Tag: eid

The Muslims Of Myanmar On Eid al-Adha 2017 In Kuala Lumpur – Part 1

Today is Eid al-Adha, an important Islamic Festival, I previously covered the famous street prayers conducted by Bangladeshi migrant workers at the Jalan Silang area. They have stopped congregating at the venue years ago. Being a regular street photographer at the Pasar Borong area in Selayang. I was tipped and invited by friendly residents. Knowing my interest, several well meaning workers invited me to sit in with them, even knowing I am not a Muslim. When I went there at 8am this morning, the road and sidewalk was already paved with mats and blue tarp – Malaysia’s landslide solution.
The community working in the wholesale market ans supporting shops are mostly Rohingya, Bangladeshis and an assortment of ethic Burmese Muslims who are undocumented migrants who had such hard life. Their journey to this country was fraught with dangers. They do not have access to workers rights, medical benefits, free education for their children as what a citizen.will get. They do not even have a mosque except a rented shopfloor above a Toto shop.
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Yet they are so commuted to their faith and I am touched by their devotion, humilty, faith.and friendly attitude to outsiders, My journey here was fraught with dangers too, With the 5 day long holiday weekend I nearly got the date mixed up and missed it. When I got home, my folder got deleted! To recover, I have the best software and recovering the expired registration key was a battle in itself. A long story for another day as every photographer will need it one day, Due to some fuckery of Windows, a folder went missing when I renamed it.

Here is a file that came back from death.

Panasonic GM-1, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/250 sec

#eid #prayers #religion #islam #sacrifice #selayang #myanmar #migrant

Rendang

Historically, the Minangkabau people of Sumatra were of a migrating (merantau) culture. Many left home to start new lives in other Indonesian cities, as well as at regional countries. Soon, Padang restaurants were everywhere.

But there was one problem when they wanted to take food along their long journeys through rivers and oceans. Refrigerators weren’t available in the 16th century.

So the enterprising Minangkabaus came up with Rendang, a form of drier curry meat. The special recipe used a combination of spices and cooking methods that resulted in a dish that will last when stored for weeks at room temperatures.

There are now, of course, many regional and different adaptations in both dry and wet versions. The rendang curry, be it chicken, beef or mutton, goes very well with lemang.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 2500, f13, 1/160 sec.

Lemang

To add a little explanation for international followers; the delicious dish known as Lemang is believed to be Minangkabau (Indonesian) in origin.

The glutinous or sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk and a little salt. It is then wrapped in banana leaves and cooked over fire in a hollowed-out bamboo tube.

In Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, one can see stalls popping up during the Eid al-Fitr Festival, where the delicacy (including the accompanying curry) is cooked and sold from the roadside.

Lemang (pronounced as Ler Mung in Malay) is also a traditional and festive food for the Dayaks and Ibans of Borneo.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 800, f9, 1/160 sec.

Nom Nom Yum Yum

Split open the bamboo tube, cut up the sticky rice and pour curry over it. Heavenly.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 2500, f9, 1/160 sec.