Terung Asam (Sour Eggplant)

The terung asam or sour eggplant (or terung iban) as most dayak people called it in Sarawak. It is a rare type of eggplant where you never find in other places. It is grown very well in Sarawak of East Malaysia (part of Borneo Island) and are sold commercially at the vegetables market. Sour eggplant is one of the favourite vegetable, in Sarawak among the native ethnic groups, malays or even the chinese people. It has thorny tree and leaves, so you need to be careful when picking the fruits. The fruit is green when it is still young as seen in the picture and when it is riped it turn a bright yellow or slightly orange. The ripe fruits are sour. It has alot of seeds.

This is the terung asam (sour eggplant) I grew last year and has flowers too but it didn't bear fruit except one. It barely survived. I guess, the climate is not suitable for it over here or not enough pollination by the bees.

This is the sour eggplant which I grew.

There were about 10 trees of the terung asam I grew in my garden and bears alot of flowers.. but only this one made it through. I called it a "miracle eggplant".

"Close look at the fruit.


I was hoping to keep this till ripe but it fell of by itself. Sad!!

Anyway, I still can cook it.

Some people like to cook it when it is still green and some people like to cook it when it is ripe. I like it both ways.

This is what I cooked out of the only eggplant I had. It doesn't taste sour as the ripe one. Just saute minced onions, then add chicken and add the sliced eggplant, cooked till it's soft. Season it to your taste.

These are the ripe terung asam.
When it is ripe it taste sour.

Ikan Patin masak lemak with terung asam and put some chillie peppers with it. Taste so delicious.