Swak's Foodalicious

I promised a friend that I would post pics of some of the popular food found in Sarawak. There are actually a lot of local delicacies that one should at least make an attempt to try out while in Sarawak. I always believe that when you travel to another place, you should try out the food there instead of sticking to the normal rice staple.

A trip to Kuching will not be complete without sampling first and foremost, Sarawak Laksa and Kolo Mee, probably the 2 more well known dishes some West M'sians have heard of.

Sarawak Laksa sans the prawns..since I don't eat prawns.

Sarawak laksa is a combination of bee hoon and unique soup base, unlike the laksas found in West Malaysia. The gravy or soup base is a blend of chillies, sour tamarind, garlic, salt and lemon grass formed into a paste and mixed with santan into a pot of chicken stock. Laksa is served with steamed chicken strips, strips of fried egg, prawns, taugeh or bean sprouts and garnished with coriander. It is usually accompanied by sambal belacan, chilli paste and lime which add to the tangy taste of the gravy. A bowl of laksa can go anywhere from RM3-4 depending on size and additional ingredients..eg. extra prawns.

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The kolo mee above is the "mee pok" (flat mee) type.

Kolo mee is yellow curly noodle blanched in hot water, tossed in pork and shallot oil and topped with minced meat, vegetable & thinly slices of fish cake and barbequed pork. It is served dry and you can ask for a separate bowl of soup. There is no such thing as soupy kolo mee. If you insist on ordering one, the stall owner will try his/her best to comply but you will most likely be getting stares and raised eyebrows from fellow Kuchingnites. It probably won't taste as nice too. It's priced at RM2.20 per bowl. Where to find noodles so cheap wan...

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My favorite....don't be put off by its appearance...it's actually very syiok!

Another local delicacy is Kueh Chap. It's sorta herbly soup ala Bak Kut Teh, served with flat rice noodles, tauhu pok, lean pork, fatty pork, intestines, and sometimes hard boiled egg & chicken feet. The soup is hot and flavourful. I like my soup spicy so usually I would add more chilli paste in there. I normally order this without the intestines or chicken feet. It's priced at RM3 (small bowl..as pictured above) and RM4 (big bowl).

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Sarawak kueh tiaw soup (pictured above) is similar to kueh tiaw soups found in KL except that it has minced pork, char siew and plenty of veggies. The noodle is also slightly bigger in size. Normally eaten with pickled chilli slices...as pictured above. This bowl is only at RM2.00...so cheap! As the Teochews would say...phee ka lau sai...(cheap until you diarrhea)..*grin*

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Speaking of local delicacies, I like to introduce a local dish called wild pucuk paku aka Midin or Bidin as it's sometimes called, a native food. It's normally fried with sambal belacan ala kangkong belacan but it can also be fried with just anchovies. Eat with rice and it's just heavenly. Check out the before (a bit dark) and after pictures below.

Bidin sold at the wet market...only RM2 per bunch.

Bidin after it has been fried...yummy!

That was all I managed to capture. On my next trip, I shall try to capture pictures of Belacan Bee Hoon, Tomato Kuey Tiaw, Kachang Ma, Kam Pua, Dumpling Soup, etc etc.

So much to eat, so little time :-)