Sunday, July 09, 2006

Goddess Blunder Again

Like as if the one Goddess blunder is not enough, another one comes in.

I have been trying a few recipes which has buah keras in it. To tell you the truth I do not have any idea how buah keras looks like. I don't know why, but the first thought of buah keras is this.

Bear with me okay. I know most of you know that this is indeed not buah keras but rather buah pala (?) But I didn't know. *hangs head in shame*. If I were in Malaysia, I could ask the shopkeeper to show me. But here everything is in english. I don't know what they call those buahs in English. I know the look of buah pala(?) and on the bag it says nutmeg. So for many months I thought buah keras = nutmeg.

So many distasteful sauces I have attempted using this what I thought this buah keras is. And many times I thought the taste is quite strange except when I fried some mee hoon. That one not bad. So who do I blame? The recipe of course. (Since I cannot blame it on the oven)

A few days ago, I was casually reading some herb glossaries. Those Malay-English ones . It says there that buah keras = candlenut.

What.the.fart? Candlenut? Not nutmeg eh? Not nutmeg????? And all these while I have been using nutmeg which I thought is buah keras. I googled for images and lo and behold this is buah keras. And buah keras=candlenut.

Ohh criesss. I remembered seeing this in my mum's kitchen. And like lightning, there and then I realise that nutmeg is actually buah pala.

Now I have to revisit all the recipe again. I have actually struck it out from my list, with a note YUCK to it.

But I haven't found candlenut just yet. They also say that the best replacement for candlenut is macademia nut though it is slightly sweeter than candlenut. Hmm I should google for macademia nut before I make further blunder.

And I have loads of those nutmeg. What do I do with it?

23 comments:

Jill Yusoff said...

hahahaha gelakkan dia. apa ko masak letak buah keras segala. melaka dishes eh?

simah said...

main batu tujuh dengan nut meg tu...

cool info though i cant help to laugh at u...hahahahahahah jangan marah.. i didnt know what buah keras is in english as well..u r not alone..:0)

Anonymous said...

ha..ha..nilah dia orang yg selalu masak macam mysely.he..he.. what about jintan manis dan jintan putih?

Lollies said...

jill - oh ketawakan aku eh? hua hua hua. apparently buah keras is good for certain sambal with fish. masak lemak pun ok. some percik stuff. basically sauces..nak buat dia pekat-pekat gitu. and mee soup and soto. imagine all that I put NUTMEG!!!! patutlah pelik eje rasa.

simah - oh marilah menangis bersamaku. main batu semban eh? ha ha

easylady - oh don't get me into that. tapi i think, i thinklahkan saya dah tau. masalahnya bila kat sini saya jadi confuse. i think jintan putih is cumin and jinan manis is fennel. pray pray I am right

KakNi said...

kena selak balik respi yang tulis 'yuck' tu tau dan kena minta mahap dgn penulis resepi tu balik muahahah

Anonymous said...

you fried mee hoon with buah pala?? err... must try that strange delicacy. hehe. and oh, with the remaining buah pala, try lah buat jeruk. potong sedang2 ke, kecik2 ke ikut suka la, pastu just add gula and garam and air skit je and biar peram. ahaha good luck!

Lollies said...

ah ni - alahai jauhnya chef wan aku nak mintak mahap

anis - eh ni bukan buah pala yang full tu. ni biji dia aje. macam dalam gambo tu. Can make jeruk one ah?

Sunfloraa said...

BTW nutmeg is banned in S"udi because they believe that its an aphrodisiac (sp). Masa I baru datang sini jenuh I carik from all sorts of supermarket tak jumpa until a lady told me that its sold "under the counter." I had to buy mine from Bahrain and Dubai.

If you like spinach, heat some butter, then put in the spinach until they wilt. Then a dash of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Yummy!

Here the buah keras has to be bought in the Indonesian grocery store and I think they are called Kemiri.

Nazrah Leopolis said...

oh i think i know why u thought buah keras = nutmeg

sebab dulu2 there was an error in SRT(home science)glossary. gara-gara lost in translation la ni.


anyway, bijik nutmeg tu, kalau u grate sikit dlm hot chocolate campur serbuk cinnamon atau bijik2 vanilla sikit..sodap! side effect dia sama dgn mango *wink*

ground nutmeg pun sedap campur dalam pastries.tapi sikit aje...as sikit as one fairy dusting of it. lebih2 nanti jadik pedar.

dalam stew dishes pun letak sikit nutmeg sedap.

i love buah keras dalam ayam masak lemak cili padi, dana dlm sambal ikan bakar. boleh buat bumbu macam2 lauk2 orang singapura n indonesian. tapi tak leh lebih2 nanti lekas muak. candlenut banyak minyak.

apa2 hal, good on ya gal! tiap2 hari pasti belajar sesuatu yang baru.

Lollies said...

SF - what? that's news. sampai kena ban. mesti dahsyat sekali aphrodisiacnya. Yes I also find out that it is called kemiri cuma tak tau pronounce aje. so you grate eh the nutmeg. ke ambik yang dalam dia?

nazrah - that's what I was tring to do. Ikan bakar and sambal. rasa peliklah pulak. resepinya said 4 biji buah keras. Imagine I put 4 nutmegs!! Pelik betul rasa dia.

MA said...

Aiyooo...join the club. For the life of me - I pun tak kenal all the rempah ratus (yes, easylady - I pun selalu confuse b/w jintan manis & putih. I kena ada 2-2 to make the comparison).

But I thought dalam buku masak chef wan - kat belah belakang ada glossary and gambar all the rempah ratus for the illiterates like me? Or was it in a different cookbook?

Anonymous said...

hahah. ingat mahu purak purak suggest something pada mummy but i think i beter shadap n read n mebe laf a bit. huhu.

UglyButAdorable said...

lollies..aku plak tak tau the looks of nutmeg. buah pala jeruk tu tau la. but i know buah keras tu camner coz my mom slalu masak must use the 4 brothers plus buah keras..

aper pun ko tetap goddess dimata aku..

Lollies said...

MA- memang ada kat belakang buku chef wan tu. Saya aje yang baru bukak. *malu*

BTB - ah ah ek. Yang ni biji buah pala. not the buah pala yang boleh makan terus. The biji only. It does look like buah getah

wan - suggestlah. saya sedia terima.

uglybutt - ko belum tengok pun aku lagi. muahahaha

Anonymous said...

he..he..MA u got my point.Tule yang I nak tanya Lollies,kalau cef wan kasi bende macam padi,camno nak kenai tu jintan putih atau jintan manis? betulke kalau jintan manistu bau dia manis dan jintan putih dia slim?He..he.. Mak LAng ketawa agaknyani..

Lollies said...

easylady and MA - I have always had that problem. Cuma sekarang ni I boleh kenal pasal nama paket dia. Jintan putih is cumin halus and nipis and jintan manis yang i lagi suka pakai untuk marinate satay yang tembam tu is fennel. sebelum n i tak tau pun.

an0nymous-ign0ranus said...

my initial intention was to gelakkan you but then again kan, i am worse off than you. didn't know what buah keras is and despite your detailed explanation, i'm still as blur as the next sotong.

buah pala beli in packet kat chowrasta je, pastu makan sambil mata terkedip kedip.

dlt said...

kira ok la tu leh masak guna buah keras or buah pala. myself, hmm... hampeh tak reti nak guna dua2 tu. maybe nanti kena belajar gak la kot. nanti jadik cam lollies. ha!ha! learn from lollies mistake. :)

UglyButAdorable said...

ehh..penah tgk aper..gambar maser ko muder muder laaa..kan ader entry ko.u posted it.

Lollies said...

babe - sila silalah gelakkan aku. basically buahkeras is as the picture tu. the bawah one.

dlt - then watch this space for banyak lagi mistake yang akan saya buat

uglybutt - eh yang mana satu tu? gambar aku kecikke?

anggerik merah said...

Hi Lollies,
interesting abt buah keras. My old maid used it a lot for cooking.That is how I came to recognise it.

an0nymous-ign0ranus said...

LOL!!! buah keras kat bawah.

Lollies said...

anggerik - dia mesti panggil kemiri kan?

babe - ha ha ha!