Celup Tepung for supper

During the holy month of Ramadhan, Muslims will fast from dawn until sunset. At sunset, we will break our fast. Breaking fast, also called Iftar in Arabic means that we have completed our fast for the day.

In Malaysia, other than Iftar, we have another tradition known as Moreh. Moreh means snacking after Tarawikh and typically starts around 9.30 pm to midnight. On the East Coast of Malaysia, the popular cuisine for Moreh is Celup Tepung.

Celup Tepung, which translates to "dipped in flour" is a common street food in the East Coast region. It is hard to find this street food in the south and central regions of Malaysia. As the name suggests, the food will be dipped in flour and deep-fried until golden crispy.

Various types of foods can be chosen to be dipped in flour such as fish, squid, crab, and many more. I did try Celup Tepung once when I visited Terengganu. Honest, it is not to my liking. But my wife likes it a lot.

A few days ago, my wife saw a video on TikTok that shows a restaurant that serves Celup Tepung. The restaurant's name is Warong Ambo and it is located in Shah Alam which is only 5 minutes away from our house.

Since it is nearby, she said she wanted to get some for supper. We went there at 9 pm. By the time we arrived, the place was already packed with customers. To make things worse, it started to rain heavily when I joined the queue.

The queue was super long but thankfully the rain was short-lived. I was in the queue for almost 20 minutes before I reached the front of the counter. At the counter, various types of Celup Tepung have been prepared beforehand.

You only need to pick and choose the ones to your liking. After you have picked the ones you want, the next thing to do is to make the payment at the payment counter.

For today's Moreh, I choose two big-size prawns, one medium crab, one set of keropok lekor, one piece of cucur udang, and one jumbo fish cake. The restaurant staff then proceeded to cut the items into smaller pieces.

Before the Clup Tepung was passed to me, the restaurant staff added slices of cucumber and crushed fish chips. I was also handed a small bowl of dipping sauce. This is something different that I did not get when I tried the Celup Tepung in Terengganu.

In total, I was charged MYR30 (excluding drinks) which is affordable for Kuala Lumpur standard. But, the Celup Tepung is still not to my liking 😅

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