Sibu Tales : Cooking Oil of the Foochows in the 1950's

The cooking oil of the Foochow pioneers must have been lard or the little amount of Yiu Chai Yiu (Canola oil) they brought over from Fujian China.

Tea oil - In fact today very few Foochows in Sarawak even know about this. In the early pioneering days, my grand parents used tea oil which was brought over by Singapore ships to Sibu. Tea oil or camellia oil is used for keeping instruments from getting rusty. It is also good as a hair care and this oil is also used as an antiseptic, for ear aches, wounds and cuts.

A cousin had a bad fracture and he had only a small bottle of tea oil left. His wife rubbed the oil on his leg and in two months he was as good as new.

My mother had a long term ear infection which could not be cured by several doctors. Finally an old aunt suggested that she dropped some tea oil in her ear. After a few months her infection was gone and her western trained doctor was amazed.

Today many other kinds of oils were available  : coconut oil, engkabang or illipenut oil.

Sesame oil has been used by the Foochows since ancient days (from the time Zhang Qian brought back the sesame seed during the time of Wu Di. Sesame was an important cooking oil imported by the early Foochows.

Matang in Kuching used to manufacture cooking oil, called Matang Vegetable Oil. It came in a small square tin, which was very convenient to transport especially in the rural areas. And the tins could be stored well. Besides after the oil was used up the empty tins were used to make many things like water scoop, ladles for cooking etc. The Foochow housewives were very creative and innovative.



But lard remained the most important oil as the Foochows could make this cooking oil at home.

 Today many Foochows crave for kampua made with lard.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Pulor Fruits

The pulor is a fruit which is commonly found in settled areas in Sarawak. When Ibans migrated from Skrang to any part of Sarawak, they would bring the pulor seeds, among other seeds to plant in their new settlements.

The fruits are nutritious and usually consumed when immature, thinly sliced and boiled as a vegetable in soups or stews. Usually each fruit is about 800 gm.

Once the pulor fruit is mature it will drop to the ground expelling many of its brown seeds. The seeds are collected and boiled or roasted. They are similar to chestnuts in texture and flavour.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Frogs

Frogs have long been a delicacy for the Chinese, from the Imperial kitchens to the ordinary stoves. Frog leg porridge is much favoured by the young and the young. Before a Chinese boy was able to walk the parents would give him frog leg soups cooked with herbs.

Frog legs are usually cooked in bamboo stems in the longhouse. Another way of preparing frog legs is simply to roast the freshly prepared meat over a wood fire built on the river pebble beach.

Frog legs are also served in soups, cooked with lemon grass, ginger and chillies. Some frog legs are stir fried with soy sauce and lots of ginger and sugar.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Sweet Young Corn

One of the easiest dishes to prepare in the evening after office hours in Sarawak is the quick stir fry of local mushrooms and sweet young corn. These are actually special variety of baby corn and are found in many local farms in most Asian countries. They are not grown in the Americas where the bigger version of the corn is grown for grain. Baby corns are very delicate and the cobs can be eaten.

Thus the sweet young corn is a special species of corn which is grown only for vegetables. It does not grow bigger to become the corn cob of 10 inches or more.

The sweet baby corns are found in the menus of most restaurants in Asia and they are used to make soups, stir fries and even to be cooked with beautiful sliced pork, beef or chicken. It is lovely when cooked in a Thai Tom Yam soup with chicken.

Baby corns are harvested the moment they have corn silk. And they don't grow any bigger. Baby corns are also canned and exported. The biggest grower of baby corns is Thailand at the moment.

Sibu Tales : Thrice Cooked Fish

The belt fish was one of the cheapest fish available in Sibu in the 60's and 70's and most people would sneeze at it, calling it "Poor Man's Fish". But to us children who were not exposed to this kind of snobbery at that time, we gobbled up every piece of belt fish in front of us. My mum would swallow a lot of  the bitterness in life as a widow and she would not repeat what other people say to us. She kept her counsel and made us study hard and be thankful of what we had on the table. There was never a time when we had no food on the table.

My mother would buy the whole fish for probably one dollar and the fish would last three days or more!! She would first carefully deep fry the fish. A few pieces would be placed on the table for lunch and dinner and the remainders put in a glass bottle. The next day she would cook us our favourite fish dish - fish with black soy sauce. This sweet fish dish would be so fragrant and flavourful and we would enjoy the sauce. What a rice pusher!




But most remarkably, as if by magic, on the third day, the remainder of black sauced fish would be steamed and we could even chew the softened bones.

Whatever fish we had left in the big bottle would be presented to us again, but we were happy with this fish because it is so tasty. Sometimes, the fish would just be heated up and we would enjoy the crunchiness of the skin and fresh. Leftovers never tasted so good!!

That was how we were brought up to value every single morsel of food on the table by our remarkable, awesome, innovative, creative and resourceful mother.

Sibu Tales : Rice Powder for Face

When I went to Kuala Lumpur to study, one evening I was frightened by my room mate who opened our room door and she appeared with her face all covered with a white powder.

The corridor of our hostel was usually dimly lit to save electricity.

I let out a big scream.

That was my introduction to rice powder made in Penang. It is called Bedak Sejuk.




"The rice grain has traditionally been considered a source of beauty in Asia. In Indonesia, white rice was soaked with spring water until a layer of froth forms at the top of the water. The froth would be skimmed off to be applied on acne prone skin. This formula is also used to whiten and smoothen the complexion. Over sustained use, the skin is protected from various kinds of diseases related to old age and infections. This range of rice products have been used for many generations of discerning Asian women. No fancy packaging or advertising, just the natural goodness and honesty of rice."

The rice powder is sold in bottles but the powder is in the form of tablets. It is a kind of beauty culture of the West Malaysian women for they like to keep their face cool and soft.

In fact I never got used to using rice powder on my face. And may be that is why my face is a bit coarse and rough now...

Making Siew Mai

Ingredients

A:
1 tsp msg
1 tsp sherry
2 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp sesame oil
2 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp ginger juice
1 small egg
½ tsp pepper
1 tbsp chopped spring onions
B:
10 oz minced pork
½ lb prawns, shelled, deveined and cut
2 oz boiled pork fat, finely cubed
4 tbsp boiled bamboo shoots, chopped finely
4 oz square egg skins (wanton skins), obtainable from local markets

Directions

Mix A in a bowl. Add B. Mix well.
Cut off the four corners of the egg skins. Place a tablespoon of the meat mixture in the center of each skin. Enclose filling with egg skin, so that the top filling is seen. Flatten base of each siew mai.
To steam:
Brush steamer rack with oil. Space siew mai on rack.
Steam over rapidly boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes or till cooked.
Serve hot with chili sauce and mustard.
make bout 30 to 40 siew mai

Sibu Tales : Sea going Ships in the 1950's

The Rajah Brooke was a sea going ship which would sail from Kuching government wharf to Singapore. It would take at least two nights for the ship to reach Singapore. The Rajah Brooke was both a cargo and passenger ship.

Most people in the 1950's used this ship and make the long journey to Singapore from where they would  board other liners and travel to Australia and even the United Kingdom.

My maternal grandmother told us that this ship looked like a four storey shop house floating on water. She was very imaginative and humorous about sea travels, having come from China at the age of 10 and then making another horrendous journey back to China in 1939 just before the Second World War. War was raging already when she reached China and she could not board another ship to come back to Sarawak.

In later years she had great fears of boarding a sea going ship like the Rajah Brooke or the Audy. In her heart she was truly afraid that she could not come home to see her loved ones again. Once was enough according to her. for the rest of her life from 1946 onwards she would never travel by sea to Singapore although she took the coastal ships and planes  from Sibu to Kuching, Miri, Marudi etc.

This is an advert from Sabah. (Google)

Most Foochows would board sea going ships like the Auby at Sibu . When they travelled many would get seasick, so they stayed in their cabin most of the time. Few would venture out of their cabins. Meals were provided at specific times . It was interesting that ships in those days sold tickets for first class and second class cabins.

According to my older relatives, many women actually lost  weight if they could not eat at all from Sibu to Singapore especially if they vomited a lot.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Tapai wrapped by Rubber Leaves

Tapai or two day old fermented  glutinous rice is made by mixing local yeast with glutinous rice. It is a favourite dessert in the coastal areas of Sarawak and Peninsula Malaysia too. However it is best eaten chilled.

If the fermentation is allowed to go on for another few days, the sweet rice becomes very soft and marshmallow like. Further fermentation would produce alcohol, tuak.

Rubber tree leaves have been used to prepare this tapai since time immemorial. They are soft and very easy to use. They do not tear easily too. Others like the simpor and banana leaves are also the other alternatives. This is a very environmentally friendly way of preparing food.

These two photos are shared by my university mate Noor Ainun YR. Thank you.

Sibu Tales : Flowers of the Durian

All three photos taken in Telok Bango, Sibu in September 2018. Thanks to Mr. Ting.

The Chinese of Sibu enjoy eating the wild durians when they first arrived on the shores of Sarawak. Soon being agriculturalists, they started to cultivate the wonderful fruit and were successful. Today many Chinese own huge orchards of durians which are very pricey.

The durian flowers drop easily when there is a strong wind or storm. The flowers are edible. The flowers have five pale yellow petals, five bundles of stamens and a pistil. It is by nature that the flower parts will drop, leaving behind the pistil and the stigma, which later develop into baby durians.

Orchard owners would place a mat underneath the durian trees to collect the flowers which drop at night. Actually only the stamens are edible. Therefore there is usually a lot of sorting out before the flowers are washedm blanched and cooked. It is very a very tedious preparation for an excellent dish.

The stamens are best sauteed with curry powder, or as a lemak dish which means cooked with coconut milk. I like durian flowers fried with sambal belacan or shrimp paste. The stamens make a very crunchy dish when simply fried.

Sibu Tales : Primitive Fern

This primitive fern is very useful.

In the olden days, it was used for one special way. First a vines or soft sticks would be sued to fashion the base for a wreath like this. (Photo from Google)
And the ferns would be collected to wrap around the base.

Most wreaths for funerals in Sibu were made from this fern. First the rattan or wire would be fashioned into a big ring and then the ferns would be used to bind the wires or rattan. Flowers would then be tied to the wreath by small wires.

My paternal grandfather was particularly good at making wreaths for funerals. I was told that Mrs. James Hoover taught many of the early Foochows how to make wreaths. Flowers then were alamanda (yellow), gardenia and bougainvillea. It was only much later that orchids and chrysanthemums were imported by commercial florists.

This was also how the Sibu Methodist Children's Home children were taught to make wreaths by pastors' wives. Orchids,and other flowers were sent to the children's Home for wreath making. I think one can still find an old model of wreath in the Children's Home.

That was a good way for the Children's Home to earn some money.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Buah Kepayang

Buah kepayang is a valued fruit by the Ibans. It has to be processed to be eaten for some of the chemicals or sap are poisonous. The fruit has to be soaked in water for at least three days before it is ready for cooking.

the processed fruit is often sold in the tamu and is really safe to eat. It can be cooked with chicken or pork or other vegetables like midin.

Usually the fruit, after soaking is salted and the resulting preserved fruit is even more tasty. Because the tree is not easily grown, the fruit is highly valued and when a large number of fruits are picked, they are preserved in salt for future cooking.

Sarawak at one time wanted to be the world's largest exporter of salted kapayang.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Old Hens with Lemon Grass Cooked in Bamboo

The old layer hens are sold in the market for about 15 ringgit each. Most chefs use them to prepare superior chicken stock. But there is a very good dish to make out of one or two of them.

Many  indigenous eateries in towns offer old layer hens cooked in bamboo (with lemon grass , ginger and garlic). It is a very popular dish and the meat becomes very tender when slowly cooked in bamboo.

Perhaps this idea of cooking old layers come from the longhouse culture. Young hens are always kept until they can no longer lay eggs and raise families. Only then they are slaughtered.  The fighting cocks when killed in their fights during Gawai are usually taken home to be eaten.

An Iban man who used to work in the timber camp exclaimed, "Unlike the Chinese we Ibans do not roast or steam our spring chickens. We are very respectful of our domestic animals and let them live out their destiny, lay eggs, raise more chickens and populate the longhouse backyard."

Sarawakian Local Delights : Yam Shoots

Yam shoots are popular among the indigenous people of Sarawak as a dish.

this dish is easy to cook. Blanch the yam shoots after you have cut them and wash them.

Pound garlic, onions and dried prawns for the cooking. Use the amount that you like. After stir frying the pounded ingredients with a little oil, add about 2 cups of water and some tamarind or asam jawa juice. When the water starts to simmer, add the blanched yam shoots. Cook through. season to taste.

Add some chillies if you like. You can also add some enoki mushrooms or young sweet corn.

Enjoy!!