House of Annie

For those of you who were wondering what makes the Ramadhan month special in Malaysia, it’s the one month of the year when stalls pop up all over various neighborhoods in the evenings selling food and drinks to all the Muslims (and other opportunistic foodies like me) who were getting ready to break their daylong fast. Various dishes, appetizers, cakes, sweets and drinks are sold that sometimes would not be easily found at other times of the year.

This is actually the second time we had gone to a Ramadhan food center. The first was at the Satok Market that we had talked about in an earlier post. But we had gone there after walking the regular night market and we did not enjoy that experience as it was really crowded and we were already tired from all that walking. Plus, we had not planned to get our dinner at that market when we went.

This time, it was an intentional decision: we were looking for dinner. So when we walked in, I must say I was a little disappointed. Many of the stalls were empty (I think this was because Aidil Fitri was almost on us and some of the vendors had already packed up to go back to their hometowns to celebrate). The rest of the stalls were selling similar items: roti stalls selling murtabak (meat filled roti) and other rotis; stalls selling homemade dishes like curries and stews eaten with rice; and lots of stalls selling drinks.

Looking Back

But really, where was the variety? The excitement? The kuihs, cakes, desserts, finger foods, etc? As we continued walking, I had a sinking feeling that this was going to be a bust. I told Nate about how my Ramadhan experiences used to be in Kuala Lumpur. So many, many years ago when I lived in KL, Ramadhan was such an exciting time because I got to have all these different kuihs, finger foods, and ayam percik! Ayam percik was an East Coast specialty that was most easily found during this time. It was a grilled chicken that was basted with a coconut-based spicy sauce as it grilled and the flavor was just phenomenal (I guess I’ll have to attempt making it myself). After being away from Malaysia for more than 10 years, I was really looking forward to eating this again. Alas, Kuching is not KL and there was no ayam percik to be found at this Ramadhan bazaar.

Just as I was about to tell Nate we would have to go somewhere else for dinner, we came to the end of the row and saw lots of smoke rising. Ah…here was where all the grilled foods were being cooked and sold. No, we didn’t find ayam percik but we did find satay and also lots of grilled fish. We bought 10 sticks of chicken satay along with ketupat—rice cooked in a woven coconut packet. And we also got two fish—ikan pari (skate) and ikan sardin (though this translates to sardine, both Nate and I think it’s mackerel but we’re not 100% sure—where’s Pat the fishmonger when we need him!).

Chicken Satay with Ketupat

C

We took our dinner home and dug into the satay first. We immediately regretted not buying more. The satay sauce was really good and the ketupat had absorbed a smoky, nutty flavor from the coconut leaves. It was delicious! 10 sticks between the four of us meant the kids would only get two sticks each. Daniel calculated it out. “We should have gotten 8 to be fair.” Nate said, “no, we should have gotten 20!”

Ikan Pari – Grilled Skate Wing

Then we turned our attention to the fish. Let me tell you, these were really fresh fish. The meat of the skate was sweet, light and tender. Perfectly grilled and served alongside a sambal sauce and calamansi limes, they were wonderful! My kids kept on eating (without the sambal) and asking for more. I think Skate is one of those fish that is so kid-friendly because there are no real bones. There is only a middle cartilage which is easy to avoid. When skate is this fresh, it is just heaven.

Grilled Mackerel

The mackerel was just as fresh. It definitely had a stronger fishy flavor but again, it was so fresh that Nate and I tore into it and even though we gave some to the kids, we ended up eating most of it. And this fish was paired with a different sauce—it was a sweet soy-based sauce with grated onions and some chillies. That sauce partnered so well with the stronger fish flavor and it was so addictive that when we finished the fish, I caught Nate staring at the leftover sauce and I cracked up because I could tell he was contemplating drinking up the sauce!

Looking Forward

We were very tempted after we had finished dinner to go back the next day just to get more fish. So even though I didn’t find the things I remembered from my past, I found that there were other things that I never used to get that were just as fabulous. It makes sense I guess that they had good fish, after all Kuching is a coastal town and is known for its seafood.

I wish now that we had gone to that market earlier in the fasting month. Today is the last day and tomorrow we celebrate the end of that month. There will be other feasting opportunities now that we come to the Aidil Fitri and hopefully we will get to blog about that too. Regretfully, we won’t see those canopies heralding the month-long time of fasting and feasting till the next year when the Muslims have their month of fasting again.

For me, this month has been like going through a fast of sorts. I’ve been missing our friends in California, our church, the familiarity of my everyday life, the foods, the kitchen, the Bay Area culture and lifestyle. It’s been uncomfortable and sometimes unfamiliar and frustrating. I’ve had pangs of loneliness and emptiness.

But I’ve also made it through a month. And with a lot to be thankful for, I can now see the promise of potential, the beginning of different, exciting experiences. Who knows what other fish we will find when expecting chicken? What new finds to share, to enjoy and reclaim as my country woos me again?

I can’t wait to share them with you as I experience them myself.

Cheers, Annie

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Hungry for more celebration food? Click below:

Homemade Malaysian Pineapple Tarts, Part 1

Our Favorite Layer Cake Recipe

Jiu Hu Char

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Ultimate Backyard Lu’au

We drove toward the Waterfront district, turned in at Jalan Satok, and parked near the Wisma Satok mall. There’s a footbridge going from the mall over Jalan Satok to the actual market site. From there you can see just a small portion of the market, covered by canopies. Underneath the canopies, you will find vendors selling all manner of items. You can find clothes, shoes, toys, plants, kitchenware, books, magazines, and other household necessities.

Satok Market Under the Canopies

There was a cacophony of voices as the vendors called out, hawking their wares. We were undeterred. We were here for the food.

Just as at the pasar malam, you can find all kinds of fruits imported from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, even the US. But nothing compares in freshness and quality like local fruits. These small bananas (pictured below) are small enough that you could probably eat the whole thing in one bite. But they have a pleasant, almost green apple tartness to them. We picked up a couple of bunches.

Another local fruit that we picked up was these jambu air or water apples. They are similar to the mountain apples I used to eat as a kid in Hawai’i. The sweetness of these water apples is muted, but the interesting thing is, there is no seed inside!

Jambu Air (Water Apple) Vendor

There was a large section of the market devoted to fresh meat and fresh fish. Here and there you would also find a vendor displaying bags and bags of dried anchovies, shrimp, and other fishes. I never knew there were so many varieties of dried anchovies. Next time, I’m going to have to get some to make the sambal ikan bilis that will go along with our nasi lemak.

Bags of Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovies)

We found lots of fresh turmeric root, large chili peppers, and petai (stinky beans) for sale. I like how the vendors lay everything out neatly piled on plates with their prices clearly marked. The freshness and quality (tomatoes notwithstanding) were as good as the best supermarkets in town, but half the prices.

As dusk approached, we made our way to the Ramadan Bazaar to pick up dinner. During Ramadan, observant Muslims fast from eating and drinking from sunup to sundown. You can imagine how hungry people must be by the end of the day. At the bazaar, you will find not just Malay food but halal foods from many other cultures, even Chinese!

The bazaar was crowded with folks buying food to take home for buka puasa – breaking fast. Take dozens of food vendors all boiling, frying, steaming and grilling, mix hundreds of people packed under heavy canopies, add tropical heat and humidity and what do you have? Instant sauna. We picked up our food and got out of there as quick as we could.

On the way back out of the market, we stopped at a stall where they were grilling chickens over a hot charcoal fire. The cook held skewers of butterflied chickens over the coals, letting the fat drip down and the flames singe the skin for some great charred flavor. Every so often, he would baste the birds with his special sauce, kept in a large can on the side of his grill. The aroma was impossible to resist.

As we departed the Satok Market and headed back over the footbridge, we saw rows of food stalls and tables running off into the distance. At each table was a family, but no one was eating yet. Everyone was waiting for the evening call to prayer, which signals the end of the day and the time to break the fast. I can admire their willpower in the face of such a diversity of food available.

There’s a lot more of Satok Market that I haven’t shared in this post. So many sights, smells and sounds remain to be told. But I suppose if I tried to do so, this post would be 4 times as long! So I condensed the images into this slideshow on YouTube.

Enjoy!

Visit to Satok Market

Aloha, Nate

Want to read more about our adventure in our new home of Kuching, Sarawak?  Subscribe to our blog and receive all our latest posts to your RSS reader or to your Inbox!

Hungry for more Kuching discoveries? Click below:

Welcome to Kuching

Visit to a Kuching Pasar Malam (Night Market)

What to do With a Pandan Plant

Cooking with Leafy Midin (Fiddlehead Fern)

Sarawakian Veggies

A lot of stalls were selling paku, a type of fiddlehead fern that we recently had the pleasure of tasting. You could also find lots of ong choy, sweet potato leaves and other Sarawakian veggies.

Annie spotted a table containing plates of petai – stinky beans. They have a very strong, pungent odor and flavor. We enjoy them in Nyonya-style dishes like sambal petai udang – stinky beans with shrimp. You really have to try this dish!

Petai

(by the way, does anyone know what those brown pods to the left of the petai are?)

Fresh Bamboo Shoots

Here’s another type of fiddlehead fern, called “Paku Iban”. The leaves of this fern are broader and less feathery than the commonly seen paku.

Here is midin - another type of fiddlehead fern that is found only in Sarawak. The leaves are redder and thinner than paku, almost grass-like. Our friend picked up a packet of midin and gave it to us to cook. We took that midin home and stir-fried it with garlic and shallots.

Midin

Fish and Fruit

Kuching is right on the coast of Sarawak, so it stands to reason that it has an abundance of fresh fish available. We went past a whole row of stalls selling all kinds of fresh fish and seafood, from shrimp to squid to sardines to skate, even shark. These were not “previously frozen” and thawed out – look how clear the eyes are on these fish!

Fresh Fish for Sale at the Night Market

There were also lots of different fruits for sale. They had imported apples, pears, and plums from other countries. But I was more interested in the local fruits like jumbo seedless guava, bananas, papaya, dragonfruit…

…longans and langsat.

Sago Worms!

Passing by a stall, Lily stopped and pointed at a large tub. “Look at that!” she exclaimed. Inside the tub were dozens of writhing grubs as big as your thumb: Sago worms!

Sago worms are actually beetle larvae that live and grow inside the bark of the tapioca tree. Locals harvest and eat them as a delicacy. They normally fry them up, but the really hardcore will bite the heads off the live ones and consume the bodies. Uh, ok. Sounds like a job for Andrew Zimmern…

I much prefer these delicacies.

Kueh Kueh – Malaysian Sweets

(By the way, you can find recipes for many of these sweets in the “My Sweet Malaysia” roundup that was recently posted on Babe in KL.)

Fried Goodies

By the time we passed this table of fried goodies, we were getting hungry. Our tummies were rumbling and we needed to go somewhere for dinner soon. We hadn’t even made it through the whole of the market!

So we had to cut short our trip. But we will be back, for sure! And I hope we can make friends with some of the vendors, especially the fishmongers.

Aloha, Nate

We’re learning lots about our new home of Kuching, Sarawak. Won’t you stick with us as we explore our new stomping grounds? Subscribe now to receive all our posts to your RSS reader or to your Inbox!

Hungry for more farmer’s market finds? Click below:

Fried Sanddabs with Garlic and Oyster Sauce

Wild Salmon Cakes with Kaffir Lime and Ginger

Sweet Corno di Toro Peppers in Mexican Chopped Salad

Pimientos de Padron: How to Escape the Heat

Roli Roti Porchetta (San Francisco)

These mangosteens were more reddish than the deep purple color that you find in Malaysia.  The vendor was selling them for $14 / lb!  One of these small fruit would set you back $4!  We said we’d wait until we got back to Malaysia to eat them.

We did snag a half pound of lychee for $3.50 though.  They’re all right, not as good as some I’ve had in Hawaii or Malaysia.  But if you’re desperate for locally grown tropical fruit, you might want to come see this vendor.

Mangosteens and Lychee at the San Carlos Farmer’s Market

The vendor also sells bananas, mangoes, and cherimoya.  She said she’d be selling at farmer’s markets in San Francisco, Friday through Sunday. Pat said that the mangosteens weren’t really worth it, but the cherimoya were delicious.

I’m pretty amazed that these tropical fruit are being grown in California.  It’s nice to know that you can get this kind of fruit relatively local.  Otherwise, you’d only see frozen and abused fruits shipped many thousands of miles from across the sea.

Now I wonder if anyone is growing durian here…

Aloha, Nate

Have you had a mangosteen before? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!

These are Wild Boar Farms Tomatoes

Three Acres of Tomatoes

Wild Boar Farms "Pink Boar" Tomato

Wild Boar Farms Red Zebra Boar Tomato

Some of the nuggets of tomato growing wisdom we learned:

• With its hot days, cool nights and rich deep topsoil, Solano County in his experience is the best place to grow his tomatoes.
• Brad plants cover crops like fava beans, vetch and clover over the winter, then tills them under to amend the soil before planting.
• The tomatoes are under a strict watering regimen: lots of irrigation by drip system in the first few weeks after planting, gradually tapering off to once every three weeks. His theory is, you have to force the plant to drive its roots deep into the soil to find moisture. Too much watering will lead to weak, wimpy plants and, "wimpy plants make wimpy tomatoes." (I couldn't agree more.)
• He prunes suckers from the lower parts of the vine, which he feels forces the tomato to put more energy into fruit production than leaf and stem growth.

Wild Boar Farms "Pink Berkeley Tie Dye" Tomato

Wild Boar Farms "Pork Chop" Tomato

Wild Boar Farms "Freckled Child" Tomato

Wild Boar Farms Unnamed Plum Tomatoes

Fumé Bistro Double Pork Burger and Bruschetta with Heirloom Tomato Salad

Fumé Bistro Balsamic and Heirloom Tomato-Marinated Quail

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"Sir, please don't hit on my wife."

One funny thing happened while Annie was haggling with the farmer over his watermelons. This oversized white guy standing next to Annie turns to her and says, "are you married?" Annie looks at him and goes, "Excuse me?!?!?", then ignores him and keeps talking to the farmer.

I'm standing right behind them both, and when I heard the guy say what he did, I couldn't believe it. I moved up a little closer. He said it again to Annie, "are you married?"

I'm like, WTF?! So I look at him and say very sternly, "sir, please don't hit on my wife."

He turns to me and says, "oh, I just wanted to tell her how she can choose watermelons."

Yeah, right. I shook my head and gave him a little stink-eye. Looking a little flustered, he turned back to the farmer and asked for some watermelons for himself.

Annie and I had a good laugh about it afterward in the car.

"I guess I still got it if guys want to hit on me but, eww, he was so gross! AGF! (Asian Girl Fetish) hahahaha!"

At least he didn't try to say, "KNEE HOW MAH!" I think I would've sicced the kids on him if he did that.

Got any funny farmer's market stories? Leave a comment and tell me about it!

Aloha, Nate

Like this story? I will follow up with the rest of our Palo Alto excursion, plus what we did with the pimientos de padron once we got them home.
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Read more farmer's market adventures: Roli Roti Porchetta (San Francisco) , Rotisserie Chicken (Los Altos), Deli Bento Lunch (Austin)