Grandfather's Banana Plantation

 My grandfather never called bananas bah yiu or white bananas. He called them Hiong Yiu, or the fragrant bananas.

The green banana called pisang embun was called chang nga jiu by him. 

He grew mainly hiong jiu  (fragrant banana) and chang nga jiu (pisang embun)

This pisang embun is greenish in colour even when it is ready to be eaten. The bananas turns pale yellow when ripe actually. Many Foochow ladies do not eat this type of banana because it is cooling and can upset the stomach i.e. it brings a lot of wind. Today this banana is also called cavendish banana. Some people call it Lau Hieng Ding banana.

After my grandfather retired from all businesses in his 60's and until his death, he grew lots of bananas and bamboos in his hill top property in Sg. Merah, his original parcel of land which he opened up when he first came to Sibu. He and his Chong father in law had adjacent properties. The Chong's property however was bigger as Grand Uncle Chong Jin Bok and Great Grandfather Chong had more wealth to engage workers to help clear land and plant lots of rubber.

Photo from Pau S. Cheong

Grandfather would have about 5 bunches of bananas hanging in the store room to turn just a little yellow before he sold them, by the week. He never sold green ones as they fetched less.

In the evenings he would have Aunt Hiong send two bunches to Sungei Merah. One would be sold to his cousin, Tiong Kung Kiew, who would sell the bananas by the hand to his coffee shop customers, and the other bunch to the fruit seller.  I never remember why Grandmother Siew never took the bananas in her car to sell in Sg. Merah. I suppose it was Aunt Hiong's duty.

Sometimes there were four bunches of bananas ready for sale. Aunt Hiong, being the strong woman she was, had two tied to the handle bars and two tied to the back of the bicycle. And she had another young aunt and myself to help push the bicycle to Sg. Merah. That was quite a distance but it was good exercise for all three of us. Great memories.

The cash sale would be enough to buy some vegetables and biscuits and other fruits for the family.  He was happy with that small income.

The bananas, both Cavendish and fragrant bananasplanted by grandfather were the best and sweetest in the world in my memory.

Star Fruit or Carambola

Sungei Merah -

When my grandfather decided to retire from active business at age 60, he built himself as large wooden house on top of a hill, which was part of the original land, 5 acres with title, given to him by the Rajah Brooke, when he came as a Foochow pioneer in 1903. That land was where he first planted his first rubber trees. Probably he had a very strong emotional attachment to that property and never wanted to sell it. In fact this piece of property was sold only aboutg half a century after he passed away by a surviving daughter in law and a daughter.

According to a grand uncle, he was also wise  in acquiring a little more land from one or two more pioneers who wanted to move elsewhere.

My Chong Grand Uncle's land was fairly near this property as some of my aunts remembered visiting Great Grandfather Chong's house "in the rubber garden".

The road named after my grand uncle, Chong Jin Bok Road actually runs behind my grandfather's property.

My grandfather was very fond of star fruits or Yong Toh 楊桃 and he had two special trees behind the house on the hill.

As children, we would watch him wrap up the fruits carefully and he would personally pluck the fruits when he found them to be slightly yellow. He was a big man, and he was very careful in carrying the wooden ladder he made for himself.

He would also climb up the ladder and carefully trimmed the branches from time to time.

And none of us would go and pluck to eat HIS star fruit. He was a very careful farmer who burnt the soil for his plants and applied natural fertilizers, which he collected from his chickens which he kept very carefully in coops he made.

There was the unstated rule in his household. Without his permission, none of us grand children could eat any of the fruits grown in the garden. We were all very disciplined and even neighbours' children knew about this. For some reasons, no outsiders even dared to steal his fruits. We all said that it was because people respected him and therefore they even respected his fruits.

We were quite sure that Grandmother Siew even counted how many star fruits grandpa wrapped up
during the week.



Whenever a fruit was beginning to ripen Grandma would announce it and Grandpa would wait a day or two to personally pluck the fruit. Sometimes two would ripe at the same time and that meant that the children would have a share too. Or sometimes, Grandma Siew would pluck one and waited for another one to ripen. She had a metal basket which hanged from the kitchen latch. That was for special fruits. Sometimes when many fruits ripened at the same time, Grandmother Siew would send a few to Reverend Ho and his family down at the parsonage at Kwong Ang or Sing Ang Tong.

And for all of us grandchildren, we looked forward to having a few slices of star fruits with our lunch.

It is still a luxury fruit for my family and I today. One of the best ways of eating star fruit is to juice it.

At the moment of writing, Malaysia is a global leader in the production of star fruits.

(Caution : people with kidney problems must be careful when eating star fruits. There have been cases of kidney damage due to toxicity.)

Sg, Merah : Almond Biscuits

杏仁餅; pinyin: xìng rén bǐng; Jyutping: hang6 jan beng2) are common in Cantonese cuisine.

A Chinese almond biscuit (or cookie) is a type of Chinese pastry that is made with ground apricot kernels. The biscuit is one of the most standard pastries in Canton, Hong Kong, Macau, and in some overseas Chinese bakeries.^[2] They are small, containing no filling. In addition, they are very crumbly.

One of the biscuits my grandfather would always buy in Sg. Merah for his Dien Ning at 4 p.m. was the Heng Ying Biang, or almond biscuits.

If we were good we were given one biscuit. But we were never allowed to eat at the table with him. Our Grandma would shoo us away because according to her, Grandpa like to eat alone. In those days, there would be one fried peanut in the centre of the almond biscuit. 

Because the almond biscuit was very crumbly, we would be very disappointed if our biscuit were just crumbs. In later years I like Butter Cookies very much because they do not crumble.

Sungei Merah Tales : Tea Time

My grandfather was a stern disciplinarian and he was a man who had very fixed times for everything he did. He was methodical, probably because he adhered to a lot of practices followed by the Methodist pastors and church members of his time. He was a close friend of the Reverend James Hoover and Mrs. Hoover.

He sent all his daughters to Yuk Ing Girls' School as he believed that girls must be well educated besides sending his sons to the Anglo Chinese Boys' School. His daughters , my aunts did particularly well in school, especially the eldest, Aunty Lily and the second, Aunty Phyllis who both became teachers in Singapore.  Aunty Maggie, because of the Japanese Occupation was lucky to escape from Sarawak during that time, became a nurse. My fifth aunt and ninth Aunt went to the USA on scholarships and did very well. However my 10th Aunt was the best because she was one of the best students in Sarawak and later became the Principal of a Hong Kong College.

My Grandfather visiting his daughters in Singapore.

All the other aunts were professionals in their own right.

Having educated all his children well, Grandfather enjoyed his old age. And one of his greatest joys was to have some cakes and tea about 4. We kids must never disturb his napping time which was followed by his tea time. Fresh cakes from the Sg. Merah bakeries would be purchased by Aunt Ah Hiong who would ride her bicycle from Kwong Ang Lane to the small bazaar.  Life did give him a lot of blessing, the young boy who was told by a fortune teller that he must cross a sea to gain a lot of wealth.

My grandmother Siew made sure that he enjoyed his tea especially with his thin tea and all his boisterious grand children far away from the kitchen.

We would all know the time was four o'clock because these two items, pong biang and long kor,  would be placed on the dining table for him.

He would then drink his tea slowly and ate the biscuit slowly, making sure that he did not drop any crumbs on the table. Grandfather was a very refine "eater". A very nostalgic image I have of him savouring his "pong biang" slowly as the evening lights fell upon the hill top.  He ate daintily and slowly and with a lot of satisfaction.









































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Sungei Merah Stories : Native Fern domesticated by Mrs. Lu

In Sungei Merah, many Heng Huas continue to live in their wooden houses built after the Second World War. These houses are found along the banks of the Seduan river or Sg. Merah. While many of the homes have cemented a large part of their compound, a few families continue to grow their own vegetables for their home consumption. Any surplus could be sold or given away as gifts.

Mrs. Lu, whose house is just opposite the Tiong Hin Secondary school, has a garden full of paku, which she has domesticated from the wild. She has been selling paku to her friends and her family has enough paku for their meals very frequently.

( I enjoyed talking to her and also taking photographs of her paku.)

Sungei Merah : Grand father's Pomelo

My paternal grandfather was very fond of growing fruits in all the properties he purchased over the years. He grew lots of pomeloes in Hua Hong Ice Factory land. My mother remembers collecting a few pomelo which dropped during high tide and she had to swim in the water to collect them. My mother, in those days, was a good swimmer. Our house in Hua Hong was a stilted house and flood waters would reach the first landing. Fruit trees grew well long the raised banks of Pulau Kerto.

Not long after my parents were married , my paternal grandparents moved to Sungei Merah. There he planted four pomelo trees. It was this special home that we used to visit as his noisy grand children every weekend until he passed away. Grandfather actually lived in that house for slightly more than 12 years, if I am not mistaken.

Whenever we visited them during the weekends, there would be lots of fruits for all of us to eat.



My grandfather was particularly fond of pomelo. And Grandma Siew would always peel the big fruit and place the segments in a small dish for him and for the rest of us.

Grandfather was a very gentle eater. He would use a tooth pick to get a small segment of pomelo and slowly put it into his mouth. Perhaps it was his mannerism that many of my aunts and uncles inherited. They were all very careful eater at the table. And they seldom talked in front of him.

My 7th Aunt told us that Mrs. Hoover had made sure that the girls studying in Yuk Ing Girls Schools were trained not to laugh or giggle. And they must put on a very serious face.

My grandfather did have a very serious face.

The pomelo grown in Sg Merah by my grandfather was especially sweet and juicy. My father used to tell us that Grandfather was good in planting the best of fruit trees.

Sungei Merah Stories : Bottles in exchange for two bottles of lemonade

 It is often an act of kindness which leaves a deep imprint in the mind of a child.

A young Iban child went with her father Lumpoh to sell rubber sheets to the middle men in Sungei Merah not so long after the Japanese Occupation.

Menai now living in Perth is on the right, wearing black and white striped blouse.

One of their favourite middle men was Kow Dieh or Ninth Brother, who later became my 5th Uncle's father in law. Towkay Kow Dieh was a Heng Hua man who also operated a bus which took passengers to the Sibu Airport from Sungei Merah. His bus occasionally took goods and passengers to Sungei Teku and Bukit Aup. Many Chinese families also hired his bus for funeral processions from Sg. Merah to the various cemeteries.

Thomas Ling getting two bottles of Aerated Water from a canteen

This Iban child who is now in her 70's remembers her visits to Sg. Merah very well. Going to Sg. Merah in those days was like visiting a big city.

One particular memory she has of her trips to was how her parents would take empty lemonade/aerated drinks bottles in exchange for more lemonade!

Sungei Merah Stories : Brinjal Soup

My grandmother Siew and Aunty Hiong used to plant a few plots of brinjals and ladies' fingers.

Popular Brinjal soup, Japanese style. Google

Grandma loved to cook these two vegetables for grandpa Tiong Kung Ping as they were his favourites.

However one dish that was truly memorable was her brinjal soup. Plain cut brinjals in a soup of garlic and perhaps a bit of ikan bilis or a bit of ern chow. But as children we could eat almost anything. She was glad that I learned to eat vegetables and especially her brinjals.


Today, we all love brinjals or egg plants, cooked in any way. Each time I see people growing brinjals I would think of Grandfather and the backyard garden that he started when he moved to the big house on the hill in Sg. Merah.

I will try to re-create the Tiong Kung Ping Brinjal Soup soon.....


Mashed Brinjal Soup with Ern Chow

(Steam the brinjals and then mash well, use a bit of oil to stir fry some garlic until aromatic, add a small spoon of ern chow..and add the mashed brinjal...add water. A fragrant Ming Chiang Soup from Fujian)

Sungei Merah Stories : Seaweed Soup

Seaweed is called Chie Chai in Foochow and as a young kid I thought that it was really purple vegetable. It took me quite a long time to acquire a taste for seaweed soup especially the one served by Grandmother Siew who was actually an extremely good cook.

When holiday with Grandfather in Sungei Merah, we were amazed by her stir fried cabbage, deep fried brinjals, pork ribs in soy sauce and the occasional Chicken. Christmas time would see extra good food on the table. We would have two or three different rounds of eating as the elders ate first if they were ready . If not the kids would be served first. Then followed by the others. Grandma would supervise which dishes would go onto the table so that every one would have a  good share of the food she prepared.

What was most amazing was the soup that she had boiling in the wood fire on the huge stove. That could be just a simple seaweed soup which later became extremely tasty for me. 

The soup would be cooked in the largest pot she had and left simmering or being heated up from before lunch time until dinner time. The seaweed soup would be enhanced by a bit of minced pork, or one or two beaten eggs (laid by her hens in the backyard).

She would chop up one or two big orangey onions to cook the seaweed soup. Lastly she would add some pepper and green onions to the soup.

It was truly a good Foochow soup which could feed more than 15 people in those days.

Sungei Merah Tales : Bamboo Shoots

My grandfather acquired quite a good piece of land when he moved from Bintangor to Sibu in the 1940's. An uncle told me that most Foochows acquired a lot of land during those years when the value of the dollar was big and it was easy for those with cash to acquire land. Therefore he and my grandfather bought land at only 50 dollars per acre.

Grandfather planted rubber immediately upon acquiring the land and soon the rubber trees were yielding. He had three wooden houses for the rubber tapping employees and they lived there quite peacefully. I remember these families long after they moved out to their own homes.



One of the families owned a fishing boat. They had nice stories to tell.

However the best memories I had of this period in the early 50's and 60's was the collecting of bamboo shoots.  My adopted aunt, Ah Hiong, would go out in the early hours of the day to collect them, with a parang, and an aluminium pail or "sa li turn". In those days the sa li turn was a multi tasking equipment.

Following the foraging of the bamboo shoots and any other wild vegetables, our afternoon meal woould definitely have stir fried bamboo shoots on the table. My grandmother would bring the excess to the market . Or if she had time on her hands, she would salt the bamboo shoots and put them in earthern urns.

Besides rubber, and bamboo shoots, my grandfather, in his old age also enjoyed selling bananas which grew very well on the hill slopes.

Grandfather felt that being able to own such a big piece of land in Sg. Merah was indeed full filling the  Minqing fortune teller's prophecy - that he would be prosperous "across the seas".

However this blessing also came about because he had the chance of meeting with Wong Nai Siong and later, his good relationship with Mr James Hoover.

But most importantly, my grandfather was a very frugal, hardworking man with a vision and mission in life.

Sungei Merah Stories : Bamboo Shoots

During the Japanese Occupation 1941-1944 (3 years and 8 months) the Rajang Basin was short of food. But meedin, bamboo shoots, fish, paku, and other fruits were available depending on seasonal availability.

Because of the fear of marauding Japanese soldiers many Chinese did not tend their gardens and even rice was not properly cultivated.

Sungei Merah was one of the focus points of the Japanese as they wanted to built the airport and complete construction of Queensway. Many Chinese were conscripted for the work of digging, flattening, and carrying of soils. Since the able bodied men were taken to do the hard labour, women were afraid to go far in search of natural food.

However the bamboo groves which grew near their homes were able to provide some food, but bamboo shoots were not all year round food.





Bamboo shoots appeared in June, July and August.


Vegetarians valued bamboo shoots the most. Being a cooling vegetable, it was not really offered to the elders with arthritis.

the Chinese in those days also did not pickle their bamboo shoots like the Ibans or the Malays so a glut would mean the bamboo shoots were wasted.

I still remember a grand aunt who was given some Kasam Tubu or pickled bamboo shoots by passing Ibans during the Japanese occupation. And she said, "I felt that I was eating rotting bamboo shoot. After that time, I just ate salt, and potatoes..forget about bamboo shoots most of the year!!" She never learned to pickle bamboo shoots she said.

But after the war, she and her family thrived in tapping or rubber and she never had to eat "rotten bamboo shoots" anymore.

She would make baos with bamboo shoots from tins and she would laugh with us.

It was a matter of cultural shock for her.

Sungei Merah Tales - Native Market

Sungei Merah was one of the most Chinese Bazaars I have ever known. And it has always been considered as such.

In Chinese it is known as Sin Choo San, the Hills of New Pearl. First settled by the Foochows in 1901, it was clearly and carefully mapped out with three hostels and a kind of worship hut by Wong Nai Siong. Later it quickly developed into a gathering place fot the new Foochow pioneers. And in no time, a few wooden shops were established and a cemetery known as the Mee Yee Mee (Methodist) Cemetery was put up on the hill nearest to the Chinese Bazaar.

The Ibans and Melanaus considered Sungei Merah as good trading post since the beginning. The Ibans came by boat to the bridge area and barter traded their rubber, fruits with the Chinese. By 1912, the Heng Huas arrived and settled to the north of Sungei Merah, at Sg. Teku, and nearer to the Ibans in Sg. Aup. Until today culinary exchanges have not really been made between the natives and the Chinese although cangkok manis, kangkong, ensabi have become food on Chinese tables, many other jungle products are strictly native food. This is not the case in Indonesia, the Philippines or Thailand where local products are more universally acceptable.

Native produced rice is very acceptable, although many Chinese still prefer Thai rice. Even the local cucumber (timun betu) grown by the Ibans are not "edible" to the Chinese. Some people are afraid however if the Chinese learn to eat what the indigenous eat, there will be more demand and sad to say, supply is rather limited, like Ikan Semah and Ikan Empurau.


the Melanaus burried their dead, after walking a mile or two from Kampong Nangka. Their burial place is still there, just a little northwest of Sg. Merah.

For years the Ibans and Melanaus sold their rice, fruits, vegetables along the roadside of Sungei Merah. Then they were "chased away" to do their business at the back lanes, behind some of the shops.

Today, they are still doing business behind the shop blocks.

Native Markets are always welcome by the people they have fresh jungle vegetables, exotic meats, fresh fruits and bamboo shoots. The indigenous in Sibu and Sungei Merah have never owned shophouses or operated businesses in Sungei Merah or Sibu town, unless they are licensed with the help of MARA or semi-government bodies.

I wonder when this divide will change.

Sungei Merah Stories : Paring An Apple for your loved ones

What about some mud skipper soup?

http://www.wikihow.com/Pare-an-Apple


I often think of the days when my grandfather and my father visited each other and they got on so well together. My father was past 50 and grandfather was already in his 70's. This also meant that grandfather married later than most Chinese men of his age.

His marriage to my father's mother was arranged by Rev James Hoover who have met a lovely Chong family in Singapore. The brother, Mr.JB Chong was likely to be engaged as an English Teacher in Sibu in 1909 and he had a sister of marriageable age. Rev. Hoover thought of my grandfather.

The match was a good one because both my grandfather and Grandmother Chong were very hardworking people. She presented my grandfather with a lovely fair skinned boy and the whole Sibu Foochow community was delighted.

Grandfather had loved his first born as most Foochow men would. And as children we enjoyed his visits. We also enjoyed our visits to Grandfather in Sungei Merah.

 One of the loveliest memories I have of my father and grandfather having a good conversation together was when my father visited him when he was ill not long before he passed away.

Father brought some apples for Grandfather and he carefully pared one apple for grandfather. In those days, paring an apple for a loved one was a very tender communicative moment. It was an act of love.

You see, in those days, paring of apples was a done thing and most Fujian men could pare apples very well. Today it is not a skill many people have.

I have tried paring apples myself but I would never do as skilfully as my father. My mother said so too. Today, we eat all our apples with the skin.But I do wonder if you pare an apple for someone would it be appreciated as much as my grandfather and father did.

Do you pare your apples before you eat?

Sungei Merah Tales : Keeping Geese in the Backyard

My grandfather was actually quite a farmer when he retired from active business. He kept a lot of chickens, ducks, and dogs like any self sufficient retired Foochow towkay, in his backyard. Besides, he grew a lot of bananas, rambutans, bamboo shoots, durians and a few other fruits on his land which amounted to more than 4 acres of extremely good hilly soil.


His favourite flock of domestic animals must be his geese.

The Chinese goose (Anser cygnoides) is also called the swan goose.  My grandfather must have special  memories farm animals of his childhood in China, when food was scarce and he had to make ends meet even as a little boy. We knew very little about his childhood although we heard of a very significant legend which told us that a fortune teller had told him that he must cross an ocean in order to realise his dreams of becoming rich.

The goose has always been a favourite farm animal of the Fujian people. It is heavy and full of flesh. A smoked/roasted/braised goose was an Imperial Banquet dish   and preferably served during the second month of Lunar Calendar..


When we were young, we were always taught to distinguish between male and female animals. Young female chickens were favoured as food on the table. A cockerel would be too tough. We needed to know how to buy a female Chai Ark, a small duck, for those who had measles. A male serati or Muscovy was for braising and would be big enough for a big family.

 Male Chinese geese are typically larger with a proportionally longer bill and neck.

The round knob above the bill is usually twice as large as a female's

Most males have a higher and more shrill,sharper honk, while a female has a deeper honk.

Not many people know that a goose can lay up to 120 eggs per year. There are two egg laying seasons a year. Eggs are hatched after 28-to 34 days, a full lunar calendar month!!

Now for the little amusing tale from Sungei Merah :

My grandfather's neighbours were mainly Heng Hua and Foochow families. One Heng Hua mother in particular never seemed to make enough short pants for her little boys. So these boys actually played in their garden as well as grandfather' garden with just a little shirt and nothing else.

Grandfather's male goose would make a bee line for their crown jewels. Every time a boy was bitten, their mother would come and complain to grandfather. But grandfather said that nothing could be done, whether the boys wore trousers or not, the geese would try to bite them.

The boys did not know how to call the geese by name, as Ngiah was a difficult Foochow word for them to say in their Heng Hua tongue. So they had a special pet word for geese in their own language. They called grandfather's geese as "Wang Tik" because the neck could bend and then straighten up, Wang for bend and Tik for straight.

So the mother also used the term Wang Tik Wang Tik. The geese would always chase the semi naked boys up and down the hill and they would be screaming all the way home.

This scene was often repeated and grandfather would only shake his head. He would never say "These boys never learn their lesson."

As older children, we also wondered why the boys never seemed to understand that geese by nature would straighten their neck when chasing after people......

And one day, one of grandfather's geese was murdered. We never knew who did it, but immediately our Aunt Hiong, had the bird cleaned and cooked. Whether grandfather was sad or disappointed, we could not tell from his expressionless or poker face.

In my opinion, our stern and taciturn grandfather would never show his emotions on his face.

Tales from Sungei Merah : Great Grand Mother''s Fermented Soy Beans

My cousin Yew Ping told us that great grandmother used to make her own fermented soy beans. So when Yew Ping got married and moved away, she made her own. "It is easy, not difficult," she said.

In fact we can make it any time, any day and any season in Sarawak. Unlike in olden days China, there was a season to make the tou cheong.

When I visited my great grand ma and grandfather in Sungei Merah, we would often have their homemade soy  beans on the table as a condiment. Grand father (Kung Ping) loved the condiments and I remember my great grandma also enjoyed eating her rice with the fermented soy beans. Many old people towards the later part of their lives found it hard to crank up an appetite. And one of the Foochow appetisers in those days was this homemade fermented soy beans. Perhaps it reminded them of old China, and their old village in Fujian (14th district in Fuzhou).

I personally did not quite like it because I did not like the sticky bits in those early days, not that I was snobbish. It was my young and untested taste buds. So instead I would eat lots of the sweet, fried cabbage and poured a large portion of soup into my bowl of rice. My Grandmother Siew used to tell my mum that I was a "Rice girl" or buong loi , an archaic Foochow term meaning "having good appetite for rice".

Photo from Goggle

According to Yew Ping, most of my Bintangor cousins who knew Great Grandma's fermented soy beans or tou cheong continue to remember her special preparation. That would include David Tiong especially.

Great Grandma was always pleased whenever one of us said that he or she loved fermented soy bean and that he/she loved only what she made. I think most people cannot reach her standard of making fermented soy beans. Beans were only a few cents a kati in those days and I remember the jar used for storing the fermented soy beans in the Sungei Merah house. Being able to make one's tou cheong in those days was a "must have skill". And that was considered "Nuong Nii" very capable.

Social judgments were painful to the sensitive child in me. I used to empathise with  poor students in my school who were shy to eat in public. What did they bring to school? It was not because I had ham in my sandwich, or something great. I could have a bao, or sometimes just biscuits. I thought ikan bilis and some sambal was the best food in the world. But my friends were shy and they would sit somewhere quietly. So we did not pry. Were they having only tou cheong and a bit of salted fish with their broken rice?

When I heard " bad" statements from adults, I felt sad too." Poor people only have fermented brown beans on their table with porridge" and that was a common, discriminating statement to describe how poor people were. Today, I smile when my Malay friends say, "Orang miskin makan sardin sahaja."( poor people eat tinned food.) To me nowadays, tinned food can be too pricey.Tou cheong from Korea is RM18.00!! I will pay a good price if any one can make tou cheong like my great grandmother!!

This preparation of fermented soy beans is probably on its way to extinction in Sarawak as more and more people can get good factory made imports from China and Korea. Even the Japanese products are now being sold in selected stores all over Malaysia.

 We Foochows do not say "Make Tou Cheong", we say, " hik tou cheong" because the beans have to be cooked, wrapped up and fermented in its own "heat" for three nights. By the fourth morning, the fine, delicate aroma of the tou cheong will fill the whole kitchen!!

Cheers to Tui Mah...we remember your tou cheong!!

Sungei Merah : Herbal Egg Soup

The Chinese mugwort is also known as ngia in Foochow. Its scientific name is Artemisia argyi Levl. et Vant. The Chinese name is 艾草 




My paternal grandparents grew a lot of it in their backyard. It was often used as a vegetable to make soup for the family. But once in a while when my grandfather had a cough or a cold, my grand mother Siew would boil the herb with eggs.

This would in no time cure my grandfather's cough.

To many of my relatives whenever a grandmother or mother cooked a whole duck to make soup and added ngia for the whole family, it was an act of love.

Actually many neighbours would come to ask my grandmother for some health advice.

Sungei Merah : Bamboo Shoots for the table

When I was seven years old my paternal grand father was already in his seventies. My paternal grandmother Siew was a good driver and she was probably the first woman driver in Sibu. (Pl forgive me if I have made a mistake here in claiming that).

We were always very happy when the two of them visited us in our wooden house in Kong Ping Road, in town. The road was named after him (but later, with the new government, many old roads were given new names by the Sibu Urban District Council). It was named after him because he built the largest number of houses and constructed a mud road, thus opening up the area.

One of the pleasantest memories I have of visiting grandpa was the nice food he had on the table.

As a very providing kind of elder, and an extremely enterprising Foochow man, he had bought land in Sg. Merah and planted lots of fruit trees on the land. His rambutans were the best I had ever tasted. He had five or six clumps of bamboos (Betong species), huge banana plants, langsat, wong dang, guava, star fruit, water jambu, and Malay Jambu. Below the hill were two houses he built for two families who tapped the rubber trees owned by him. I believe that estate must have been more than 20 acres.

One of the nicest food served by Grandmother Siew was fried bamboo shoots from the garden itself.

Early in the morning during the right season, grandfather would ask Aunty Ah Hiong to harvest the bamboo shoots. There would be one or two pails of these bamboo shoots. Some of them would be sold in the market.

Aunty Ah Hiong would prepare on for the family by ripping off the outer layer.

I remember Aunty Ah Hiong suffering from skin irritations because the bamboo cusps had very tiny hairs which would stick to her skin.

Then she would cut the bamboo shoots into smaller pieces and boil them in the large pot over the wood fire in the kitchen. We really enjoyed the nice aroma floating in the kitchen at about 9 in the morning.

We never knew why and how the white bamboo shoots would turn a golden yellow after boiling. Do you know why?

Grandmother Siew would then personally fry the bamboo shoots for lunch with Bombay onions. I loved the way she presented the dishes on the square table in the kitchen. Grandpa would always be the one to sit at the table first and then, the visitors would be invited to the table.

I never remember grandma Siew and Aunty Ah Hiong eating together with us. Grandma would sit at the table and "manage" all of us, picking food for Grandpa. Grandpa would have one personal "dish" which Grandma prepared for him especially. It could be a choice  braised pork or a special fried fillet of fish. The rest of us would be "blessed with one piece" when grandpa picked from his dish for us. We would then feel so loved.

Can you remember your first taste of good bamboo shoots in Sibu?

In Praise of Bamboo

When people look at tall bamboo waving in the wind, I would be different. My mind would wander back to the days when my paternal Grandfather lived in Sungei Merah. He would be out in the yard, carrying a small alloy bucket, in search of bamboo shoots.

There are a lot of things to say about bamboo.

Bamboo's hard stems are called culms.

They can be used in place of wood, to make furniture, scaffolding, flutes, fence posts, flooring and small tiles. They can even be used as bicycle frames.

They have been used as decorative plants for centuries in China.

The bamboo shoots are usually ebible, some are the best, while some are bitter and too hard.

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Early Chinese books were actually written on bamboo slats.
My best memory of use of bamboo are those short bamboo stools my great grandfather had from China. The other one was the baby chair made from bambool. It could be used as a stool and when turned over it was a baby chair for my sibling.

My grandfather grew several groves of bamboo in his Sungei Merah home. And we enjoyed harvesting bamboo shoots there.

The best dish I can remember cooked by my Grandmother Siew was her braised bamboo shoots with belly pork and lots of onions. She was really a good cook. Bamboo shoots just tasted so sweet in her expert hands.

Today my culinary expertise has expanded and I even cook pork, or fish in bamboo stems. In Sarawak this method of cooking is called Pansuh.