I couldn’t help but laugh out loud while I was reading Francesca in France’s blog post about how her French husband turns up his nose at dried sardines but loves to eat mouldy cheese. By coincidence, I just happened to have enjoyed a lipsmacking breakfast of fried rice and dried fish that very same morning.
This is one downside to living or working in a foreign country: you don’t get to eat the foods that you like to eat or have been accustomed to ever since you were a child, or the foods that remind you of home. And I’d think that it’s the stinky foods that we miss the most, due to the simple reason that they’re just too difficult to bring in.
For Filipinos, dried fish should be somewhere at the top of the list (Tagalog: tuyo, Cebuano: bulad, Malay: ikan kering, Indonesian: ikan asin). Their smell is so strong that they can’t possibly go through any Customs officer anywhere in the world if you have them in your luggage. (If you’ve ever successfully smuggled a batch into any country elsewhere, I’m most curious to know how you did it!) Luckily for me, dried fish can easily be had in Malaysia as well as in Indonesia. Here in Malaysia, they’re even packed and sealed nicely in small plastic bags, unlike in the Philippines where they’re neatly stacked in woven baskets in the local palengke (wet market) for all the world to smell.
In addition to dried fish, Malaysians also have cincalok, quite similar to the Filipino uyap (Cebuano) or alamang (Tagalog). Malaysians eat it with a squeeze of lemon and slices of shallots and chilli. Not for the faint-hearted. Or should I say, faint-nosed? ;) Not all Malaysians eat it and a lot of them are surprised that I actually love the stuff.
I’ve always associated alamang with mangoes. I don’t mean the sweet, bright yellow mangoes that Thais eat with coconut milk and sticky rice. I’m referring to the ones that are just ripe but still firm, with the skin usually still a bit green, so that when you peel it, you get a few green lines along the firm yellow orangey flesh. Manibalang. Yes, that’s the exact Tagalog term for that stage of ripeness. Woe to the foreigner who has a pregnant Filipina wife who craves for this delicacy! There is just no substitute for it — sweet and salty and slightly sour at the same time, with a tangy crispness to the bite.
Then there’s budu, very similar to the Filipino bagoong. But whereas bagoong comes with bits and pieces of fish, budu is only the murky, salty sauce that comes from the fermented concoction. Its smell is so strong, if you’re not used to it, I suppose you’d feel like you’ve been kicked by a mule. Me? I smell it and my salivary glands involuntarily shift to hyperdrive.
Filipinos can eat bagoong with plain rice but Malaysians usually associate budu with nasi kerabu, a dish popular in the East Coast, with its trademark blue rice (natural dye from a flower), green chilis stuffed with grated coconut, thin slices of roasted beef, chopped fresh veggies, and of course, some budu.
Ahh..then there’s tempoyak, which is fermented durian. If you think durian smells bad, imagine how it smells once it’s fermented. Malaysians usually eat it with shallots and chili, or cook it with a fatty type of river fish called ikan patin. I love durian. I love its sweet, creamy, custard-like flesh. But I wouldn’t go near tempoyak even with a ten-foot pole.
As for blue cheese, no offense meant but I’d have to say “No, thanks”! ;)
Oh, ang sarap niyan. I have always loved bulad and isaw-saw sa suka, tuna na isawsaw sa toyo at kalamansi, i have always loved ginamos na ginisa sa balat ng baboy, they are so delish, you make me drool…
Oh, my mouth waters!!! I love all these food!
this entry is making me think of cooking some dried fish this weekend.
LOL!, re: tempuyak (Fermented durian). Durian already smells bad, parang utot. I think it will pack more power if its “binurong utot”! : )
Back in our province (Surigao) we cook the alamang with slices of pork. Yum!
BlogusVox: Someone once told me that eating durian is just like eating custard in the toilet hehe! I like durian though :P
yay! u’ve mentioned the best stuffs! bulad, ginamos, uyap! Ginamus ug saging! yummy!However, I still have to challenge myself with durian.. I get dizzy with its smell when I go to Jusco or Carrefour before but now my nose is getting used to the smell but cant bring myself to eat some. on the other hand, I love mouldy cheeses (influenced by my french hubby) like blue cheese,boursin,Roquefort etc. all the smelly cheeses… Hubby is eating bulad and bagoong but can’t take balut! He he.. Funny how ppl differ when it comes to food preference.
Nice post!
ugh! i haven’t had tuyo since we moved to the US! that’s over a year now. maybe I should buy some tuyo when we go to the Asian market tomorrow. i have a new plug-in airfreshner installed anyway. hee hee.
i’m a late bloomer when it comes to durian. i was already in my late twenties when i learned to appreciate it. when we were in KL in 2006, we even managed to sneak in durian that we bought on our way home from genting highlands. i ate it at our room’s balcony. oh, i miss creamy yummy durian. :D
Mimi! Hi! (I’m alive.)
Durian, no thanks. My parents forced me to eat it because apparently it’s a rite of passage in the family. And they reasoned that because I was born in Davao, I should take to the fruit like moth to a flame. In reality, the minute I smell it, I am GONE from the room in two shakes of a lamb’s tail
And yet somehow, I LOVE blue cheese. The stinkier the cheese, the better!
By the way, do they have breadfruit where you are? In Ilonggo (and I think Cebuano) it’s called KULO. Usually served with sugar after being roasted in an open fire pit. Your durian post reminded me of it because it looks like one, except that it has none of the Hades-like smell!
yay, naglaway ko!
i let kj taste bagoong in gensan, and he couldn’t take the smell and the taste. i was dipping my fried talong in it, actually scooping a big heap of bagoong in my mouth. he told me it’s not healthy at all, it tasted like eating salt to him. hehe. ah well, it’s not everyday. :)
he eats the stinky cheese too by the way, and he can NEVER make me eat that. EVER. :)
uy mimi, that stuff sounds yummy! heehee. i love anything bagoong-like. i’ve had the pangasinan ‘patis’ with lemon drizzled over grilled eggplant salad. yummmers! nagugutom na ako! ;-)
grace: i know what you mean. when it’s durian season, sometimes i feel like fainting from the overpowering smell of the durian that punches you right in the face at the entrance!
j: welcome back! re: breadfruit, i don’t recall ever seeing it in pinas but we have it here in malaysia (malay: sukun). here, we slice it and fry it and eat it with grated coconut with sugar.
odette: never say never!