Category: Native Cuisine

As dawn breaks, there is still mild fogs throughout the air, dewdrops rolling down from the tips of leaves. Husband and wife, Lim Boon Seng (transliteration) and Loke Yuet Kwai (transliteration), parked their motorcycle aside, heading into the bushes after getting their stuff and tools ready. In what seemed to be thickets overgrown with weeds, both husband and wife utilise their sharp eyesight and deft hands, each holding a sack in one hand, while the other hand accurately picking fiddlehead ferns growing among the bushes and weeds.

Fiddleheads are wildgrown foliage, the young shoots curling inwards, looking like dainty commas or question marks, belonging to the family of edible shrubs (ferns), also known as Diplazium esculentum. They generally grow at moist, watery but sunny guttersides, having incredible vitality and wide adaptability. Common edible parts are the curly tips of young shoots and upper stems which are more delicate. Fiddleheads are nutrient-rich, boasting of high mineral content, high protein, high fibre etc. After cooking, its texture is smooth with a little mucilage, its mouthfeel crispy without any trace of bitterness.

Growing naturally in the wild, fiddleheads have a strong resistance, after the rain, they grow tenaciously in broad stretches, full of vitality as in the poem “undestroyable by fire, growing again when the breeze blows”. Nowadays, urban development and environmental pollution, as well as artificial cultivation and pesticides, are unsuitable for the growth of fiddleheads. They are only found growing wild in swampy wetlands, a type of foliage popular with rural villagers and indigenous folk. Due to the wide distribution and diversity of Diplazium esculentum, they have different names and nicknames across all regions, such as paku vegetables, wild ferns, perennial ferns, tsuen choi, midin (East Malaysia), lynx (Taiwan), sayur paku, pucuk paku, fiddleheads etc.

The hot sun shining above their heads, the ground beneath their feet humid, the 70-year-old Lim Boon Seng (transliteration) and his 67-year-old wife Loke Yuet Kwai (transliteration) each bearing one or two sacks full of fiddleheads, as well as ripe cassava harvested along the way, loading onto their motorcycle, ready to trade with restaurants or customers who placed orders. The both of them stay in Bukit Pelanduk, giving up swine farming 20 years ago in consequence of the Nipah virus outbreak tragedy, shifting towards the agricultural industry such as planting cassava and yam to make a living, one of their activities being gathering fiddleheads.

Due to the growing environment and distinctive feature of fiddleheads, there are certain dangers in the gathering process. Apart from preventing bugs and mosquitoes bites, there is need to constantly staying alert, taking precautions against attacks from snakes, lizards and wild bees which often inhabit the wild. Besides, to ensure a consistent supply of fiddleheads, the duo will walk around in search of suitable thickets, some of them as far as 20 minutes away by car. There are a few regular locations where they take routine care and manage properly to facilitate continual growth and ease gathering.

After the disaster brought upon by the Nipah virus outbreak, Lim Boon Seng (transliteration) and Loke Yuet Kwai (transliteration) and their family pull themselves back together, returning to their home in the village to seek an alternative way in making a living, their unyielding spirit similar to wildgrown fiddleheads, determined to survive.

Text: Daniel Lim & Pua Hui Wen

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Mok Yii Chek
Coordinator : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Evon Pang
Drone : Daniel Lim
Video Editor : Evon Pang
Production Assistant : Michael Lerk
Music : Beautiful & Emotional from MorningLightMusic – YouTube

COPYRIGHTS 2019 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD

Inside the well-lit kitchen, both mother and daughter, 77-year-old Tan Hai Wah and 53-year-old Lau Lan Chi are busy at work, each performing their own duties while at times helping each other, without a moment’s slacking. Briefly, a spread of Fú Zhōu home cooked food is served, the sumptuous dishes fit for a banquet. Among them is Fú Zhōu Peaceful Eggs with its complicated procedures, a must-have during festive celebrations, weddings, funerals, gatherings and farewells of FúZhōunese and their relatives. It symbolizes serenity and peace, bearing hopes for year-long good health and safety.

Peaceful Eggs are also known as Golden Eggs. Folklore goes that in year 1564, when General Qī Jì Guāng and his army faced pirates at Fú Níng (now Fú Dǐng district), the villagers try to support, therefore deciding on deep fried hard-boiled Golden Eggs, to feed the military personnel, as it is easy to keep and delicious, without the need to peel shells. After General Qī Jì Guāng succeeded in banishing the pirates, the local livelihood was back to normal, the seaside areas were peaceful, and people went around happily. As a remembrance of General Qī Jì Guāng’s contribution, Golden Eggs were renamed to Peaceful Eggs.

To date, due to changes in regional food culture, the poultry eggs used in Peaceful Eggs are different. In the seaside areas of Fú Zhōu in China, people mostly use duck eggs, homophonic with “suppressing waves” in the Fú Zhōu dialect, praying for calm waves and a safe, fruitful journey. Chefs use quail eggs or dove eggs as replacement in banquets to suit the recent food trends, quail is homophonic with “safety”, therefore well received by most people. There are also FúZhōunese who source materials locally, replacing duck eggs with chicken eggs. The only thing unchanged is the deep rooted inheritance of native food culture from generation to generation.

In Bukit Pelanduk where the majority is FúZhōunese, Lau Lan Chi and her mother uses up to nine ingredients to cook Fú Zhōu Peaceful Eggs, including bamboo shoots, shiitake mushroom, black fungus, carrots, cabbage, lily, minced pork, and eggs. The preparation of ingredients is extremely time-consuming, apart from cutting all ingredients into fine shreds, the selection of ingredients and the cooking method is also quite particular. For instance baby bamboo shoots needs to be pre-ordered from vegetable farmers, depending on its harvest; the eggs are peeled after being hard-boiled, and then deep fried in hot oil, finally adding in the stir-fried ingredients, a pot containing a cultural dish inherited for generations: Peaceful Eggs, is completed.

To cook this dish, it contains hope and blessing towards life.
To consume this dish, it accommodates prayers and cherish from others.
To master this dish, it continues the cultural legacy.

Text: Daniel Lim & Pua Hui Wen

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Mok Yii Chek
Coordinator : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Evon Pang
Video Editor : Amelia Lim
Production Assistant : Michael Lerk
Music : Kiss The Sky

COPYRIGHTS 2019 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD

Peeling the flower cluster of the Attap plant layer by layer, wrapping with a plastic bag for the liquid to gradually flow in, that is how Air Nira Nipah or more commonly known as Attap seed water came to be. Freshly extracted Nipah water can be consumed immediately. The liquid is translucent with a hint of brownish colour, its taste is richly sweet, its function is to cool down the human body and aids digestion. Nipah water is naturally fermented after standing in the open for 8 hours, the liquid will turn into a semi-translucent with milk white colour. Being kept properly and set aside to ferment for 44 days or more, the Nipah water will ripen into Nipah vinegar, which is said to have medical efficacy and helps in treatment of the digestive system, as well as kidney stones. Nipah water is popular among the Malay community, especially in the region of Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu.

The fit and agile Halim is 67 years old, he plants Attap trees all around his humble abode in Bagan Pasir, a small fishing village in Tanjung Karang. Seven years ago, he got his father to show him how to extract Nipah water, brought the technique from his hometown in Perak to his own property, and started a small business of selling Nipah water. From cultivating Attap plants with the utmost care, to the maturity of the fruits, and extracting the liquid from the flower cluster of the plant, all these processes require his attentiveness and skills. For instance, the flower cluster needs to be taken extensive care of and be massaged for one month, so that it may yield more liquid.

Planting and extracting Nipah water is a challenging task. The only species of palm adapted to the mangrove biome, Attap palms grow in humid swamp areas. Besides constantly immersing both feet in the muddy swamp waters, he also need to take precaution against insect infestation and animals sabotage. Nipah water needs to be collected from the flower cluster daily, as it is unsuitable to be left in ambient temperature for long. It needs to be promptly chilled to prevent fermentation and preserve freshness. On the other hand, changes in the weather will directly impact the harvest.

There are various values and usage of the Attap plant. In old times, humans found out to use Attap leaves as material for roofs, and to weave handicraft such as baskets. The Attap fruit grows in bunches of dozens, its semi-translucent flesh sweet and tender. It can be consumed raw, made into beverages, or added into shaved ice to add some texture. Due to the complicated steps in the production of Nipah water, the need to adhere to a strict timeline, and prone to deteriorate after extracting therefore must be consumed freshly, it is disadvantaged and has limited potential for commercialization. Even so, it illustrates the wise ways humans employ natural resources.

Text: Daniel Lim & Pua Hui Wen

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Mok Yii Chek
Coordinator : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Evon Pang
Drone : Daniel Lim
Video Editor : Amelia Lim
Production Assistant : Michael Lerk
Music : If You Close Your Eyes I’m Still With You

COPYRIGHTS 2019 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD