Sup Ponas Bidayuh

Sup Ponas

Looks can be deceiving. Never under estimate how potent this simple plain-looking soup can be.

The first time I heard about this soup, I was wondering so much how it tasted like. I have no idea at all what was the ingredient and how it looks like, but this soup kept coming up in conversations among my Bidayuh friends whenever we talked about Bidayuh traditional foods.

So I asked for the recipe from a good friend, Anya, and she gladly shared it with me. One look at the recipe, I thought it looks pretty familiar, and I can literally tasted and smell it already just by reading it.

And true enough, when all the ingredient came together in the pot, one memory struck in my mind. It brought me back to the time when I was about 7 years old, I had joined a group of much older ladies who happened to have 'man bijo' (which means cookout in Bidayuh), and it was the first time I had this dish. It was spicy, and the aroma from the lemongrass was heavenly. It was so delicious!! I never forget that wonderful memory..

It was pretty similar to the soup I used for my Sup Sago (Linut/Ambuyat), with the exception that I used additional tempoyak (fermented durian) in that dish.

Ingredient:
2 cloves of garlic
2 stalk of lemongrass
Sambal belacan
(The chillies to put as much as you can tolerate)
Salt to taste
1 cup of grated tapioca/cassava

Optional Ingredient:
Fermented Durian (Tempoyak)
MSG

Tapioca Root

Grated Tapioca

Method:
1. Saute garlic until fragrant.
2. Add in water. Don't forget to lower down your temperature since the pot is very hot, before pouring in the water. Then raise the gas to high to boil the water.
3. Add in lemongrass and sambal belacan. Add in salt.
4. Then add in the grated tapioca bit by bit until the tapioca turn transparent and to required consistency.
5. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Laksa Sarawak

Laksa Sarawak

I have been refraining myself from putting up this dishes, as I felt that it does not really can be categorized into traditional food. But what is a Sarawak Food website without it's Laksa Sarawak?

Laksa Sarawak I should say, is the most famous dish which is easily identifiable with Sarawak, thanks to internet and blogging world. I love laksa and curries a lot, and while I cannot say which one is the best, to me Laksa Sarawak is... home. Those who compares Laksa Sarawak with the other laksa in Malaysia, does not understand what Laksa Sarawak is about.

I would not go into detail about the history of Laksa Sarawak, but suffice to say that this Sarawakian Chinese dish has become so dear to almost every Sarawakian wherever they are.

To make Laksa Sarawak is actually quite easy and does not require precise cooking skill, provided you can obtain the laksa paste which is available only in Sarawak. You can buy it online, you can also obtained the Halal-produced laksa paste. Not that the non-Halal-produced contained any non-halal ingredient anyway. The only reason why Laksa Sarawak making is such a fuss is that the preparation of the laksa base and its garnishing can be pretty time consuming. I will add few tips on how to 'repair' the laksa if it is not up to your expectation at the end, which I have learned myself and you might not normally encounter in other Laksa Sarawak recipe.

Ingredient:
For laksa gravy~
1 packet of Laksa Sarawak paste
2 litres of water (or chicken stock)
500gm of chicken parts (skinless)
1 cup of thick coconut milk
Salt to taste

For garnishing~
Rice vercimelli (blanced in slightly warm water and drained)
Bean Sprout (blanced in hot water for abt 10 second and dump in cold water)
Coriander
Lime
Omellete (slice thinly)
Chicken shreds (used back from the laksa stock making)
Prawn (skin peeled-off and deveined. Put the shell and the head back into the gravy base)

For side dip~
Shrimp paste (belacan)-grill lightly
Dry chillies
1 tbsp water
Cooking
(Pound dry chillies, saute then add in belacan. Add in a bit of water for desired consistency).


Method:
1. Boil chicken parts in water. Once cooked, take it out and cooled it down. Once cool, shred the chicken meat off the bones. Put back the bones to the gravy base.
2. The prawn's shell and it's head, put it to be boil together with the gravy base.
3. To prepare prawn, boil some water in separate pan. Cook for a minute, then take out and dump the prawn in icy water to stop it from further cooking. Drain and keep it in the fridge until ready to use.
4. Add laksa paste into the gravy base. Stir it often.
5. Add in the coconut milk. Set the fire to medium low and let it simmer until the oil separate.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Garnish with the following order:
-Rice vercimelli
-Gravy
-Bean Sprout and Chicken shreds
-Omellette
-Coriander
-Prawn
8. During serving, squeeze lime over the Laksa Sarawak for extra zing

Various preparation steps for Laksa Sarawak





Tips:
1. Add some of the shrimp paste side dip if you need more umph when you are cooking your gravy
2. Try torch ginger to elevate your laksa gravy further. It's not the traditional ingredient, but it's lovely nevertheless
3. I understand that lots of other non-Sarawakian likes to put additional garnishing into their Laksa Sarawak, but we Sarawakian knows that this is a sin! :D

Umai Udang

Prawn Umai

Umai Udang

This is another version of the famous Fish Umai, which is the Prawn Umai. The ingredient shall still be the same, except that I have noted that I need to use more lime juice compare to the Fish Umai in order for it to be cooked thoroughly and safe for consumption. As usual, use the freshest seafood that you can find.

For this Prawn Umai, I used the most basic ingredient for umai.

Ingredient:
250gm prawn (de-shelled and de-veined)
1 cup of lime juice
1 Onion (sliced finely)
1 Shallot (pounded)
3cm Ginger (sliced finely)
1/2 Red Chillies(sliced finely)
1 Bird Eye's chillies or to suit(sliced finely)
Salt and sugar to taste

Method:
1. Clean the prawn thoroughly. Towel dry.
2. Pour the lime juice over the prawn and mixed thoroughly.
3. Check whether the prawn is cooked. Add more lime juice and keep in refrigerator if necessary.
4. Add the rest of the ingredient and season to taste. Put back in refrigerator for at least half an hour for the flavour of the seasoning and ginger to be infused in the umai.
5. Serve cold.

Dayak Black Pepper Stew

If this Dayak dish is to be called French dish, this should be equivalent to French coq au vin, or boeuf bourguignon. Dayak cooking is always simple, easy and quick, and yet this stew might be one that is always better cooked by a Dayak men, as they can be pretty fussy about how potent this dish can be, and willing to wait for the slow stewing process.

This style of cooking is applied to many types of meats especially exotic animals such as bats, squirrel, wild boar, kerumboi (a type of fresh water snail), pangolin, pigeon, you name it, and the not-so-exotic animal like black dog meat. This is especially so if the meat is tough, as the reducing of the gravy from the stewing will produce a firm and yet soft enough pieces to be eaten.

As the Dayak in general is the main producer of black pepper in Malaysia, fresh black and white peppercorn is always available at their home. Black peppercorn is use liberally in this stew. The usage of shallot, garlic and ginger are also exaggerated, but the overall combination of these ingredient produces a well balance of sweetness, saltiness, sourish and spiciness in one bite.

Ingredient :
1/2 kg meat (here I used matured chicken, no luck with the exotic animals!)
5 cloves of garlic
5 shallots
5cm ginger
1-2 tbsp of black peppercorn (or to your own preference)
1~2 bird eye's chillies
1cm cube shrimp paste
Salt to taste
Cooking oil for saute
2 ltr water

Optional:
1.Any sourish veges such as pre-cooked terung dayak (terung asam), pucuk daun kedondong (ambra) or pucuk daun mengkudu (all slice thinly)
2. 1 piece asam keping for added sourish if preferred
3. 1 piece turmeric leaves for additional fragrance
4. A dash of whiskey

Method:
1. Pound garlic, shallots and ginger together using pestle & mortar, or food processor. Blender is a no-no.
2. Pound black pepper coarsely.
3. Mix bird eye's chilli and shrimp paste together
4. Saute garlic, shallots and ginger mixture until fragrant. Then add in the shrimp paste mixture
5. Stir fry meat. Lower gas, then cover wok with lid for about 15minutes.
6. Add water and mix thoroughly. Turn the gas to medium low. Cover, and let it cook until the meat soften, or the water reduced to 1/3.
7. Stir-in the black peppercorn and sour veges.
8. Add salt to taste. Add a dash of whiskey if preferred. Cook for another 10minutes, and it's done.

Great to be taken during a drinking session with great buddies!