Sayur Keladi

Most longhouse people plant sayur keladi, the yam leaves which they can cut for vegetables. Yam or taro is easy to plant and it grows best in soggy ground, and even hill slopes. Sometimes it is grown in abandoned padi land, which is now plentiful as most Ibans have switched to the cultivation of oil palms.

Sayur keladi is a dish that is popular not only among the Ibans but among all the diverse races of Sarawak. So it is a common popular local dish.

The stems of the taro are meticulously peeled and cleaned and then cut into finger lengths. A generous amount of dried prawns is soaked and pouned with chillies, garlic, onions and ginger. This mixture is sauteed in oil. And then the cut vegetables are given a heat through. Water or just a small amount of santan is added. Cook until the vegetables are soft.

It is a welcome dish for almost all Sarawakians.

Local Vegetable : Ensabi

The Iban farmers grow ensabi along the edges of their padi fields or in their backyards.

Ensabi is a variety of the mustard green. It may be slightly more bitter or spicy. But it is a very nice vegetable.

The Chinese call it SABI Chai.

An uncle used to play ping pong with the Seniors at the Senior Citizen Centre and he would always bring back some ensabi for his wife to cook. It was his way of showing his wife how much he thought of her and love meant sharing this vegetable with her at lunch!

He was hard of hearing and his wife would just nag him for hours and he would just smile. But his wife would always make the best meals for him.
Ensabi can be grown in containers like these even in the high rise condo of KL.

The best preserved salted greens from Sarawak is made from ensabi, using the traditional Iban way, called KASAM.

Iban Beliefs : Healing plants and medicinal oils for New Mothers

All these plants are very relevant for the new mother in the long house. If the new mothers are residing in the town or city, they might find it difficult to get them.

Daun Mambong - for bathing. The Chinese sin seh have already packaged them for the urbanites. So you might be able to buy the leaves in Chinese medicine shops. Ask for leaves for confinement bathing.




Pucuk Paku Uban - eating this is good for the new mothers to encourage lactation.


Minyak entemut/kunyit






Pound the entemut or wild kunyit and add some oil, for a refreshing massage. Good for blood circulation for new mothers.



Halia Merah - use this for cooking chicken for new mothers.

Oil infused with the wild red ginger is good for blood circulation too.






The Indonesians also believe in the use of red ginger as a good nourishing confinement dish.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Mango and Cucumber Salad

the Ibans have a traditional way of using the heavy knife or cleaver to cut a young mango (almost ripe) into shreds. This method is called "kesap".

"Kesap" is an Iban word which means a process where by you hold the peeled mango on your left hand and you hold the knife on your right. turn the mango slowly as you "chop" the flesh. Little shreds of mango will drop on the plate below...and soon there will be a pile.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Daun Mandai

As more and more rural people move to Miri to seek their fortunes, the demand for authentic jungle vegetables has increased.

Today it is easy to find many different kinds of jungle produce in Miri's tamu.

It is good to learn more about organic and jungle vegetables.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Rice Milling

Today, the mini rice mill is a very important equipment for the indigenous people of Sarawak where padi is grown, harvested, milled and eaten, if possible in the village.

Many of the rice farmers, for example, Aunty Dayang Lasong, grows her rice in Pa Kerebunut but she lives in Miri, 8 hours away by road.  She and her family will grow the rice and then harvest it. After harvesting, the unhusked grains are dried and stored. When fresh milled rice is required for sale, or for home consumption, Aunty Dayang Lasong will drive back to her village to dry the grains for a day and then mill the rice, using a small mini rice mill which consists of a paddy clearner, sheller, separator and a polisher.

10 or 15 years ago, life was not that easy because she had to send her unhusked rice grains to a miller and she had to pay for the milling.

Thus a mini rice mill at home has definitely made life so much easier for the rural folks.

Sarawak has a lot of good land for growing food crops like rice which is an essential product yet many prefer to plant oil palm which is a cash crop. Why can't people plant both? I would still prefer people to plant rice here in Sarawak. Thailand is a good example where rice is an export crop.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Bananas at Pasar Tani

The Prices of bananas have really gone up recently. It is sad to note that as salaries increase and there is minimum wage too, food prices have gone up. This will increase the number of poor people living in the urban areas, thus creating many different kinds of social problems.

Many housewives are even saying that one good banana is costing around 1 ringgit now. They are asking, "What cheaper fruit to eat next?" 

Times are bad.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Ikan Labang

Ikan labang is a big river fish which has very white flesh and is extremely tasty. The fish requires very clean water to breed and is found mainly in the bigger rivers like the Rajang and the Baram. The Kapit Terasang Open Air Market used to sell lots of ikan labang, freshly hooked by fishermen who would eagerly sell the good fish for more than 20 ringgit per kg.

The sweet tasting fish is used to cook a soup noodle (rice vermicelli) which the Chinese (specifically the Foochows) enjoy.

However most Sarawakian would enjoy a lunch with this fish as a main dish,usually steamed with soy sauce or with ginger oil. Today it is also a fish used for cooking of asam pedas or curry.

A good fleshy fish is always an enjoyable dish for the family.

(Photo : This photo was taken in Ang Soon Lai, restaurant near Bakun Dam, Belaga)

Sarawakian Local Delights : Tiny Mata Kuching

It is hard to find the tiny original tiny or ulu mata kuching in Sarawak nowadays. You may need to go to the small towns to find them. Mata Kuching flower and fruit around the same time as durian and dabai. But with global warming, it is hard now to tell when wild mata kuching will ripen.



This is the fruit that many people claim to have given the name to the Capital of Sarawak : Kuching.

Mata Kuching means cat's eyes.

Sarawakian Local Delights :Tapai/tapeh

The simpor leaves are very useful.

The Kedayans and Malays use the leaves a lot.

Today the Kedayan and Malay women sell sweet fermented glutinous rice wrapped in simpor leaves.

Tapeh or sweet fermented glutinous rice is actually sweet rice fermented with locally made yeast or ragi. Left to ferment for two days, before the rice and yeast combination becomes alcoholic on the third or fourth day, the tapeh is a popular "dessert" or snack.

A friend told me not long ago that female cats which are fed with tapeh become sterilized. Would you like to try it on your kitten? That would save you more than 200 ringgit.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Sawtooth Coriander

The sawtooth coriander is called Daun Sup by the indigenous people of Sarawak.

If you wish to have a Sarawak flavour to your chicken soup, just add some sawtooth coriander. And you will bring your chicken soup to a good level.

Sawtooth coriander also helps to make local salads with cucumber and tomatoes awesome. Give it a try.

Some women in the longhouse have very green fingers. Their sawtooth coriander can be found every where. How I envy them.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Paku with pork

Blanched ferns (paku) mixed with garlic and  sauteed minced pork and mushrooms. Pour mixed lime juices and some chillies. Toss. Give this a try.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Leaves for Seasoning

This is a very interesting find. The Ibans call it daun asam. They are easily grown in the longhouse yard. A few leaves are needed to take a bowl of meat to a high level.

However it is not easy to find them every day in the market in towns.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Daun Apong for Ketupat

Unopened bunch of cooked ketupat in a plate

Ketupat or rice wrapped in leaves is a popular breakfast fare in Sarawak.

It is made from glutinous rice that has been wrapped in a woven palm leaf pouch which is then boiled. As the rice cooks, the grains expand to fill the pouch and the rice becomes compressed. This method of cooking gives the ketupat its characteristic form and texture of a rice dumpling. Ketupat is usually eaten with rendang (a type of dry beef curry) or served as an accompaniment to satay.

This photo shows an unusual shape of ketupat. Made by Kedayan women of Bekenu, this kind of ketupat is also traditionally at open houses on festive occasions such as Idul Fitri (Hari Raya Aidilfitri).  It is often served with chicken curry or rendang or serunding.

Good ketupat is often boiled in thin coconut milk and spices to enhance the taste. Usually they don't get spoiled for three or four days. So travellers can bring them along.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Ikan Buntal

I saw these frozen ikan buntal at a supermarket in Miri. Would people be able to prepare them well. Everyone knows some parts of its body is poisonous. What if someone does not?

Shouldn't a warning sign be put up? It is more poisonous than cyanide.

Would any one not know?

A friend is very confident that he can clean the fish well and there is no harm in eating it.

In Japan, puffer fish or fugu is a delicacy and chefs with licence are allowed to prepare the dish.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Ikan Sultan

Ikan Sultan from the fresh water river or from the sea can be cooked in a bamboo stem as an alternative method, different from steaming, bbq or deep frying.  Most people who have had eaten bamboo cooked fish had found the white fleshed fish rather bony but they would find that the recipe gave them a different perception of fish eating. The fish having been cooked in a bamboo stem over a slow open fire, is not so oiler and the bones are easy to remove through careful picking, with the fingers or with chopsticks and fork.

The fish is usually cut in steaks and then halved to be marinated for half an hour with salt, lemon grass and daun bungkang. Then the fish is slowly stuffed into the bamboo stem together with the lemon grass, daun bungkang etc. The bamboo stem is then half filled with water. The open mouth of the bamboo stem is sealed with a ball of crumpled young tapioca leaves.

The bamboo stem must be turned once in a while to prevent burning. When the tapioca leaves are softened and cooked by the steam from the bamboo the fish is ready to be served. The fish will be aromatic and tasty. Enjoy!

(There is a special way of pouring out the fish from the bamboo. Hold the bamboo stem with the right hand, and slowly knock the hand with the left hand. The gentle pounding  of the right hand would cause the fish to slide out of the bamboo stem. Try it.)

Sarawakian Local Delights : Lemang

Christmas Nostalgia

Each Christmas I would remember how my former maid and cleaning lady saved our Christmas once in the early 2000's when we first moved to Miri. Our faithful baby sitter had gone away to get married and we had to make do with an Iban lady who converted to Islam. She worked for us three mornings a week to do just the cleaning and laundry. She was with us for three years until she got a permanent job with a statutory body.

rich and fragrant lemang cut into lovely slices.

The first Christmas she was with us, she cleaned the house as usual and left to tend to her stall in the kampong with her son. She told us that she had to make more cakes for her customers.  In fact she took off after 2 hours of work and we did not mind.

We were busy trying to put together a Christmas event at home and we seemed to have endless problems at hand. With school going to open in a few days' time, as a mother I had not gotten everything done since I was teaching the holiday courses at the college. Fees had to be paid, kids had to have new shoes,and even bags had to be bought. Even though I had a car, I felt that I only had 2 hands and two legs. Like the characters of The Chrysalids I was wishing I had two more hands and two more legs.

 My head was spinning already by Christmas eve.

It was a good thing we only had two invited guests for our dinner. The menu was set as we had mee hoon to take the place of rice. Then suddenly two of the family members  and the two visitors looked at the turkey, mashed potatoes and salad and expressed their desire for rice to go with the curried chicken. How was I going to prepare rice in an instant? Another visitor suddenly arrived after we said our grace thanking God for His provisions. My family was always prepared for unexpected guests.

As we took our first bite of the turkey, and dug into our mashed potatoes, we were thinking it would be nice to have some lemang or ketupat. But any way one my daughters was happy that it was quite a good western dinner.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door, so  I thought that it would be another unexpected guest. And there standing in front of us was our loyal maid with a plastic bag in her hand. She had walked all the way from her kampong just to bring us the lemang she made (she and her children made lemang for special occasions like Raya or Gawai for sale). She had just closed her stall and thought of us. And we never expected a gift from her because she was such a busy person.

God had blessed us in a special way. The lemang was more than enough for all of us. In fact, we had enough for the next day. May God bless Minah and her family always.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Patin Fish Soup

The wild patin is a valued fish for many of the riverine people in Sarawak. However due to some taboos and personal choice, the fish is not eaten by many Melanaus and Malays.

It is a fleshy fish and often people liken it to the tropical version of salmon, although its meat when cooked is white, and when in the raw it is red. The patin is usually cut into steaks and cooked in different ways by the indigenous people. It can be cooked as a soup, thus becoming very nutritious for the elderly and the young. Its flesh can be flaked and added to porridge, together with wild mushrooms. Filleted, it is a good fish to be battered and deep fried. Fish fingers made from patin is very delicious and so are the fish cakes. Patin can also be deep fried, or cooked in different varieties of curries.

One of the most famous dishes in Malaysia is Patin cooked with fermented durians, which can appear even in banquets hosted by royalty.

In English it is called the silver catfish because is belly is silver. Fishermen usually sell patin which are still alive, in shallow water tanks. When they come belly up, they cannot be sold. However patin can live for a long time in shallow water and even in thick mud.

According to some chefs, the best patin in Sarawak are found in the sometimes salty and sometimes fresh waters of Sarikei and Bintangor. Sea Patin can fetch a very high price and is not often caught. It is very much better than river patin.

Patin can be farmed and in fact the business is catching up in the last decade.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Deep Fried Fish

Deep fried river fish is a common dish in many longhouses in the evening. A farmer on his way home from the rice fields, may easily net a small pail of river fish.

One of the easier ways of cooking fish is deep frying them.

The salty fish, sometimes with scales still on, when deep fried, is very crunchy and tasty. Often they may form the only protein for the family for a few days.

The family dinner may include a sambal and a salad of cucumber.

The fried fish can be heated up in the kuali or placed on top of a smouldering wood fire the next day in the farm. And that will be a good lunch for the family.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Rubber Seeds

I have both sets of grandparents who owned rubber gardens and have cousins who tapped rubber. In fact my maternal grandmother and my third uncle managed a rubber smoke house after the Japanese war in Nang Chong village.

Thus in a way I am very familiar with the rubber industry. However I have never eaten rubber seeds until recently.

The rubber seeds are salted and boiled. In the photo, the seeds are soften and ready to be re-cooked. They can be stir fried with ikan bilis or even deep fried. Actually they taste rather like chestnuts if they are boiled in sugary and saltish water.