This is the place…

I blogged about this place…

…a few times already, my favourite fish and seafood stall located not far from my house and it sure aroused quite a bit of interest among my followers and also my friends on Facebook.

Many were excited to see the ikan terubok that I managed to get hold of to enjoy after so many years while others were keen on getting hold of the unadulterated fish paste that the lady at the stall would make for sale. I bought that a few times already and the other day, we used it to make those lovely Thai fish cakes, the tod mun pla. Of course, I went back there quite regularly for the prawns and also the sotong (squid).

I was there again the other morning and I saw that they had some ikan terubok…

…bigger than the ones I am keeping in my freezer for days when I would feel like eating that in case I cannot get hold of any when I am craving for it. It isn’t easy getting hold of this fish, really.

As a matter of fact, I was not there to buy fish for our meals that day but I certainly would do that now that I have this stall not too far away. That way, I can buy and take home and cook straight away, fresh from the sea. The lady at the stall told me that they would only open when there are fishing boats coming in at Mukah, bringing in their catch for sale. That sure beats those fishmongers who will take out their fish from their freezer, defrost it and display for sale…and freeze it again at the end of the day if nobody buys it and day in, day out, the vicious cycle goes on.

I quite like the fish sold at that shop round the corner from my house. The instant they get their fresh fish, they will pack them in plastic, seal and freeze them straight away. Unfortunately, their fish is not cleaned so when I buy theirs, prior to cooking, I shall have to go through the chore of cleaning it. I do not mind that actually – I am pretty good at it and I do not mind that their fish is generally a little more expensive because it is always very fresh, very sweet and nice.

Anyway, back to the aforementioned stall, I bought more prawns, RM18.00 a kilo…

…because we had run out of them, never mind big or small. Those this size would be ideal for cho liao (as an ingredient) when cooking vegetables or frying noodles or rice. Their sweetness and taste will surely bring whatever you are cooking to a whole new level.

I bought 2 kg that day and lived to regret it. The nice lady at the stall, without my asking for a discount, said she would let me have them at RM35.00 but when I got home, I spent THE WHOLE MORNING peeling them and removing their heads and slicing the back to get rid of the vein. Gosh!!! That was so tedious, such a dreadful chore!!! Looking on the bright side, I did manage to get quite a lot…

…for use – that should last for quite sometime! I’ve packed them in convenient packs so we can just take out what we need each time, no need to take them all out to defrost, use a bit and refreeze the rest. It is not good to defrost and refreeze stuff like that all the time.

I also bought some sotong (squid)…

…too that morning. They were not that big that day so my missus had to spend hours cleaning them while I was doing the prawns.

She cooked sambal sotong…

…with them and nasi lemak (just the rice in santan/coconut milk). We sure enjoyed that to the max especially when we had not had any nasi lemak for such a long time. I am still avoiding the shops and stalls in the kampung area here even though the cluster seems a little bit quiet for a while now – I’m sure everyone would agree that at a time like this, with the pandemic raging on and on like it is never going to end, it sure pays to be careful.

The fish stall is located to the right of CCL FRESH MINI MARKET against the wall at that end of the block to the right of the Grand Wonderful Hotel (2.309601, 111.845163) along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai, if you go in via the entrance where San Len Tyres is located, just before the Petronas petrol station a short distance from Delta Mall.