Hajjah Mona is 55 years old and has been selling nasi padang for 25 years. Some Malay makanmatas introduced us to her stall and since then, we have been hooked to her cooking.

Our Malay makanmatas feel that she serves authentic Malay nasi padang--simple, kampong fare, cooked the traditional way. Even her cooked food is displayed on banana leaves and your food is served on banana leaves too. Seems that some customers will complain when she runs out of banana leaves as they insist that the food tastes less fragrant without banana leaves!

 

We are always at a fix on what to order because we always feel like eating everything. So, we'll just give you a lowdown of her popular dishes here.

The beef rendang is fabulous. Tender and spicy. According to Hajjah Mona, she cooks her rendang for at least three hours. And the timing is very important--the meat can only be placed in the pot when the coconut gravy begins to thicken and the three hours ensure that the beef will absorb all the spices.

The nangka lemak ( jackfruit in coconut gravy) is unripe jackfruit that has been cooked till it softens. It has just a slight tinge of sweetness mixed with spices and light coconut gravy. The ikan telebok (fried fish with dark sauce, onions and chilli) is another top seller which is well fried and crispy.

We love the spicy ayam korma which is chicken in a lemak gravy but this type of gravy is thicker than the usual one. The gravy is of a good consistency and the chicken is cooked to the right tenderness, even the breast meat is tender.

The nasi rawan is a best seller at the stall. If you are there just after 12pm on a weekday, chances are it'll be sold out. It's worse on Sunday, you don't even get a sniff by 10am. The special gravy (which includes buah keluak) for nasi rawan requires a lot of work and preparation and Hajjah Mona usually prepares the gravy one day beforehand.

When asked how she learnt to cook, Hajjah Mona says that she learnt it all from her mother and grandmother since young. Unlike the teenagers of today, she had to stay at home and learn to cook for the family. She remembers the days when she had to grind chilli and spices and is thankful for the blender now. She doesn't have any fixed recipes and she cooks with her gut feel -- how much spices to use, how much salt to add, how much ingredients to include -- to make a dish right. She says that she cooks the way her mother cooks--the traditional way. No wonder the Malay makanmatas feel that her food tastes home cooked, she is generous with her spices and yet the food do not have an overwhelming taste of spices.

Are you drooling already? The stall opens at 8am every morning and the food usually tastes best before 1pm--warm and fresh. Well, in the fasting month beginning 9 December, the stall will only be open from 1pm- 8pm. Seems that business is unusually brisk during this month and she normally cooks a long spread of food which would be snapped up by 6pm.

 

Dish:	Nasi Padang
Where:	Hajjah Mona Nasi Padang Stall 200 Geylang Serai Market & Food Centre 02-079
When:	Opening hours: 8am till sold out in the evening Close on Wednesday
Test date:	November '99
Rating:	Excellent

 

Photos and text by kfseetoh.