BATU PAHAT, April 4 — Nasi Gaul, or mixed rice, is a traditional dish of the Banjar people, but is nearing “extinction” as there are only a few people left who know how to prepare it.
The rice dish, with the rice cooked in chicken or beef stock, was once a popular dish among the Banjar people, especially those living in Johor and Selangor.
According to Arbahai Abd Rashid, 63, who is a cook and specialist in making the dish, “Nasi Gaul” is often served as the main course for guests by the Banjar community, such as at weddings and at religious events, including tahlil.
However, he said, the dish is becoming forgotten with more members of the community opting to serve Biryani rice, because of the many side dishes that come with it, instead of the Nasi Gaul, which is normally accompanied by only two side dishes.
“Nasi Gaul is usually cooked using Basmathi rice and it has stewed chicken or beef as one of the side dishes. The rice is then mixed with Acar Banjar (Banjar pickle) which consists of sliced cucumber, tomato, onion, chilli and roasted belacan (shrimp paste).
Besides the stewed chicken or beef, the other side dish is ’dalca’, normally of cut eggplants in gravy,” said Arbahai, who is more popularly known as “Haji Bahai” among the locals, when met by Bernama.
Arbahai said in an effort to make the “Nasi Gaul” popular again, he has included the dish in the menu at his foodstall, known as ‘Warong Kulaan’, located at Tongkang Pechah, here.
However, due to the long hours to prepare the dish, it is only available at his stall twice a month, on the first and third Sunday of the month.
To make the dish more interesting, he also has the “Nasi Gaul Daging Kambing”, with the rice dish served with stewed mutton as one of the side dishes.
The response for the mutton “Nasi Gaul” is encouraging, he added.
According to the locals there, Warong Kulaan is the only food stall that serves Banjar traditional cuisine in the district, which is said to originate from Banjarmasin in Kalimantan, Indonesia. — Bernama
