Share…

I’ve been wanting to share this for a long while now but somehow, I never got round to doing it mainly because, usually, my missus would be the one cooking and she would do it her own way…or in all the other ways possible which are just as nice, if not nicer.

This is our cangkuk manis…

…or in Chinese, mani chai or some would call it lakia (Dayak) chai, the favourite of many around here. There is also the smaller version from Sabah called the sayur manis (sweet vegetable) which is more or less the same thing – the only difference is in the size.

I’ve been eating it since young and our way of cooking it is very very simple – I don’t know if it’s the Foochow style of frying the vegetable but it certainly is as simple and easy, typical of most Foochow dishes and no less tasty. For one thing, the leaves have to be removed from the stalks/stems (which many say were used by their mums to cane them whenever they were naughty when they were small) and torn into small bits like this…

I seem to notice that at many Malay stalls, they do not do it so the vegetable is not as easily chewed plus this would also help bring out its sweetness and taste. My missus would insist on the bits being smaller but I am ok with it like this.

First, you fry some finely-chopped garlic in a bit of oil till golden brown…

…but the sliced chili is optional…

For one thing, normally, the traditional Foochows were not really into spicy stuff so they would not have any chili in most of their cooking.

Next, you put in the vegetable…

…and fry it till cooked. To accelerate the cooking process, you can add a bit of water but just a little bit – enough to get that sizzling in the wok but not so much as to drown the vegetable and everything else. There are places here in town where this dish has so much gravy/sauce or worse, some may even add corn starch so it ends up thick and sticky. I don’t like it like that, not at all…and that was not how we had it when I was growing up.

Once it is more or less done, add an egg…

…and mix it altogether.

In the old days, my  mum would season the dish with salt and msg but I broke off a little bit of an ikan bilis (dried anchovies) stock cube and used that instead. Having done that, simply dish it all out of the wok and serve…

Easy, isn’t it?

On that day in question, I also fried one white/silver pomfret (ikan bawal putih) and prepared some cincaluk (fermented shrimps) dip to eat it with and also with some cut cucumber…

Yes, that is how our daily meals are, usually – simple, nothing fancy at all…unless somebody is in the mood to cook something special that otherwise we would just save for some festival or special occasion.

Too bad I only got this that evening…

…or I could have used it to steam the fish. I gathered that if you send things through one of those POSLAJU counters at some mall somewhere (which are open on Saturdays), not at their office or a post office, it would take longer to be delivered plus during festival time when all the flights into town are full with all the passengers bringing a whole lot of stuff home to celebrate, the airline people may offload the mail so delivery may be delayed. I guess that was why I got this a day late…but never mind, as they say, better late than never and thank you so much, Merryn, for sending it to me. I don’t think we can get that here and I have not seen it around…and I sure can’t wait to try it at the earliest opportunity.

And talking about festivals, it’s the 1st of June today – the Gawai Dayak Festival here in Sarawak, so here’s wishing all my Dayak friends and readers…

Cheers!!!