Summer is for Barbecues

Not that Brunei has summers. But anyway... The past two nights, I've been to two BBQs held by two seperate groups. Ka Anum's in-laws invited us to one of their family BBQ's. Unlike most BBQs, this was a relatively formal event, mostly because we were still getting to know each other, I guess.

Ka Anum had been raving about the chicken, ever since we got invited, so my expectations for the chicken was high, hehe ;) When we got there, the chicken was already in a dish (not straight from the BBQ grill, which I thought was a pity) but that did not detract from the fact that it was absolutely yummy. Apparently, they had marinated it for FOUR days! Count it, F-O-U-R! The maximum I ever marinate anything is only 1 day. According to Ka Anum, they marinated it for so long that all the marinade was absorbed in the chicken.

What was in the marinade? Ah, that's a good question. Earlier that day, I also discussed with Saf about marinating the chicken for our BBQ last night (which would be the day after, during Ka Anum's BBQ). Unlike my BBQ chicken, where BBQ sauce features prominently, Saf said that they do not use BBQ sauce at all. Apparently, the same goes for Abang Zul's family. The basic recipe is the same, although it seems like the individual cooks tweaked it to their taste. For Ka Anum's chicken, I have yet to get a proper recipe, but apparently there's chilli sauce, blended red onions and garlic, honey as well as a dash of BBQ sauce in there somewhere. On the other hand, Saf uses Oyster sauce, a bit of lemon as well as blended onions. So yeah... A big revelation... BBQ chicken does not necessarily need BBQ sauce. For the record, both chicken types tasted really good... Distict, though similar tastes. Particularly Saf's chicken, which we ate straight off the grill.

Anyways, another BBQ was held last night as a "reunion" for the Kampung Telaga Bundan, since we've been going off in different directions the past few months. The only person missing was Qawi... In keeping with tradition, each house cooked their specialty dish to add to the food. ;)
From Amal, Muiz and Apiz's house came Muiz's famous Spaghetti. Well, famous in Anggerek anyway. It seems as all the families (with boys the age of Muiz anyway ;) ) in Anggerek has adopted his recipe. It involves specific ingredients in specific amounts, and apparently is better if you cook it in bulk. I believe it involves one big bottle of tomato maggi, one jar of pasta sauce, one pack of BMC minced meat as well as sausages and meatballs to taste, for one bulk serving. Yes, meatballs (from BMC). These were the first meatballs I've ever had actually, and I have to say, they taste pretty good ;) Not as beefy as I would've thought, and not so processed either.

From Faid and Razi's house (the hosts) came their omnipresent coleslaw. I have no idea what is in this (and I have to say I am not much interested, but for those who really want to know, I suppose it has normal coleslaw ingredients. I know there's cabbage, carrots and salad cream in there somewhere...

Saf, Mokhtar and Adaudin's house brought their super-yummy macaroni. Often, their mother would serve this during one of our basketball sessions and our games would immediately halt while everyone scarfs it all down. Saf isn't very sure what is in it, but asides from the macaroni, there's pasta sauce, carrots and minced beef, topped with mozarella cheese. *drools* The cheese topping... Is the best... They just COVER the top with cheese, not just sprinkle... *drools some more*

As for our house (Me, Hadi and Syukri), I am ashamed to say that we only brought ice cream :( We don't have a particular specialty dish (except for cucur ayam, hehe ;) ) and the dishes we do cook are not very suitable for BBQs. I was going to make chicken pie, but there simply wasn't enough time, as we only confirmed the BBQ the last couple of days... Oh well, next time maybe... XD

On a side note, I apologise for the terrible pictures. ;) Close-up flash photography of food is never a good thing, and it was too dark to NOT use the flash. :( Hope you enjoy the photos anyway! Oh, and for those who are interested, I put the ingredients of the various dishes in different colours. However, since they are all family recipes (passed down by word of mouth, ahem), there are no measurements at all. Just ikut rasa ;)