Nostalgia Food 3 - Salted Eel

In our family, salted fish was always a side dish on the dining table be it for a porridge breakfast, or for lunch, dinner and supper. Being Hakkas, our cooking have a bias towards preserved food whether vegetables, meat or fish. It is part of our clan history as nomads during the thousands of years our ancestors moved around China. In fact, the very name "Hakka" or "客家" means "Guest people".

In the past, my mum often made her own salted fish, particularly eels, as she said that the ones made commercially were not so tasty. So recently, when she said that she wanted salted eel, I had to trot off to the market to look for fresh eels. After a couple of unsuccessful forays to the fish markets, I finally found some at the 3rd Mile Market, Kuching.

Now to make the salted eel. 

First, de-fin and de-gut the eels and use the handle of a spoon to gouge out the "spinal cord" along the length of the fish. Wash and the cut the eel into about 4" lengths.

Add salt and mix to make sure that the fish is coated with salt.

Lay out on a rack and allow all excess water to drain off. I did this in a sealed container with a draining rack inside. Leave in a fridge for about 3 days.

Next is to dry the wet salted fish. I laid out the fish on a  large enamel tray and then covered with a fine stainless steel netting to keep out any flies. The trays need to be out in the sun for a couple of days until the salted fish is dry but not hard. The fish should look like those below.

Once done, put the dried salted fish into a  tightly sealed container and store in a fridge. Just take you what you need and fried until golden brown ...

Eaten with porridge or rice, it is a great side dish to improve your appetites - especially when you are feeling poorly without much of an appetite!!

Yummy!!!!!

Nostalgia Food 2 - Pickled Squids or Sotong

Most of you oldies should remember, in the old days, seeing at the wet market, basins of small pinkish-white pickled whole sotong (local name for squid (English)) for sale. They are not not seen any more as the pickled sotong are now sold pre-sliced in capped bottles! More hygienic but one can on longer sniff at  them to see how good they are before purchasing! That whiff is a dash of nostalgia ...

In the past, my mum used to make them, albeit very rarely, during the squid season when the price of fresh sotong was low. However, with the disappearance of the pickled whole sotong from the market and the introduction of the bottled ones, she started to made the pickle at home. According to her, the bottled ones do not taste as nice and I do agree with her.

Recently, she decided to make a fresh batch at home .... and so I trotted off to the wet market at Sg. Maong, Kuching to buy 3 kg of sotong. I was told to pick the smaller ones.

The fresh sotong ....

Rinse the sotong with running tap water - just once. No gutting is required - and make sure that the ink sacs are still intact. Any sotong with a burst sac would turn the whole batch of pickled sotong black! Drain well.

For 3 kg of sotong, add about three handful of salt to the salt.

Mix well.

Place the salted sotong into glass jars and top off the jar with a thin layer of salt. Seal well.

After about one month, the pickled sotong is ready. Just slice into thin strips and add sliced chilli and some vinegar. Instead of the vinegar, you can also use the juice from a small  lime (limau kasturi).

This is a delicious side dish and a great "rice-chaser"! Yummy.

A Dish of Nostalgia

I wonder how many of you can remember this particular local Sarawak (maybe, Malaysian, too) delicacy. Presumably, only those who are in their forties or older would have seen this  dish on a regular basis on the dining table! Now, few youngsters will eat this dish. This particular delicacy  - albeit an acquired taste - is  also now rarely seen or sold in the local market.

So do you all remember the small crabs pickled in brine ....?

If I am not mistaken, the crab is the sand bubbler crabs that can be found on all the beaches or along the fresh/marine riverine/mangroves zones near the sea. Catching this crab for pickling used to be a thriving industry for many fishermen - but which no longer provides a  viable income for the fishermen of today.

I saw this for sale at a stall in E-Mart along Matang Road, Kuching. I resisted it at first but then had to go back and buy some.  The price is RM48 per kg!

To eat the crab, you need to take each one and do a quick rinse and brush. Remove and discard the gills and clean the inside of the carapace properly retaining only the flesh and roe (if any). Cut the legs into sections/ Place all in a small dish, add sliced chilli, small  lime (limau kasturi) juice and some vinegar (optional).

It is eaten as a side dish with rice and is a fantastic delicacy. How any of you are are actually developing a hankering for this dish of nostalgia now?

Nowadays, I eat this dish with some trepidation - worried in case I develop food poisoning :-) and that does take some of the joy out of eating this lovely delicacy! A sure sign of old age!