Sarawakian Local Delights : Kuih Buah Sengkuang

I do not know if this is Sarawak's version of Yorkshire pudding. It is definitely shaped like Yorkshire pudding but it is not Yorkshire Pudding.

It is Kuih Buah Sengkuang or  Jicama fritters

My friend Sister Ah Kiew, shredded the jicama and added deep fried onions, some salt and seasoning. She then added some shredded jicama with some batter into a specially made ladle and lowered the ladle into the hot oil. Once the fritter turned golden, she allowed  it  to float in the oil for a while before taking it out.

This jicama fritter, known to have originated in Marudi, Sarawak, is popular in Northern Sarawak.

Miri : ham chin peng

Photo by How K Wuong


Starter dough
90 g all purpose flour
90 ml water
2 tsp vinegar


Ingredients
360 g bread flour
130 g sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp alkaline water
250 ml water
1/2 tsp instant yeast


Method:


1. Mix all the ingredients for the starter. Leave covered for 2 days ( I only kept for 14hrs under room temperature).
2. Mix all the ingredients with the starter which has been proved in a large mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix as the dough is very sticky.
3. Leave the dough covered with plastic wrap and let rest of 20 minutes.
4. After 20 minutes, bring and fold the dough from the sides to the center of the mixing bowl and continue to do this until the dough is smooth. Rest 20 minutes again.
5. Repeat the folding and resting for another 3 more times (I only did 2 more times).
6. Rub some oil on the surface of dough, cover well with plastic wrap and leave to proof for 2 - 3 hours.


Ham Chim Peng with Nam Yue filling
*makes 20pcs

Sarawak : Natural Adhesive from the Insect Malau

The white coloured malau leaves behind a gift for the Ibans and the Bidayuhs in the jungle. Older generations go about the jungles looking for a hardened matter left by the Malau after they have feasted on the tree barks. It is not exactly easy to find these precious "resin".

This is the unprocessed bit of hardened secretion left by the Malaus

Smaller pieces scraped from a tree in the jungle.

This is a tubular piece of processed (cleaned too) of malau. The shape is due to melting of the malau resin in a bamboo canister by my sister in law who is an expert in looking for malau. This piece (which she calls "baka tai/like shit")can last for a long long time and will not "expire". So there is no used by date for this product.

One of the uses of malau is to fix the parang or duku handle on to the sharp blade. The malau is so permanent that the Ibans and Bidayuhs in the longhouse do not often have trouble caused by lose handles!!

This is my sister-in-law's small parang used for cutting grass or slashing in the farm. The notebook indicates the slender form of the parang.

Besides using the malau as a strong adhesive the "resin" is useful as a kind of aromatherapy. My great grandmother was famous for farming alone in the Medamit farm and would be able to stay for weeks in her little langkau without fear because she was accompanied by the aromatic power of the malau.

When young children cry a lot at night the malau is burnt for several hours to chase away the evil spiritis which are disturbing the children.

The malau can also be melted and added to some oil to make a special kind of perfume. However this practice has been discontinued because commercial perfumes have flooded the market and pushed the malau off the home shelves about thirty years ago!!

However it remains a very significant household adhesive which is beyond compare.

I hope to collect some specimens for some detailed study and I do hope that people would start becoming interested in this very ancient jungle product again.

Sibu Tales : Gambling durimg the White Rajah's Time

Rev Ling Kai Cheng on his 70th birthday. He was a man of honour with a great sense of justice. He was also well educated and a very good writer and historian.

The Rajah visited each division regularly and met with the public in the government office.  In mid 1933, when the Rajah was about to visit Sibu, I thought a Christian should take positive action, so together with my friends we wrote a petition to the Rajah, listing out all the harms caused by gambling and appealed to him to ban gambling.  

The letter was signed by quite a number of people and endorsed by some shopkeepers with their chops.  I submitted the letter to the Resident Mr Adam for him to pass to the Rajah.  When the day came for us to meet the Rajah, Sii Tuong Nang, Lau Kah Tii, Wong King Huo, myself and some other friends were present.  The Rajah took up the matter on gambling and asked if any petitioner was present.  I stood up and said that the general public would like his Highness to ban gambling so that the society could be peaceful. 

The secretary of the Rajah, Mr. Barnie said,” You Christians could stay out of gambling, there are many others who want to gamble.  Besides, the government also needs the tax. “

 I said, “The government could collect tax elsewhere, but it should not open the gates for vice.”

The  Resident told me, “Sudah” (Enough).

 Finally the public opinion was brought to the Rajah this time.  It was hoped that there would be an announcement of a ban on gambling.  Some people told me that I had done a good job. 

Praise the Lord, God gave us boldness, that was why Christians had the courage to change bad culture and took up the responsibility to share the Gospel with the society.

Extracted from Ling Kai Cheng's Memoirs, " Five Decades of My Life."

Sibu Tales : Floral and Hibiscus Teas

Several years ago, the market in Sibu started to sell the ribena flower and it started a craze for healthy drinks. We started making ribena jelly, ribena juices and even ribena cake. This flower is actually the red roseelle. Women fell over each other to grow as many as possible. The MYFers also drank a lot of roselle tea, and Sun Valley drinks were set aside.




Not long after that, the newspapers started to spread lots of articles about hibiscus tea and cinnamon tea, and any tea that could be made from plants in our own backyard.

In fact according to the health articles, people round the world use various parts of the hibiscus plant as food and medicine. 

My teacher trainer friend told me that her mother had used hibiscus flowers to soften her hair. Perhaps that is why she has very luxuriant long hair all her life!

The hibiscus tea is popular in the western world.

My mother often laughed at what she read in the papers and she would use her Foochow quote in reflectionm " A season of Onion, followed by a season of chives" to mean that trends come and go...like seasons. She was adamant that simple food, eaten in small portions, was best for health. In my eyes, my mum has  never  been overly stressed and pressed by trends. She did not bow down at peer pressure.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Young Cempedak Curry

Young cempedak can be found in abundance in the longhouse gardens. A family may have more than ten cempedak trees of different ages as the fruit tree is easily propagated.

Furthermore, the tree fruit easily and fruits grow clumped together on the trunk and branches. In oder to allow the best fruit to grow to their best sizes and full maturity, the young deformed or slightly malformed fruits are plucked to be processed as cooked vegetable.

One of the best recipes to cook young cempedak is to curry it. It then becomes a very good vegatarian curry which is enjoyed by most people.

some people may be allergic to cempedak.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Pedada

Pedada is a mangrove swamp fruit which grows wild. In fact the tree is actually a type of mangrove with small leaves , and small trunks and branches. In Sarawak the pedada grows along most of the rivers and even near the sea coasts as the tree tolerate sea water.

It is also known a Crabapple mangrove or Mangrove Apple. Its scientific name is Sonnerata caseolaris scientifically.





The fruits are edible and are usually eaten as a salad with a belacan sambal. They are a bit tart, so a sourish dip is good.

Pedada wood can be used as fishing net floats.

fire flies seem to like the sap of the fruits so in some heavily pedada wooded river banks, these fire flies would stay put at night and create a very surreal atmosphere.

Sibu Tales : First Rice Mill of Sibu

The first rice mill of Sibu was established by the Methodist Church and Rev James Hoover who brought the rice huller machine all the way from the USA. He was also instrumental in bringing electricity to Sibu.

Named Cochrane Rice Mill, it was very much welcomed by the Foochows and people of the Rajang Valley for rice milling then became easier and the processing of rice grains to rice for cooking took less time and effort. The rice huller was two ton and powered by a 10 horsepower engine.

It was donated by a Pennsylvania Christian woman.

The rice mill charged  30 cents a bag to remove the rice husks.

Miri : Screwpine or Pandunus along Luak Bay

The economic development of Miri coastal land is very rapid and very soon much of the flora would disappear to make way for concrete walks and roads and the planted areas would be filled with important plants.

The screwpine used to cover much of the coastal areas. It seems to be disappearing fast. Generally the screwpine makes the coastal landscape very pretty. In fact they may help protect the coastal areas from rapid erosion.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Mixed Vegetables, Longhouse Style

A special mixed vegetable dish in the longhouse is made from pumpkin, ladies' fingers, fern tops or paku, wood ears and cucumber leaves.

Sometimes it is humourously called the Queen's Dish, or a dish fit for a king,  because it is grand and it is very sweet. It is not necessary to add any seasoning, although many cooks still would add some aji-no=moto. The organic taste of this dish is most superior.

The sliced onions, garlic , some dried fish or prawns and ginger are boiled with a bowl of water. When the water boils, pumpkin is first added to the soup and once the pumpkin is soft, all the other vegetables are added. Note that oil is not used unless desired by the chef.

When all the vegetables are cooked, serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

Sarawakian Local Delights : Jungle Wood Ears

The jungles of Sarawak give forth lots of wood ears or kulat hitam. These soft fungi do not have any taste, flavour or smell but they are crunchy and healthy. They can be added to pumpkin soup, a stir fry with sweet young corn, paku and midin.

If found fresh and soft in the wild, they give food foragers a great deal of joy.

In recent years researchers have found that jungle wood ears help to reduce high blood pressure and lower uric acid in the blood.

Sibu Tales: Cotton flour sack underwear and pajamas

This posting is dedicated to all my neighbours who lived in Kung Ping Road or Brooke Drive in the 60's. They will remain always in my heart as VIPs of my childhood and in particular Ah Chuo Pak and Ah Chuo Moo the parents of Andrew Ting Boi Hua who were the kindest people I have ever known in my life!



My Miri Hainanese friend Ah Choon and I have great conversations and often reminisce about our childhood. And one of the stories we swapped not long ago was about our growing up years in the 50's when most frugal mothers and grandmothers would seek out cotton flour sacks to make underwear and sleepwear for children!! Many mothers made rough quilts and sewed the pieces of flour sacks for the reverse side.

I remember my neighbours- the noodle makers (mien sien) - Ah Chuo Moo and Ah Chuo Pak - who used up more than 5 sacks of flour each day. Their children (some of whom are millionaires now) happily wore pajamas and shirts made out of these nice and really "tahan" or strong cotton materials. The cotton was so good that their pajamas never seemed to tear and could be handed down to a younger child!

Also one could buy these cotton sacks for 50 cents a piece from friendly sundry shop keepers.

I remember Ah Chuo moo wearing sarongs on hot days when taking her bath and then she would dry herself with a cotton towel made from several pieces of these cotton flour sacks stitched together. In those days it was common to take bath in an open space in our yards and we scooped the cold and refreshing rainwater collected in our large wooden tub or dragon jar. Our water bill then was about $2.00 at the most because of this supplementary supply from the gutters and roof.

I carried a bag fashioned from a flour sack for a long time and we had some nice pillows made from the cotton material. We used several of these cotton material over the years to strain our home made soy bean milk. Another neighbour sewed pieces of these sacks together to form a nice huge awning over her small kitchen and yard. At one time after Woodstock young people started to wear little jackets fashioned out of them so that they looked like hippies!! Those were the days when many Sibu people looked like John Lennon.

Indeed there were so many things we could make out of these versatile cotton sacks. Ah Choon remarked that even if we wish to have these cotton flour sacks today we cannot have them because the importers no longer use them. Instead they use raffia sacks. How we wish we could have them again.

This is a photo from Manila.


In the United States many women could still have the opportunity of buying some of these feed sacks from vintage stores.

Here is an interesting poem from the 1930's found on a very nice blog called "Crafter by Night". It is like the American version of my Sibu memories...... I hope she does not mind me borrowing it.......

1930 flour sacks
by Colleen B. Hubert

IN THAT LONG AGO TIME WHEN THINGS WERE SAVED,
WHEN ROADS WERE GRAVELED AND BARRELS WERE STAVED,
WHEN WORN-OUT CLOTHING WAS USED AS RAGS,
AND THERE WERE NO PLASTIC WRAP OR BAGS,
AND THE WELL AND THE PUMP WERE WAY OUT BACK,
A VERSATILE ITEM, WAS THE FLOUR SACK.
PILLSBURY’S BEST, MOTHER’S AND GOLD MEDAL, TOO
STAMPED THEIR NAMES PROUDLY IN PURPLE AND BLUE.

THE STRING SEWN ON TOP WAS PULLED AND KEPT;
THE FLOUR EMPTIED AND SPILLS WERE SWEPT.
THE BAG WAS FOLDED AND STORED IN A SACK
THAT DURABLE, PRACTICAL FLOUR SACK.

THE SACK COULD BE FILLED WITH FEATHERS AND DOWN,
FOR A PILLOW, OR T’WOULD MAKE A NICE SLEEPING GOWN.
IT COULD CARRY A BOOK AND BE A SCHOOL BAG,
OR BECOME A MAIL SACK SLUNG OVER A NAG.
IT MADE A VERY CONVENIENT PACK,
THAT ADAPTABLE, COTTON FLOUR SACK.

BLEACHED AND SEWN, IT WAS DUTIFULLY WORN
AS BIBS, DIAPERS, OR KERCHIEF ADORNED.
IT WAS MADE INTO SKIRTS, BLOUSES AND SLIPS.
AND MOM BRAIDED RUGS FROM ONE HUNDRED STRIPS
SHE MADE RUFFLED CURTAINS FOR THE HOUSE OR SHACK,
FROM THAT HUMBLE BUT TREASURED FLOUR SACK!

AS A STRAINER FOR MILK OR APPLE JUICE,
TO WAVE MEN IN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD USE,
AS A SLING FOR A SPRAINED WRIST OR A BREAK,
TO HELP MOTHER ROLL UP A JELLY CAKE,
AS A WINDOW SHADE OR TO STUFF A CRACK,
WE USED A STURDY, COMMON FLOUR SACK!

AS DISH TOWELS, EMBROIDERED OR NOT,
THEY COVERED UP DOUGH, HELPED PASS PANS SO HOT,
TIED UP DISHES FOR NEIGHBORS IN NEED,
AND FOR MEN OUT IN THE FIELD TO SEED.
THEY DRIED DISHES FROM PAN, NOT RACK
THAT ABSORBENT, HANDY FLOUR SACK!

WE POLISHED AND CLEANED STOVE AND TABLE,
SCOURED AND SCRUBBED FROM CELLAR TO GABLE,
WE DUSTED THE BUREAU AND OAK BED POST,
MADE COSTUMES FOR OCTOBER (A SCARY GHOST)
AND A PARACHUTE FOR A CAT NAMED JACK.
FROM THAT LOWLY, USEFUL OLD FLOUR SACK!

SO NOW MY FRIENDS, WHEN THEY ASK YOU
AS CURIOUS YOUNGSTERS OFTEN DO,
‘BEFORE PLASTIC WRAP, ELMERS GLUE
AND PAPER TOWELS, WHAT DID YOU DO?’
TELL THEM LOUDLY AND WITH PRIDE DON’T LACK,
‘GRANDMOTHER HAD THAT WONDERFUL FLOUR SACK!’

I think all over the world women in particular would have special memories of flour sacks. Thoughts of them just warm me up and help me value my old neighbours in Sibu even more!! Frugality and thriftiness are values we need to pass on to our next generation.

What stories would you have about cotton flour sacks?

Sarawakian Local Delights : Saute'ed Durian Flowers

Photo of Stir Fried Durian flowers with Sambal belacan by Edgar Ong with thanks.

When the durian tree flowers every one gets excited for two reasons. It heralds a good harvest in about 5 months' time and when the flowers start to drop their petals, food can be made from them! The flowers are edible.

Here is a recipe adapted from famous blogger Xiaofeng Huang. Malaysian Vegetarian Food Blog.

Ingredients :
a tablespoon or more of belacan
l tsp of pounded dried chillies

1 tsp curry powder

some lemon grass stalks, crushed

300 g clean durian flowers, blanched and rinsed

3 tbsp oil 

salt to taste

Stir fry method.

In Memory of Lau King Howe : Photos

The Lau Clan Association of Sibu successfully carried out a project under Lau Pek Kii in 2017-2018. The group published a book on Lau King Howe's life and contribution to the people of Sibu.

Sibu Tales : Wide Feet and Spreading Toes

Each time I look at my toes I remember my aunts and cousins who have almost the same toes, toes which are a little too spreading.

According to my cousin, who is a teacher, our toes are a little too widespread because we did not wear shoes when we were younger. And furthermore we were tasked with tapping rubber trees and collecting of rubber latex which included the excruciating painful walking in the rubber garden. Our paths were often crissed crossed by rubber tree roots which protruded from the forest floor. Our toes became very adaptive and they could grip the roots to prevent us from falling all over.

so perhaps our toes had that special ability to grip the roots!!

I remember when my aunts and cousins came to town by the river motor launches, they would carry their shoes in their hands. They would wear their shoes only when they alighted from the motor launches or when came to the streets. It was difficult for them to wear shoes for in about half an hour they would have blisters in the heels.

Having blisters was a big problem for most of us in those days.

Sg, Merah Linda Chang

When we were young, the radio was a wonderful part of our life. It entertained us and it was definitely an important part of our micro culture.

For those of us educated in both English and Chinese we enjoyed both "channels", the English and the Chinese. Besides we were also very fond of listening to the Foochow news , especially the news read by 



our cousin, Hsiung Kwo Hua.

We were also familiar with names like Uncle Tan Seng Lim, Mr. Anthony Romanair etc.

But apart from the various Chinese announcers of RTM Chinese Channel, we remember Aunty Linda Chang Ping Te most.


Aunty Chang was a Shanghai born lady married to Mr.Wong from Sungei Merah.

Aunty Linda was our Radio Play IDOL on Thursday nights, when the radio broadcast family plays.

The Mandarin Family plays affected us a lot. We looked forward to listening to the radio. All of us kids would sit down in front of our small radio and listened carefully.

I believe we really learned a lot of moral lessons from these Mandarin plays. And we loved the voice of Aunty Chang. In later years we met her in Kuching when she managed a Chinese restaurant. What a kind lady she was.

I am proud to have her daughter Po Po as my classmate for a short while in the Primary School. Later we met up again at University of Malaya.

This photo is from Po Po...

Another uncle we remember from our radio listening days was Uncle William Chou.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Long Beans and Dried Prawns Pancake

Many Iban housewives are creative especially those who have learnt from Home Demonstrators who taught well during the Colonial days and the 60's. They then would pass on their practical knowledge to their daughters. They did not use any scientific measuring gadgets. Probably they used the OMO glass or tumbler.

So, whenever visitors come to their longhouse these women would make kuih quite easily either for breakfast or for tea.

One very easy kuih to make is the savoury pancake which they will mix with finely chopped long beans, chillies and dried prawns. Long beans are easily grown in the backyard of the longhouse and so are chillies. Dried prawns are usually stored in bottles by the Iban women as part of their kitchen must haves.

The savoury pancakes would be an added and colourful addition to the normal Osborne biscuits produced at the ruai for unexpected guests. No good Iban would let their guests go away without a drink and snack at least.

Eaten with coffee these small pancakes will make conversations very interesting!!

Sarawak : Madeline Dennis - Moblile Clinic in Sibu

How many of you know about the history of mobile clinics of the Rajang?

The first government mobile clinic in the Rajang Basin was started by Mrs. Madeline Dennis way back in 1956, after that another mobile clinic was started in Bukit Lan by the Methodist Church sometime later when Miss Hilda Shepherd arrived. Both these ladies had years of missionary work in China before 1949.

..............................................................................................................................................................

“I love the Chinese people, I love Malaysians and I love the Iban people of Sarawak.” (Madeline Dennis, 1989,Interview by Wong Meng Lei, 20^th March in Sibu, Methodist Message, p. 6)

Madeline Dennis was born in 19 xx in Texas, USA.  She graduated from Kentucky’s Asbury College with a degree in nursing. She married her college mate Rev Dennis upon their graduation.

Both had a heart for mission work and thus they applied for mission work overseas. The Great Depression days put their dreams on hold. They were  sent to a local rural church to work due to financial constraints of the church from 1935 onwards. This was a blessing in disguise because their experience in those years laid a strong foundation for their future mission work overseas.

In 1938, an offer came for a pastor and a nurse to work in China. It was like God’s will happening right in front of them. They had the right partnership. After a short training, in 1939, September, they boarded a huge steamship and set sail for China, a totally different country from the United States.

Madeline’s grandfather was a pastor and so was her father. Hence she did not find foreign mission work very unusual. However, Rev Dennis did not come from a similar background, in fact his parents did oppose their work in China.

When they reached China, they embarked on Chinese language studies in Shanghai for 9 months while working as missionaries straight away. In 1940, they were in Nan Ping in Fujian. Rev Dennis preached in different churches using the Chinese language while Madeline herself worked as a nurse in the Methodist Hospital of Nan Ping for the next 10 years.

They returned to the USA only once in those 10 years.

Because of the political unrest in China they returned to the US and in 1951 they were re – assigned to Sarawak to serve in Bawang Assan, an Iban longhouse church. Madeline however was offered a post in the government clinic in Sibu. She was instrumental in starting the Rajang-Igan Mobile Clinic for the government and served in this capacity for 4 years.

In 1956, Madeline and her husband were reassigned to Singapore for two years. In 1958, they started serving in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. In 1961, they were sent to Perak where unfortunately Rev Dennis was met with a very serious road accident resulting in brain injury which he miraculously recovered. brain injury . Subsequently they left Perak . In 1985, Rev Dennis had another bad fall and he passed away not long after that.

Madeline’s main concern in Sarawak was the role young Iban Methodists can play in the development of the church in the rural areas. She had served in three different areas in her life, “the wonderful people of China” ,  the Malaysian urban centers and Sarawak Iban  dominated rural areas. She hopes that the future will be bright for the rural people especially.

(excerpted and translated from Chinese Methodist Message)

(Note : To honour her, many Ibans name their daughters Madeline)

Translated by Chang Yi (16 th May 2013)