Artist Finds Traditional Malay Cooking Therapeutic

By Zalina Maizan Ngah KUALA TERENGGANU (Terengganu, Malaysia), June 24 (Bernama) – Whenever Terengganu-born Elias Mohd, who has been living in The Netherlands for 30 years, becomes homesick, he will go into the kitchen to whip up some traditional kampung fare. Terengganu is a state on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia in Malaysia. The primary attractions of the state are the beautiful tropical Perhentian and Redang islands. For this professional artist who has made his mark in Europe with his paintings and ceramic sculptures, cooking food that he grew up eating evokes wonderful memories of his childhood. "It also has a therapeutic effect on me and keeps me reminded of my roots," said Elias, 59, who is now in Malaysia on a two-month break to celebrate Hari Raya with his family and relatives. Elias, who enjoys sharing his culinary adventures on his Facebook account, said previously when he spent Ramadan in The Netherlands, he would share the meals he cooked for iftar and sahur with his Dutch friends, some of whom would also fast to keep him company. "Among the traditional items I used to cook were kuih lompat tikam, tok aji serban, satar, nekbat and, of course, nasi minyak which happens to be the favourite of the people of Terengganu. "Everyday (during Ramadan) I would be thinking of all the dishes I could cook and I would also try my best to get the necessary ingredients. If some ingredients were not available locally, I would replace them with something suitable," he told Bernama, adding that sometimes he would cycle 20 kilometres to and fro to buy ingredients for his cooking at a sundry shop that sold foodstuffs from Thailand and the Arab region. INTERESTED IN COOKING SINCE YOUNG Elias has been interested in cooking since he was a teenager but he did not have the opportunity to dabble in it because in his household, the cooking chores were only handled by the women. After completing his sixth form, he moved to Kuantan in search of a temporary job. There he stayed with his stepsister and as luck would have it, she was a great cook and had even served as a chef to the Pahang Menteri Besar during the 1970s. "My late stepsister was literally brought up in the kitchen since she was 10 years old and as she grew older, she had hundreds of recipes stored in her mind. It was from her that I learnt to cook." It was only leaving his homeland that Elias truly realised how meaningful it was for one to have a passion for cooking. "I realised I could be in any part of the world and not have to go hungry (because I can cook)," he said. Elias pursued his further studies in the field of fine arts and ceramics. Since he had no scholarship, he worked part-time to pay his fees. "When I was in Lancaster, England, I held various part-time jobs, including one as an assistant cook," he recalled, adding that after he moved to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 1978, he noticed that the Dutch enjoyed Asian cuisine. There were many Chinese, Indonesian, Thai and Indian restaurants there but not a single eatery serving Malaysian fare. Soon, Elias began to prepare his own Malaysian delights and introduced them to his close friends by inviting them to his house for dinner. Although he regards cooking as a hobby, every now and then he would receive orders for Malaysian food, especially Terengganu delicacies, from his Dutch contacts. GOOD RESPONSE FOR GULAI KAWAH According to Elias, the most sought-after dishes among his friends back in The Netherlands were nasi minyak (rice cooked with ghee and various spices) and gulai kawah (chicken or beef curry cooked in a giant wok or cauldron). "Unfortunately, I can't cook these dishes in large quantities as I've very limited space in my house," he said. Elias, meanwhile, is a relatively well-known artist in Europe and he specialises in ceramic art, including sculptures. He was among the seven professional Dutch artists who were selected as official artists for the Barcelona Olympics in Spain in 1992. -- BERNAMA