My days of growing up in Kuching, Sarawak I only ever known cangkuk manis or mani chai cooked 3 ways. In Pan Mee soup, fry with eggs and masak lemak like this. I have seen people adding to BiHoon goreng (fry vermicelli) etc but that’s individual prerogative I believe, not traditional but I can stand to be corrected of course.

I was lucky that a friend shared half her pumpkin with me but boy was it tough to slice. I was so worried that I would cut my fingers. Very stressful. Next time I will ask her to please slice for me too. – kekekekeke I sliced and freeze them waiting and waiting for fresh mani chai. Luckily I found them yesterday at my local Asian shop! I was so happy. Finally I can cook Mani Chai masak lemak.

My mother often refers to this vegetable as Lakian Chai. We eat it quite often including Midin. When we eat outside, if mother believes we are heaty then she would order mani chai and if not we would have Midin goreng belacan. Ah…..those were the days. This is a super easy dish to cook.

Firstly, fry the shallots, remove and keep aside. Do the same with the dried anchovies (ikan bilis). Then using the flavoured oil add in mince onions, lemon grass, garlic and fry.

Secondly, add in the turmeric, pumpkin, chicken stock cube, coconut milk, sliced red chillies or bird eyes chilies and simmer.

Lastly, bring to boil and simmer till your pumpkin has soften. Taste, season, heat off and add in your mani chai. After a good stir topped with the crispy shallots and anchovies. Serve hot.

‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’ as a youngster in Malaysia, towards the early evening I would be so happy and excited to hear the ‘roti man’ bell a ringing. This means I can get either one or the other snacks which I simply love. Carefree days.

First I will check for Masala vadai which is not often available as always sold out! Then the second thing I would have, would be the ice cream roti aka ice cream in sweet soft Asian bread.

Recently a friend of mine have bought me some very nice masala vadai and hubby and I were unashamedly gorging on them. It has been a long, long time since we have last eaten. I wanted to ask my friend to help me buy some more but hubby said he preferred to eat mine.

Luckily while tidying our Harry Potter’s room I found a 500g packet of Chana dal! It also so happened that tomorrow is Deepavali so I decided to make Masala Vadai today. As quite a few people have asked for recipe, I am typing it out.

However it is not the recipe that matters most but the TIPs. So here’s are the few TIPs from my experiences.

TIP – Nice vadais are those that is not too finely blended. So do not grind your Chana dal too finely. Hence I always saved a bit unground, grind half roughly and grind the other half finer.

TIP – I love my food to be colourful as they look so much better ascetically. So add in your red chilli, green chilli and curry leaves. You can also add some mint. Just roughly chop them.

TIP – Your mixture should bind together, not tightly but just hanging on. This is because of the minced onions that has a bit of juice. Do NOT be tempted to add any water.

TIP – you can roughly shaped them like me and then touch-up the shape just before frying. Shape into a ball then lightly press down with both your palms.

TIP – Thinner vadai are crispier so press down a bit like a flying saucer.

TIP – Use medium heat to fry the vadai, NOT high heat. You do not want the vadai to brown before the middle is cooked.