This Nasi Lemak Rendang Kerang has been making my Southbound trips a little bit more interesting than they mostly are. Though R&R Nilai is just 15 minutes away from Bangi Exit, I'd seldom passed it unnoticed. Bila nampak je signboard Hentian Nilai, terus lemah longlai letihnya. Terus nak rehat. Terus rasa nak luruskan kaki. Terus nak rawat.
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And what other rawatan that could possibly work better than a plate of Nasi Lemak Rendang Kerang? Rendang kerang tau, bukan sambal kerang. Banyak bezanya di situ.
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The nasi lemak is almost biasa to me. But the rendang kerang, that's the culprit.
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Truthfully though, I don't know if it's really that green rendang, or is it just me and my memory of it back when I was a child.(Aha, yeah. Here comes the 'memory' part.)
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Ummi used to make it with nasi impit and she'd sell those at Kedai Salam, a grocery store at Lorong Dua Kampung Jana Baru Kamunting. We lived there. I grew up there. All memories of my childhood began there.
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She'd pack the rendang kerang in plastics and put them together with the rice cubes. I could still see her packing them in the kitchen of our tiny house, I could still smell the rendang.
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Once in a while now I would make them for Eid. It's been a dish for celebration. And now since Ummi's passing, we have not thought of rendang kerang, without ever thinking of her and comparing it to hers.
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But it's funny though. No matter how similar the rendang looks and tastes, it will never have that 'it' and I don't even know what IT is!
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I guess we can always cherish the past, reminiscing and imitating it as best as we possibly thought we could.
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We just can never repeat it.
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Kan.
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