Alhamdulillah we managed to do our first raya hosting last 13th May at our house.
At first, I only wanted to invite a group of my friends and Asfar friends, which only add up to 20-ish people. I planned to make soto and baked mac&cheese. I seek for Ma's help since I've never made the soto soup right, idky. Borak punya borak, Ma somehow managed to persuade me to make Nasi Tomato and Ayam Masak Merah as well. I'm not confident at first since I've always failed to make a perfect any Basmathi rice before. It always turn out soggy la, patah la. But this time, she said it will work!---with her tips.
Crossfingering, I started prepping. Took me one whole week weh to prep my mental, physical and ingredients lol. Ma dah siap-siap bagi timeline supaya tak kelam kabut di hari kejadian. Cronologically, I started prepping on Monday until Saturday, the D-day.
Monday
Listed all the ingredients needed in all recipes. For example,
Pes Rempah Sup Soto
Bawang Merah 250gm
Bawang Putih 80gm
Halia 20gm
Lengkuas 20gm
and so on...
and I have 4 kinds of paste to be made. Pes Rempah Sup, Pes Nasi Kenduri, Pes Rendang, and Pes Masak Merah. Also, the ingredients for my added menu such as Agar-agar Gula Melaka, and Baked mac&cheese. Took me two good hours to actually godek-godek the dapur to confirm what to buy and what not-to-buy.
Tuesday
I went groceries shopping. Honestly, I have never shopped a full cart groceries and it was HEAVY. Mana tak heavy, I bought 5 ekor ayam, with 3kg added chicken breast, 3kg minced meat, 5kg potatoes, 3kg onions, tins of tomato puree, tomato soup, evaporated milk, cordial drinks, 4 packs of macaroni, a tray of eggs, 4 packs of nasi himpit, etc etc. I managed to push the trolley to the car, alone, and treat myself a plate of KFC for lunch. I deserved that, totally. The unloading and unpacking were also exhausting! Nasib baik ada wagon trolley kat rumah. Takdelah kena ulang alik dari bonet kereta ke dapur banyak kali! Penuh satu troli tu sampai bunyi kriuk kriuk tayar :))
*insert picture*
Wednesday
Hari mengopek bawang. Alhamdulillah, this time, I am very very very very very grateful of having Thermomix. Function gila in helping kitchenwork. Bayangkan nak mengupas bawang besar and bawang putih berkilo-kilo seorang diri? Memang tak rajinlah! Godekla cheatsheet Thermomix and in less than hour, all onions done! Peeled and washed and regrigerated! Although I wished I had started the past making on the same day, I was so malas so I just sorted the other ingredients and called the day. XD
Thursday
The real busy day. I spent one whole freaking day to make all kind of paste. Ma suruh buat semua pes dan simpan dalam peti untuk memudahkan memasak hari kejadian. Campak pes+lauk, siap! Macam senang, kan? ;D Proses buat pes itu, sejujurnya, kalau tiada kewujudan Thermomix, I would be making pes masak merah, and done for the day. That's it. lol. Alhamdulillah again (not promoting) but with the help of momix, my work is to just timbang semua bahan, blend apa yang perlu diblend(using momix), masukkan bahan lain sekaligus, biar momix masak sendiri for good 40 mins. Yes, I can kemas my dapur while it work its ass kacau the paste for me. 40mins macam lama kan? Nope, macam lipas kudung rasa dok pi mai timbang bahan for the next paste, and cuci the bowl whatnot after that, and keep on repeating sampai siap semua paste tu. Can even leave the house while it was cooking to go pickup my son at school. Balik rumah, ding dong deng dah siap another paste. I smelled like a paste that day, my husband said.
Friday
Another day. I started to feel rushed because it felt like so many things undone! Like nothing is done, actually! Had to have another groceries run in the morning because I memang plan to buy the greens like daun sup, daun bawang, ketumbar, a day before for its freshness. Sekali pegi tesco, semua tu habis! Fuh, dah kena turn the makcik bawang mode ON. Terus zoom ke kedai-kedai lain pula. Nasib baiklah jumpa semua tu di CS Grocer. Balik rumah terus rebus nasi himpit and sempat buat agar-agar gula melaka. Petang tu Asfar tolong pickup Thaqif kat sekolah so I can continue the prepping. Sempat jugalah buat ikan siakap stim limau for dinner. Lepas Isyak baru start merendang. Cit datang dengan Aliah untuk tolong buat bergedil. Two freaking hours spent baru siap menggentel bergedil okay XD We all went to sleep at nearly 1am that night.
Saturday
The D-DAY! I woke up at 6am, pray Subuh and start making sup soto. It took so damn long hours to cook wei. Ada la rasa sedikit penyesalan beli dapur style omputih sebab end up tak boleh letak two big pots in one time eventhough I have five stoves! Boleh guna satu big pot je and I started with the soup. Memang kalutlah fikir jalan nak multicook. Nasib baiklah jumpa outdoor stove yang boleh sambung ke tong gas terus tu. Cit started goreng bergedil at 8 kat luar while me and Aliah started prepping for other stuffs. Settle soup, I started cooking rice at 930 which is very late considering I have another ayam masak merah to cook! Apa pun, Alhamdulillah, Cit and Aliah were such a big help. Berhenti halfway goreng bergedil, sambung masak ayam masak merah. Sebab ada paste, memang cepat jelah siap ayam tu. Meanwhile, Asfar rearrange the furniture and carpets and went out to buy ice. Thaqif pun was giving a cooperation takde nak merengek tak tentu pasal. But very interested watching his Acit frying bergedil lol. Manage to complete cooking and serving at 11am, kemudian baru boleh naik atas bersiap. Tetamu supposedly start datang pukul 12! XD
Alhamdulillah, everything went well. Asfar's colleagues arrived first (and very punctual), then after Zuhr, my Statistics friends arrived. Miroh, Joe, Afiq, Yuni, Munir n wife. Lama tak jumpa masing-masing. Dah beranak pinak semua! Lepas tu Shak, Mira n Zati dari UPM datang with their own lil families as well. Dah lewat Zuhr sikit Toh, Tan, Bel, Noya pula sampai. Quite sad la Ika Due and their lil families tak dapat datang. It's okay, next time InshaaAllah. Lewat petang pula, Asfar's Arjuna Clan datang and diorang lepak sampai Isyak! By 9pm, all guests were gone and all of us melepet depan TV sambil makan leftovers. Mun, kawan cit also came early in the morning to lend her hand. Alhamdulillah they are all very function!XD Thank you Cit Aliah Mun. xoxo. When asked if I wanna do it all over again, atm, i can only say NO. But, it really worth the sweat. I like doing it. But ngl, it is tiring!
Till the next Cook-fest!
Assalamualaikum.