Yummy Malaysiana: Ramadan Bazaar 2011 @ Taman Len Sen, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

Ramadan Bazaar 2011 @ Taman Len Sen, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

Every year during the holy Muslim fasting month, Ramadan Bazaars are set up in various locations (esp close to housing areas) offering buka puasa (breaking of fast) fare. Ramadan Bazaars are worth visiting if you can find the time. Soak up the many sights and smells of the local specialties you can find there.

We visited our first Ramadan bazaar in Taman Len Sen yesterday. There are about 30 stalls, and the place started to fill up by 5pm. My mum loves lemang and rendang hence we targeted this bazaar since we saw lemang on sale here last year (another bazaar we visited last year didnt have lemang). We walked the whole length of the bazaar and was starting to panic because we couldn't see any lemang.... then towards end of the stretch, we found an aunty selling them. Hooray!

Lemang is a traditional Malay food made of glutinous rice and coconut milk, and then cooked in a hollowed bamboo stick lined with banana leaves over a charcoal fire. The aunty was also selling chicken or beef rendang to go with the lemang. The beef rendang looked mouthwatering, so we got a tub of it and 2 lemang to go. Both the lemang and rendang were fabulous, the best thing we selected out of this bazaar.

Chicken rendang

Beef rendang

Lemang

We found the usual bazaar fares here such as kuih, rojak, popiah, ikan bakar, chicken wings, ayam percik, colorful drinks, satay, roti john, and murtabak. There were at least 5 stalls selling murtabak.. some heavy competition going on here. We tried the mutton, beef and chicken satays; there were decent though they would have been nicer if they were still warm. My favorite kuih from this bazaar was the kuih tepung pelita, I alone ate 3 of them! Ayam percik here was sold in portions, rather than a whole chicken, which is a good idea in my opinion, since we always struggle to finish a whole chicken on top of the other fares. I was a little miffed that the sellers were reluctant to sell only cucur udang to me, since I did not like the tofu and other stuff in the rojak. One thing I noticed was that many stalls did not have price signs up here.

I do enjoy visiting the Ramadan bazaars every year since this is one of the times of the year whereby I get to enjoy many local delicacies. Hopefully the weather will be a little kinder in the next few weeks and I get to visit a few more Ramadan bazaars. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish my Muslim readers, Selamat Berpuasa!

An assortment of kuihs (traditional Malay cakes)