In English, ‘Salai’ means smoked or smoking. It refers to the traditional Malay method of preserving & flavoring meat, fish, poultry by exposing it to smoke from burning wood or coconut husks over a long period. Daging salai - smoked beef; Ayam salai - smoked chicken; Ikan keli salai - smoked catfish. It acts as a culinary bridge, bringing heritage kampung (village) flavors, specially Negeri Sembilan-style to the rapidly developing Dengkil & Putrajaya areas. By keeping the techniques of smoking meats over open wood fires alive, it serves as an important cultural art that preserves traditional Malay-Minangkabau cooking method in the modern fast-paced urban areas. It is celebrated by food enthusiasts for offering harder-to-find, traditional labor-intensive recipes.
Salai Cookhouse in Dengkil serves as a highly accessible spot for locals, civil servants, business people and tourists to enjoy nostalgic, home-cooked-style meals. The owners & operators, officially registered by Dapur Kecil Enterprise, are Norially Ibrahim and her husband, Muzaffar Shariff popularly known locally as Mr. Pulut - the word ‘pulut’ means glutinous rice in Malay. They're widely known in Dengkil and Putrajaya areas for offering traditional Negeri Sembilan smokehouse delicacies, particularly Daging Salai Masak Lemak Cili Api. (https://www.facebook.com>salai-cookhouse-by-dapur-kecil-MrPulut)
My wife, Zarina, a former Director at the Office of Accountant General in Putrajaya has known these entrepreneurial owners of Salai Cookhouse for many years. Responding to my question, she said, “Mr. Pulut has professional international culinary experience working in Melbourne, Ho Chi Minh & Hanoi. His reputation is built entirely on mastering home-style cooking. He & his wife, Norlaily are celebrated for their expertise in cooking Negeri Sembilan's dishes."
Zarina added, “It is likely that his nickname, ‘Mr. Pulut’, stems from a background in making traditional Malay delicacies, like ‘Pulut Kuning and Pulut Inti,' before or alongside operating the smokehouse for meetings at various government offices in Putrajaya. He is an outbound tour guide for visit to Vietnam.”
Zulkifly Baharom (hajizul50@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
