Think Bambangan, Think Sabah

What is Bambangan?
It is a seasonal fruit, is sometimes described as a wild mango, when ripe has thick brown skin and fibrous yellow flesh and gives out a very strong sweet aroma. I don't know why some people say Bambangan gives out a pungent smell. According to dictionary.reference.com, pungent means "acutely distressing to the feelings or mind" which is NOT the case for me. I LOVVVEEE Bambangan, love to eat it, love to smell it, is acutely COMFORTING to my feelings and mind.

Bambangan which is about 80% ripe is used to make pickle Bambangan. The young fruit is smaller in size than the ripe ones, the skin is brown and hard, and the flesh is white. This is most suitable to be used for cooking the "Pinasakan" dish, a favourite local delicacy, that incorporates young Bambangan fruit in its recipe.

Where is it found?
Some people say it is found ONLY in Sabah Borneo (???). When it comes to Bambangan fruit, Sabah is the only place that I know (please correct me if I am wrong) in the South East Asia region that never stops hollering "Hail, Bambangan!!!". When you want to talk about Bambangan, you have to talk about Sabah. Hence, the title of this post "Think Bambangan, Think Sabah". But you do know that I am being biased, right?

Since we have the same climate, I am sure Bambangan also grows abundantly in other parts of Borneo, like Sarawak (part of East Malaysia), Brunei and Indonesia which make up the island of Borneo, the third largest island in the world. The only difference is that the people there do not eat it as much as the Sabahans do (or maybe they're not even aware of the existence of this fruit). The matured tree has a very big trunk and tall, and during its season, will produce fruits abundantly. In Sabah, Bambangan is very special. It's a delicacy that is closely guarded and taught down to the younger generation so that it can be preserved as our food heritage.

When is the Bambangan season?
According to local farmers, who make their living by selling fruits and rubber sheets, when you hear  it's the Durian season, then you know Bambangan season will follow suit. That is roughly around October to December every year.

Where can you get it?
You can find fresh Bambangan and Pickled Bambangan either at the vegetable market or during "Tamu" time. "Tamu" literally means meeting time. Farmers gather together weekly in one place, the place and time are already fixed, to sell their produce. You can find all sort of fresh produce at the Tamu.

Bambangan Pickling Demo - How it started?
I received an email from one lovely lady, Miss Cheng Yueh Fang, a UMS (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) student from Perak, inquiring whether the homestay operators conduct demo on "tapai making" or "Bambangan pickling" and I replied with an immediate "YES!". I was quite surprise and thrilled at the thought of meeting these young ladies. It must have been due to this post, a culinary event that I have had a chance to attend, that triggered Cheng's interest to contact me.

So, to make long story short, Cheng and her friends decided on the day and time to watch the food demo on how to pickle Bambangan. Cheng and four of her UMS friends are studying in the final year of their food-tech course and Bambangan pickling is one of the projects they have chosen. The other four students are Chang Sook Poh from Kuala Lumpur, Josyan ak Jangar from Sarikei, Sarawak and another two students, like Cheng, also hail from Perak, Ng Jia Qin and Lee Poh Yoke. All of them are in their early 20s.

How do we make Pickle Bambangan?

Ingredients
5 Bambangan fruits (about 80% ripe)
2 Bambangan Seeds (shredded & dried)
Salt

Instructions:
1. Peel off the Bambangan skin.
2. Cut the Bambangan into small pieces. Use a pair of gloves when cutting the fruit to prevent rubbery substance from sticking to your hands.
3. Prepare shredded Bambangan seeds. Take out the soft inner part of the seed. Before you do this, you have to cut/ peel off the hard fibrous shell that protects the soft inner part of the seed.
4. Grate the seeds and dry them under the sun. Once shredded seeds are dried, sprinkle them onto the cut Bambangan pieces and add salt to taste. Then, mix thoroughly.
5. Leave for 30 minutes.
6. Prepare a glass bottle that is already sterilized. Transfer the Bambangan pieces into the glass bottle.
7. This pickle Bambangan is ready for consumption in 1 - 2 weeks' time.


Which native in Sabah eat the most Bambangan and how is it served?
Here in Sabah, we either like to eat it fresh or pickled it. It is mainly eaten by the KadazanDusun people, the biggest indigenous group in Sabah. They eat pickled Bambangan as often as the Koreans eat their Kimchi.

Frequently, it is served with white rice and other main dishes such as meat or fish and vegetable. The pickled Bambangan is sometimes mixed with chilli, soya sauce (we call ketchup) and sometimes with "Belacan", shrimp paste. You can use all of these or just pick any combination. It's your choice!

Newspaper Publications for our "Bambangan Pickling" Event

Daily Express, 11 October 2012

Borneo Post, 15 October 2012

continuation...Borneo Post, 15 October 2012

Try Sabahan Rendang Ayam Recipe

Hari Raya Puasa is a very important celebration for the Muslims. This year, 2012, the  new moon was sighted on August 19th. Every year, the sighting of new moon at the end of Ramadan month signifies the end of the fasting season and also marked the first day of Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Muslims, all over the world, start off their day by gathering in the mosques very early in the morning to perform their prayers as well as paying visits to the graves of their loved ones.

Hari Raya is welcomed with great joy. Houses are cleaned until they're shiny and decorated with the lighting of oil lamps. The young Muslims will kiss the hands of their elders and ask forgiveness for their wrongdoings. They also wear new Malay traditional clothes. Open house, which means the Muslims inviting family members, relatives and friends to come over to their house is widely practised.

In Malaysia, the first two days of Hari Raya is declared as Public Holidays but the celebration lasts for a month. This is the time you can see plenty of traditional Malay delicacies. One of my favourite dishes is the Rendang Ayam. It is basically a spicy dish consists of one whole chicken, slow cooked with coconut milk, spices and a variety of local herbs. For this posting, I like to bring my readers' attention and encourage them to try this Rendang Ayam recipe. It is not very difficult to prepare, the dish is really delicious and can be served and eaten together with white rice or pulut lemang (glutinuous rice cooked with coconut milk using a bamboo), another famous dish served during this festive season.

 Fresh spices and herbs

Chicken, cut and cleaned

Dried chillies

Fried grated coconut

Coconut milk

RENDANG AYAM RECIPE

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (cut and cleaned. You may remove some of its
skin and fats if you want your rendang to be less oily)
For the gravy: (Blend together)
10 shallots
4 garlic
15 dried chillies
15 eye of the bird chillies
1 inch of ginger
1 inch of galangal
1/2 inch of fresh turmeric
2 lemon grass
Add these after chicken is marinated:
4 cups of concentrated coconut milk
2 pieces of turmeric leaves
4 pieces of kaffir lime leaves
4 tbspns of fried grated coconut
salt, sugar to taste

Instructions:

1. Marinate chicken with gravy for about 1 hour.

2. Place marinated chicken in a pot and pour the coconut milk into the pot. Leave until it is boiling. Then add in kaffir lime leaves, turmeric leaves, fried grated coconut and salt and sugar to taste.

3. Cook until chicken is tender and the gravy is thickened. Serve with white rice or pulut lemang.

Spices and herbs blended together

In my attempt to cook this dish, I failed to include the galangal (lengkuas) as no one were selling it the time I went shopping for it at the nearby vegetable market. *sigh!* It was just one of those days...you know... you don't always find what you want. This dish is not perfect but even without the galangal, the taste of the Rendang Ayam was still very delicious. It would definitely taste even better if galangal was added in.

Yeahhh...Sabahan's Rendang Ayam