Sambal Serai Bidayuh

Samal Sorai (Lemongrass Sambal)

Sambal Serai Bidayuh

This dish is typical to the Bidayuh ethnic. Lemongrass are easily available as it is kind of a must herb to be planted at the house compound. Since lemongrass is pretty fibrous, it is cut finely before being pounded further. This dish is very aromatic and nice to be eaten with hot plain rice.

Ingredient :
6 lemongrass stalk
small handful of anchovies
3 cloves Garlic
3 nos Shallot
Chillies - quantity depended on your spice tolerance level
Thumbsize belacan (shrimp paste)
Salt

Method :
1. Cut lemongrass finely and pound using pestle and mortar
2. Pound anchovies
3. Pound garlic, shallot, chillies and belacan together
4. Heat up cooking oil. Stir fried the anchovies until crispy.
5. Add in garlic, shallot, chillies and belacan mixture. Saute until fragrant.
6. Add in lemongrass. Add salt to taste. Stir frequently and let it cook until golden.
7. Serve immediately. Can be keep well

Sambal Tumis Cili Hijau Kelabit

Green Chilli Sambal ala Kelabit 

I first tasted this Sambal Tumis Cili Hijau at a famous Kelabit food stall in Miri town. It was taken as a side condiment, but this simple sambal tumis by itself is really outstanding and truly tantalized the taste bud. I do not know the exact recipe but based on my own observation and also some prodding to my Kelabit colleague, this is my take on the ingredients and it tasted exact although the original I had was slightly oily because of 'pecah minyak'. If you can achieve this, it will be much lovelier in my opinion.

Ingredients:
1. Cili Hijau - green chillies (use mild species)  - 250gm
2. Dried anchovies - 100gm
3. Onion small size - 1
4. Garlic - 2 cloves

5. Salt & sugar to taste
6. Cooking oil

 Method:
1. Pound or processed using food processor the chillies, dried anchovies, onion and garlic together.
2.  Heat up cooking oil. On medium fire, saute the mixed ingredient until fragrant
3. Season with salt and sugar

Terung Bakar & Sambal Belacan Cara Dayak

Grilled Eggplant & Dayak Style Sambal Belacan
 

Back in those days, as most of the Dayaks are farmers and most farms are on the hilly parts or at the foot of the mountain, they normally will start their day as early as 6am to start their journey from home. This is so that they can start tending on their farm and utilized the cool temperature in the morning to do as much as they can. Because of that, they normally will have only a very light breakfast which consists of a grounded coffee and accompanied with cream crackers or quick fritters either at home or at the farm.

Lunch also normally was not a fussy affair. Normally each farm owners shall have a small hut for them to rest or cook. When the sun started to become too hot to bear, they will slowly started to collect some of the vegetables that they have planted within the farm. These shall be cooked either on open flame, stir fried or soup. The source of protein shall normally be either fermented wild boar, pork, fish, dry salted fish or food that they can keep in the hut without any refrigeration required. This shall also includes freshwater catch from a nearby stream. All food preparation is kept to a minimum so that they can get their midday rest and start back their work once the hot sun is bearable enough. As the source of vegetables are aplenty, this is why you can find more vege dishes in their diet, up to this day.

One of the common vegetables which is easy to be prepared on the farm and really tantalized the taste bud is the grilled eggplant with sambal belacan. Eggplant grilled on open flame produced a wonderful and sweet smokey aroma and it is what make this dish so special.


Ingredient 
2 or more eggplants/aubergine
Sambal Belacan Dayak style (pls refer here)
Salt
1/4 cup of warm water

Method: 
1. Grilled eggplant on open flame, gas stove or in oven.
2. When the eggplant is soften and fragrant smell come out, it's ready.
3. Peel off the burnt outer skin by pouring some water to cool it down and it'll make the peeling of easier.

4. Mix warm water to the sambal belacan to form a paste.
5. Shred the cooked eggplant with your finger, or cut using knife.
6. Stir the sambal belacan with the eggplant.
7. Add a bit of salt if necessary

And it's ready for consumption!

Sambal Ikan Keli (Catfish)

Shrimp Sambal with Catfish



This is the Bidayuh version of Sambal Ikan Keli or known as catfish. Besides the catfish soup, when we don't have the pot to cook it in while we were at the farm, we will use daun buan as a wrapper, and grilled it on an open fire. The aroma of burnt daun buan is wonderful and to me, it can evoked powerful memory of my childhood. Daun buan is easily available in tropical country like Malaysia, and act as an alternative to banana leaves.

This is how to prepare the catfish for grilling.
1)Clean-up the catfish. If you wish, you can wash it with tamarind pulp or lime juice to get rid of the smell. Season lightly with a bit of salt.
2) Clean the daun buan. Wipe it dry. Gently, take away the back-bone of the leaves. See photo below.

3) You will need minimum 2 pcs of leaves. Run it over the stove to soften the leaves. This will make it easier to be bend when wrapping the fish, and prevent tearing up of the leaves.

The leaves after heated on the stove, the color turned slightly yellowish.

4) Arrange the catfish on the leaf. Wrap on the longish side, if the leaves are big enough, you can fold and clip it nicely together. Then fold one of the edge towards the bottom, put it upright so the fish slides down to fill up the space. Then fold the other edge. Turn facedown on another new leaf. Repeat step 4.



5) Catfish nicely wrapped in daun buan.
6) Grilled the wrapped catfish on the stove about 10-15minutes on medium low fire.



7) Once it is ready, open the wrap and peel off the burnt leaves. You don't need to wash it off.

8) Prepare sambal belacan which consists of shrimp paste and chillies only. Add a bit of warm water. Fermented durian (tempoyak) is optional. Peel off the meat from the fish and shred it into big chunk. Mix into sambal belacan.

9) You can make it as a dipping for other ulam, or it can be eaten with white rice.

Labar Nenas Sarawak

Sarawak Pineapple Salad with Sambal Belachan




This is a Bidayuh style fresh salad. This kind of pineapple preparation might need an acquired taste, but this food can become an addiction.

Preparation are pretty simple;

Ingredient:
1. 1 Sarawak Pineapple - yet to ripen
2. Sambal Belacan
3. A pinch of salt
4. A splash of black soy sauce if you like

Method:
1. Sarawak pineapple can be replace with other pineapple if it is unavailable. It's the most recommended because the sweetness and sourness is quite balance.
2. Peel of the pineapple. Cut into small pieces (sizes up to personal preference).
3. Prepare sambal belachan. You can find the recipe here.
4. Mix all ingredient above evenly.
5. Mix a bit of water only if the pineapple could not produce the juice naturally.

This can be eaten by itself or with rice during lunch or dinner. This labar is preferably eaten at one seating.

Labar Timun Tua

Old Cucumber Labar

Prepared By : Mdm Lekai S.
Photo By : Sumuk

The Chinese called this mature cucumber as Lao Wang Kwa and it is very nutriscious vegetable. Normally it is used to made soup as an old cucumber produce slightly sourish taste.

We Bidayuh in Sarawak normally made this into labar. Labar is actually a type of salad where you mixed your 'ulam' together with Sambal Belacan.

Ingredient:
Sambal Belachan
1 no. old yellow cucumber
a pinch of salt
half cup of water

Method:
1. Cut open the cucumber. Scrap out and disposed off the seed using a spoon.
2. Scrap the inner of the cucumber white flesh into 3-5mm length.
3. Mixed with your sambal belachan
4. Add salt and water and mixed well.

This food is really great to be eaten on its own or with hot rice during lunch! Make sure it's really spicy :D

Sambal Asam Kelubi/Asam Paya

English : Swamp Fruit
Bidayuh Jagoi : Buah trisum
Iban : Buah Ridan
Scientific Name : Eleiodoxa conferta (Wikipedia Link)



Ripe asam kelubi will have sourish yet subtle sweetness. This asam kelubi also have sweet smelling fragrance.

We use it to make variety to our Sambal Belacan. Peel the soft juicy pulp from the kernel using knife and add it into Sambal Belachan. It will really add character to your simple hot lunch!

Tempoyak Goreng

Fried Fermented Durian
Bidayuh : Tipuyak Goreng


Prepared By: Sumuk
Photo By : Sumuk

The reason why I hardly cooked this delicacy is because it can be an addiction, and I would not be able to stop eating it with lots of rice once I started LOL!!!

When you're feeling lazy but you still want to create variety on the dinner table, just whip out this dish which is sooo simple to prepare!

Ingredients:
1. 3 tbs Fermented Durian
2. 1 tbs Anchovies
3. 1 tbs Sugar
4. 3 tbs cooking oil

Method:
1. Heat cooking oil in a wok.
2. Fried anchovies until crispy.
3. Put the fermented durian. Keep stirring until slightly golden and transparent.
4. Mixed with sugar. Stir for another 1 minute.

And it's ready!

It is very nice to be eaten with hot white rice and some soup.

Tips:
When you remove the 'tempoyak' from the wok, keep the excess cooking oil with it. It will help the 'tempoyak' to stay moisten.

Sambal Belacan

Bidayuh Sambal Belachan differs a lot from the Malays version of Sambal Belachan. The most basic of Bidayuh Sambal Belachan consists of anchovies, belachan and bird's eyes chillies only.


All ingredients above (except onion and shallots) shall be pounded roughly together.




The sambal belachan is very nice to be eaten with fresh vegetables such as cucumber, salads and other 'ulam-ulaman'..

Tips :
To make a good sambal belachan, anchovies shall be pounded first, followed by chillies and belachan consecutively. To avoid overwhelming of belachan, start with a small quantity first.

Terung Dan Belacan Goreng Part 2

Fried Eggplant and Sambal Belachan Part 2



Food Prepared By : Aunt Mary G.
Photo Taken By : Sumuk

The photo above is the Eggplant (Brinjal or Aubergine) Fried with Sambal Belachan in tamarind juice. For food full recipe and preparation, please refer to Terung dan Belacan Goreng Part 1

Terung Dan Belacan Goreng

Fried Eggplant and Sambal Belachan



Food Prepared By : Sumuk
Photo Taken By : Sumuk

This delicacy is suitable to be eaten at lunch with piping hot white rice. It is also very suitable to become finger food during bbq party. It's very simple and so easy to prepare!

Ingredients:

Eggplant or Brinjal (quantity as required)
1 onion, slice thinly

Sambal Belacan Mixture
5-7 nos. of Cili Padi
1 scoop of Anchovies
Belachan - size of a thumb

Tamarind Juice - if preferred
1/2 teaspoon tamarind - (asam jawa)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon water

Cooking oil.

Method:
1. Eggplant to be cut about 0.5-1.0 cm thick. Deep fried until golden. Extra care to avoid charring.
2. While frying the eggplant, pound anchovies coarsely, followed by chillies and belachan.
3. When the eggplant is done, arrange it in a plate.
4. Take out the excess cooking oil, and saute the sliced onion until fragrant.
5. Then fry the mixed sambal belachan together.
6. At this point, when the belachan fragrance start to come out, you can opt to put the tamarind juice. Stir again until dry.
7. Scoop and make it as a topping for the eggplant.

Happy Trying!


eggplant = aubergine = brinjal

Sambal Udang Kering

(Dried Prawn Sambal )

Food Prepared By : Mdm Layut J.
Photo Taken By : Babai

This delicious sambal paste was prepared by Babai's grandma (my future grandma-in-law :D). It was my first time trying it, and it tasted like heaven!!!

I've digged the recipe from Aunty Mary (Babai's mom), and this is roughly what I could remembered..

Ingredient :
1. 500gm Dried Prawns
2. 15 red chillies (cleaned)
3. 1 large Onion
4. Thumb-size belachan
5. Half cup of water
6. 1 teaspoon fine Salt
7. 5 tablespoon cooking oil

Method:
1. Dried prawns to be soaked in warm water.
2. After rinsing, grind the dried prawns together with red chillies, onion, belachan, salt and water.
3. Heat oil in the wok and fry the mixture until fragrant and sambal drier (to personal preference).
4. Great to be eaten with white rice and accompanied by 'petai'.