I mentioned in an earlier post that I went browsing around the Sibu Central Market the other morning. I like going there early as it will not be so crowded and it will be very much cooler as well – the only drawback would be how some of the stalls are not open yet like the ones at the native/ethnic jungle produce section and the stalls selling hay bee (dried prawns), belacan (dried prawn paste) and what not.
I did not have any intention to buy anything specifically but I saw these very nice pisang keling…
…literally translated as Indian bananas, RM4.00 a kg and I bought 2 kg, RM8.00 altogether. This is my favourite variety – I may buy the others like the chay gay (in Hokkien – I think it is called Cavendish in English) or the pisang emas (golden bananas) when this particular variety is not available. It does seem to be getting harder to get these days – more often than not, it is not available and that was why the moment I spotted them that day, I just had to grab some, no second thoughts about it.
At another stall, I saw these groundnuts…
– another thing that is not easy to come by here and when we do come across any, they will be small and very dirty. These looked like they had gone through the trouble of washing them nicely but even so, we did rinse them again a bit before cooking. Of course, I had to buy them – my girl enjoys eating these a lot – RM10.00 a kg.
Cooking is easy – just submerge in water, add a little salt and bring it to boil, something like how we cooked corn the other day. except that you will have to boil them a whole lot longer, for an extended period of time until the nuts become very soft…
…like those braised peanuts…
…served in restaurants and sold in cans in the shops and supermarkets.
Once done…
…drain away all the water as leaving it soaked in the water may turn them kind of black and other than that, it may affect the taste somewhat and it will not be so nice.
I sure was glad I bought them that day especially when I saw my girl enjoying feasting on them…
…when she came home from school and needless to say, when the girl is happy, the daddy will be happy too!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I only like Pisang keling and Pisang emas. I never like chay gay. I was not aware of the price of pisang keling till one day I bought a small bunch for a whopping price of RM5 and that makes me to ask the price per kg. Guess what RM4. 50/kg.
I always pay a lot when I buy from the shop near my house – around RM8 for a bunch and when I buy two, it will be over RM10! Of course it is more convenient to go there and buy but now that I can go to the market in the early morning, I think I will walk around there to look for the bananas, cheaper.
We never ate chay gay when young – my father said it was cold, bad for people with asthma so he never bought those. My brother and I had asthma in our younger days.
nuts and bananas.. why do i think they go so well together.. 😉 winks.
Muahahahahaha!!!! I like how your mind ticks!!! Notty! Notty!
My favorite banana is berangan. This pisang keling, is it the one with white flesh? I’m afraid I dislike that one. I love groundnuts. It’s my partner’s favorite. We also enjoy braised peanuts. which we only get to eat when served at the restaurant.
You can buy them in cans at the supermarket and eat to your heart’s content at home. That is where the restaurants get theirs, all out of a tin!
Oh? You do not like kay leng chio? The timing must be right – not quite ripe yet, it may not be sweet, perhaps even a little bitter…and once it has ripened, it must be eaten quickly. It turns black very very fast…and it will not taste as nice too. That is why you will see me eating a lot quickly…before it gets too ripe.
Braised peanuts, I love them.
Banana, I prefer pisang mas. Smaller type. My kids like it.
Pisang mas is sweeter. Usually very small and when over-ripe, the skin becomes very thin, hard to peel.
alamak!!! now i baru remember…..bought some kacang …yet to cook. nice to eat just boil as it is
Eh…plant la Banana trees behind your house. Can use the 3T method. Tanam tinggal and tuai. Banana trees no need to jaga. very easy
Kacang no expiry date ah? Will not dry up?
From way back in my younger days, my father would insist that we did not plant bananas. We had all kinds of fruit trees in our HUGE garden but no bananas. He said got hantu! LOL!!!
The native/ethnic jungle produce section is exactly what I would love to see.
Me too! That is where all the interesting stuff is, something out of the ordinary not found in the regular stalls.