I thought it would be a good idea to finally use one of those precious pre-mix sauces that I brought from Malaysia. Seeing how cold it is today, I thought a little spice can provide a little kind warmth.
Now I’ve always heard people wax lyrical about Brahim’s pre-mix sauces, so I bought that particular brand from Tesco back home. It wasn’t cheap, probably the most expensive one around, but oh, what the heck. If you’re gonna be living for months on end without Malaysian food, might as well go with the good stuff eh? How wrong I was.
Brahim’s rendang sauce turned out to be such a disappointment 😦 I know that I can’t be expecting the same kickass rendang my mom whips up (heck, even I make awesome rendang), but this, this was such a letdown! It tastes like curry, maybe a little semblance to fish(!!!!) curry even, but nothing like rendang! Bah, I’m so disappointed. Tipu betul!
If I had wanted curry, I would have whipped one up from scratch. Rendang is NOT curry. I repeat. They are two DIFFERENT things altogether. I think what’s lacking from Brahim’s rendang sauce is probably the serai (lemongrass) and lengkuas (galangal).
I have another rendang pack left, this one is a different brand called SingLong. This had better be more like REAL rendang! GRRRRRRR!!!!
See, I was so excited to cook that I forgot to take a picture of the packet before using it. See how I cut the whole thing open to scrape every drop of precious sauce in there. >______<
You people at Brahim’s!!! I want my money back!!
I think I have one pack of this sitting inside the kitchen drawer. Haven’t have chance to cook it yet. I will try my luck next time.
WJ: Hi. Thanks for dropping by 🙂 Do try it and let me know. Maybe it’s just me, I have high expectations of rendang, and especially products by Brahim’s.
Hi no picture take picture of the xmas tree la I want to see your xmas tree how me :p
WJ: Haven’t put up the deco yet. Soooooon.
Makcik, not that I am a chef myself. I too was down in winter and decided on Brahim’s rendang. Trick to it is – add finely sliced daun limau purut and make sure u balance the asam n gula. If u think the lengkuas is not enuff, yr guess is probably right too. Dun forget the santan – it aint cool whn the santan is not enuf. Did u add kerisik? omg…we do actually sound like makcik2 dapur do we?
WJ: Oi makcik, the Brahims spposed to just add water la, santan all got already. Ayo, where laaaa to find daun limau purut and kerisik in this (*%#()@*%#( country! 😛 😀
That’s why yr rendang became tak sedap. U cant just add water woman…seriously…mama’s rendang back home not equal to Brahim’s. You must modify. If no kerisik then add santan. No Asian grocery ka over thr? What laa…
WJ: Ayo, cannot add santan already lah woman! It was already too oily. Can even smell the santan smell. Asian grocery store??? Hahahah, I wish!!!! The nearest one is an hour away in a different town, and that too is a no-driving in zone. So, if I buy lots of stuff (which I SO did) from there, have to LUG everything to the car, which is usually parked like 15 minutes away. Can pengsan ok?
i feel angry too..thinking of all the stuff we had to take out just because of the Brahims mix!!!it was one of the selected items that got through the MANY stages of screening!!!:( should have stuffed ur bag with more bak kut teh mix eh?!
WJ: I shd have taken the kei chee seeds, but that one was too heavy. And also the hoisin sauce. BKT mix I still got a lot more. 😛
My aunt used to being limau purut leaves into Oz when it was allowed years ago. Then she freezes them. They can tahan quite long like that. If allowed into Italy, you could try that next. 🙂
WJ: Yea, I’ll try that next time. Oz has REALLY strict regulations. Not Italy though. Last year I even managed to smuggle a whole ikan masin into London 😀 Was mighty scared I’d get caught especially if they had sniffer dogs and all 😛 I told my mum about the daun limau purut thing, and she was bragging about how her limau purut tree is thriving in the balcony of our apartment and even bearing fruit >___<
[…] my rant about the Brahim’s sauce here? Well, I was so mad I shot off an email to them complaining about the way the rendang tasted. Yea, […]
The last time I used my Brahims sauce I topped it up with my (way expired) Adabi ‘kari rendang’ (the one in small packet) – and it tastes really nice! For me…beggars can’t be chosers laa…I’m no Delia Smith (if you’re in UK you’ll know who she is) when it comes to cooking so the Brahim sauces plus a bit of ingenuity is a God sent! Cheerio…
WJ: Heheh, I’ve learnt that, in order to satisfy my cravings, I gotta whip them up myself 😉 I recently tried the SingLong Rendang sauce, and it’s not too bad. It has a curry texture to it, not thick, but taste wise, maybe even better than Brahim’s. The HB preferred Brahims though.
I made a simple ayam masak kicap (I only used ayam + adabi kicap manis + sliced ginger + sedikit air, takde bawang apa semua). I thought the sauce was a too dilute so I added a spoonful of the Brahim’s Kuah Rendang. Not bad lar for my taste since I am a lazy cook 😛
WJ: Heheh, ayam masak kicap tastes awesome with some star anise, cloves and cinnamon. Try it 😉