POPPING PEPPERCORNS IN A WOK BY CHEF SARAWAK: Siwen Wong's Food Column

Special Gourmet Food from Different Parts of the World

The focus here Is not on strange, unfamiliar food but rather special cultural food that can be easily accepted internationally by everyone.

By Siwen Wong

1. Burmese Fermented Pickled Tea (lLaphet)

If you have an opportunity to travel to Myanmar, you will see many Burmese, whether they are women, men, old people or children, with their faces smeared with a layer of white ‘paint’. This is in fact Thanaka, a natural sunscreen and anti-aging face cream. Burmese women who use it regularly rarely have dark spots, and their skin looks at least twenty years younger than their actual age!

Thanaka smeared on a Burmese woman's face

As Myanmar has been under the economic sanctions by the Western countries for a long time, it indirectly forced the country to produce their own agricultural produce and food commodities to become a very self-reliant country. Until recently, after the change to a more liberal government, foreigners can now travel there and have the opportunity to interact with the local Burmese to know their culture and food.

Most Asians only drink tea, but Burmese not only drink but also eat a lot of tea! The Burmese Laphet is a fermented tea that has been pickled and processed. Its taste is almost like the western version of the Mediterranean Tapenades.

Burmese’s fermented pickled tea leaves, Laphet

Burmese would use a mortar and pestle to smash the fermented pickled tea leaves into a paste and then mix it with other flavoring and seasoning ingredients to turn it into a very unique Laphet salad dressing.

Laphet salad is one of the most unique and best salads I've ever tasted. It is also one of my most highly recommended and most appetizing vegetarian dishes that you can enjoy with rice alone. It makes you feel very satisfied after eating it. My Burmese friends told me that Laphet was their favorite dish during their days as poor students! Laphet as a tea can also help to refresh and alert the mind, not unlike coffee.

The Burmese roll the fermented pickled tea leaves into a long tube using large leaves. To prepare Laphet salad dressing, open the long tube and rinse the fermented tea with water to get rid of its bitter taste. Prepare a mortar and pestle, smashed green peppers, garlic, ginger slices and fermented tea together. Then mix in fish sauce, lemon juice, ajinomoto and a lot of sesame oil. Your Laphet salad dressing is now ready.

Usually the salad vegetables that the Burmese regularly use with their Laphet dressing are lettuce, Napa cabbage (softened it with salt), cucumber or tomato (most Burmese prefer to use tomato alone), which is then garnished with assorted crunchy nuts (double fried dried shrimp, pumpkin seeds, broad beans, garden peas, peanuts and sesame seeds). Once the vegetables are prepared, add the Laphet salad dressing and mix well before serving.

My close Burmese friend taught me how to prepare Laphet Thoke. Her father used to be a Burmese ambassador to the UK and Switzerland. She grew up eating the best gourmet food in Myanmar and I was lucky enough to learn from her how to prepare this most delicious dish. She told me that sesame oil can be replaced by olive oil. She also generously added a large amount of Laphet salad dressing making her Laphet Thoke full of fragrance and with subtle flavors.

2. Fennel Pollen

Westerners are no stranger to fennel. The Chinese use chopped fennel leaves mixed with minced pork to make dumplings and the Indian use ground fennel seeds as one of the secret spices in their curry paste. But not many people know the culinary value of the eye-catching fennel blossom yellow pollen that can be found growing wild in most parts of New Zealand.

Fennel pollen is hailed as a Culinary fairy dust by Western chefs. In particular, Italian chefs love to use it to garnish, especially by sprinkling it on the fish dishes.

28 grams of fennel powder can cost about 24 USD and usually only appears in European haute cuisine as an embellishment and flavoring.

3. Sarawakien Empurau Fish

Empurau is the species of torambroides, in fact it can be found throughout Southeast Asia. The same species can also be found in Thailand's Chao Phraya River and several Indochina countries along the Mekong River.

So, what makes an empurau of 10 kg from Sarawak sell for over $2,000?

Let us take a look at East Malaysian Borneo Island's Sarawak empurau fish's unpolluted habitat and special diet. It is different from other empurau from other parts of the world. Empurau comes from the hinterland of Sarawak's Kapit province and it is actually still a relatively unknown part of the world. This empurau is found along the rapids and waterfalls of primary forest areas which thrive with wild fruit. The Empurau love to eat 'engkabang' fruit or illipe nuts that drop into the water. In addition, the rapids and waterfalls strengthen the muscles of the fish so that its texture is smooth like a lobster. All these factors contribute to this Kapit inland empurau having a unique taste and texture.

This 10kg empurau is priced around 2,000 USD.

Empurau love to eat 'engkabang' fruit and illipe nuts. The indigenous Sarawakian tribe, “the Dayaks”, make an ‘engkabang margarine’ from the fruit, store it in a bamboo tube and rub this on bamboo-cooked rice. Engkabang oil has a special floral fragrance. This engkabang oil can be used to add a subtle taste to gourmet chocolate - one that outsiders cannot identify.

Empurau is highly regarded for its remarkably rare taste and texture. Anyone who has ever eaten it has never forgotten how succulent it is; thus, its nickname among connoisseurs is the ‘forget-me-not fish’. It is also known as the ‘king of the river’.

4. Hop Shoots

Did you know that hop shoots are actually one of the most expensive vegetables in the world? Hop cones are best known for their role in beer brewing, but hop shoots are also a popular choice among European fine dining chefs as accompaniments to their main course.

Hop corns for brewing beer

In Belgium, hopscheuten are cultivated in dark rooms or in glass, because the shoots turn green and become harder when exposed to sunlight.

Hop shoots can reach a thousand Euros per kilogram. They can also be stir fried

Even in 1969, Elizabeth David included hop shoots in her recipes for Risotto and Frittata.

5. Polish Pig Trotters Jelly or Aspic (Zimne Nogi, Studzienina, Kwaszenina or Galaretka)

Thirty years ago in Poland I tried this traditional Polish food. The Poles only prepare this for special occasions. I recall not particularly liking this savory jelly when I first tasted it, but I surprised myself by continually going back for more; indeed, I would return to the fridge time and time again to cut myself a slice of aspic and to grab a piece of sourdough to go with it. It soon became one of my favorite Polish dishes. This jelly filling is not limited to the use of pig trotters as filling - other variations include fish or other meats.

Polish pork trotter jelly is an appetizer and is often accompanied by a glass of vodka.

Poles usually cut polish aspic into slices and then serve them on a piece of sourdough or baguette as an open sandwich.

5. Indonesian Tempeh

Tempeh is a regional food of Indonesia; it is fermented soybeans cultured with Rhizopus oligosporus, or Rhizopus oryzae fungus. After twenty-four hours the soybean becomes sticky and can be pressed into any desired shapes.

Organic tempeh can be found in New Zealand at New World supermarkets. It is a food often recommended to vegetarians, as tempeh can be used to make vegetarian burger patties and to cook curries or prepare stir-fry vegetables with after being pan or deep-fried.

You can also utilize tempeh in the preparation of a delicious tempeh salad. Tempeh itself does not have much flavor, so you will need a rich and tasty sauce or dressing to accompany it.