Like any festive celebrations, Raya can also be an exercise in abundance and excess. This means that for many of us, our fridges and pantries would still be filled to the brim with traditional foods well after the holidays are over. And despite grappling with the same problem each year, most of us don’t seem to do things any differently.
An idea might be to freeze your rendang and pulut (just like our grandmothers used to do), taking them out once in a while so you can enjoy them at different times of the year. But that can get a little boring? Plus, what are you going to do with the leftover foods that you can’t freeze? Like your Raya cookies and dates?
How about doing something different? Like “re-dish” them! Sounds a bit weird? Just bear with me!
GIVING “LIFE” TO LEFTOVERS
This isn’t a new concept. People have been re-purposing leftover meals for as long as extra food has been available. We’ve been turning excess tomatoes into sauces, and making stews with old steaks. But we don’t really seem to discuss how to do it in a Malaysian setting. And while the concept might be slightly foreign, it’s actually a great way give life to your leftover holiday food.
Dates:
You probably have an abundance of dates in your fridge. After all, it’s not like you eat more than two or three in one sitting. You can choose to leave them in the fridge and let them get mouldy, OR you could turn them into granola bars! There are many variations of this online. You can use the dates as pieces of dried fruit in the granola bar, or you can turn them into a paste that helps bind the bar together. Some of them need to be baked, while other recipes just involve a simple blend and mix.
My favourite way to use dates in granola bars is to blend them with peanut butter and honey and slowly add toasted oats and nuts to the mixture until it holds a “dough-like texture”. I’d then place them in a lined baking sheet and put in the fridge for four hours to set. The best part is that the bars last for over a week in the fridge and come in handy when you’re too busy to have a proper breakfast.
Raya Cookies:
Most people don’t really know what to do with excess Raya cookies. My suggestion is that you turn them into other desserts? For example, when you make a tiramisu you can dip plain butter cookies in coffee, instead of using cake. Or when you make a trifle, why not replace the cake with jam cookies instead. If you’re looking for something a little more unique, turn them into pies!
A lot of no-bake pie recipes call for a Graham cracker crust, Oreo crust or a digestive crust. It’s basically a pie shell made by blending cookies with some melted butter and placing it in the fridge to set. You can do the same with your Raya cookies!
Rendang:
Rendang is a dry curry that freezes very well so most people don’t actually find a need to re-purpose it into something different. But if you’re running out of freezer space, you can start incorporating it into your daily meals. For example, you can add water, coconut milk and some extra spices to your rendang to turn it into a gulai. Or you can add it to your fried rice.
What I like to do is to make rendang omelettes. The spices from the rendang match very well with the richness of eggs and cream, so when I make an omelette, all I have to do is cook it on the stove for a little while, place minced rendang in the centre and fold it over. You could also mix eggs, milk and minced rendang and bake it in the oven to create something a little more special.
Lemang:
Everyone loves a good pulut but not everyone knows that you can freeze and re-steam it for a later date. However, there’s something far more delicious that you can do with pulut – deep fry it! My grandmother makes this for us every year. She freezes the lemang, deep fries it and serves it for tea. It tends to end up crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle and warm. The only catch is that lemang doesn’t keep very well so you need to serve it as soon as you’re done frying. The trick to getting it right is to ensure that the oil is very hot and that it’s cooked until it’s a nice golden-brown colour. If not, it will just end up being very sticky.