Pierced…

I went back to that shop near my house to reciprocate for their kindness and honesty in returning my RM100.00 note to me.

I bought a pack of the black vinegar pork trotters (RM30.00) that I tried before and yes, I did enjoy that. The lady boss asked me to buy the ribs from Kuching again but I did not feel like having another go at it. Another time, perhaps!

Then she asked me to try this…

…something that we had not tried before, she said.

The packaging looked kind of Japanese – that was why I was surprised to see it labelled “Thai pork stick” and yes, there were some Thai characters as well so I assumed it was a product of Thailand. I was doubly surprised when upon closer scrutiny, I realised that it was actually made in Miri…

…right here in Sarawak.

I wrapped the tray with aluminum foil and lined it with kunyit (turmeric) leaves. The slices of meat are pre-marinated and pierced through with skewers, not unlike those Japanese yakitori. I placed a big Thai basil leaf under each slice and arranged them nicely in the tray…

…after which, I added some more Thai basil leaves on top…

I reckoned that if they were supposedly Thai, they should taste Thai in some way.

I grilled them for 30 minutes on one side before turning them over to grill some more on the other side and after another 15 minutes or so, they were done…

Yes, they were very nice – we all loved them very much, just that they did not taste exotic, not anything like one would expect from a Thai dish. Instead, we thought it was a little bit like a cross between bak kua and char siew and yes, the meat was nice and tender.

At RM29.00 for a pack of 10 sticks, it worked out to RM2.90 a stick that was about the size of 3 regular sticks of satay. I would say it was not expensive and of course, most importantly, we did enjoy them very much. I definitely would go back and buy a few more packs to stock in our freezer and the next time we cook, I would not stop at just those Thai basil leaves but would go all the way instead – serai (lemon grass), sawtooth coriander, the whole works! If it’s Thai, it must taste Thai, not Chinese! LOL!!!

SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket.