Brunei has been the most troublesome country so far when it came to choosing something to cook, looking back now I'm not sure if I made the wisest choice. It wasn't easy to find a dish unique to Brunei as the cuisine is so heavily influenced by it's neighbouring countries of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. One dish that really jumped out at me was Roti Murtabak - spiced minced meat and onions wrapped in roti bread and fried which is usually served with pickled onions. Murtabak is also a common food in India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and some Middle Eastern countries although the ingredients vary between each country.
The recipe I referred to came with pretty vague instructions for making the roti bread. As I was making this on a weeknight and had roti that needed using up I chose to skip this step. For some strange reason I decided that I was going to use tempeh as my mince meat replacement so I prepared the tempeh by boiling small chunks with soy sauce, olive oil and water as this works so well in Isa's Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes. When the tempeh had cooled down, I cut it into tiny mince sized pieces and hoped that frying it with onions and spices would be enough to eliminate the fermented taste I find gross. The tempeh wasn't a complete success as it still had a bit of an unpleasant taste to it yet there was an even more overwhelming presence. Coriander and aniseed were some of the other spices included and I was disappointed that they were undetectable due to the cardamon which was pretty much all you could taste.
In an attempt to make the meal enjoyable, I looked up a curry dipping sauce for a Malaysian dish called Roti Canai, this condiment that was very easy to prepare pretty much saved the day. The dipping sauce was spicy enough to drown out some of the cardamon and add some additional spices. I wouldn't repeat these rotis without a lot of playing around so I haven't bothered posting my version. A lentil and mushroom filling may work better than tempeh and the cardamon definitely needs to be cut back by at least half if not a quarter.
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Did you know?
Kampong Ayer which translates to Water Village was named after Venice in Italy and it is in fact the world's largest water village. It is a region in the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan which was built almost completely on wooden stilts and is connected by many bridges. Approximately 10% of Brunei's population reside there and their main mode of transportation is by water taxi.
Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.
That's too bad the meal didn't work out as well as you'd like. I know that can be disappointing. I'm always kind of wary of cardamom, because it can so easily overwhelm. Still, the idea of these sounds very good, and I'll look forward to seeing what you do at some point with lentils and mushrooms instead.
ReplyDeleteYou are always going to have a few flops during MoFo with this sort of theme! A lentil and mushroom filling with home-made roti is definitely on the cards for the future.
DeleteAww, too bad it wasn't amazing--tvp & mushrooms might be good too for future attempts! I really do like the idea of it, like an eastern burrito :)
ReplyDeleteI used to eat TVP but went off it a while ago, that's why I was thinking of the lentil/mushroom mix. Yes, this version was like a eastern burrito but traditionally there would be more roti and less filling.
DeleteI'm sorry you weren't happy with the outcome of these...I like the idea of coriander and aniseed with the other spices so perhaps more of them would make a difference? Some recipes just need playing though! The problem with vegan mofo is the ones we'd usually play with before posting sometimes need to be posted before there is time for playing :P
ReplyDeleteThe others liked them more then I did but I'm usually my biggest critic ;-) There's no time for playing with recipe this month (as much as I would like to), all my cooking attempts are getting posted, warts and all.
Deletegood on you for braving the tempeh!
ReplyDeleteI get brave after a success like I had in the previous week and then something like this knocks me back into place. I'm not giving up on tempeh though.
DeleteProps for even finding a Brunei recipe to cook! Shame these didn't come out as well as you hoped - they sounded really promising too. Curry sauce to the rescue!
ReplyDeleteMsot definitely curry sauce to the recipe, it was the saviour! I think the rotis could work a lot better than this and the spices just need some tweaking.
DeleteI love love love murtabak, I'm sad this one didn't work out for you, I've had some really excellent vegan murtabak before. Actually now you've got me wondering how well murtabak would work out as a picnic food...
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know what was in the filling of the ones you've had before. They would be great for a picnic, just need a great recipe and an expert maker!
DeleteI thought the idea of using tempeh was very sound - shame about the flavours - I think I would prefer mushroom and lentils but I would like to believe that tempeh would work if you tweaked the seasonings. I've been doing quite a lot of experimenting during mofo and found that getting the seasonings right can make a huge difference but admittedly can't always save a dish
ReplyDeleteThe tempeh wasn't too bad, I've definitely had worse and can be overly sensitive about it sometimes! The spice mix in the recipe I was working from was the main problem as there was just too much cardamon, thankfully the curry sauce I made balanced (drowned) it out a little.
DeleteWhat a shame about this not being to your liking, I miss tempeh and never minded the taste but it is strong. It looks really good nevertheless, very filling and tasty!
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy it more the next day so not all was lost. I'm sorry that you miss tempeh when people like me struggle to enjoy it.
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