Pasar Borneo @ Seri Kembangan 2020 (2)

Tuhau ( Etligera coccinea )

Tuhau ( in Kadazan ) or upa kecala  ( in Iban ) is one of the most popular traditional food in Sabah and Sarawak.    It is usually eaten as salad, cooked with meat, or made into pickles.  

Pinang ( Areca catecu )

Buah pinang ( betel nut ) is one of the main ingredient in menyirih, a popular custom of S.E.Asia.

Kulat Sisir ( Schizophyllum commune )

Kulat sisir grows abundantly on fallen rubber trees throughout Sarawak.  Rubber was once an important commodity crop, but had declined over the years.  Follow suit is lots of abandoned rubber plantations, and thus lots of kulat sisir.    Kulat sisir is usually cooked with anchovies, chili and coconut milk.

Kulat Pik ( Auricularia auricular-judea )

Kulat pik is found worldwide, thus is known as different name in different culture.   In Sarawak, kulat pik is cooked with chicken.

Sea Bird Nest ( Eucheuma cottonii )

Sea bird nest is a seaweed cultivated off-coast Sabah.  It is consumed fresh as appetizers, made into jelly, or as ingredient in tongsui.

Buah Melinjau ( Gnetum gnenum )

Immature melinjau fruit can be cooked as green.  The seed are powdered, then made into keropok.

Pekasam Ensabi ( Brassica juncea Ensabi )

Ensabi is local variety of mustard green.  The Ensabi leaves is first dehydrated via salt, then fermented in rice water for one week.

Buah Dabai ( Canarium odontophyllum )

Sekapur Sirih

Paan is a preparation combining betel leaf with areca nut widely consumed throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

Paan has many variations.  The basic ingredients are always : betel leaf, chalk and betel nut, as described by Ibn Battuta (1304 – 1377 ), a Berber Muslim Moroccan scholar and explorer.

“…the leaves of betel, puts a little chalk on them, 

and masticates them along with the betel."  

1355, Ibn Battuta’s Rihla

Basic Ingredients :

Areca nut = fruit of Areca catechu

Betel leaf = fresh leaf of Piper betle

Slaked lime ( Calcium hydroxide )

Myanmar's Fancy Ingredients :

Cutch = dried bark of Senegalia catechu

Anise seed = seeds of Pimpinella anisum

Cardamom seeds = seeds of Elettaria cardamomum

Clove = dried flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum

Tobacco = cured leaves of Nicotiana tabacum

Liquorice = root chips of Glycyrrhiza glabra