Squid is a special delicacy for the Fujian people. And for the Foochow of Sibu, it is an extremely valued food. It can be rehydrated from its dried form to make a wonderful jelly like squid, ready for cooking. In Chinese, squid is yiu ngee.(鱿) Most Chinese like their festivals with lots of fish dishes..because fish mean "have" or "abundance" hence prosperity.
Although Rojak, and Yew Ngee and Kangkong are street foods in Malaysia. many Foochows have learned to prepare and eat Yew Ngee and Kangkong (In Hokkien it is jiu hu engchai).
Foochow farmers in the past grew lots of kangkong in their riverine villages along the banks of the Rajang. And for a quick meal, they could just blanch the kangkong from the farms and eat the green vegetables with a dollop of lard , some ikan bilis and hot rice.
Blanched kang kong when added to rehydrated and blanched yew ngee and slapped with a home made rajoak sauce becomes a wonderful salad.
Sometimes when the rojak sauce is not available Foochow homes would just mix the two ingredients with some chillies sauce and soy sauce. This home made dish brings back a lot of memories of our old Foochow ways of the villagers in the Sibu areas.
2 comments:
Even until now my mum still enjoy eating rehydrated squid mixed with soy sauce and chili sauce. May I know how is the squid rehydrated? I'm quite curious
Soak cuttlefish with cold water preferably overnight until it has been reconstituted. Change the water(this water can be used as soup stock) and soak the cuttlefish with cold water which has 1 tbsp of potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution(kan sui) added. The cuttlefish is ready when it is soft and double it's original size. At this stage the cuttlefish has to be soaked in plain cold water and change the water every 3 hours.(Reference : lily's Wai Sek Hong)
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