Sunday, July 6, 2008

Serabai, Love at First Bite


I desperately need a holiday; no, not one of those crazy European jaunts costing a small fortune and covering 10 countries in 15 days. That's sheer madness.

All I need is just a short break. I really need a breather after the house moving and before the next big task, an exhibition-cum-conference at the end of this month.

[To digress; son Joe left for Redang Island off Terengganu over the weekend for a spot of diving with some friends. Lucky fellows..]

A weekend in Penang would do. There's always Nasi Kandar Line Clear, Gurney Drive 'glutton square' and the absolutely marvelous street market at Batu Feringhi to look forward to.

Pak Abu is simply crazy about that Line Clear nasi kandar; he thinks it's the best ever. As for me, I am so-so with mamak food. Being half-Kelantanese, my taste veers towards Thai cooking.

Two years ago in Penang our lecturer friend Maria invited us over for breakfast at her place where she served this apom-like dish called serabai, eaten with sweet gravy.

Serabai is a puffed-up small pancake off-white in colour and steamed before serving. It is best eaten with sweet gravy (perhaps with durian flesh thrown in) but spicy curry does the job just as well.

I knew of serabai but had never seen nor eaten it until that day in Maria's place. It was love at first bite for me; I couldn't get enough of it. But where can you get serabai in Kuala Lumpur?
[pix of Serabai courtesy of Raqin Rafiqyn of Photopages)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks very 'licious'....but hope it hasn't got anything to do with the infamous 'otak serabai'. :-) It's me just being silly.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

hehehe wam.. btw, when do u want to visit us? long time no see u..