Hua Hung Ice Mill : Glutinous Rice Sausages

During the Japanese Occupation, my father and his siblings lived with my great grandparents in Hua Hong Ice and Rice Mill, across the Rajang River from Sibu. To the Tiong relatives, they were the across river people. But later on when I was growing up the term Across River People referred to my grandfather's cousins from the Tiong Clan who lived in Sg. Bidut (or Sungey Miluk)

The Foochow tongue has always struggled between the K and the T sounds. Pick would become pig, put would just be puk. I had a hard time teaching pronunciation as an English teacher.

Putting that aside, I have a story around glutinous rice. My students could not pronounce the T in the word, which would sound like gloodeenus lice. Ok lah..my students would tell me..say soon mee...

Glutinous rice is a sweet rice, sticky and very palatable. It always reminds of me festivities. And it also brings a nice story about my great grandfather.

During the Japanese Occupation, life in Sibu was more or less SELF ISOLATION as schools were closed, and the Japanese soldiers patrolled the streets. The Foochows stayed away from them.

When school stopped functioning, all my father's  siblings who were boarding with Yuk Ing school went home but my Great Grandmother and Grandmother Wong managed to take care of the house hold activities, fed and clothed the children very well. Since they did not attend school, they did all the household chores, went fishing, foraged for vegetables etc. That was for 3 years and 8 months.

During the festive seasons, the children would help slaughter a pig carefully reared by Grandmother Wong. The pig breed was the local Iban variety and did not grow to be too big in size. About 100 katis.

Every part of the slaughtered pig was food for the big family.

And great grandfather (Tiong King Sing) loved the special glutinous rice stuffed big intestines. The intestines were washed carefully by grandmother and all the girls helped to steam the glutinous rice and peanuts. Once ready to fill the big intestines, the older girls would be the ones to fill up the big intestines under great grandmother's supervision. Perhaps it was because of this kind of home training, the girls became very capable housekeepers.

The intestine sausages would be tied at various sections and then cooked in the big kuali together with the rib bones. It was amazing to see a huge kuali of pork and the sausages. And the fragrance would reach heaven. The children could not wait for the meal to begin.

This big stuffed intestine sausage would then be sliced into portions and then shallow fried. Every child loved the dish and the lion share would be given to Great Grandfather.

This specialty dish or delicacy would last quite a number of days because every one was very frugal and they ate a little bit each day until the delicacy was gone!! Then they would look forward to the next slaughter of a pig/

The children were happy that their mother was good in rearing pigs.