Hobbies: Some Delicacies and Jungle Produce from Sarawak (Borneo), Malaysia

Now is fruit seasons in Sarawak and how I wish that I could eat all of these. I got these pictures from a close friend Dorothy Schroeder, she and her husband went for a holiday in Malaysia for the month of October 2008. So I decided to put them on my blog here.

When I was little girl I used to follow my parents or some folks at the village to collect the jungle fruits. How I missed all those. Below are some of the local fruits and foods that are available in my beloved land "The Land of the Hornbill" - Sarawak.

Wild Jack Fruit (Buah Nangka).

These are taste better than the Jack fruit. I think I like it better than Jack fruit. When I was little I used to follow my parents to go collect this wild fruit from the jungle. The fruit is smaller than Jack fruit. The seeds can be boiled and eat it. Very nice.

some more fruits.. hehehe.

Buah Tarap.

This is another kind of fruit that I like very much. It taste sweeter. Now my mouth drool...hehehe thinking about it.

Tarap is a tall tropical tree which is native to Southeastern Asia. It has large lobed leaves, and edible fruits which can weight up to a few pounds. The fruit of tarap is edible, oblong, about 12 in (20 cm) long, and can weight a few pounds. Its skin is covered with soft spines, and has an appearance to the jackfruit. Generally, the pulp can be eaten fresh and has a good aroma. Its seeds can also be eaten when roasted. It is reported that young fruits are sometimes eaten as a dish.

Durian (Stinky fruit).
Duri in Malay means thorn. So the durian derives from the word "duri".

It has unpleasant stench, however it's famous among the local in Malaysia. I think it's delicacies of the South East Asian countries. Foreigners from Europe, Australia and America doesn't like the smell. When we were kids at the village, we used to go wait for the durian to fall from the tree and we will race to get the fruit. So whoever fastest will get it... hehehe. but we divide it after that. Be aware that never stay under the durian tree when waiting for the fruit or else it will drop on you.. that's dangerous.

Wild Mangoes. (Buah Bambangan)

We called it buah alim in our native dialect of Kenyah. The inside is exactly the same as Mangoe's fruit. The skin is thicker than real mango and always has the same colour as above. Unlike real mango it will turn yellow when it's ripe.

Buah Kepayang

A kind of nut grown in Sarawak. I like this. The fruit is big and oval and has light brown skin as pictured below. Each fruit have about 20-30 nut shells inside it. When the fruit riped from the trees, we let the fruit rotten and we only collect the nuts. The nuts need to be boil and open to extract the nuts from it. As the nuts are poisonous, it needs to be soaked in water for few days and the water need to be changed every day under running water. The old method in the village, our parents used to put the nuts in a kind of basket and tie it safely and hang it at the end of boat in the river. After few days i.e. 2 days they will get it. Then it's safe to eat. We pound the nuts and wrap in a leave and bake it on the top of fire... hehehe.. (it's complicated to tell here). You can slice it thinly and fry it with some pork meat or anchovies.. and chillies... em... yummy.

Another Nuts..... which one of my favourite. Below is how the fruit look like.

The Kenyah people called this "Mali". When it's ripe it turned pink (as seen above). When it's not ripe, don't ever try it coz it will coz your lips get itchy and you might get sore lips.

Coconut water... to cool you down on a Hot day.

Rambutan (red) and Langsat (yellow)

Some ferns, bananas, Lemon grasses

Jungle produce (local veges of the natives of Sarawak (Daun Sabung, Ferns etc.)

More jungle produce : Water spinach, Cassava leaves and some ferns. All organic, no fertilizer

Native Market (Tamu) in Miri.

Some local foods sold at the market.

Tamu at Pujut. Varieties of fruits, vegetables sold.

Buah Rambutan and limes.

More local produce sold at native market.

Oranges

Special (ABC)

Chendol

Rojak

Variety of Donuts

"Lemang".
Glutinous Rice cooked in the Bamboo (see below). The rice first of all soaked few hours and then drain. Thereafter you add some salt and coconut milk together. Cook above hot burning fire or charcoal.