KETUPAT SOTONG FOR HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL

What has Ketupat and Hungry Ghost Festival in common?  Nothing spiritual or whatever, just that Ketupat are served at every table during those Raya open house and the Hungry Ghost Festival will be on celebrated on 30/8/2012.  So when our family have the gathering for the festival on Sunday, I decided to cook this dish for dinner.

Recipe was taken from the booklet from Flavours Magazine from Rohani Jelani.

Soak the glutinous rice overnight. Drain and steam them over high heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add mixture of santan, water sugar, and salt. Mix well and return to steam for another 20 minutes.  

Meanwhile, blend these together: serai, galangal, tumeric, dried chilies (soaked till soft), buah keras (optional), onion or shallots and garlic to a paste.

Prep and clean the sotong/squids and dust  some cornflour inside sotong and stuff the sotong with the steamed rice.

Use the toothpicks to secure - you can re-attach the head and tentacles to the sotong- I just added these parts to gravy.

Tumis-saute the chilie paste till fragrant and the oil separate.

Add the tamarind water and santan and bring to a boil. Add the stuffed sotong to the gravy and cook it for just 5-10 minutes (do not overcook as the sotong will be tough/chewy).  

At the last minute, I decided to add some of these belimbings.  My neighbour had this beautiful tree growing outside his house and every time I pass by, I salivate at these golden fruits dangling from the tree.

Adjust seasoning.

It could be better to slice them with a sharp knife when ready to serve instead of cutting with the scissors - cause the rice to squeeze out.

You can serve the sotong and the curry separately.

Aunty told me that this is a popular dish in Terengganu.  She okeyed my dish!

These are some of the dishes for the dinner: Blanched Choy Sum, Roasted Duck; Steamed Chicken, Pan Fried Prawns, Roasted Pork, Braised Mushroom with Dried Oysters, Sotong Ketupat and Vegetarian Chye (with prawns!) besides the Steamed Siakap Teochew Style and Lotus Root Soup. 

After we had enjoyed ourselves, it was time to offer prayers and food for the hungry ghosts.