Hard…

These are…

…teng khak hay, translation: hard shell prawns. I see them all the time at my favourite fish and seafood stall not far from my house but I never bought any. Usually they are cheaper than the pek hay (white prawns)…

…the seawater variety that I will always buy but I get put off by the stronger smell and because of the very hard shell, they are difficult to devein.

We had those very fresh ones in the above photograph when we went out for dinner with my good friend/ex-classmate, Robert and yes, they were very nice plus they were huge too! Usually, they are very small, not worth a second glance.

Well, it so happened that my missus wanted to buy some lettuce – they did not have those very curly ones…

…at the shops and stalls in the next lane and I did tell her before that they sell those hydroponic ones at the shop behind that fish & seafood stall that I frequent.

She never ventured into that part of the woods before but she managed to get there and she got what she wanted. I was not in the least surprised that she strolled over to the stall…

…to have a look and ended up buying a few kilos of these teng khak prawns at RM18.00 a kilo.

She cooked half, hip eyam (covered with salt) like what we had at the dinner above and even though they were not as big, they were very fresh and we did enjoy them a lot.

She cooked the other half, the bigger ones, with pineapples…

…the other day and it was really very good.

Usually, she would cook this dish using the freshwater udang galah…

…but since we’ve been avoiding the central market in town all this while throughout the pandemic, we have not bought any for almost two years now.

Much to our delight, it was very compatible with these teng khak hay…

I sure enjoyed it a lot that day! I certainly would want to buy more should I happen to see any more big and fresh ones at the stall.

Incidentally, our rambutan tree at the back of our house is bearing fruit…

I have neglected it for so long now and last year, because of the excessive trimming when I was plucking the fruits the last time around, it did not bear any. I did see a few not long ago, very very few way up high and I just assumed that there would not be many this year.

Much to my surprise, my missus went and plucked and got quite a lot…

…enough for her to enjoy herself and also to give to our neighbours. Personally, I am not into those – I just had two or three that day and I ended up coughing the whole night through. Old folks say they are heaty (ching juak).

There are some more up in the tree – there should be enough for another harvest. After that, I must do something to enhance its growth, add new soil and fertilisers perhaps. We’ll see!