KEBEBE DISH

Kebebe is a popular traditional cuisine of the Malay communities in Lenggong, Perak whose descendents originated from Patani in southern Thailand. The cuisine is served to guests during a gotong-royong (working together in a task) session or before a wedding ceremony.

The ingredients are pineapple, star fruit, and the flower buds of banana and jack fruit. The mould is the traditional rice mortar. It is believed that the mortar can sustain the originality and true taste of the kebebe. All the ingredients including ingredients for preserving like salt, sugar and prawn paste are placed inside the mould one by one according to the right sequence.

The preparation of this cuisine has to abide by the do's and don'ts beginning with words of praises to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the process must be in sequence and completed until the food is ready to be served. If this rule is not respected or halting the preparation midway, especially during certain occasions, it is said that such action is a sign of bad omen, such as the incoming group for the wedding proposal will halt their original intention, for example.