Pitcher plant ‘lemang’ proves a big hit

Press conference on consert Orcestra RTM LAGU UNTUKMU Datuk Ooi Eow Jin. AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star

Compiled by CRYSTAL CHIAM SHIYING, Fatimah Zainal and R. ARAVINTHAN

A LEMANG seller’s idea of selling the delicacy cooked in pitcher plants proved to be a hit with customers who kept crowding his stall daily for the unusual treat, reported Harian Metro.

Rahman Abdul Ghani, 37, said he could sell around 200 pitcher plant lemang each day. One is priced between RM1 and RM4.

“People like this pitcher plant lemang because it is creamier compared to the bamboo lemang,” said Rahman, who runs his stall in Kuantan.

The pitcher plants, he said, would be washed thoroughly before glutinous rice and coconut milk were placed inside it.

“It is not grilled like bamboo lemang. Instead, the glutinous rice and coconut milk are added into the plant first before they are steamed,” he said.

> Popular 1970s singer Datuk Dahlan Zainuddin (pic), 75, is in stable condition at the Kuala Lum-pur Hospital following a stroke, Kosmo! reported.

Famed for his song Kisah Seorang Biduan, he was hospitalised a day after breaking fast with orphans in Perlis, said his wife Datin Fauziah Buang, who was also a 1970s songstress known as Effa Rizan.

“Before his stroke, he was healthy,” said Effa, adding that it happened while he was inside a hotel room on Thurs­day.

She said their four children would be celebrating Hari Raya with Dahlan at the hospital.

> News of 60-year-old former artiste Sahara Yaa­cob going through difficult times has led to several singing offers for her, Berita Harian reported.

Known as Malaysia’s Tina Turner in the 1980s, Sahara said that she was grateful for the offers from several promoters.

She has been living alone in a storeroom for two years, surviving on food provided by relatives.

“If I work and receive invitations to sing, then I can support myself without troubling anyone,” said the Sahara Blues hit singer, who quit showbusiness in 2000.

“I can no longer bear to burden my relatives because they’re not well off as well,” she said.

Found in translation is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.