Melanau Traditional Foods

Assalamualaikum.. as you can see in this pictures, there are many kinds of foods right.. We know that Malaysia have many ethnic and each ethnic has its own language, cultute, lifestyle and of course their own foods. For example, Malays famous with their nasi lemak, indian with roti canai and so on. For me it is so interesting to know and taste others ethnic foods.

 But im not gonna share about nasi lemak or roti canai, i want to share foods that sure unfamiliar to you all. It is about Melanau traditional foods :)

For your information, Melanau are people who live on island of borneo, primarily in Sarawak, and also in Kalimantan, Indonesia. There are 4 types of Melanau traditional foods.

 First picture is Umai, second Sagu, third Tebaloi and Fourth is Linut. For your information, sagu, tebaloi and linut are made from sagu flour. The sagu flour was originally from rumbia trees. Ok now i will focus on umai.

HISTORY OF UMAI

- Umai was originally food for melanau fisherman on their fishing trips to the sea. Since It is dangerous to cook anything on their boat because the risk of fire,  they create this recipe.

- Umai doesnt to be cook and very easy to prepare.

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE UMAI

- Needs raw fish or prawns (ikan atau udang mentah). Not all fish are suitable for umai and freshness of fish is the key factor to make delicious umai. We can use empirang or mackerel fish.

- Also needs salt, chillies, big onions and lime juice (calamansi).

STEPS TO MAKE UMAI

- First, clean the fish and fillet the fish. Fillet means remove the fish bones.

- Second, slice the fish into tiny pieces. (hiris ikan)

- Third, mix all ingredients (salt,chillies,onions,lime juice) together. and Done! :D

Actually, lime juice has acidic properties that can cooks the raw fish or prawns. So, you can try this and make your own umai :) We can eat umai with rice or sago pellets.. nyumm3~~