Pasar ramadan everywhere!

It's that time of the year again! The fasting month observed by muslims before they celebrate Hari Raya or Eid.. and THAT means lots of pasar ramadan (food bazaar) everywhere offering a myriad of goodies in the afternoons for a whole month! Yay! (^^)

fried rice, fried noodles, chicken, fish, veg.. a buffet spread of almost every malay/asian food you can think of!  

beef or chicken murtabak, anyone?

In my neighbourhood alone, there's at least 3 food bazaars nearby! Albeit on a smaller scale ^^ As such, there's really no need to cook dinner these days! For the past few days.. ok, maybe a week.. or two ^^|| (save for the day where I was inspired to make nami's honey pork belly, using chicken), I've been feasting on my favorites.. ayam masak merah (loosely translated as chicken in red sauce ~ which tastes sweet, spicy and tomato-ey) and deep-fried catfish with sambal.. and some.. almost everyday. (^^||)

grilled marinated squid and fish wrapped in banana leaf

grilled squid .. yums!

And there's always new sweets to discover at the pasar ramadans! There's hasn't been any need to bake at all these days! A whole new world of sweets has opened up and is available daily just round the corner! (^^) And one of my best finds, is akok. Well burnt and caramelized all over, it's a luscious, gorgeous little sweet/dessert originating from kelantan.. think soft kuih bakar and wobbly portuguese egg tart minus the crust. So so good ^^!

a new favorite ~ akok ^^

How can one not lose one's mind at the pasar ramadan??!.. there's so much to choose from.. everything looks and smells fascinating, appetising and delicious! No sane person can leave unscathed!

And well, I lost it today! I was "enticed" into buying 3 mini kuih bakar (burnt cake?) (sorry, no pictures ^^|| ate all up on the drive home).. mixed noodles with beef curry.. rice with ayam masak merah and vege.. a piece of catfish.. and a piece of deep-fried chicken (sorry, bad pictures!).. for a ONE-person dinner! You must be thinking if I've gone mad? Yes, that probably explains it! I'm kicking myself as I write this (^^||) Lesson learnt: NEVER visit a pasar ramadan when you are hungry!!! Looks like most of tonight's dinner will be tomorrow's lunch!

mixed noodles (beehoon + kway teow) with beef curry wrapped in banana leaf ~ so so bad for my arteries!

But you know what? Some habits die hard. When I do visit the food bazaars again.. I most probably will not remember any (regrets?? who?? what??) of this ^^.. and splurge!!! It's like being let loose in a candy store, or a buffet, or for some (like moi), a baking supplies store ^^! Yes, I love this time of the year! (^^)

p.s you don't need to be a muslim/malay to enjoy these delicacies.. food is color blind ^^