Belimbing merah or belimbing hutan is only found in Borneo and has flesh that has a sour-ish taste although some fruits do yield sweeter flesh. — Filepic
Malaysia boasts a cornucopia of natural ingredients – from local fruits like ceri Terengganu, buah salak and buah setar to natural sugars like gula anau (found in Negeri Sembilan) as well as a wide variety of ulam, jungle greens and native seafood.
But the richness of the ingredients available in Borneo, where the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak can be found – well, that’s a whole other category of diverse.
Borneo is the third largest island in the world, home to the oldest rainforest in the world and over 100 endemic species. It is little surprise then that the island is also host to a panoply of lesser-known ingredients that may not be familiar to denizens of west Malaysia.
In 2021, Singaporean cookbook author Bryan Koh published his seminal travel dossier cum cookbook on Borneo, called Tamu. The book enumerates in elaborate detail Koh’s uncovering of the island’s vast repository of culinary treasures.
Here are a few them:
Sea grapes (latok)
In Sabah, sea grapes or ‘latok’ are a regular source of sustenance, also often called sea caviar. This bounty of the sea is typically eaten as an ulam (local green) or served alongside sambal belacan or soy sauce. Latok is very nutritionally rich and is rich in iron, zinc, calcium and dietary fibre. Among the Bajau community, it is believed to cure tuberculosis and goitre.
Latok, or sea grapes are found in Sabah and are also known as ‘sea caviar’. — AKAR DINING
Agal-agal
Green and white agal-agal is essentially the gummy seaweed from which gelatine is derived. its name originates from Tanjong Agal on the north coast of Borneo, where it was originally collected. Agal-agal has to be thoroughly blanched and cleaned to remove the mucous-like substance (lendir) that coats the stalks and is often the basis of salads that feature grated coconut, tomatoes, salt and limes among the Bajau Laut community in Sabah.
Buah dabai
Buah dabai is also called an olive because of the way it looks. In Sarawak, dabai fried rice is a specialty. — FILEPIC
This seasonal treat is a dark purplish fruit that emits an itchy sap if eaten raw. Once immersed in hot water, the dabai (known as kembayau in Sarawak or ‘kana’ or black olive in Hokkien) becomes palatable and is then seasoned with salt, soy sauce or even cili padi. To eat it, people have to suck and then eat the flesh, which is said to be fibrous and creamy. In Sarawak, dabai fried rice is a specialty.
Bambangan
Endemic to Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan, bambangan (also called ‘asam embang’ or ‘mawang’) is a climate-resilient native ingredient that has been touted as one of the foods of the future.
What is bambangan? Essentially a member of the mango family, this native Borneo fruit takes about 10 to 15 years to fruit and is unlike the soft, pulpy Thai mangoes many Malaysians have come to love. Instead, in east Malaysia, bambangan is prized for its extremely fibrous interior. The fruit is also extremely large – each one is about the size of a coconut and can weigh up to three kilograms!
Because of its limited availability each year, many east Malaysians also pickle bambangan to extend its shelf life.
Molopou leaves
Among the Dusun community in Sabah, these arrow-shaped leaves are popular as they are found in paddy fields and harvested during planting season. Once harvested, the leaves are turned into salads, often with the addition of lime juice and shallots or inserted in a litany of soups and stir-fries, according to Koh in his book.
Singkah uhut
While rattan is more often associated with furniture, singkah uhut is the shoot of a particular species of rattan that the Dayaks in Borneo use in their cooking. The extraction of this shoot is quite difficult as it is surrounded by sharp, spiky thorns.
To eat it, the skin has to be removed and the interior cut into sections. It can then be stir-fried with garlic or incorporated into a juhu (vegetable braise) in collusion with other ingredients like turmeric, ginger, galangal, cili padi, candlenuts and lemongrass, to name a few.
Terung Iban
Terung Iban is a species of nightshade and is cooked in many Ibanese soups. — FILEPIC
According to Koh in his book, “terung Iban or terung Dayak is a species of nightshade”. Sometimes also called terung asam (because of the sour-tasting seeds), they are available in a variety of sizes – some small and rotund and some as large as grapefruits. In east Malaysia, terung Iban is cooked alongside chicken stews and is a common feature in Ibanese soups.
Belimbing merah
Available only in Borneo, belimbing merah – also called ‘belimbing darah’, ‘belimbing Dayak’ and ‘belimbing api’ to name a few – is an angular blood-red fruit (hence its name) that grows in clusters. To eat it, one has to open the casing, which contains clear flesh that has a sour taste (although some fruits do yield sweeter flesh). The flesh is sometimes eaten as is or is pickled while the skin is utilised in sambals.
Tuhau
Tuhau (long sticks pictured here) grows near mangrove swamps in Sabah and Sarawak and many modern restaurants in Kuala Lumpur like Akar Dining use it for fine-dining dishes. — AKAR DINING
Tuhau has gained popularity in Kuala Lumpur, where it has increasingly attracted the attention of the city’s new breed of chefs like Aidan Low of Akar Dining intent on utilising its unique flavour profile in their dishes. Also known as wild ginger, tuhau grows wild near mangrove swamps in Sabah and Sarawak and is often eaten raw as an ulam or incorporated with salted fish or even used in sambals. It can also be pickled with salt and vinegar.
Engkabang
Also known as kiton, engkabang comes from buah kawang, that grows along river banks. Once harvested and cleaned, “the nuts are thoroughly dried, first under a baking sun, then in a hot pan, before being pounded into a damp powder” says Koh in his book. The powder is then wrung out to extract an oil which is similar to cocoa butter but is known colloquially as ‘tree butter’. This is then stored in a bamboo tube, where it hardens. When needed, it can be pushed out into a hot pan as a cooking oil or topped onto hot rice for a rich mouthfeel.
Engkabang (tree butter) can be topped onto hot rice for a fuller mouthfeel. — AKAR DINING
