Acar Sarawak

 

Acar Sarawak is somehow different from the rest of the acar available in other part of the region. 

The main ingredients of acar Sarawak are : cucumber, carrot, raw papaya, chilli pepper... all finely sliced, then dehydrated using salt as an agent, and marinated in vinegar seasoned with chilli flakes, tumeric powder, garlic and sugar.

It is serve together with fish cracker ( keropok udang ). Some like it to go with rice.

Umai

Umai is originally a food for Melanau fishermen on fishing trips to the sea, as it is very inconvenience and dangerous as well to start a fire for cooking on their small fishing boats.

It is raw fresh fish, sliced, then marinated with asam paya ( Eleiodoxa conferta ), onion, chilies, etc. Vinegar is sometime used, and the asam paya may be replace with lime or lemon.    Umai goes well with sago pearls which also requires no cooking or preheating.

Not all fish are suitable for umai. Though it is very important that the fish is fresh. Among the fishes used are : duai ( white or black pomfret/bawal – Pampus argenteus, P. niger ), empirang ( Setipinna breviceps ), tenggiri ( Scomberomorus sp ), etc

炒煮面

炒煮面 'char ju mian' literally means “stir-fried noodle in broth/soup”. It is a very well-know noodle dish in FooChow dominated towns in Sarawak, apart from the infamous 干盘面 'kampua'。

How in the first place a stir-fried noodle has so much broth/soup ? 'Char ju mian' is first prepared by stir-fried the noodle, then broth is added, and the whole dish ended-up become a noodle-in-broth/soup...

The noodle-in-broth/soup supposedly taste better after a bit of stir-frying, to incorporate the browning flavour.  Believe it or not ?  Belum cuba belum tahu !     

鱼鳔菜园鸡汤 Chicken Soup with Fish Maw

ingredients:

a whole free-range chicken, clean and cut.

10 piece dried shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes).

5 piece deep-fried fish maw.

method :

saute some ginger in sesame seed oil...

put in the cut chicken, stir-fry till half-cooked...

transfer to a pot, put in  some 3 liter of water...

put in all mushroom and fish maw...

simmer for 1 - 2 hours.

鱼鳔 fish maw is the swim bladder of a fish that control buoyancy,

found only in ray-finned fish. 

It is usually sun-dried, then deep-fried before cook.

菜园鸡 ( Ayam kampung, in Malay language ) is free-ranch chicken,

are usually sold at higher price ( > 120 % ) than normal chicken. 

江鱼仔炒长豆 Stir-fry Long Bean with Anchovies

this is a very simple dish.  involving only simple ingredients, and simple preparation. 

anyone can fry !

some anchovies, stir-fry till crunchy...

put in some minced garlic, saute till fragrance...

finally add in the long beans ( cut into about 5cm long ), stir-fry till cooked...

... no need to add salt, as anchovies are salty already.

长豆炒蛋 Stir-fried Long Bean with Egg

10 x longbean, cut vertically into small pieces ;

1 x egg.  

3 clove of garlic, minced.....

saute the garlic first.....

then put in all the longbean, stirfry till almost cooked.... the longbean's colour shall changed from light green to slightly darker green, thats how you know its cooked...

finally add in an egg, stir a bit again till the egg is cooked...

add salt to taste

老黄瓜汤 Old-Cucumber Soup

老王种瓜，顺其自然 ; 
种瓜得瓜，理所当然！

不日，绿叶黄花满枝。

谢了黄花，结了小瓜。

小瓜成青瓜，进了饿人锅。

唯一青瓜，无人敢采。
老王下了旨:
“此瓜碰不得”。
猴儿们只有望的份。

日出日入，岁月不饶瓜，
青春不再，瓜老皮黄 。

一日，有人问老王:“此瓜为何留？留种？”

老王笑曰:“非也！非也！炖老黄瓜汤也！”
有人惊讶：“种青瓜，得黄瓜？”

老王 : “黄出于青，而胜于青也。”

basic ingredients :

1 old cucumber, remove the seeds, cut into huge chunck

2 liter water

300g spare pork ribs

salt to taste

simple instruction :

simmer the ingredients in pot for hours.... till the cucumber softened.

清炒扁豆 Stir-fried Hyacinth Bean

Sauté minced garlic first, then add in sliced hyacinth bean pods.  Stir till the bean softened.  Add in salt and MSG to taste.  

This is always the simplest way to stir fry : on its own !

Hyacinth bean 扁豆 ( Dolichos lablab ), is a popular food crop throughout tropical Africa and India.   It is called ‘avarai’ in Tamil.

The leaves, flowers, pods, seeds and roots are edible. Dry seeds, however, are poisonous due to high concentration of cyanogenic glucosides, and can only be eaten after prolonged boiling.

花生糖水 Peanut Tongsui

Pressure-cook peanut in 3 liter water for about 20 minute, together with sugar and coconut milk.  Cook till the peanut softened….