Tuesday, October 07, 2008

The Finale of the Vegetarian Festival

Yesterday was the last day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival and also marks the finale to the nine days ritual of fasting observed by the Buddhists and Taoists everywhere.
The Penangites believe that it will always rain during this period of 9 days in conjunction with the festival and particularly on the last day.
The rain will start early in the afternoon on the last day; before the voyage of the sending the Nine Emperor Gods to the sea.
The rain is meant to 'cleanse' the road for the journey which will take place from the Burmah Road temple to the jetty area, located near the Weld Quay where the Nine Emperor Gods will be worshipped and bade farewell by the devotees.

Typically the vegetarian diet will be observed during this period for 1, 3, or 9 days as the individual pleases.
The common ones would be the first 3 days or the last 3 days, or some just fast for 9 days in a whole but the winner will definitely be the last day, where everyone is almost a Vegetarian on that day of the grand finale.

Since yesterday was the last day, I also had the opportunity to observe some home-cooked vegetarian food by a generous and kind-hearted neighbor (God bless her soul) who offered to cook extra for Auntie.

Braised bean curd sheets with sweet peas, mushrooms
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It was plain but simply tasty, even for a person who doesn't fancy beancurd sheets that much on a regular basis:)
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Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com
Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com

Another simple combination of my favorite vegetables; cauliflowers, broccolis, mushrooms, carrots and sweet corn in stir-fried style
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This dish has never failed to have a place in my heart:)
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Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com

Roasted vegetarian duck
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There were 2 variants in this particular dish; one was made from the bean curd sheets and the other was of gluten-based.
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The key to this is actually never to put too much oil as the bean curd sheets will smell stale of OD on oil and also the taste of oil oozing when you put it into your mouth is not pretty!
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Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com

And throw in some spice, the Vegetarian mutton curry cooked with potatoes.
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Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com

There were some Vegetarian Sar Hor Fun which was ordered from a vegetarian restaurant along Burma Road
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Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com
The Sar Hor Fun composed of the thicker version of the flat rice noodles braised with rice vermicelli which was pre-fried before pouring the thick soup broth over it.
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As for desserts/appetizers/light snack - whatever you call it, Auntie even bought some Vegetarian cakes (Chai Kueh) for everyone to savor on
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Not too oily eh?
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I have seen Chai Kueh which overflows with oil sometimes *shudders*
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A generous filling of mengkuang and mock shrimps
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Hosted by RockYouPhotos.com

Goodbye, festival of the Nine Emperor Gods...and we will see you again next year:)

19 comments:

  1. christy, most of the pictures in a roll they look the same. You want us to spot the different?

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  2. I luuurrvvvvee vegetarian roast duck almost as much as the real thing. Ironically they cost as much too.

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  3. Anonymous9:13 PM

    the chai kueh looks yummy.

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  4. so remind me of my favourite dish -- zai char siu~

    yummy!

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  5. Not really a fan of vegetarian food as they are oily. Hehe... Btw, done your tag d. hehe...

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  6. I only like vegetarian roast duck, beancurd sheet version. So yummy and flavourful. Don't quite like mock meat as I prefer fresh veggies if i opt for vegetarian dish. Ahh..no wonder always rain, distrupt my fishing plan. Hehe.

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  7. Anonymous1:48 AM

    the photos of the mutton curry really got to me! man...did it look good ;) hope u had a gd festival. x

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  8. Steven, I like doing that...hehe, they turned out nice and I couldn't decide which is best...so put all in lor...
    Yeah, spot the difference...there's actually a little diff...hehe
    Hint: zooming factor, and different sides of the food:p

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  9. tummythoz, yeah...exactly!!
    I wonder why they always charge the vegetarian stuffs the same price as the real thing!
    Bummer!

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  10. Hie samyeap, it's not bad but I find the skin too thick though:p

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  11. --kaiba--, yeayyy...give me a five....zai char siu is nice....i will share some pics on my fave zai char siu next time...it totally rocks!!~

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  12. cutie, I love vegetarian...it's not oily....you can refer to my blog for nice vegan eats...hehehe, coz i am a freak for oily stuffs, can't stand them!;)

    Yeay...I will read your blog on the tag...hehehe;)

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  13. precious pea, hahaha...that means you are a big fan of bean curd sheets lar!!~:D
    Hahaha...I'm not too sure about the rain, but seems it's really attributed to the festival as the older generation speculated lar:)

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  14. diva, that means you love curry and spicy vegetarian yea?:D
    Hahaha....oh yea, the festival was fascinating, boy, am I going to miss the unique spread of food:D

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  15. yum! i love beancurd sheets! i just ate a whole bowl this morning at a pan mee shop! lol

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  16. a few of my colleagues also did tat.... ^_^

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  17. hehehe lingzie...all full of beancurd sheets? WOW!!!~

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  18. ling239, and did you join in the gang as well? It's fun...yeayyy!~:D

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  19. I joined the crowd too on the last day...but just fo fun, as I really like vegetarian dish.

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