Appeasing Ummi

"Uh oh! It's open," S announced, as she closed the oven door after peeking in at the baking Fatayer.

"Ugh...I knew that would happen," I said.

I hate making Karipap, because for some reason, my fingers are stiff when it comes to anything that requires encasing filling and pinching the seams closed. I've had karipaps that open up while being deep fried, and boiling water turning brown from the leaking palm sugar filling inside poorly seamed onde-onde. However, that didn't prevent me from trying to make this Fatayer, even when I knew there would be filling and seaming involved.

While I was spooning the spinach filling in the circle of dough, H rolled out the other ball of dough for us to cut more circles out of.

Making the Fatayer had become a family affair. All cooking nowadays have become a family affair as there was always someone needed to tend to the crying Baby Z if it happens to be at the time I am in the kitchen. Sometimes, I would just direct S verbally while I sat on the couch nursing Baby Z. And don't you know it, Baby Z is a relaxed nurser; he sure does take his own sweet time.

"Ooh you can see the inside. It's gonna open up in the oven, I just know it!" I muttered, exasperated.

"Oh, I've seen some at the masjid that are open a little bit," said H.

"Really?"

H nodded, assuring me that I was doing just fine. That made me feel slightly better.

If the ones sold at the masjid have that flaw too then mine are not so bad, I thought.

"Oh..I hope they don't burn in the oven," I said, announcing another worry.

"Oh I've seen black ones at the masjid," H said.

"Really?" I asked again, disbelieving, but feeling better by the minute.

"Yeah, some are really black!" he chuckled.

As the oven door banged shut after S's announcement of the opene-up Fatayer in the oven, H again made a remark,

"I've never seen anything like that at the masjid."