One of the nicest events during each of my weekend stay in Brunei has been the fish buying trip to Jerudong Fishermen's Market. Here the scents and sounds of real seaside life are constantly refreshing and energising. The friendliness of the market people is endearing and comforting. It reminds me of those days when I was younger in Sibu where every one knew every one and each was on the lookout for the well being of the other. It is real neigbhourliness in an Asian way.
And I do bring home more than one great memory per trip!!
Shark Liver anyone? This little boy is the son of the lady fishmonger who introduced me to the shark liver. Both of them convinced me to buy a kilo!!
Liver is a favoured food amongst most Asian Cultures. The Chinese have a special regard (often medicinal) for pork liver and many culinary books have been written about this special part of the pig.
However I have the opportunity (or rather opportunities) of eating Shark Liver in Brunei recently. Shark Liver Oil is getting a lot of publicity nowadays especially when squalene ( Squalene is a natural organic compound originally obtained for commercial purposes primarily from shark liver oil, though there are botanic sources as well, including amaranth seed, rice bran, wheat germ, and olives. All higher organisms produce squalene, including humans. It is a hydrocarbon and a triterpene.) has been found to be favourable in preventing wrinkles (hence it is a kind of anti-aging thingy)
My big slice of shark liver
Cut and drained of water.
Stir frying in a Chinese wok.
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| Shark liver stir fried with lemon grass and chillies (pepper and soy sauce to taste) |
The shark liver can be made into excellent satay (with lots of cumin and fennel) and sweet gula apong.
So....may be one day you might give this a try . ( I have not tasted the Fast Food counters which serve Hati Yu in Malaysia or Brunei)....so you could be game enough and stand in a queue and buy Shark Liver Stir Fry Rice in a Halal Fast Food Stall in Brunei or you could cook some for yourself.
Psst.....At Bru $5.00 per kg. fresh shark liver is a bargain! And it is a good way to prevent wrinkles (if that is what reseach has reported).
16 comments:
what did it taste like?
I take a lot of fish oil, depending on what th eshop has. Had shark and salmon oil. It definite help my skin on my legs, they used to be very dry in winter, and now, not any more.
mmm ,i realized now im really sakai ,i didnt know about Jaw's liver till i read this - thanks Sarawakiana
- Ah Ngao
Ann
The shark liver (hati ikan yu) is tasty..and most people like it in the satay form because it is actually harder than chicken liver. Thanks for confirming about fish /shark oil making our skin less dry. I took salmon oil and I had better skin. This year I stopped and my skin dried up. So should start again.
Ah Ngao...Don't worry about being sakai. I am a sakai too.
We have seen this in lots of markets..(it seems that in the very civilised world they won't even dare to sell parts of shark because of the environmentalists - which of course is a very legitimate reason for not selling parts of shark). But here in Borneo...our fishermen are not big shark hunters. They get occasional ones...and well people do fancy some shark liver sometimes. We don't fish shark until no more left!! I suppose shark is not easily available in Kuching and Sibu.
At the moment there is no law against selling of sharks and shark parts in Brunei if my information is correct.
I had fresh shark fin (not just the golden needles but the whole fin meat and all), shark meat but never the liver when I was still living in Brunei. This piece of shark liver looks like foie gras. Does it taste fishy? Love to try it. I had other smaller fish liver, usually quite oily and soft like custard. I love other fish roe too like pomfret
Dear Sunflower...the fish roe from Terubuk and Pomfret and Tenggiri are excellent especially prepared with tempura flour and bread crumbs. Shark liver is nice and an chef friend said he has turned it into pate without the slightest hint of liver oil smell!! I don't know how he did it. Not fishy at all especially when lots of lemon grass is used. It is not spongy if you drain it well after mixing with sea salt and pepper. A Malay friend even said that parboiling it is good but I haven't tried that. Jerudong is fantastic!! Also you need to choose the better shark liver. The smaller ones give fishy smell...may be it is because it has more oil..The fishermonger lady was good!
Love fried fresh or salted egg roe, crunchy and very tasty. I am not bias I think we have excellent range of fresh seafood in Brunei, Miri is great too.
Are there anymore red tides in recent years? So sad when this happened.
Hi Sarawakiana, Holy Smoke! Shark liver? I guess I'll take a pass on this, ha ha.
But I do love to go to wet markets old days. There's none here, only supermarkets.
As well old days love to watch fishermen returning from the sea with their catch.
The pics you posted here very interesting. And I never knew shark liver is a delicacy. Shark's fins..yes.
Interesting post.
Have a nice day, keep well. Lee.
Sunflower.
Yes the best salted fish roe here is Ikan Buntal from Sri Aman area. I really liked it fried but then can't take too much because of high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Should keep it as a delicacy...a few chopsticks at a time!!
Thank God we haven't had red tide for a long while. However we have to be careful with the radiation levels now. So sad.
Uncle Lee
Thanks for visiting...How are your grand children?...wink wink...Jerudong in Brunei is a nice place to watch fishermen coming home in the evenings. Near my house on the beach fishermen come in about 8 in the morning. So they are lovely to watch and talk to. Fish in Sarawak is getting a bit on the high end. e.g. 18 ringgit per kilo (tenggiri) and 48 ringgit per kilo for pomfret....Cheers.
Uncle Lee...should read...near my house in Miri...on the beach....
and it is always nice to chat with folks in wet market...as for me...I see that they too are greying like me!! Time and tide wait for no man..
again get your sis to get you some,
There are souvenir shops operated by Chinese. They have all sorts of stuff which is cheaper than the health food store.
Now something that may make you squirm, sheep placenta cream. I don't look a day over 50, they even think I am 45 LOL
Hi Ann
Yes I have heard a lot about all those placenta creams. Even SKII seems to have it (Hope I don't get sued for this)....sheep placenta cream and goat's milk seem to very trendy.....
I do really think that you are still 35 looking without any of those creams...
But some fish liver is really good...hair won't turn grey so fast...
Sunflower..Red Tide in Brunei now..hope it will be over soon. Not too serious this time.
Thanks for telling me. Wonder how long before fish is edible again. So sad.
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