‘Nasi gaul’ making a comeback in Johor

BATU PAHAT: 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 in Johor and Selangor.

Arbahai Abd Rashid, 63, a cook and specialist in making the dish, said nasi gaul was 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 was becoming forgotten with more members of the community opting to serve Briyani rice, because of the many side dishes that came with it, instead of nasi gaul, which was normally accompanied by 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).

“The other side dish is dalca, normally cut eggplants in gravy,” said Arbahai, known as Haji Bahai among locals.

Arbahai said to make nasi gaul popular again, he had included the dish in the menu at his Warong Kulaan stall in Tongkang Pechah here.

However, due to the long hours needed to prepare the dish, it is available only twice a month, on the first and third Sunday.

To make the dish more interesting, he also has 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 was encouraging, he added.

Locals said Warong Kulaan was the only food stall that served traditional Banjar cuisine in the district, which was said to have originated from Banjarmasin in Kalimantan, Indonesia.