The discussion on briyani rice recipes found in old Malay manuscripts is expected to be among interesting topics at the three-day International Conference on Malay Manuscripts organised by the National Library of Malaysia (PNM) beginning Tuesday.

PNM director-general Nafisah Ahmad said the ingredients as contained in the 200-year-old manuscripts collected by the Malay community and believed to have originated from Pontianak, Indonesia, would be presented by Assoc Prof Dr Zahir Ahmad and his student Muhammad Marwan Mohd Tanos from the University of Malaya (UM).

"The topic on briyani rice recipes found in the Cooking Tips Manuscript 2926 : Preliminary Research on Traditional Malay Culinary Science belongs to PNM.

”Such research findings are difficult to come by and I am confident that this subject and recipes on mee goreng, súp lidah’ and sup kaki will be the highlight of the conference this time," she told Bernama in Kuala Lumpur today.

According to Nafisah other topics of interest at the conference are the revolt against colonialism by Hermansyah from Ar-Raniry State Islamic University Banda Aceh, Indonesia and Malay medicine D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) to be presented by Assoc Prof Dr Ab Razak Ab Karim of UM.

A total of 27 topics, five from Indonesia will be discussed at the conference themed "Upholding the Malay Heritage: Placing Importance on National Civilisation".

"The fee for each participant is RM150 while students of public and private institutions will be charged RM50.

So far 150 people including five participants from Singapore and 11 from Indonesia have confirmed their participation,” she added.

- Bernama