In the Sibu Central Market, there are natives selling fruits and vegetables which they reaped from the jungle. Here are a few of them:
Buah dabai
An indigenous fruit called buah dabai (dabai fruit). Found abundantly during its season, the dabai fruit is a popular fruit in Sibu. The prices of the dabai increases with its size... as you can see from the pic above, the larger ones can be sold at around RM24-RM25 per kilo.
Prior to cooking, it is quite hard. To eat, firstly it is rinsed clean and soaked in lukewarm water until it softens. Then, season it with salt or black soy sauce and sugar. The flesh tastes creamy and the mixture of soy sauce and sugar brings out the sweet taste of the fruit.
As for the seed, we can sun-dry it and crack it open by using mortar and pestle since it is really, really solid. The nut inside is green in colour and tastes crunchy like peanuts.
Balem fruit
A balem fruit has hard brown skin and fibrous flesh. It looked a little like a coconut. The flesh is cut into small pieces and taken on its own, some use it to make salad and it can also used to make a local shrimp paste called 'belacan'.
Wild durians (durian nyekak)
Durians are seasonal fruit and it usually coincides with that of the mangosteen. They are covered with hard and sharp thorns and its flesh is whitish, some yellowish and has a pungent aroma. Durians are rampant and sold abundantly during its season. Prices of durians are relatively high as compared with other fruits. Unlike the usual durians, the wild durians are rather small in size and very yellow-orangey in colour, in terms of its husk and flesh. It's odour is not as strong as the usual ones, but it has a great taste.
Mangosteen
Also known as 'manggis' in Malay, the mangosteen is a rare seasonal fruit. Before ripening, the mangosteen shell is fibrous and firm, but becomes soft and easy to pry open when the fruit ripens. The white fruit inside is sweet and soft, with a very slight sourness.
Duku / Langsat
Langsat, also known as 'duku', is round in shape, almost spherical, covered by yellowish skin. The fruit is divided into five or six slices of translucent, juicy flesh. The flesh is slightly sweet in taste. The green seeds inside are extremely bitter. The langsat fruits are grown in a bunch.
Longan
Longan, also known as 'mata kucing', resembles an eyeball (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris). The seed is small, round and hard, and of an enamel-like, lacquered black. The translucent fruit is sweet and juicy.
Petai
It is long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds with the size and shape of almond and a rather peculiar smell. They are peeled before cooking. It is translated from Mandarin as stinky beans. It contains certain amino acids that give a strong smell to one's urine, an effect that can be noticed up to two days after consumption. Like other beans, their complex carbohydrates can also cause strong-smelling flatulence. In the Sibu market, the natives do sell the peeled beans in small plates at roughly RM5 per plate.
Midin
Midin or milian (in Foochow) is a wild fern plant found in the jungle, similar to the paku-pakis. One usually discards the lower hard stems of the plant and rinse it clean before cooking. It tastes great when fried with garlic or belacan. It is a popular dish served in almost all the restaurants in Sibu.
Pandan leaves
Pandan leaves or screwpine leaves are a basic ingredient in the Malaysian culinary. It is an upright green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike leaves and woody aerial roots. They are usually tied in a bunch and cooked in the food. The pandan has a botanical fragrance and usually used in the cooking of rice dishes, sweet soups, etc. for enhanced flavour.
Bunga kantan
Wild ginger flower, also known as bunga kantan in Malay, is a useful herb in cooking Malaysian and Nyonya dishes. The pink flowers look like a torch. They have an exotic taste and smell.
Local ginger
Similar to ginger, local ginger is very common in Malaysia. It is a kitchen necessity and mostly used in the cooking of confinement dishes. It is known to have a stronger flavour compared to that of the normal ginger. It is more heaty, thus helps warms up the mother's body after childbirth and expels wind from the body for recuperation.
Lemongrass
Known as serai in Malay, the lemongrass is an essential in many of the Chinese and Malay delicacies. The outside leaves are discarded and the tender tips are usually chopped finely for cooking.
Local longans
The fruit inside is similar to that of the usual longan, but quite larger in size.
Rambutans
A local favourite - the translucent fruit is sweet and whitish in colour.
Bamboos
In Sarawak, bamboos are used for flooring, as pipes for water, for bamboo carving, for cooking bamboo rice (lemang in Malay), pansoh manuk (village chicken), etc.
Lemang is one of the traditional food of Sarawak. It is glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk in hollowed bamboos using charcoal. The rice is wrapped with banana leaves to prevent it from sticking to the bamboos.
The method of cooking lemang is originated from the Iban people. It is usually eaten with chicken curry or beef rendang.
Kampung chickens
Reared mostly by villagers, kampung chicken is considered a delicacy and are more costly than conventionally-raised broiler chickens, due to its supposedly better flavour and higher nutritional value. It has tougher meat compared to many other breeds. The kampung chicken is often double boiled in herbs or is stewed. In Sarawak, it is widely bought and cooked for confinement soups.
Kangkong / Water spinach
A common local vegetable grown naturally in Sarawak - popular as a stir-fry or blanched in boiling water and dipped into rojak sauce. They are cheap, about RM1 for a big bunch.
Roselle fruits
Roselle fruits are harvested fresh, and their calyces are made into a healthy drink rich in vitamin C and anthocyanins.
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