Do you like it…

I have not had canned sardines for a long time now as it has tomato sauce in it. I did not have a closer look at the ingredients but if it is the bottled tomato sauce, there is wheat in it and so it is not gluten-free. Besides, we’re just okay with it, will eat but no, we’re not all that crazy about it and the same goes to the grilled ones…

Sardin panggang
*Archive photo*

…that they sell at the roadside stalls at the kampung…and so far, I’ve never ordered those roti (canai)/murtabak sardin that they would have on their menu at most, if not all, of the shops and stalls.

I did blog about having it straight from the can with sliced shallots and chilies added and a squeeze of calamansi lime, no cooking required, but my missus would cook it sometimes…and that was exactly what I did that day.

This is my favourite brand…

My favourite

…when it comes to canned sardines but my missus will always buy Ayam – maybe she likes it better, I wouldn’t know. Yes, to cook it, one would need one Bombay onion, peeled and sliced and chilies.

I fried the onions in a little bit of oil in the pan…

Onions

…just enough to do the job so I did not really need that much. Once the layers had been loosened, I added the chilies…

Chilies

…before I poured in the sauce from inside the can…

Sauce

It would be good to turn down the heat as once the sauce gets into contact with the aforementioned oil, it would splutter and you may make a horrible mess all over your cooker top.

I added a bit of tomato sauce and a sprinkling of sugar…

Tomato sauce & sugar

…for a thicker and stronger sweet and sour sauce. If I am not wrong, my missus would add a bit of soy sauce too and some garlic as well perhaps but I did not do that.

Lastly, I put the sardines in and brought everything back to boil before dishing it all out…

Sardines, cooked 1

Yes, that was our dinner…

Sardines, cooked 2

…that evening and I would say that I enjoyed it and no, we did not finish all the sardines in the big-sized can so the rest went into the fridge to be eaten another day.

So, tell me – how do you want your sardines done? Do you like it this way too?

FOOTNOTE:
KINDLY BE INFORMED THAT OWING TO MY PRESENT SITUATION AT HOME, THERE SHALL NOT BE ANY REGULAR DAILY POSTS ONCE THE ONES SCHEDULED TO BE PUBLISHED RUN OUT. HOPEFULLY, THEY WILL RESUME WHEN DEEMED FIT. Thank you

Bag full…

This bag…

Chiller bag 1

…came all the way from Australia from one of the supermarket chains…

Coles 1

…there. My cousin who is residing there in Melbourne gave that to us on one of her trips back to Sibu a long time ago, filled with all the goodies inside to give to us.

It has been really handy all this while – we use it to pack all the foodstuff from the fridge or the freezer to bring to my girl’s school in the jungle even though it is just a 1 1⁄2 or 2-hour drive away. However, just the other day, one of the handles broke but that did not stop me, not at all. I stapled it back and sewed it down with needle and thread and it was as good as new and we could go on using it.

Well, the other day, I got this pretty one…

Chiller bag 2

…also from that same supermarket chain…

Coles 2

My aforementioned cousin was back in town on a flying visit to settle some business here and she brought that this time around and as always, it was filled with all kinds of things for us.

There was this shirt – 4XL…

Shirt & soap

…so that should fit me very nicely and the very special and fragrant soap. Hmmm…Mr Big indeed! I bet that brand made her think of me when she was out shopping. Hehehehehe!!!! Wait a minute!!! That sure looks like me…

Mr Big tag

…in the photograph in the tag, right down to the double/triple chin. LOL!!!

There were also all these gluten-free stuff…

Gluten-free

…for my girl and needless to say, she was thrilled to receive all those. We have that Australian Butterfingers pure butter shortbread at a supermarket here but not the gluten-free ones and she tried it for breakfast the very next morning and loved it to bits!

I did not try it myself as I can always enjoy these Scottish ones…

For me

…that were in the bag as well, along with the brand new line of Tim Tam…

Tim Tam

I’ve tried it already and yes, it was very nice, whatever that gelato messina may be. I so loved the caramel and vanilla in it but yes, it was very sweet so I just had one and nibbled little by little and will go for another one another day. Incidentally, that’s REAL milk in the toothpaste tube, not the palm oil sweetened creamer that they are selling at the shops and supermarkets here.

Going back to the bag, no, I would keep this precious brand new one and still go on using the old one till it is beyond redemption and cannot be used anymore.

Thank you so so so much to my thoughtful and most generous cousin for all the above and for carting the whole lot all the way from the Land Down Under.

I have waited so long…

This place…

Kampung Grandma

…is brand new, officially opened last Saturday but we dropped by to check it out a few days before that.

There is the air-conditioned section and the decor…

Kampung Grandma decor 1

…was somewhat minimal, non-obtrusive, with a little bit here…

Kampung Grandma, decor 2

…and there. Probably in line with the theme of the place, that morning when we were there, they were playing Mandarin oldies from a few decades ago, not my favourites, and I wouldn’t mind if they do not play anything at all or perhaps they could, at least, turn down the volume. Maybe if I had sat outside…

Kampung Grandma, open air area

…the music might have been more bearable and I would not be leaving the place with all those songs ringing in my ears.

There wasn’t much on their menu…

Kampung Grandma, menu

…but I was told that these were just what they were starting off with at that point in time and there would be more once they had gone full swing.

I did not know what mee sian was and the waiter said that it was something like bihun (rice vermicelli), the bigger version. I did hear that they use some special ingredients imported from Hong Kong or Taiwan so my guess was they got the noodles from there.

I was thinking whether I should go for the longevity noodles and I asked the guy why it was so expensive – he replied that it was meant for two persons and since my missus was not keen on that, I had to give it a miss. In the end, I picked the first one, the Grandma’s fish head mee sian while my missus opted for Grandma’s Signature Noodle and we sat back to wait…

Waiting

…for our orders.

It was quite long before my missus’ noodles appeared (RM6.00)…

Grandma's Signature noodle 1

…and even so, our drinks were nowhere to be seen. I asked the waiter and told him to hurry as we had been waiting for a long time…and finally they came. My missus hot coffee, black and the one I had, iced, both cost the same, RM3.00 each. Of course, it is more expensive here – after all, this is no regular coffee shop and is a cut above those.

As for the noodles, yes, it tasted great but that is to be expected seeing that there were prawns and sotong (squid)…

Grandma's signature noodles 2

…and chicken. This is one of those pork-free places, by the way. After sometime, the waiter came to inform me that they were out of fish head and asked me to order something else. I requested for their salted fish fried rice and sat there and waited…and waited…and waited.

By then, there were a few other customers already – we were the first that morning – and I noticed that they were all having what my missus had. After what seemed like forever, I saw a plate of fried rice coming out of the kitchen. The waiter seemed a little lost like he was not sure whose that was so I gestured to him…only to see him serve it to a guy at another table. He came later but perhaps he had ordered that earlier, before I made my alternative order…but then again, it really was not my fault. Tsk! Tsk!

Needless to say, my patience was running out and when my missus had finished eating her noodles, I went to the counter to cancel my order and pay the bill. They said that it was in the process of being cooked already – well, too late! I did not want it anymore. They tried asking me if I would like it packed for me to take away. No, thank you very very much and I did not care that I did not have anything for breakfast that morning, other than my glass of iced black coffee. I had waited so long and was absolutely pissed off by it all.

I certainly hope that it was because they were newbies, still getting the feel of it and hence, there were all these teething problems…and to give credit where credit is due, what my missus had was quite good and so was the coffee that we had plus service was great, with all those eager beavers going all out to please.

KAMPUNG GRANDMA (2.297349, 111.824644) is located among the shops opposite Kin Orient Plaza (where the “old’ Sing Kwong Supermarket is) along Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg, further in from the Coffee Code, right beside Bateras Food Court.

In the good old days…

I saw this (RM2.00)…

Nasi aduk ikan long

…at my regular Malay kuih stall at Bandong here and I wasted no time at all in grabbing that to try.

According to the lady, this is something they grew up eating in the kampung way back in the good old days, what they call nasi aruk (meaning fried without oil in Sarawak Malay) ikan long, not to be confused with nasi uduk, the Indonesian version of our Malaysian nasi lemak.

Ikan long is the type of salted fish that is not hard and dry like the usual ones – in Hokkien, we call it long kiam hu and this is ikan kembong variety, just a little bit of it…

Ikan kembong masin long

I don’t know how they cooked it but it was very nice with a hint of the salted fish in the rice, something like salted fish fried rice but this was not fried. I did enjoy it though I was wishing they would give a bigger piece of the salted fish and a bit more of the pounded chili – I wouldn’t mind if they charge a little bit more.

Of course, that would not be a complete meal by itself so for our dinner, we had two packets of the rice and I added a century egg…

Nasi aduk ikan long with century egg

…with strips of ginger and a sprinkling of soy sauce and we had that together with this fish that I cooked, masak kunyit we call it…

Ikan masak kunyit

…and the acar timun I made the other day for something more balanced.

MAK MAT’s BREAKFAST STATION (2.314192, 111.825581) is located at the shops at Jalan Bandong in the block facing what they call the Bandong Walk, right beside Penyet Bandong (but that only opens at night).

Where have you been…

I think I have mentioned in my posts before how I encountered the nasi lemak at this hotel in Penang that changed the way I looked at the Malaysian dish completely.

Prior to that, I would eat it sometimes and to me, it was nothing more than just something different for a change and we would always have that at the buffet breakfast at any hotel in the country though most of the time I would go for something else and give it a miss…until one morning at the aforementioned hotel when I was helping myself to the peanuts and fried anchovies to go with my porridge and somebody opened the tub beside me with the steaming hot rice inside. The fragrance literally swept me off my feet and for the rest of my stay there, that was what I had every morning.

I did not think any that I had had since came anywhere close until this one here in Sibu way back in 2013 but my happiness was short-lived. The guy disappeared after a while and yes, I did go searching for him but to no avail. I had long given up trying to locate him and all this while, I went round the places in town looking for any nasi lemak that might be as good but no, none came anywhere near.

Well, the other morning, I saw a new nasi lemak stall…

Nasi lemak stall, Bandong Walk

…at Bandong Walk here and there was a girl buying from the guy so I went over to have a look.

I opened the insulated tub to have a look at the rice and yes, it was very fragrant so I ordered the special, RM4.00 a pack with a piece of fried chicken…

Fried chicken

…and yes, there was the salted fish…

Salted fish

…that I like too but of course, to me, the rice must be very lemak (rich in santan/coconut milk) and indeed it was, truly worthy of the name. Ever so often, I had lamented at how some people could call theirs nasi lemak when the rice was not lemak at all, so much so that I might as well have been eating plain white rice.

I chatted with the guy and much to my delight, I found out that it was that very same guy from 2013 (he was not wearing spectacles then and he looked darker now) and for one thing, his nasi lemak, the regular, still costs exactly the same as before…

Bandong Walk nasi lemak stall, price list

…despite the escalating prices of everything these days. The special used to be RM5.00 but he did not have all those varieties that he had then, just fried chicken and that is selling for RM4.00, a ringgit cheaper, believe it or not!

The sambal was really good, spicy…and I liked it a lot as well. I did try the kerang (cockles) before but I did not like it as he used the canned ones then but I certainly would be going back again and again for more of the special with a piece of chicken…

Bandong Walk nasi lemak, simple the best

…or the regular everytime I feel like having it.

I did try the rojak tambi (RM3.50) and yes, it was good. It had half an egg unlike all the rest here, but no potatoes. I did not take a photograph of it though so I guess that would have to wait till I go back there and get some more of that…and I sure would love to try his mee jawa too.

This nasi lemak stall (2.313869, 111.825808) is located at Bandong Walk, Jalan Bandong a few stalls away from the roti canai stall, somewhere in front of this shop in the block where the 1Malaysia clinic is.

This old place…

I first blogged about this coffee shop in 2008 and then again in 2015 but of course, long before then, those days prior to my retirement and I was teaching at the secondary school across the road, I was a regular customer here.

The kampua mee from the stall in front…

Kedai Kopi Sibu kampua stall

…is one of my favourites in town but I did not feel like having it that morning. However, I did order a bowl of pian sip (meat dumplings), soup (RM2.70)…

Kadai Kopi Sibu pian sip, soup

…to go with our orders.

It was good, as authentic as can be…

Kedai Kopi Sibu pian sip, soup - vinegar & pepper

…even down to the vinegar and pepper that we would always get since time immemorial every time when we ordered this to eat.

There is a new stall now…

Kedai Kopi Sibu new stall

…and looking at those huge bowls on the counter and on top, my guess is this is where some people go for the giant servings of Sarawak laksa – I’ve seen some snapshots that they shared on Facebook but no, I would not be able to manage that. Even finishing the slightly larger laksa king here was a struggle for me, what more to say, one in a bowl as big as a basin.

We ordered the Foochow fried noodles (RM4.00) from the lady at the third stall and I asked for the special (RM7.00)…

Kedai Kopi Sibu Foochow fried noodles, special

…with all the innards – the liver, intestines and so on…

Kedai Kopi Sibu Foodchow fried noodles, special - spare parts

…and yes, it was really good. My missus also commented that the regular that she had was very nicely done.

I did drop by once sometime ago with my relatives from Kuching and I ordered one big plate, I think it was RM15.00, for a group of us, 5 altogether, but it was rather disappointing. I guess here, one would have to stick to the norm and ask for the regular individual servings.

Other than the fact that what we had was good, I rather liked how nice the people there were. As we were leaving, the lady at the kampua mee stall said, “Ban kia!” (Walk slowly!), the Chinese expression for goodbye or something along that same line and the girl doing the serving at the fried noodles stall and also the drinks guy flashed a pleasant smile as we walked past.

Rest assured that we certainly would drop by again.

KEDAI KOPI SIBU (2.295345, 111.839757) is located at Pusat Tanahwang, the area of shops opposite Sacred Heart Secondary School along Jalan Oya. You turn left into the lane right after the SHELL petrol station and go straight ahead. It is in the last block along that lane on your right, before you turn round the corner where you can go straight ahead and that will take you to Jalan Pedada.

So simple…

If you eat at the Malay stalls and shops, you may get this by the side of your plate of nasi lemak or whatever you are having like the one here, for instance…

Cucumber pickle by the side
*Archive photo*

– what they call the acar timun (pickled cucumber).

There are nice ones but at times, some may be somewhat disappointing while others may be too sour or the cucumber is sliced too thickly and when I googled to see the recipe, the one I found only had cucumber (skin removed), Bombay onions, vinegar and sugar. For one thing, this is definitely a whole lot easier to make than the nyonya version…

Nyonya acar timun with keropok
*Archive photo*

…which we always enjoy eating with keropok (prawn crackers) – I wouldn’t want to try making that! Shudders!!!

When I decided to make my own the other day, I had cucumber…

Cucumber

…sliced thinly but no, I did not peel off the skin and I also had pineapples…

Pineapples

I added some thinly sliced chilies

Chilies

…and also some shallots…

Shallots

– I reckoned that would be more fragrant and would taste nicer than Bombay onions.

I also had some Thai basil leaves…

Thai Basil leaves

…whole as well as chopped, from my garden for the added fragrance and taste. I guess it is up to you what you see fit and would like to add. If I remember correctly, I think I’ve had some with star anise even but I was too lazy to rummage through the pantry to search for that.

I took around half a cup of vinegar, or maybe a little less than that, and added two tablespoons of sugar to balance the sour taste with the sweetness and stirred well to dissolve the latter, as much as possible. Then, I poured the solution into the bowl and mixed everything together well…

Acar timun

Yes, it was very nice so I put everything in a glass jar for storage in the fridge.

Now I have this acar timun to enjoy with my meals and the best part, of course, was the fact that it was so simple to make and no, there is no oil, no salt (though some recipes may call of a pinch of it) and no msg. Ain’t that great?