Dishes that bind generations

The exercise book is torn and tattered at the edges. I believe that it is as old as I am, if not older. In it are recipes my mother had jotted down over the years. 

These are recipes that have been passed down through the generations. My mother learned some of the family’s much loved dishes from our late paternal step-grandmother, an aunt or two and from cooking and baking classes that she attended when we were young. 

That book is her prized possession. When she moved to stay with my brother in Putrajaya, she accidentally left the book in my home. She nagged me endlessly until I had the book delivered to her. 

She refers to it from time to time, especially when there is heavy-duty cooking involved during the festive season. She wants to get the ingredients correct. Yes, there are no measurements in her cooking recipes, just the ingredients, unlike the recipes for baking cakes and cookies, where the ingredients have to be precise. Like all other elders, her cooking entails taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and throwing it all in the pot. 

During the recent Hari Raya Aidiladha, she decided that my sister-in-law and I do the cooking. Now, for the first time in our adult lives, my mother is handing over the cooking for the festive season to us. 

You see, the kitchen had always been my mother’s domain. She thinks we would be in her way as she moves around in the kitchen. 

But, this time around, she supervised us in the kitchen. She asked my sister-in-law to cook the lamb biryani while I was told to boil the rice. She also asked that I make the custard pudding, a typical Johor dessert eaten with custard sauce and fruit cocktail. I had never done this before and I was too embarrassed to ask my mother for the recipe. So, I looked up the recipe on the Internet. And, I found one that was just like the way my mother made it. 

As my sister-in-law stirred the lamb in the pot and I put the rice to boil in the electric rice cooker, I realised that my mother was passing the mantle to us to keep these family recipes alive. 

She was protective of her recipes before, but she was now willingly sharing them with us. Now, many precious family recipes are in danger of being lost as children have lost interest, especially in cooking and baking traditional dishes and treats (well, in my case and that of my cousins’, we are chased out of our family kitchens by our mothers). They prefer to engage catering services rather than cooking the dishes themselves.

 Family recipes, according to one article that I read, are a way of keeping our ancestry alive. The food we cook and eat can tell us of our heritage and culture. I have been asked if I can cook Laksa Johor (using spaghetti, no less) or make Harissa (oats is its main ingredient), and that I should at least know what Air Beyh is even if I don’t even know how to make it. 

Yes, as a Johorean, I know what these are and can tell you a little history about these foods, too. 

Until last year, 51 dishes had been declared a national heritage by the National Heritage Department. And, hopefully, these dishes will survive the test of time as more and more fusion cuisine is created and served in cafes and restaurants. 

Yes, there are many people sharing their family recipes on the Internet, but you have to try it out to see if it turns out the way your mother cooks it.

And, there is Puan Sri Habibah Salleh, who published two volumes of a recipe book entitled For My Children… What I Cooked for You. It is a record of dishes — from the simplest to the most elaborate — that she had cooked for her children and which they liked. 

She said she got married not knowing how to cook, especially Malay dishes. To make matters worse, her husband came from a household known for turning out the best in Malay dishes. He was very fond of Malay food and she was constantly aware of the reference point of “mother’s cooking”. 

She said her children asked her to leave some records for them. “I also feel an intense and urgent need to do so because I remember with sadness what happened to my mother-in-law’s book of carefully collected recipes written in her own handwriting — passed to the wife of her youngest son and, thereafter, to disappear forever. I remember the exercise book, thick and well-worn, packed to the hilt with additional pages of recipes gained from relatives,” she wrote in the preamble. 

I consider myself lucky for being given the two volumes by Habibah. I have referred to it when it was my time to be in the kitchen. 

In due time, we will have to do the same with my mother’s exercise book — maybe not in a book form but copying it again as hardcopy or storing it in a pen drive or hard disk — for the sake of our future generation. By the way, my mother’s recipes are written in Jawi. That, too, is a dying tradition.

Patriotic power of music

WE were having lunch at Alamanda, Putrajaya, the weekend before Merdeka when we heard singing coming from the concourse. 
Two old men calling themselves Patriot Buskers were performing evergreen Malay songs. The first song was an oldie, Datuk M. Nasir’s Ekspres Rakyat when he was with the group, Kembara. 
Their second song caught my attention as well as my brother’s. We actually sang along to it, much to the amusement of his children. It was Setia. No, it isn’t a pop song but a patriotic one and a classic. 
Setia was penned by the late Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, who was then information minister. Some say it was Malaysia’s second “national anthem”.
 I can still remember national broadcaster Radio & Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) airing the song before transmission ends at midnight. The choir singers, dressed in their respective traditional costumes, singing “Demi Negara yang tercinta, Di curahkan bakti penuh setia…” 
Oh, how long ago was that? Another friend recalled the songwhen I mentioned it to him. Yes, at 60 years old, he can still remember the lyrics. 
There’s also Keranamu Malaysia (lyrics by Pak Ngah/Siso Kopratasa) which fronted a six-year campaign prior to the country’s 50th year of independence in 2007. “...Keranamu kami bebas merdeka, Keranamu nyawa dipertaruhkan, Keranamu rela kami berjuang, Demi bangsa kedaulatan negara...” 
Before these two songs, there was another famous song, one that promoted unity called Muhibbah, penned by Saiful Bahari. But it’s Setia and KeranaMu Malaysia that will play endlessly in your mind after you first hear it. Back then, RTM would air these songs ever so often that you learnt the lyrics just by listening to it over and over again. 
And if we look back in time, some of our patriotic songs — which unfortunately are no longer aired — date back to pre-Merdeka days when the country was referred to as “Malaya” in the lyrics. These songs were used to nurture patriotism in Malayans. 
A few years after the country gained independence, the first prime minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, had asked Radio Malaya to come up with a collection of national tunes. Celebrated musicians the likes of Jimmy Boyle, Alfonso Soliano and Tony Fonseka penned some songs. My personal favourite is Tanah Pusaka by Tan Sri Ahmad Merican, with the lyrics by his music assistant, Wan Ahmad Kamal. 
According to reports, the song was first documented in a Radio Malaya songbook from 1961 and recorded internationally by Indonesian-born Dutch singer, Sandra Reemer, in 1962. 
The song speaks of the country’s beauty, its multiracial citizens, unity and peace. 
Music does make a highly effective propaganda vehicle and can be used to raise the patriotic spirit and foster unity among the people. 
In fact, music was a prominent feature on the homefront and the battlefields throughout World War 1. 
“Governments often used it as an effective means for inspiring fervour, pride, patriotism and action in the citizens in order to gain manpower, homeland support and funds,” one report said. 
Some of the most obvious types of musical propaganda are found in patriotic songs, national anthems, and military music. The social necessity of having a national anthem began with England in the mid-1700s, followed by Spain and France later in the century. 
The report further said no country, as history proves, can afford to ignore the patriotic force capable of being brought into play through the power of music, either in song or in instrumental form, both of which performed their part in inciting to action.
 It is said some songs written by British composer, musician, dramatist, novelist and actor Charles Dibdin had such a potent influence in war that in 1803, the British government engaged him to write a series of them “to keep alive the national feelings against the French”. 
During World War 2, popular music served as American government propaganda by helping to support pre-existing cultural assumptions about the Japanese. 
Government officials understood the power of music and used it to mobilise the American people in support of the war against Japan. Here and now, we have a good example in how cheerleading squad Boys of Straits rally the JDT fans at the team’s home and away matches. 
Like other international football clubs that have their own songs and cheers, JDT, too, have their own. In fact, there are many songs that the Boys of Straits will sing to build up the spirit of togetherness among the fans of the football team. 
It is amazing to see how they form the camaraderie by singing these songs non-stop way before the match starts until the final whistle. Even little kids have memorised the lyrics to Luaskan Kuasamu Johor. 
I’m pretty sure the recording sof the old patriotic songs can be found in Arkib Negara, which our national broadcaster as well as theprivate television and radio stations can air, especially when the country celebrates National Day and Malaysia Day. 
Failing which, one can always search the Internet. I have found gems on YouTube, such as Malaysia Tanah Airku, Kemegahan Negaraku and Malaya Permai, in the original versions. These days, these songs have been given fresh makeovers and have evolved into numerous renditions.