KEPALA BATAS — About 1,000 visitors to the Mahabbah@Bertam Square Carnival here were excited to enjoy a dish of gulai rusa cicah roti Benggali, a special menu served by the organisers in conjunction with the Moreh Perdana program with the Deputy Chief Minister I of Penang last night.
Programme organiser Zaini Aboo Hassan said three deer were sacrificed to give people the opportunity to enjoy the rare deer meat, besides adding variety to the moreh dishes provided to visitors.
“Every year we try to find ideas to give something different to visitors who come to buy Aidilfitri preparations here and this year, Alhamdulillah, we were able to realize another unique menu, which is a dish of deer meat cooked in gulai, eaten with Bengali bread which may never be available anywhere else.”
“It was actually quite difficult to get this exotic animal, but in the end we managed to get three deer from farms in two states, namely Kedah and Kelantan, in addition to buying additional deer meat and bones of about 50 kilograms to provide meals for almost 1,000 visitors,” he told reporters here last night.
Zaini said the preparation of the dish was also aimed at sharing sustenance with the community, especially those who do not have the opportunity to enjoy deer meat.
He said the organisers chose the deer meat gulai menu to allow more visitors to enjoy the dish compared to if it was cooked by grilling or barbecuing since the supply of meat was limited.
More special, he said the dish was cooked by the 15 carnival crew themselves, who took two days to prepare it from skinning the meat to cooking it.
Zaini said for the early morning sahur menu, they would also prepare another unique dish, namely kibas meat cooked with besalmah and eaten with capati.
Meanwhile, a visitor Halimaton Ahmad, 50, from Teluk Kumbar, Balik Pulau, described his visit to the carnival as a step in the right direction as he did not expect to have the opportunity to enjoy a deer meat dish.
Halimaton said she came to the carnival with her husband Saharuddin Abdul Ghani, son and daughter-in-law initially just to wash her eyes and buy Hari Raya supplies.
“At first I thought I had to pay because I saw a lot of people queuing, but it turned out it was given to the public for free.
“I have eaten deer meat before but deer meat tastes different, more tender and when eaten with Bengali bread it is very delicious,” said the first to enjoy the dish.
