Getting Around The World

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Malaysia: Mom's Best Food

Indisputable best cook in the world of course is my mom. You may not agree with me but it is always true for me.

A typical Heng's family style steam boat.

Fish ball, stuffed tofu, lady's finger, mushroom, Chinese cabbage

The most famous fish ball

Rice vermicelli served with fish ball, fish meat, Chinese cabbage and prawn.

Malaysia: Endau III - Good Food

One of the reasons coming to Endau for sure is for its seafood. The seabed here is of sand, compared to those of mud, fishes are said to be less delicious with tougher meat especially for those inhibiting at or near the sea floor. It is another story for those mid or top layer fishes, which taste much more better.

This is the most unforgettable one and you just can not get elsewhere - the shark's skin. As tasty as pork belly but not oily at all. It is told by my uncle even the most experienced fisherman may not know it is edible, not to mention knowledge about how delicious it is. What we had was actually "recycled" from a shark head almost thrown away.

Another one you can't get else where - sea cucumber fried with deshelled prawn. The sea cucumber is not the common one, it is kind of spiny sea cucumber with some small spikes protruding from its body. It may sound queasy but I can guarantee you it is yummy.

Black-banded trevally (黑鰺, or more famously in Malay ikan Aji) cooked with Za Chai (榨菜, 四川菜, Szechuan Pickled Vegetable) soup. The meat of this Aji fish is slightly sour, cooked in the pickled vege soup is a perfect match. In Thailand, Aji fish is known as "cotton fish" (ปลาสำลี) and it is mostly deep fried served with sliced green mango in fish sauce.

Tofu with seafood topping

Remember that when I was young, blue crab here was much more sweeter and bigger in size.

Kung Pao Rock Lobster (琵琶虾, or in local Chinese known as 虾波, or sometimes jokingly refer to the cousin of real lobster)- the meat of rock lobster were used to imitate the more sought-after real lobster meat. It is said that the head and tail of the real lobster are recycled with the meat of rock lobster.

Steamed mud crab - not the specialty here

As said, seine-fishing yield good quality fish. Black pomfret from the seine-fishing boat, cooked in Chinese style curry is unbelievable 鲜( savoriness , or in Japanese "Umami").

Pork Belly in thick sauce

Green Bean (四季豆)

One of my favorite - Teochew style steamed Silver Promfret. The best is around 700g and this one is slightly too big (meat is tougher), but the freshness and delicate texture is just superb.

Malaysia: Endau II - Bird House

A new business in Endau - Swiftlet Farming for its birdnest, one of the most wanted/expensive Chinese delicacy you can get. The cave swiftlet, is said not to be a native species in this part of the world. Thanks to the continuing forest fires in Indonesia, the swiftlet has found M'sia a safe haven and in the process has brought a sudden windfall (a true "during runtuh") to Malaysia. Swiftlet farming has since become one of the hottest topic here. Everyone is talking about the bird... It is also said that swiftlet farming is slowly taking over fishing business and becoming the main source of income for the locals.

The buying/selling of birdhouse is a big business. From my understanding, a house that can produce a bird nest in one harvest (Endau is harvesting 3.5 time a year, and 4 times in some parts of Malaysia), is priced at 800RM/nest. So a house that can yield 2000 nests, is worth at around 2000 x 800 = 1.6 million + the original property price. If the property worths 400K, then the birdhouses is priced at 2.0 million.

A fast calculation - a kg of birdnest is selling at around 4,800RM (used to be 1000RM+). One kg of raw birdnest consists of around 180-220 of nests. Says 200 pcs for one kg, one pcs is about 24RM. One harvest is around 2000 x 24RM= 48,000RM, and gross income of one year is around 168,000RM. Deducting the running cost, which is quite low, assumes 18K, so net profit is 150K i.e. ROI is around 7.5%, not too bad huh! And it is said that the bird number can only be on the way up, what a wonderful business.

However the the are some risks here

1. It is a business that has not been regulated by government, and I believe it is just a matter of time government will step in. Tax, license, mandatory inspection etc will then play a part and definitely eat into profit of operator.

2. Hygiene issue to neighbor. Just imagine if there is a outbreak of bird flu...

3. Market price has been surging and there is a possibility the raw nest price may be going downward.

4. The birds could be missing its hometown, and could be on it way back to Indonesia once the fire is under control...

5. More bird houses, less forest (mean less insects, or less food for the birds), meaning... more competition to bring in/retain tenants.

It is also rumored that some unethical operators in Thailand has used cocaine contaminated water feeding the swiftlets to retain the birds. Sounds scary, isn't it? Whatever it is, enjoy your birdnest soup.

The bird house 燕屋

The sound system broadcasting the pulling sound, which mimicking the bird singing

My cousin, Michael Heng who owns this birdhouse

Inside the house

A dweller

A cave swiftlet with a nest 洞金丝燕

The nest. Underneath is a speaker

Darkness in the house

Another look

The swiftlet returning to the house soon after sunset

The end product - selling at ~4,800RM/kg (behind is my 7th auntie.)

Malaysia: Endau I - Jetty 兴楼

Endau is a border town between Johor and Pahang. Fronting the broad South China Sea, it is a ground that blessing for commercial fishing. Many immigrants to the town has earned tonne of money from fishery.

Surrounded by Borneo and Philippines islands, the town (or the whole Peninsular of Malaysia) is almost free from disastrous tropical storms. Unlike Malacca straits, there is no pirates here. And perhaps the most important one is the range of fishing is far from any neighboring countries, i.e. incident of breaching neighboring countries fishing ground is unlikely unless the operators get too ambitious.

It is around 300 fishing boats here, well-equipped with modern technologies like sonar and GPS. Common methods are the damaging bottom trawling (拖網) and seine fishing (圍網). It is said that catches from seine fishing is tastier.