Get the most talented penebar to tebar the roti ala Roti Terbang scene from one of the Senario movies. The kawaii Japanese girls keep saying "Sugoi!" - and some even requested to give tebar-menebar a try.. Err, even I don't know how to do it myself, but yes, it was funny seeing one enthusiastic girl in particular, giving it a try while her friend captured the moment on her keitai
Ok, minna san, this is how we fold the murtabak to ensure the gravy remains inside when it's fried
Then we fried them on the large teppan. Oh, there's no QC on our products - hence the different sizes, thickness and tastes (the best ones are with the earlier gravy with less egg) but they are all sold at the same price of 300 yen each
The Japanese were also impressed with the roti jala making process. They never thought that some simple mixture of flour and salt could produce such delicious delicacy. Roti jala was sold at 250 yen for 3 pieces.
The one in charge of wrapping and delivering to the customers must be able to thank the customers and apologize profusely for their long wait in nihon-go. Yes, the murtabak and roti jala comes with curry and chopsticks
Murtabak is not authentic without pickled onions (in Malaysia - we normally use shallots - but shallots are very expensive in Tokyo - so, yes, we compromised on that)
Don't forget the intriguing poster - "Malaysian food - how is it like?"
Pictures are courtesy of Faizly, taken during Tokodai's (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Koudasai last Saturday, 22 October 2005. More pictures could be found here.
And here is the kakak (me!) from Waseda Daigaku who helped out with packaging the curry, seen with the three kohais- Hafiz, Fahmi and Faizly, from Komaba International House.
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The business was good on Saturday, but it was great on Sunday. They managed to sell about 160 pieces of murtabak on Saturday and 250 pieces on Sunday - collecting about 50,000 yen on the first day of business and almost doubled it to 90,000 yen on the second day. Apparently, the Japanese didn't mind queuing up under rain or shine to get a taste of the exotic looking stuff.
Personally, I had fun hanging around with Malaysians, and had our iftar with delicious nasi lemak prepared by Yani, Wong's Kelantanese wife.
It felt good to be able to pray at a proper surau of some sort at Tokodai. I met a woman with a 10-month old son who really reminded me of Huzaifah. Not only they share the same initials (Muhammad Azka Hafeez - Muhammad Azmi Huzaifah - both are MAH), even their bald spots are similar. Azka has less hair at certain spot at the back of his head, similar to areas where Huzaifah is still bald too. While normally I only have a chance to look and smile at other babies, this time the mother allowed me to play with her son for a while, and yes, it felt so good holding a baby, especially so when he reminds you so much of your own son.
Another reason to rejoice? I got tempe! I'm planning to cook some simple Raya dishes for me, the 3 kohais and some friends at the dorm. Tempe is of course, an essential ingredient of kuah lodeh. The tempe was sold to me by Azka's mother - she got 3 pieces and advised me to get them from the Indonesian stall which was selling tempe goreng and satay. But when I went there, I was told that uncooked tempe was not for sale - despite witnessing one Indonesian lady carrying 5 pieces of tempe right in front of the stall. So, when I met the kind lady at the surau again during Maghrib, I told her that I did not manage to buy the tempe at the Indonesian stall. She immediately offered to sell her own tempe - but because they cost 350 yen each and I have yet to receive my monthly allowance, I only bought one. That kind lady - not only she gave me great joy by allowing me to play with her son, she even let me returned home with the best purchase of the week - the tempe for kuah lodeh. May Allah bless her!
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