Cooking Glutinous Rice (Pulut)

I loved 'pulut' as a child. In fact everyone in the family loved 'pulut'. We, Northerners eat 'pulut' for breakfast, 'pulut' with durians and 'ketupat pulut' during festivals and feasts.Nowadays, I have to go slow on the 'pulut' due to health reasons. I do not cook sweet dishes, cakes or biscuits anymore because there is no demand as the children are all away from home.

When my children were small, I used to cook a lot of pulut dishes. As I had 'inherited' my late Mother -in -law's steamer, I had experimented a lot of steaming recipes with it before I graduated to a larger steamer. The steamer has remained in my home ever since.

We enjoyed 'pulut serimuka', a steamed dessert with creamy pulut as the bottom layer and a sweet green custard on top.Sometimes I adapted it with a top layer made from yellow corn custard instead of the green screw pine flavour. I also made 'pulut pisang ' by using half a banana as filling and then wrapping it in banana leaves before steaming it, just like my own Mum used to do. For a savoury 'pulut', I remember making 'pulut panggang' ('pulut' with a mild spicy hot filling consisting of salted dried shrimp and coconut wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over charcoal or cooked in an oven)  for my daughter's Canteen Day at school. We would sell the 'pulut panggang' and donate the entire takings to the school.

The latest 'pulut' was the 'pulut kuning' I cooked during my second daughter's engagement in August 2009.

My eldest daughter, Nurul had been trying to cook 'pulut' but sometimes, it turned sticky or soggy. You see, 'pulut' rice has more water compared to normal rice. To cook 'pulut' without turning soggy, you need to fill the water or coconut milk up to the level of the rice, before you steam it. Please note that when cooking normal rice, the volume of water is equal or slightly more than the volume of rice. But in the case of pulut, the water volume is less. I have successfully made 'lopis' which I shared with my neighbour; as you make nasi impit, by adjusting the the volume of rice placed in a small cylindrical plastic bag. {'Lopis' is another 'pulut' dish eaten with sweet gula melaka (palm sugar) and scraped coconut}.

Perhaps the traditional method of preparing normal 'pulut', or 'pulut kuning' (yellow glutinous rice or 'nasi kunyit' as popularly known in my home State), is to presoak it in cold water overnight  in a covered pot and adding a few pieces of tamarind (asam keping). In this method, the rice will definitely not be soggy. You add enough turmeric powder to the water to colour the rice when you want to cook 'nasi kunyit'. I do not suggest you use a plastic bowl for fear of staining it yellow with the turmeric. Otherwise, if you want the normal 'pulut', you omit the turmeric powder.

 Steaming the Rice

Fill the lower part of the steamer with cold water and place it on the cooking stove. Light the fire to heat the water. Meanwhile, cut a piece of banana leaf, wipe it clean and place it in the upper steamer. You can use a fine wire meshed strainer if you cannot find any banana leaves.Using this method would ensure that the rice is evenly cooked.

Drain the 'pulut rice' and place it on the banana leaf or the metal strainer in the upper steamer. Cook for about 15 minutes to half an hour depending on the amount of rice being cooked. When the rice is cooked, add salted coconut milk, a little at a time and stir and mix well to ensure that the coconut milk is evenly applied. Continue steaming for a few more minutes. Add more coconut milk if the rice appears dry.

I hope this tips are enough for Nurul to prepare her 'pulut' when she wants to. I will try to post specific recipes from my recipe book later. Meanwhile, why not try this rolled glutinous rice with rendang?

Time to Exercise

All sorts of goodies

Home cooked Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaves

Desserts





corn fritters with shrimps in the background and banana chips in front.



In Malaysia, like everywhere else, Muslims fast in the whole month of Ramadhan. When Ramadhan ends , Muslims rejoice when Syawal begins. In most parts of the world, Eidul Fitr is celebrated for only one day and at most 2 days of Syawal; but in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur, Eid goes on for another whole month. More often than not, Syawal means putting back the weight you lost in Ramadhan!Now that Syawal has left us, it is time to get back on track. By track I mean the jogging track..or the treadmill for some.

Ikmal trying to compensate for the food he has consumed

My greatgrandparents

My maternal great grandparents: Hj Mohd Zainuddin Mohd Senawi & Hjh Pok Rafeah binti Ishak

The pictures on the wall in my greatgrandparents' home I visited recently, make me want to dedicate my present blog post to them. I do not have pictures taken with them but certain memories of them linger in my mind.

My great grandfather was a very friendly man who loves to joke with his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.He was soft spoken and I never heard him shout at anyone.He lived to a grand age of 106 when he passed away  of old age in 1984. He was the oldest retired government pensioner at the time of his death.

My greatgrandfather never rode a bicycle, nor a motor cycle nor take the bus. His two legs took him wherever he wanted to go; to the mosque  which was about 3km from his house and to our house which was about 6 km away. I remember every Friday he would be knocking on our door early in the morning after he has visited his father's and brother's graves which were behind our house.

Greatgrandfather liked to tease me when I wore trousers when I visited him. In those days, only boys wore trousers!

When I was a little girl, he must have been over 80 years old. I remember him sweeping the garden of fallen leaves and burning  them.Open burning wasn't an issue then.I didn't see him then as an old man because he was very active.

His daily diet consisted of mutton soup with bread. He did not take rice but loved the 'roti jala' (sort of meshed pancake) eaten with curry. I also remember him eating 'maa'jun' (made from spices) to maintain his health.

Greatgrandfather used to shave his head. That was long before the current trend when young men would shave their heads. I remember how he loved to lie on my lap knowing how ticklish I would be.

Hj Mohd Zainuddin had 13 children with his one wife, Pok Rafeah. My grandmother was the eldest. He married her off to his brother's son and they in turn had 11 children, of whom my mother was the eldest.

The day I left to further my studies in the UK he was there to pray for my safety during my journey overseas. He lived to see his great-great granddaughters (piut) -my two elder daughters- before he died.

My great grandmother was a very fair woman while her husband was very dark. Whenever I visited, I used to play with her 'gobek'. The 'gobek' was a tool used to blend the betel nut, tobacco and lime (kapur) before being folded in the betel leaf and chewed. It was normal for old ladies to chew betel leaves in those days. Since my grandmother did not carry on with this tradition, I enjoyed playing with the gobek everytime I visited my greatgrandparents. I only pounded and chewed the betel nut, though, as I did not like to get my teeth all red from chewing the whole concoction.

The day I started school, I went to school from my great grandparents' house and not from my grandmother's house where I lived. I remember my greatgrandma saying, 'you will study hard and be as clever as your granduncle', her youngest child; who went to England and graduated as a lawyer at the age of 21.

Greatgrandma was the one who called the shots when I wanted to get married in 1977. I was the first 'cicit' (greatgrandchild) to do so. The term used was 'melangkah bendul' as I was getting married before my elder sister.It created quite a fuss then. After the 'akad nikah' (solemnization of marriage vows) my great grandma said, ' I am relieved now that you have someone to look after you in the land far away from us all' I was relieved too that she had blessed my marriage.

Greatgrandma passed away in May 1979 before I finished my studies in the summer of 1979. She missed seeing her first great-greatgranddaughter by only a few months. 

My only regret was that I was too busy that I did not visit her on the last day before I returned to England to continue my studies after my wedding. When I returned 2 years later, she was gone. Nowadays, I make it a point to try to visit old folks especially  those whose health are failing and seek their forgiveness before it was too late.

 AlFatihah for my 'Tok Nek Wan and Tok Nek Pok'. May Allah place their souls among the righteous and among those whom He loves.

The GM Diet

The GM diet is nothing new but its effectiveness cannot be disputed. I have personally tried it without much problems. You can google it and find that what I am putting here is not an original creation.I have adapted the information from various sources.

 

 

The GM Diet was formulated for the employees of the US giant motor company, GM Motors Inc as a field test conducted by the Johns Hopkins Research Centre in 1985. The project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

 

This programme works because it does not involve expensive diet concoctions but just every day food you normally buy at the grocers.This program targets a weight loss of 4.5 to 7 kg per week. Its detoxifying effects also improve your attitudes and emotions.

 

The effectiveness of this seven day plan is that the food eaten burn more calories from the body than they give to the body in terms of caloric value.

 

This plan is safe and can be used as often as you like without any fear of complications.After seven days you will begin to feel lighter because you will be lighter by at least 4.5 kg. You will have a lot of energy and would feel more cheerful.

 

For those of you who prefer to read on instead of googling for more information, written below is the seven day program. Each and every day you will have to eat a specific type of food as prescribed. During these first seven days you must abstain from all alcohol. As plain clean water is a natural detox agent, you must drink 10 glasses of water each day.

 

Day One: You could eat any fruit except bananas. Your first day will consist of all the fruits you want. However melons should be the fruit of choice and lots of melons, especially watermelons, are recommended on the first day. If you consume melons only, your chances of losing 1.4 kg on first day are very good.

 

Reason: Your system is being prepared for the next course of the programme. Fresh fruits is the only source of food on this day. As fruits are nature's perfect food, they are able to sustain life by themselves.

 

Day Two: It is an all vegetable day. You are encouraged to eat all the raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the amount or type. For complex carbohydrate, you should start day two with a large baked potato for breakfast, topped with a little butter.

 

Reason: Day Two starts with a fix of complex carbohydrates coupled with an oil dose to provide the morning with energy and balance. The rest of day two consists of vegetables, cooked or raw; which are virtually calorie free and provide the needed fibre and essential nutrients.

 

Day Three: You could take a mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. You can have any amount and any quantity. However, no bananas and potatoes are allowed for now.

 

Reason: Your source of carbohydrates are only from the fruits. Your system is now prepared to start burning excess pounds. You will still have cravings which should start to diminish by day four.

 

Day Four: In Day Four you can have bananas and milk. You can eat as many as eight bananas and drink three glasses of milk. This can be combined with a soup which may be eaten in limited quantities.

 

Reason: Even though bananas, milk and soup seem very incompatible and least desirable, you probably will not eat all the bananas allowed. But they are there for the potassium you have lost and the sodium you may have missed the past three days. You will notice a definite loss of desire for sweets. You will be surprised to see how easy this day will go.

 

Day Five: You can eat small pieces of chicken or fish and tomatoes as salad. On day five you must increase your water intake, drinking up to 12 glasses of water. This is to cleanse your system of the uric acid you will be producing. Vegetarians can have one cup of rice instead of chicken.

 

Reason: The Chicken/Fish is for iron and proteins, the tomatoes are for digestion and fibre. Lots and lots of water purifies your system. You should notice colorless urine on this day.

 

Day Six: You may eat an unlimited amount of chicken/fish and vegetables. Vegetarians can have one cup of rice along with all the vegetables they can eat.

 

Reason: It is similar to day five, you will get iron and proteins from Chicken/Fish, vitamins and fibre from vegetables. By now your system is in a total weight loss inclination. There should be a noticeable difference in the way you look today, compared to day one.

 

Day Seven: Your food intake will consist of brown rice, fruit juices and all the vegetables you can consume.

 

Reason: You have finished off the program like an icing on the cake, except much healthier. You have your system under control and your body will feel much lighter due to the detox process you went through.

 

G.M.'S Wonder Soup

 

The following soup is intended as a supplement to your diet. It can be eaten any time of the day in virtually unlimited quantities. You are encouraged to consume large quantities of this soup.

 

1 litre Water, 6 Large Onions, 2 Green Peppers, Whole Tomatoes (fresh or canned), 1 Head Cabbage, 1 Bunch Celery, Onion Soup Mix, Herbs and Flavouring as desired.

 

Additional Comments

 

Vegetables as may be taken in the form of a salad if desired. No dressing except malt, white or wine vinegar, squeezed lemon, garlic, herbs. No more than one tea spoon of oil.

 

WONDER SOUP  can be eaten in unlimited quantities. This soup is a supplement while you are on the program and you should enjoy it. You may omit vegetables you don't like and substitute vegetables according to your taste. You may add any vegetables you like: asparagus, peas, corn, turnips, green beans, cauliflower, etc.  .Not everyone likes cabbage, green peppers, celery etc. Try to stay away from beans (lima, pinto, kidney, etc.), however, because they tend to be high in calories even though they are very good for you.

 

Beverages you may consume while on the programme:

 

•  Water (flavoured with lemon/lime if desired).
•  Club Soda is OK without sugar.
•  Black Coffee. No cream or cream substitute. No sugar or sweetness.
•  Black Tea - Herb or Leaf.
•  Absolutely nothing else except the fruit juices which are part of day seven. No fruit juices before day seven

 

Advantages of GM diet:

 

• It is very beneficial for a short term.
• It has no side effects.
• It is very flexible.
• Most of the foods recommended in the diet are unprocessed and natural.
• This diet is not as time-consuming and expensive as some of the other popular diets.

Disadvantages of GM diet:

 

• Too many restrictions on food.
• Cannot be continued in the long run.
• The diet, by default, cuts out many valuable nutrients

 

The General Motors diet allows you to work things on your own; you can even stop for a while and continue again once you are ready to pass the walk of this diet. This GM diet is worth trying, who knows, this might actually work for you. This diet program is not harmful. In fact, it definitely gives you the path to a healthy lifestyle. You can do this any time, any place you want to.

 

There is no hard and fast rule that our body will lose 4.5 to 5.5 kg within a week. Sometimes our body may take time to adjust to the new pattern of a diet program especially in the initial stages. You need to be patient and have a positive attitude while going through this program. There is no need to worry. Even if this program did not help you in losing weight, at least it helped your body to detoxify the unwanted chemicals and toxins. Hence work according to the instructions given and wait for the results.

My experience with 'Nasi Impit'

Nasi Impit



Lontong

 Nasi impit and lontong are basically the same. They differ only in the manner they are made. I would presume the lontong was created by the Javanese using banana leaves to roll and compress the cooked rice instead of cooking in coconut leaves as done traditionally by the Malays. When it is cooked in packets of woven coconut leaves it is called ‘ketupat’. Traditional lontong comes wrapped in banana leaves in cylindrical shapes and are cut across in small pieces before they are eaten.


In this modern age, most of us do not know, (that includes me) how to weave the coconut leaves for making ketupat. It doesn’t help that we used another type of leaves known as the ‘daun palas’ to make our own version of ketupat using glutinous rice.

It did not surprise me when my sons found difficulty trying to make their own ‘nasi impit’ recently for ‘Eid’. You see Ikmal (in Bangalore, India) and Afif (in Sheffield, England) found that they had to prepare their own Eid meal as most of their friends had returned to Malaysia for the Eid celebrations. I remember my Mum has made the ‘nasi impit’ by cooking the rice in water, 3 to 4 times the volume of the rice. The cooked rice is then packed and wrapped while still hot in banana leaves, and then by the newspaper. The wrapped rice is compressed by placing it under the ‘batu giling’.

Batu Giling-Manual Spice Grinder

 (The latter was a sort of manual spice grinder consisting of a thick bed of oblong or rectangular carved river stone coupled with another stone used as a roller. It is the bigger stone that was placed on the wrapped rice).

During my early days as a student in England, being uncreative then, and trying to emulate my Mum’s method, I had used thick books to compress the cooked rice.

'Ready to Cook Mini Rice Cubes'

When the first ‘ready to make ketupat ‘were sold in the supermarkets, I bought a packet as a sample. I then tried to make my own version by placing the washed rice in a plastic bag and pricking small holes around it. After many trials and discouraging remarks from my husband I got the formula right and am now quite confident in making the plastic wrapped ‘ketupat’. In order to save on cooking gas, I soak the rice after placing in the pricked plastic bags for about 2 to 3 hours prior to cooking. Nowadays I add screw pine (pandan) leaves to give a little aroma to the 'ketupat'.

One has to be careful when using plastics in cooking as the plastics can leach and is said to be carcinogenic; though there are disputes on this. The type of plastic that is recommended is made from polyethylene. A thick version is used as the thinner ones will melt on heating. Other types of plastic which contains nitrates, carbonates, chlorates, styrene, etc are not recommended as they may produce poisonous substances when hot.

There is another way to prepare the ‘nasi impit’. This does not involve cooking in plastic bags. You only need to cook the washed rice in a rice cooker with a lot more water (3 to 4 times the volume of rice).Too little water makes it like normal rice and too much would make porridge out of it. Afif can attest to that!

After the rice is cooked, normally after about 2 hours, it is placed in a square dish and compressed using a spatula. The top is then covered with a thick plastic sheet and the rice is packed in using a clean tea- towel. You can place a heavy object on top and place the rice dish in the refrigerator. When overseas, it is better still if you can find a plastic bag which has an interlocking zipper. You can then place the cooked rice in it, prick the bag to make small holes and zip it; and voila, ‘nasi impit’ is so much easier to make.

You are reminded that it is important that you cool the rice first before you cut it into cubes with a sharp knife. Cutting it while still hot will spoil it and may break it to pieces.

Nasi Impit-Ready to Serve with a Variety of Gravies and Soups.



Nasi impit is served with soto soup, satay and satay sauce (or kuah kacang),kuah lodeh and rendang
See my earlier recipe for soto

See my earlier recipe for  nasi impit and kuah kacang (satay sauce)
See my earlier recipe for sayur lodeh
See my earlier recipe for rendang

Lemon Grass Tea

As usual I always try to plant lemon grass, turmeric and ginger before the fasting month so that by the time Eid arrives, the plants are ready to be plucked. Normally it is difficult to get the supply of these fresh ingredients during festive periods. And if you succeed in getting them, the price is a few times more than usual.


Recently I bought a bunch of lemon grass for RM1.50. There were about 30 stalks tied in 3 plants per bundle. That was cheap. I have planted 15 stalks and keep the rest for use in my cooking.

What was left after planting

Not wanting to waste by throwing the leaves to my compost heap directly, I cut the leaves into about 5cm pieces and boiled in water. The boiling was done for about half an hour, replacing the water as it dried. The resultant tea was obtained by straining the leaves. When cool, the leaves went into my compost.

Lemon grass is extensively used as a culinary ingredient in South East Asia, especially in Malaysia and Thailand. It makes an exquisite flavor to curries and gravies as it helps to remove the fishy smell of fish and meaty smell of meat.

I have tried lemon grass tea before but never tried to make my own.

Lemon grass has a place in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for its innumerable properties.

Lemon grass tea has gained immense popularity among Westerners for its medicinal properties.

The leaves were cut into strips before placing in a pot of water.

I am told that the tea is naturally caffeine free, has anti- bacterial and anti-fungal properties; calming effect, and provides a remedy for various maladies:

Induces sleep and cures insomnia.

Prevents acne and other skin problems.


Maintains normal cholesterol levels in the body.

Lemon grass promotes digestion of food and gives relief from gastroenteritis. It is also an ideal remedy for those who have flatulence. It allows the muscles in the abdominal region to relax and release gas. Relieves nausea and severe menstrual cramps.


Detoxifies liver, pancreas, kidneys, bladder and the digestive tract. Lemon grass herb contains citral that acts as a diuretic that detoxifies the body by increasing the quantity and frequency of urination. This helps to clean the kidney, liver, pancreas, digestive tract, bladder etc and removes unwanted toxic substances through the urine.


Removal of uric acid and toxic substances from the body and lemon grass helps to lose weight.


Being a detoxifier, lemon grass contains citral that removes excess cholesterol, uric acid, toxins and fats from the body. This stimulates blood circulation throughout the body. Drinking a glass of lemon grass herbal tea everyday helps to reduce blood pressure.




Stimulates blood circulation; enhances immune system against flu, coughs and colds. Relieves fever.


Rich in citral which inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

Eases arthritic pain.

Although I drink the lemon grass tea without sugar, as I do with all my teas; you may like to add sugar as in the following recipes:

How to Make Lemon Grass Tea

Ingredients

• Clumps of lemon grass

• Water, 1 cup

• Milk, if desired

• Sugar or honey, as per taste

• Strainer

Method

• Peel the outer layer of the leaves and discard them. The outer layers will give your tea a bitter taste.

• Boil the water and add the clumps of peeled leaves to it.

• Let the water boil on a slow heat for around twenty minutes. This extracts all the essence of the leaves.

• Add the sweetener and boil it for another 5 minutes. If you want, you can add some milk at this point.

• Remove from the stove, strain it in a cup and drink it hot.

You can also serve iced lemon grass tea. Go along with the suggested lemon grass tea recipe, let it cool and serve it with ice. If you are making it iced lemon grass tea, refrain from adding milk.

Lemongrass Tea Side Effects

You are not advised to drink lemon grass tea in excess continuously. Drink for a few days intermittently. If you have been drinking lemon grass tea for 5 days, skip 5 days before you start drinking again. Consult a health practitioner if you are suffering from any ailment, before you start consuming this herbal tea. In case, you feel any side effect after drinking this tea, stop consuming it IMMEDIATELY. 

Compare the above with Amy Beh's lemon grass tea:

Ingredients


• 10 stalks lemongrass, chopped

• 3 screwpine leaves, knotted

• 1,875ml (or 7½ cups) water

• 200g rock sugar

• 1 lemon, squeezed for juice

Method

Place lemongrass in a food processor. Add 100ml water and blend into a pulpy juice. Combine the blended lemongrass with water and pandan leaves in a pot. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Strain and add rock sugar, reboil and simmer until sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice.

To serve: Pour lemongrass tea into individual glass, add a slice of lemon and serve either hot or add some ice cubes over.

Britain's Fattest Woman Dies

Obesity has found its victim. Britain's Daily Mail reported on 26th July 2010 that Britain's most obese woman has died of a heart attack.

Sharon Mevsimler was only 40 years old, stood at 5 foot tall but she weighed 45 stones. That is 630 pounds or 285.8 kg. If an average person weighs 70 kg, she was carrying the weight of 4 persons.

Sharon Mevsimler  was a junk food addict and in her final days she needed an oxygen mask because her huge body weight had taxed and impaired her heart and lungs.

The final straw came when relatives brought in fish and chips and buckets of fried chicken to satiate her food cravings.

Even though taxpayers money had been used (30,000 pounds sterling ) on a gastric bypass surgery earlier in the year, Sharon's problem was not solved because she was not cured psychologically. Had she succeeded in adopting a better mental understanding of her addiction and changed her ways, she might still be alive today.

More Child Type 2 Diabetics

 Juvenile Diabetes is normally type 1. According to Wikipedia, this is a form of diabetes mellitus that results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.The subsequent lack of insulin leads to increased blood and urine glucose.Type 1 diabetes is fatal unless treated with insulin.Type 1 treatment must be continued indefinitely in all cases.

On the other hand, diabetes mellitus type 2 – formerly non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes, normally for adults 50 years and above – is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency.The onset of this type of diabetes is more often due to obesity which is the result of bad lifestyle habits.It is often initially managed by increasing exercise and dietary modification. As the condition progresses, medications may be needed.

Long term complication from high blood sugar or hyperglycemia, include an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, amputation, and kidney failure.

Statistics pointed that Malaysia had the fourth highest number of diabetes cases in Asia, with 800,000 in 2007. The number is expected to jump to 1.3 million cases this year.


Doctors say more primary school students have been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes in the last decade.

The Registry on Diabetes in Children and Adolescents (2006-2007) showed that 56% of the 42 T2D cases involved obese individuals. The doctors found that the young diabetics were usually obese, and their condition could be traced to eating too much unhealthy food and having a sedentary lifestyle.Most obese children spend their time either in front of the television, watching cartoons; or the computer, playing games. In they are not doing the above, they may be reading comics and at the same time munching unhealthy snacks. When they eat, they love fried foods such as nuggets, fried chicken, fries, burgers,and carbonated drinks. These bad sedentary habits leads to a high blood sugar levels from a young age.

In the West, it was reported that 30% and 40% of children are overweight and overweight Malaysian children is also on the rise. The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey, conducted in 2006, showed that in Malaysia, there was a high prevalence of overweight primary school children, and over 20% of them were obese.More amd more young adults from the age of 18 to 29 are also being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Parents are guilty of teaching their children bad eating habits from young. This maybe due to the belief that it is okay since they are still young and enjoy good metabolism. They fail to appreciate that good metabolism comes only with regular physical workouts! It doesn't help if the child spents his time in front of the television or the computer or doing his loads of school work without running around with his friends.

Due to their own busy lifestyle, parents often eat at irregular hours and do not serve complete balanced meals. They tend to eat out and food that is served is often fried. It is often said that you get your diabetes from your parents due to genetic factors. This could be true only if you get diabetes at age 50, not at age 10. It is more due to the eating habits and lifestyle that has been imbued and practised
in the household that influences one health. It is not surprising that they say, "like father, like son".

More on a serious note, our future is not a promising one if our children are not healthy. Who will succeed us if our children die young or are beset by numerous health complications? This does not include the millions of tax payers money spent on treating them in public hospitals.

More Dieticians/ Nutritionists Please!

Malaysia needs more dieticians to educate society to lead a healthy lifestyle. Actually, I am more at ease with the term nutritionist campared to a dietician. A nutritionist normally has a Science degree and advocates a balanced diet on a sustainable basis. The term dietician could be a misnomer as most people's idea of going on a diet is a short term strategy that is not sustainable. Being on a short term diet means you lose weight fast and put it back on even faster when you return to your bad eating habits. 

A recent Health Ministry survey revealed that more than 43% of Malaysian adults were overweight or obese, twice the figure a decade ago. More amd more people are getting the lifestyle illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

Therefore the nutritionists have an important role to play to get people to change their eating habits and lead a healthy lifestyle. Malaysians love to eat. They eat anytime and anywhere. Eating and feasts are normal pastimes of most people.More often, the menu during feasts are either too sweet, too salty or too fatty. Nevertheless, they are enjoyed by most. It would seem to be preposturous to serve healthy food!

This is indeed a challenging task for Malaysia's current 500 dieticians. Even though the six public universities and one private university produce about 180 dietetic graduates a year, this is not enough to cater for the 26m+ population.

It was reported that 288 posts of dieticians were at the Health Ministry, 100 in the private sector, 50 in the universities and the rest on the food and sports industry.

Of the 288 posts of dieticians in the Ministry, only 226 were presently filled, and 65 of 137 government hospitals and special medical institutions had no dieticians.
In our hospitals, the current ratio is approximately one dietician to 115 beds, but the ratio for the more developed countries is one dietician to 50 beds.
The Health Ministry is filling up dieticians posts in the Health Clinics to promote and educate on dietary care and maybe stall the increase in the number of patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension in the future. The dieticians are expected to give patients the proper nutritional assessment, diet prescription, dietary advice and follow up to prevent  a lot of them from ending up with diabetic complications.

Need for more healthy Malaysians

Recently, ads on TV try to bring home the point that health is an important component of wealth generation in the country. Well, it was reported that the financial burden of the Malaysian Government to treat various non communicable diseases or NCDs for short, ran into hundreds of millions of ringgit per illness every year. The World Health Organisation definition of NCDs include cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes.NCDs are the biggest cause of death in Southeast Asia. Basically you can say NCDs are lifestyle illnesses. It is not infectious, that is it is not spread by virus nor bacteria. But bad lifestyle habits like unhealthy diets, sedentary living, and smoking are the primary cause of one third of these illnesses.Obesity alone leads to many expensive, chronic conditions (NCDs) that include high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.

The Star online on Wednesday reported that the 2006 National Health and Morbidity Survey showed that Malaysians with diabetes had increased from 8.3% in 1998 to 14.9% now, overweight adults from 16% to 29.1%, and those who are obese from 4% to 14%.


The Health Ministry are coming up with suggestions that the promotion of good lifestyle habits be incorporated into housing development schemes.The public and private sectors are thus encouraged to promote awareness to fight NCDs.

Allocating space in homes specifically for exercise and increasing police presence in parks to keep the public safe while they work out are among proposals in a Cabinet paper to reduce the number of Malaysians with diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

There could be a change in housing policies where there are more health-friendly spaces set for exercise or having police personnel at parks so people will be more encouraged to jog because they will be assured of their safety,” said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

The Minister may be too paranoid in suggesting that we have policemen manning the parks while we exercise. The police have so many things on their plate; snatch thieves, robbers and  traffic offenders, followed by white collar criminals, illegal immigants and foreign workers as well as political offenders.Now they have to take care of people who want to get a bit of fresh air! I don't think our crime rate at parks is so scary that we have to have the men in blue doing their rounds. Maybe park wardens monitoring activities at the parks while we jog and play with our children would be sufficient. We keep the police out until there are really bad hats doing harm at the parks.

Maybe there are other ways to make the people more health conscious. Giving monetary incentives is one.

To promote good health habits which leads to healthy citizens, which in turn leads to reduced health costs to the nation, the government could provide:

tax rebates for employers to provide sports and gymnasium facilities at the workplace.
tax rebates for taxpayers who enroll in private funded sports clubs and gymnasiums.
tax rebates for resident associations and private social clubs who provide the same facilities.
tax rebates for individual taxpayers to purchase exercise and sports equipment or home gymnasium equipment to play and exercise at home.

The above proposals are similar to the tax rebates already given to purchase personal computers, and books and reading materials.

The Ministry of Health has spent millions of Ringgit on health education campaigns which do not make good the amount spent compared to the effect the campaigns has on society.Perhaps giving monetary incentives will give better results.

Fish in Batter

Recently, I wanted to prepare some fish and chips but found out that I had run out of cornflour and rice flour.Although the normal recipe only uses normal wheat flour, I discovered that combining the three types of flour makes a better and crispier batter. Since I had already thawed the fish, I had no choice but to make some batter. Hence the following batter was made:

Ingredients:

(enough for 3 pieces of fish)

3 tablespoons wheat flour

1 tablespoon custard powder

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 egg

water or milk, enough to make a smooth batter.

Mix all the ingredients, adding the water or milk last. Make sure the fish is dry before dipping in the batter. Fry in a medium hot cooking oil till golden. Mine was more than golden but it was crispy not tough, just nice. Ummmmph!Best eaten with chilli sauce added with a squeeze of lemon. You may add mayonnaise if you like.

P.S:

You need to fry the chips first before you fry the fish.

Black Pepper Steak

This recipe is dedicated to my son Afif who has finished his end of year exams and is set to enjoy his first summer abroad.

Ingredients:
4 fillet steaks- 2cm thick, 150g each, trim excess fat.
2 garlic cloves-crushed
1 tablespoon coarsely grounded black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coarsely grounded white peppercorns
50g butter
1 tablespoon oil

Sauce:
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon light soya sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon beef stock granules
1/2 cup stock
1 tablespoon vinegar

Method:

Flatten the steak with a steak mallet. Spread garlic on both sides of steaks. Sprinkle and press in the grounded peppercorns into the meat and leave in a plastic container, covered and set aside for 30 minutes.
Heat butter and oil in a heavy based frying pan and cook the steaks over medium high heat for 5 minutes to seal the juices, turning once. Remove the steaks from the pan and if you want the steaks to be well done, cook them in an oven for about 10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius, turning frequently and dipping with butter now and then to prevent the steaks from drying up.

Meanwhile, stir in the combined sauce in the heated pan and bring to a low simmer until sauce thickens.

When the steaks are done, place them on serving plates with 2 steamed corn on the cob, some French fries and 2 slices of fresh tomatoes.

To serve, add a dollop of tomato sauce or chilli sauce and some mustard.

Another method


You can marinate the steaks with the garlic, peppercorns and sauce ingredients for a minimum of two hours in the fridge.Next, toss the steaks from the marinade and cook them in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes, turning frequently and dipping with butter to prevent the steaks from drying up.

The balance of the marinade is cooked as above. The serving of the steaks is also as mentioned earlier.

Kerabu Kacang Boto or Kacang Kelisa ( Angled Beans Salad)

INGREDIENTS:

Pound and mix the following in a stone mortar and pestle:
3 fresh red chillies
4 shallots
1 tablespoon salted shrimps, toasted
2.5 cm belacan (shrimp paste), toasted
some tamarind juice

Slice:
300g angled beans
2 onions
2 fresh red chillies
1 fresh green chillies

a little salt if necessary, that is if the salted shrimps and belacan are not salty enough
 a little sugar to taste
1/4 fresh coconut, grated, fried till golden and pounded (that is made into kerisik). (Nowadays you can also buy ready -made kerisik or use dessicated coconut to replace fresh coconut).

Mix all the ingredients in red font, blue font and purple font together and serve as part of accompaniments to hot boiled white rice.

To act a little oomph to you 'kerabu' you may add 1 sliced wild ginger flower (bunga kantan).
The angled beans can also be substituted with long beans. You do not need to preboil the long beans.Just cut into 2 cm strips.

Steamed Siakap in Plum Sauce

Nurul , my eldest daughter is home this week. She is on duty at the CPRC (Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre), the Ministry of Health, Putrajaya for 3 days.

While she is here, I took out the siakap (sea perch) I have had in the fridge for about 2 weeks. You see, the fish is too big to cook for 2 so I had to wait for another person to join us before I cooked it.

My son Afif loves the plum sauce eaten with steam siakap. This time Nurul helped me made some changes to my normal steam siakap. The dish was prepared as follows:

Ingredients:

Fish:

1 siakap, gutted, scaled, washed and marinated with a few squirts of Thai fish sauce and a little oyster sauce.

2.5 cm ginger root, chopped

1 onion, sliced into rings

1 stalk lemon grass, sliced

1/2 carrot, cut into strips

6 button mushrooms, sliced

Sauce:

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoon plum sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 tabsp oyster sauce

2 sprigs kafir lime leaves (daun limau purut)

2 pieces salted Chinese plum (asam boi)

Some water

Method:

Fill the steamer with water and place on heat. Place a ceramic plate or a metal dish in the steamer and before the water boils, lay the fish in it. Scatter the the other fish ingredients on the fish and steam till the fish is cooked (about 15 minutes). Turn off the heat and remove the plate of fish and set aside.

Meanwhile you can prepare the plum sauce by frying the chopped onions and garlic in the cooking oil. Add the plum sauce, oyster sauce, pepper,lemon grass and kafir lime leaves, Chinese plums and about 2 cups of water.Cook till the liquid volume is halved. This would allow the Chinese plums to integrate into the sauce. If the sauce is too salty you can add more water and/or more plum sauce.

You see the plum sauce do not need additional salt as salt is already present in the ingredients.

The plum sauce is poured on the steamed fish and you can enjoy it with rice and vegetables.

Our dinner that night also consisted of ikan pekasam (fish fermented with fried rice) and squid curry. Ummph, delicious.

Prawn and Squid Fritters

The month of May is the squid season in Terengganu. My cousin, Effy is all excited to go on a trip this weekend to 'mencandat sotong'. That is what the activity to catch squids is called in Malay. I remember going on a similar trip to Langkawi with Effy's family years ago. We did not catch a single squid as the current was too strong. We enjoyed the quality time spent with family, though. So, good luck to Effy and her parents whom I call Chak and Pak Chaq. Enjoy the trip and come back with fresh squids!

I also remember the wonderful fried fresh squids we had at Pantai Batu Buruk in Terengganu in 1988. I had never experienced such exquisite taste of squids fried in batter before that.

As I had a lot of squids in the fridge, I thought I would try a new recipe using the English 'Fish and Chips' batter as a base.

 I prepared the  'Fish and Chips' batter substituting black pepper with 1 tablespoon of chilli paste and adding 1cm cuts of fresh chives ( daun kuchai).To make the batter taste better, I added 1cm of anchovy stock cube.
  (See batter recipe in previous post; labelled under seafood, dated 2/07/2009). I let the batter stand for one hour while I did other things.

Next I washed and skin some fresh prawns and squids. The head of the squid I return to the fridge as frying them would be hazardous. Frying squids too can be dangerous as the oil would tend to spit. So you have to be extra careful when frying squids.

After heating up some cooking oil, I mixed the prawns one at a time with the batter and fried them. The squids in batter were fried last as I was afraid of the 'spitting'.

I was not able to take the photographs of my new creation as the fritters were immediately served to my hungry loved one who could not wait a moment longer.

P.S: Forgot to inform that you dip the fritters in hot chilli sauce before you eat them.Yummy!

Cancer is top Killer but many shy from being an Oncologist

Star 25052010
 Direct Quote from today's STAR newspaper:

PETALING JAYA: Many doctors shy away from taking up oncology as a specialist discipline.


But the sight of cancer patients huddled in the crowded oncology department of Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) inspired a young medical officer to specialise in the field.

“Patients had to wait long hours to see the specialist be­­cause there were so few oncologists,” recalled Dr Chong Kwang Jeat, who decided to specialise in oncology after his two-year stint in the department.

Dr Chong has written a book My Journey With Patients and now has a private practice in Malacca.

Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) senior lecturer and oncologist Dr Daniel Wong Wai Yan, 38, said the common view of oncology - that it is a depressing field - has turned away many medical students from specialising in the discipline.

“Some doctors do not like the uncertainty of not knowing whether their patients will be cured, but unfortunately this happens in oncology, especially in advanced cases.”

Dr Wong, who worked as an oncologist in Britain for eight years before returning to Malay­sia in 2008, pointed out that oncology had evolved to be an “exciting field” over the last decade.

Dr Wong said new graduates only spent half their time doing general medicine. “Only eight weeks are spent in the oncology department, and many do not train in radiotherapy because only 27 cancer centres in both private and government hospitals have the facility.”

Currently, there are only 60 oncologists in both private and public sectors and the number needs to be doubled due to the high number of cancer patients in the country.

Seventy per cent of the 50,000 newly-detected cancer patients in Malaysia each year need care from oncologists.

Limited opportunities for postgraduate training in oncology has compounded the shortage.

“In our country, we only have the Masters in Clinical Oncology programme at Universiti Malaya,” he said.

The four-year programme, which started in 2002, is modelled after the British Fellowship of the Royal College of Ra­­diologists.

“So far, 34 candidates have enrolled in the programme, and seven have graduated and are working as oncologists,” said Dr Wong, adding that 21 were still undergoing the course.

SEAFOOD, MUSHROOM AND SWEETCORN PIZZA

Makes one 30cm pizza

450g mixed cooked seafood ( such as squids, clams, mussels, white fish fillets and prawns. I don't fancy cockles mixed with the other seafood,  thus I am not  recommending that you add cockles)

Marinate the seafood for 1/2 hour with the following:

grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tabsp cooking oil
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Basic Pizza Dough Mix (see previous post)
Tomato sauce (see previous post)
6 button mushroom, sliced
1/2  cup cooked sweet corn
6 tabsp grated Parmesan cheese
basil leaves to garnish

Brush rolled pizza dough with oil and spread with tomato sauce. Bake in a preheated oven @ 240degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven , arrange the seafood on top, Add the mushroom and sweetcorn.  Sprinkle with 4 tabsp of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 7-10 minutes more, until seafood are heated through. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese, garnish with basil leaves and serve at once.

SPICY PRAWN PIZZA

Makes 2X20cm pizzas.

INGREDIENTS:

12 large shelled prawns
2 tablespoon lime juice and 3 tablespoon cooking oil-sprinkle on prawns

Combine the following ingredients to a paste:


2 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm piece fresh root ginger, finely chopped.
1/4 teaspoon powdered cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder


1 onion, finely chopped
400g can of chopped tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Basic Pizza Dough Mix (see previous post)
coarsely chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish

METHOD:

Heat the remaining oil and fry onion till brown. Add the spicy paste and fry for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, salt and remaining lime juice. Simmer for 5 minutes until thick.

Roll out the dough to 2 20cm circular pieces. Place on greased perforated pizza pans.Brush with cooking oil, spread with the tomato mixture and sprinkle with oil.

Bake the dough in a preheated oven at 240 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Arrange the prawns on top and bake for 4-5 minutes or until the prawns are heated through. Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

Unlike normal pizza, this is not a typical pizza as it  does not use any cheese. The next prawn pizza recipe will feature the normal cheesy pizza.

BARBEQUED CHICKEN PIZZA

Makes one 30cm pizza

INGREDIENTS:

350g boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 2cm pieces
175 ml barbecue sauce
2 tabsp cooking oil
1 Basic Pizza Dough mix ( see previous post)
75g Cheddar cheese, grated
100g Mozzarella cheese, grated
1 small red onion , very thinly sliced into rings
marjoram leaves, to garnish

METHOD:

Marinate the chicken with half of the barbecue sauce. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Heat the oil in a pan and stir fry the chicken for 3 minutes. Remove from pan and leave aside to cool.
Roll out the pizza dough to a 30cm circle. Transfer the rolled dough to a greased perforated pizza pan. Spread the rolled dough with the remaining barbecue sauce. Sprinkle evenly with the cheeses. Arrange the chicken and the onion rings on top, and sprinkle with a little oil.

Bake in a preheated oven at 240 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes.

Garnish with marjoram and serve immediately.

SPICY CHICKEN PIZZA

Makes one  30cm Pizza

Ingredients:
350g boneless skinless chicken, preferably from the breasts; cut into 2cm pieces
2 tabsp cooking oil
salt and freshly ground back pepper
1 Basic Pizza Dough mix (See previous post)
Chilli Oil for brushing
Tomato sauce
4 tabsp freshly chopped cilantro leaves
75g feta cheese, crumbled

Marinade:

100ml yoghourt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm piece fresh ginger root, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Cover marinade over chicken and leave in refrigerator for at least 4 hours. or overnight.
Heat the oil and stir fry the chicken for 3 minutes. Roll out the dough to a 30cm diameter circle.Transfer to a greased perforated pizza pan. Brush with chilli oil and spread with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle with 3 tabsp of the cilantro leaves. Top with the chicken, followed by the feta cheese. Drizzle with chilli oil.

Bake in a preheated oven at 240 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes. Garnish with remaining cilantro and serve immediately.

Note:

Tomato sauce for pizza (See previous post)

Chilli Oil

Mix 1 tsp chilli powder or 1-2 grounded roasted fresh chillies, with 150ml of good quality olive oil.

PEPPERONI AND MUSHROOM PIZZA

INGREDIENTS:

3 tabsp cooking oil

3 onions, thinly sliced

1 garlic glove, finely chopped

400g chopped canned plum tomatoes
1 tabsp chopped mixed dried herbs
1 tabsp tomato puree
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Basic Pizza Dough mix (see previous post)
100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
175g mozzarella cheese, grated
100g pepperoni, thinly sliced


METHOD:

Heat oil in a pan, fry onion for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, chopped tomatoes, herbs and tomato puree and season.Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Roll out the pizza dough to a 25x35 cm rectangle Transfer to a greased Swiss roll tin.Spoon the tomato mixture evenly over the dough, scatter with mushrooms. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese and arrange the pepperoni on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 240 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

(Photos taken from flickr.com)

CHICKEN PIZZA MEXICANA

INGREDIENTS:

300g boneless chicken, preferably from the breasts; cut into 2cm pieces
finely grated zest of 2 limes
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 quantity Basic Pizza Dough (see previous post)
100g mozzarella cheese, grated
75g smoked cheese, grated
75g canned red kidney beans
75g frozen sweetcorn kernels, defrosted
1 fresh chilli, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red pepper
salt and freshly ground black pepper
coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, to garnish

METHOD:

Rub chicken with lime zest and coriander seeds, then stir fry in oil for 3 minutes
Roll out the dough to 30 cm diameter. Transfer to a greased perforated pizza pan. Sprinkle with half the cheeses, then add the drained kidney beans, sweetcorn and chilli. Arrange the onion and pepper slices on top along with the chicken, season to taste and sprinkle with the balance of the cheeses.

Bake in a preheated oven @ 240 Celcius for 20 to 25 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

You can substitute the kidney beans with drained and chopped, canned pineapple cubes,if you prefer.

Tomato Sauce/Paste for Pizza Filling

Ingredients:
3 tbsp cooking oil
400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
freshly grounded black pepper

Place all ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil.
Simmer briskly for 20-25 minutes until very thick.

Pizza Anyone?

It has been quite a while since we had pizza. As it was offering a 30% discount for a certain credit card, tonight we  headed for the neighbourhood pizzahut store to try the new pizza.  Surprisingly  it tasted refreshingly good. It does not have the normal tomato flavour of pizzas.The fish also tasted different from the normal Dory they like to dish out in our local 'fish and chips'.The fish pizza consisted of fish fingers made from the Alaskan Pollock. Initially I thought it would cost a bomb but it was affordable and the price was not much different from that of the the other pizzas on sale.

When the children were in school, I used to prepare quick pizza meals for lunch. I made my own filling usually from chicken breast meat lightly cooked and mixed with mixed vegetables (diced carrots, peas, corn, beans, etc), seasoned with a little salt and pepper. The tomato base I would buy from a supermarket. Nowadays, I cannot find the pizza base anymore as that supermarket has closed. For the cheese toppings I used cheddar cheese instead of the more expensive mozarella. Instead of making my own pizza dough, I would use pita bread. I had quite forgotten about my cheap pizza recipe until recently one of my daughter's friends commented how she enjoyed my pizzas then.

For those keen to try your hand at making the pizza dough, here is the recipe:

Basic Pizza Dough

225g unbleached strong flour

1 tsp easy blend dried yeast (1/2 sachet)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp cooking oil

125-150 ml tepid water (As yeast contains living organisms, using cold water would not do any good. On the other hand, hot water will kill the yeast).

Method:

Sift the flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and water. Stir vigorously, graduallyy drawing in the flour to form a soft dough. Knead for at least 10 minutes or until the dough feels silky smooth and springy.

Place in an oiled bowl, turning once so the surface is coated. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until it has doubled in size.

If in Malaysia, I would place the dough near the window as it is a warm place. During my days in England, I would place my rising dough in a slightly warm oven (turned to minimum heat), or somewhere not to far from the room heater.

It is important not to place the dough on a very hot place as this would kill the yeast organisms and leave you with hard dough.

 If you wish to diversify your pizza dough you can vary the ingredients as below and use the same method to knead the dough.

For a rich pizza dough the ingredients are:

225g unbleached strong plain flour

1 sachet easy blend dried yeast

1 tsp salt

5 tbsp tepid water

1 large egg, beaten

4 tbsp cooking oil

Wholemeal Pizza Dough

150g strong wholemeal flour

75g unbleached strong plain flour

1 tsp easy blend dried yeast (1/2 sachet)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp cooking oil

125-150ml tepid water

That's all for today. I will teach you how to make the tomato base for your pizza in the next post. Aslo in the next few posts, I will help you prepare some yummy chicken and pepperoni pizzas at home. 

APATHY OR IGNORANCE

My children commented that my 'supposed to be a source for recipes' blog has turned into something else.Well, I feel I have enough recipes to choose from.Recipes alone could make my blog a bore.Therefore I have added comments and quotes on current affairs which I think are somewhat of interest to my readers.

Parenting and other issues are also of importance to young people. In whatever we embark to do, it is best that we gain some knowledge from the experience of others. That would make our learning curve less steep.

Today I would like to comment on my observation at the Accident and Emergency Deparment of a large hospital today. I was accompanying my husband and was sitting at the end of the ward. A young Indian man was in a bed beside another older Indian man some 3 beds away. The former tried to sit up but failed. He tried to call for help but no words came. I thought he wanted to ease himself  and couldn't get down from the bed as he was on a drip. The older Indian man's wife noticed and tried to tell the nurse. But neither the nurse nor the lady did anything to help the younger man.

One minute later, the younger man was in a fit. His arms were 'dancing' in the air. No one noticed or pretended not to notice except busybody me. I quickly walked to the nurses in front of the ward, with my husband telling me not to touch the patient; and informed them that  the patient was having fits. Only then, did a nurse rushed to the patient's bed, asking her fellow nurses what the patient's name was.

Another incident I experienced recently was in a prayer room in a shopping mall. I had just finished my dzohor prayers when I noticed that a young lady was starting to pray in the opposite direction as opposed to everybody else. I touched her shoulders and said in Malay,' You are praying in the wrong direction'. I was ignored. I nudged her shoulders again. No response. 'How come the others was not doing anything?' I silently asked myself. No, it is not alright to silently observe somebody doing something wrong. I went forward and stood in front of her on the prayer mat. Normally, it is rude to stand in front of a person who is praying to God but I had to correct her.I told her, 'The kiblat on the other side'.Only then did she stop and turn the other way and start her prayers again.

I still do not understand what made her pray in the opposite direction. But what I really can't understand why the others let her do so!

This mature woman feels that she has reached a certain age that gives her the privilege to correct what is wrong. Some people do not like to be told they are wrong. But that does not deter me. I do what I do because I CARE and I am a PERFECTIONIST, always wanting to do the right thing, the right way.

Compulsory Service for New Doctors Reduced to 2 Years with immediate effect

STAR16042010
The compulsory service period for medical practitioners has been reduced from three years to two years with immediate effect, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said this was in accordance with the longer internship training from one year to two years.

“The move to shorten the compulsory service would encourage doctors to remain in the country,” he said, adding that it would indirectly discourage a brain drain.

Liow also announced that Malay­sian doctors working overseas and who had pursued their studies abroad at their own expense were exempted from compulsory service.

“However, they must have documented clinical experience of more than 10 years,” he said at the launch of a healthy lifestyle campaign here yesterday.

Previously, Liow had announced that doctors above 45 years would get total exemption.

For those below 45 years, exemption will be given if they possess a rare sub-specialty as determined by a committee on exemption of compulsory service or if they had served in public or private universities or military hospitals for a continuous period of two years.

Safer health devices can make a difference

STAR/2010/4/16/

The article below is taken from the STAR newspaper.

 Associate professor Dr Lisa Black (pic) was infected with HIV in 1997 while attending to a patient. The accident would not have occurred if she had used a safer device.

As part of her nursing duties, she had inserted a syringe needle into the intravenous port of an advanced stage AIDS patient to draw out blood that was blocking his intravenous line.

The patient jerked and the needle with his blood came off the port and jabbed her on the left palm.

“I was terrified,” said Dr Black, 39, of the incident that occurred at a Nevada hospital.

She had repeated blood tests and found out nine months later she had been infected with HIV and Hepatitis C.

“Although my HIV infection was treated early, the viral count in my body was not detectable and my T-cell count was still good, life was never the same again,” said Black.

Her injury was 100% preventable if a safer device had been used, said Black.

Coincidentally, such a device was officially launched on the day of Dr Black’s accident.

The new device is safer as it only requires a syringe - without a needle - to be linked to the tubing port.

The hospital pays for her medical bills for life. “So far, it has paid US$1mil (RM3.4mil) over 12 years,” she said during the Safety in Healthcare Conference yesterday.

Dr Black also expressed her concern for her daughter Rebecca who is studying nursing at the University of Nevada.

“It is important we make sure that healthcare is safe for Rebecca and for everyone else’s children who works in the healthcare sector,” she said.

Head and senior infectious disease consultant at the Sungai Buloh Hospital Dr Christopher Lee said the World Health Report 2002 revealed that 2.5% of HIV cases and 40% of Hepatitis B and C cases among healthcare workers were the result of occupational exposure.

For all my children who have chosen to be in the medical line, please remember to take precautions when handling high risk patients.

A Life Wasted

Tonight I witnessed a death. This is the second time in my life that I saw someone actually breathed his last.I met this young man for the first time many years ago when he visited us during Eid with his late Mum.He was maybe two or three years old then. I remember that his Mum mentioned that he only drank plain boiled water.

His parents were divorced and later both remarried different spouses. He was an only child. After his Mum died about three years ago, this boy found himself without a base and subsequently then lost his way in life. As his father lives far away and never actually cared for him, he spent his time with either of his aged grandmothers.The poor old ladies simply were not up to it in caring for him as they treated him as an adult, assuming that he could take care of himself. Alas, someone else took him under his wings. Except that it was not for his wellbeing and advantage.He was then introduced to the world of shabu. Whatever money, his Mum left him went into the drug business. That lead to his downfall. Tonight I met his former school friends who cared about him but stopped being his friends when he started doing drugs. Tonight was too late, his organs were gone. As he was admitted to the hospital without any identification, he was first registered as an unknown. He was kept alive by the life supporting respirator and given medication to sustain him till the hospital authorities sorted out his identity with his next-of-kin. He died within 30 minutes after the doctors pull the plug.

Now, that sets me thinking and asking. Who could be held responsible when a child becomes a drug addict? Is it the parents, drug pushers,his peers ,other  family members or the boy himself for not being able to say no to what is not good for him. Is society at fault? Is the social structure too brittle that more amd more young lives are wasted. I know for sure that there is a certain graveyard in Kuala Lumpur that is reserved for unclaimed bodies of drug addicts and HIV positive corpses.

Drugs kills the body slowly but surely.Once a persons becomes an addict, he or she loses all self respect. They will do anything in order to get their daily puff. Girls would sell their bodies. Becoming pregnant outsided marriage leads to the ever increasing number of babies being abandoned or killed at birth. The boys will be lured to traffic the drugs in order to get their supply for themselves. The drug problem is the root of all evil. Snatch thieves could be drug addicts. Petty burglaries are caused by drug addicts.From petty thefts they later become murderers and robbers. When they are high on drugs, they could do anything, even murder their own parents.

The boy who died tonight was born in 1988, the same year as my son Afif. I pray that my own children will be kept safe from unhealthy elements. Stay away from nocturnal outdoor activities. They say that the underworld business thrives at night.Kids either get into trouble when there happen to be in the middle of rival gang clashes or get into trouble with the police when they fail to stop at police road blocks.

Nobody wants their children to be drug addicts. But what would you do if someone in your family becomes one?