Wild ones…

I managed to get hold of some of the meat the other day and of course, I used the bones and a bit of it to cook the soup…

It is getting harder and harder to get hold of some decently-good ones these days. I blogged about it in 2008 and my next and last post was in 2010. It certainly looks like I can only get to eat it once in every two years. Of course, once in a while, one may get to see some around but they may not look very fresh…and I would get put off by the swarm of flies on the meat laid out on some newspapers on the ground by the roadside.

This one that I got the other day was not really good as it was most probably too young and as it is not the fruit season right now, it was not fat at all. The best ones would be those that are very old – you can tell by its thick and long black hair…and the fatter it is, the better. Those would be extra fragrant and very very tasty.

I also stewed some that day…

To cook this, you just throw the chunks of meat into the pot and cook over a small fire till all the juices and the fat come out of it and the whole kitchen is filled with the aroma…and then, you add a bit of water and pour in soy sauce, add peppercorns, sugar and a bulb of garlic and simmer until it dries up.

To serve, you will have to cut the meat into thin slices…

…and serve with the thick soy sauce gravy that is left in the pot.

Melissa thought it was a bit dry – probably because it was all lean and no fat and she preferred the soup which I thought was all right but somewhat mild and not wangi (fragrant) enough. I gave some to my friend and his family – the youngest, just one year plus, loved the soup and even had some of the meat while the other two liked the stewed one more. Ah well!!! Like I always say, one man’s meat is another man’s poison – to each his own!

It so happened that on that same day, my neighbour gave me some of her quinee (the local mango variety)…and since I needed a vegetable/fibre dish to go with all that meat, I decided to make some sambal quinee…

Just peel the fruit and slice and cut into thin strips. I had half a Bombay onion sitting in the fridge so I sliced that and threw it in…and then I added some left over sambal belacan (dried prawn paste and chilies, pounded) and my missus had some pounded sambal hay bee (dried prawns pounded with chilies and a bit of dried prawn paste) so I added a bit of that and tossed everything together. It was nice but sweet – I think it would be better to use the unripe fruit to make this but still, we enjoyed it and finished the whole lot in one sitting. I thought of frying some ikan bilis (dried anchovies) to add to it and sprinkling some crushed peanut like what they do with Thai-style salad…but unfortunately, my laziness got the better of me. Hehehehehehe!!!

So, what have you been eating  lately?