazaar I visited which led to this intensive coverage of the bazaars in town.

The first thing that greets you when you reach the bazaar is a long queue of people who are patiently waiting for this man to roll his famous popiah basah. Usually he has his stall at the Medan Selera just up the road but during Ramadan, you can only find him here. I have tasted his popiah at the Medan Selera before and it's yummy and one of the few in town that has prawns in it.



The bazaar is quite small with stalls that flank the road, Jalan 14/28 and near the playground. Nowadays even the bigger companies have grown aware of the pull of the Ramadan Bazaar crowd as Hong Leong Bank Berhad was there to promote their credit cards! One stall caught my eye as this fella was selling all kinds of interesting kuih and savoury items like this pulut serunding which is basically made from glutinous rice and sprinkled with savoury and spicy beef shreds.



Another simple savoury item which is popular among everyone is the roti sambal. It's just plain buns that has a sambal filling.



It's interesting to also observe what is popular at this bazaar and I reckon it's soups as I counted a few stalls that were rivalling for customers. This particular one was huge with a large selection of soups from the Northern state like sup gearbox, sup tulang and mee sup. I also liked how they decorated their stall with bunches of celery and coriander hanging from the top which is also used as a topping for the soup.



So far out of all the bazaars I have visited this year, this is the first time I am seeing Ketupat Daun Palas which is usually made for the Hari Raya celebrations. This particular ketupat is rolled with palm leaves and it has a sticky glutinous rice filling.



The same stall was also selling ketupat that we usually get whenever you eat satay. You can either eat this with curry, satay or if you fancy, serunding which was also available at this stall.



Last year I featured this ikan bakar stall which I understand is related to one of the famous stalls from Jalan Bellamy. I was tempted to try this for dinner last night but the queue was quite long hence I decided to try something else instead. However the smell of the fish grilling on the hot plate was really tempting.



Drinks are extremely important during Ramadan as you need lots of liquids or else you will dehydrate. Although you get lots of colourful drinks at these bazaars, I usually prefer the more natural ones like coconut juice from young coconuts or sugar cane juice.



This guy was happy to pose for me while he was manning the grill for the ayam percik stall. Huge plumes of smoke was coming out from their stall that you can't miss it.



After it's grilled, it's coated in a sweet and spicy sauce. Although I like ayam percik, I usually don't get any because till todate, I have to find any nice ones. Looking at this picture, I reckon it's time to search for a nice ayam percik stall in my next few Ramadan Bazaars.



This is the only Ramadan Bazaar which is selling Nasi Minang. They have a selection of curries you can choose from including Gulai Kawah. I actually had my dinner here and it was pretty good. Sadly they didn't have any tunjang which is my favourite.



You can usually get all kinds of jellies at the kuih stalls but this one must be the most colourful I have come across so far. The colours are positively psychedelic with their swirls.



I love these green and white kuih known as Seri Ayu. They're actually spongy with a hint of pandan and grated coconut.



Not sure whether this is a traditional Malay kuih but it was pretty unusual to find it at the kuih stall - deep fried sesame balls which is more of a Chinese sweet. The kuih stalls here were doing booming business. One stall located in front was already packing up as their kuih had finished even though it was just 5.30 pm. It's advisable to get there early or else the popular items will run out quickly.

Ramadan Bazaar
Located along Jalan 14/28
Starts from opposite Utusan Melayu until the playground
Section 14, Petaling Jaya

(If you are coming from Jaya supermarket, turn right where the new Digital Mall is and drive straight down. You will see the stalls on your left hand side, just before Right Angle's shophouses. There is a mosque on the right hand side. Parking is quite haphazard and limited around this area.)

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Ramadan

Ramadan Bazaar @ Section 6, Kota Damansara

I decided to do a completely new Ramadan Bazaar and it took me a while to search for this one as it's pretty far away since it's located at the end of Kota Damansara. It's not too big and you can find the stalls around the shophouses at Section 6, Kota Damansara.

It's interesting to note that this was the only Ramadan Bazaar which I have came across that was also selling Muruku and Indian sweets. I suspect there is quite a large Indian community around this area as I spied an Indian family buying sweets from the trader.

You can find Roti Jala - the lacy pancake at a few stalls at this place. What was the most unusual was this stall called Wahid at one end of the bazaar which sold their roti jala with sambal sardine or serawa durian. The stall owner advised that this is a Kedah specialty where you can eat your roti jala with the sweet durian sauce. I bought a small portion to try out and it was pretty good.



This bazaar's stalls all have interesting names - there were two Roti John stalls. One was named Brother Bob which had special toppings like cheese and black pepper sauce and this particular one which served Roti John Mama and Papa. Kinda cute the way they named the food as Roti John Mama was a smaller version while the Papa was the full length version. I like how they cut the Roti John in smaller slices making it easier to eat and it was pretty tasty too.



You also get various Murtabak stalls here with different names but the one which I had to snap a picture was this particular one named after the Japanese cartoon character, Doraemon. There's nothing special about their murtabak but I suspect Obachan will find this amusing.



You can also get serunding here which has been brought in specially from Kelantan. My favourite snack especially when I was overseas as it was great with bread and rice whenever I felt homesick for Malaysian food.



Each bazaar has their own trend and besides the funny name stalls, I also noticed quite a few stalls selling fruit juices as drinks.



I guess the people at Kota Damansara are a very healthy lot as there were also two fruit stalls selling various kinds of fruits including pre-cut watermelons.



This is a kuih which I love from my childhood days - Kuih Lompang. These small steamed rice cakes is made from pandan paste to give it taste and colour and sprinkled with freshly grated coconut. I've always preferred them small like these as they're made in chinese rice wine cups.



One stall got inventive and made these interesting chocolate glazed doughnuts that looked really tempting.



Not sure what was inside this sweet bubur but it was so colourful that I snapped a quick picture of it.



I've been looking around for Kek Batik and found one stall that sold it here. Essentially Kek Batik is made from Marie Biscuits that is coated in a fudgy sauce made from condensed milk, eggs, Milo and butter. It's then placed in a container and chilled till it's set. Sadly it wasn't chocolatey enough unlike this particular stall I found at Kelana Jaya's Ramadan Bazaar which is selling a delicious version.

Ramadan Bazaar
Section 6, Kota Damansara

(Shophouses near the McDonald's Drive Thru restaurant and Pro Jet. If you are coming from Ikea, Mutiara Damansara, you will need to drive straight down all the way until you see McDonald's. Turn left inside and go straight. Turn right into the shophouses and the bazaar is around the commercial area. Note that the drive is pretty long from Mutiara Damansara as Section 6 is quite far in.)

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Ramadan