Sarawakian cuisine
There is also a great variety of other ingredients and food preparations due to the influence of the state's varied geography and indigenous cultures quite distinct from the regional cuisines of the Peninsular Malaysia.
It uses fresh seafood and natural herbs like turmeric, lemongrass, ginger, lime and tapioca leaves.
Among the Iban, popular foods include tubu (stems), tuak (alcoholic beverage made from rice wine) and pansuh (dish cooked with bamboo).
The Malay have bubur pedas (porridge) and kek lapis Sarawak (Sarawak layer cake); the Bidayuh have asam siok (chicken rice cooked in bamboo) and sup ponas Bidayuh (soup dish made of tapioca).
The Melanau make tebaloi (Sago palm crackers), sagu (extracted from Sago palm) and umai (raw fish mixed with lime juice) and the Orang Ulu are known for garam barrio (Highlands salt), kikid (broth), tengayen (local young leaves), and urum giruq (pudding).
Tebaloi is a Sarawak sweet cracker made from sago starch, egg, coconut and sugar, flattened until thin and roasted until crisp.
Buah dabai, or Canarium odontophyllum in the family Burseraceae, is a native fruit from Sarawak that is used in cooking.
[4] Dabai is grown exclusively on the island of Borneo, in the Rajang River basin of central Sarawak, from the interior areas of Kapit all the way out to Sibu and Sarikei on the coast.
Pepper is commercially produced on an industrial scale as a cash crop, and the preferred choice by local cooks when heat is wanted in a dish.
Granted geographical indication (GI) status by the Malaysian Intellectual Property Organisation (MyIPO), Sarawak black pepper is highly regarded by international culinary figures such as Alain Ducasse.
Palms like pantu, nipah, nibong, coconut and sago continue to be important umbut or upah or shoots the indigenous people retain as delicacies.
The use of wild ginger, daun bungkang and jungle leaves can bring subtle flavours to various dishes.
The Orang Ulu, for instance, use garam barrio to preserve meat, fish and vegetables, which is called mengasam.
Cooking food this way will infuse it with aroma and flavour from the bamboo tubes while keeping it moist.
Geographically, the large forest area and style of living have affected the ways native groups' traditional foods were created, prepared and cooked using natural resources.
Examples of ethnic foods are Malay bubur pedas (porridge), the Iban tuak (rice wine) and manok pansoh (bamboo chicken), Bidayuh asam siok (chicken rice)), Melanau tebaloi (sago palm crackers) and umai (raw fish mixed with lime juice), and Orang Ulu urum giruq (pudding).
Its name is derived from the local speak for iced (peng) tea (teh) with evaporated milk (C).
The drink White Lady is also popular; it is a shaved iced concoction with evaporated milk, mango juice, longan and pineapple.
Tuak is essentially an alcoholic drink produced by fermenting anything that contains carbohydrates, as long as it is made in Sarawak by Sarawakians.
[34] Tuak is normally served as a welcoming drink to guests, and as an important component for ritual events and festive occasions like Gawai and Christmas.
Sarawak layered cake with its elaborate pattern and variety of flavours is not only popular among the locals but also among visitors as gifts or for one's own consumption.
Special moulds are used for the cake requiring an elaborate design and patterns to maintain the perfect layer thickness.
