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 )

Sea Bird Nest 海底燕窝

Sea bird nest / SBN (海底燕窝) is Eucheuma cottonii, a seaweed of the Areschougiaceae family.  It had been major ingredient in carrageenan production, an important gelatin substitute in food industry, for their gelling, thickening and stabilizing properties.

In recent years, Eucheuma cottonii was gradually introduced to consumer as health product, similar to the highly invaluable birdnest / EBN.   Due to its lower cost, it is widely used in beverages, mixed with fruit juices, eaten as salad, made into jelly, or tongsui.

SBN smells fishy, if not properly washed.  The smell can be remove with prolonged soaking and repeated washing.  After soaking and washing, the SBN will lost its smelly odor, and the coloration.  It is now spongy, chewy and translucent. 

EBN easily costs up to USD 1,000/kg even for the lowest grade, while the best dried SBN costs only a USD 12/kg !