Legacy of a Marudi matriarch

IN the villages of the Rajang, the Foochow rubber tappers also grew vegetables and kept domestic animals.

They were subsistent farmers but in the early days, most did not see much money and often barter-traded among themselves.

One of their favourite crops was di gua or sengkuang (jicama). Many like to call it mengkuang.

It’s known as sar ge in Mandarin and, to some, as Chinese turnip, a healthy root vegetable although it does not have nice-looking skin. But its starchy white interior is well-loved by all who eat it either raw or cooked. Today, it’s fetching a very good price.

Sengkuang is a bean, not a root crop like sweet potato. Not many people know it’s a climbing bean.

Originally grown in Mexico, jicama eventually spread to the Philippines and Asia. It requires a long growing season with no frost, so it thrives in locales that are warm all year round like Sarawak.

Its flesh is juicy and crunchy with a slightly sweet and nutty flavour. Some think it tastes like a cross between a potato and a pear. Others compare it to a water chestnut. To me, it’s more like the latter.

 

Kuih senghuang

Grandma Ho, the bound-feet matriarch of the Ho Family in Marudi, came from a little village north of Amoy or Xiamen in China to marry cafe operator Ho Chin Tiong’s grandfather, who had settled in the small riverine town upstream of Kuala Baram in Miri.

The family maintained good relationships with people of all races and their business prospered — from supplying food to the army in Bario in the 60s and 70s to running the Marudi Government Secondary School canteen.

Grandma Ho introduced kuih sengkuang to Marudi. She made the cake and sold it with other snacks from their shop in town and at the school canteen.

Their shop was burnt down in one of the fires in Marudi in the 1970s. But the whole row of shops were quickly rebuilt.

The new generation in Marudi has moved out to settle in Miri and elsewhere. Ho Chin Tiong now runs a cafe in the Resort City.

He told thesundaypost his grandmother taught his aunts and sisters to make kuih senghuang but not all of them can do it well. Some friends brought the recipe to Long Lama. Although the kuih is popular in Miri, fewer people can make it nowadays.

However, Ho’s brother, who now lives in New Zealand, has learnt the art of making kuih sengkuang well from his grandmother. Today, he makes this cake for his grandchildren during summer. The cake-making legacy of the Ho family in Marudi lives on in New Zealand

 

Growing Chinese turnip

Pau Chiong Sing of Bintulu grows sengkuang in his garden.

At one time, his Chinese turnips grew to almost the size of a basketball!

The retired teacher encourages friends to grow senghuang. He himself grows the climbing beans in huge salted egg jars, left by his mother, a salted egg and salted vegetable vendor in Bintulu.

Fresh out of the ground, sengkuang is very sweet and healthy to eat. A friend of mine can eat a whole sengkuang a day — and he eats it raw. To him, it’s a miracle food which he says is best for digestion and colon cleansing.

Sometimes, he drinks sengkuang juice before a meal. He says this keeps his heart strong and blood vessels clean.

Today, sengkuang is grown by many farmers in Sarawak and sold in the market at a good price — RM5.50 per kg. It was very cheap before and farmers even used it as animal feed.

Fresh sengkuang is eaten as a vegetable, stir-fried with a few dried prawns and onions. Some add belacan and chillies. Sometimes, the leftover stir-fried sengkuang is used to fry rice, making the tasty mix a meal in itself.

When she was living in the village, Pau’s grandmother would cook a simple soup with it. The children loved the sweet side dish or soup.

So from a simple rustic garden crop, the humble climbing bean has become a highly sought after health food internationally.

 

Popiah and sengkuang kuih

The Hokkiens look at sengkuang from a different perspective. To them, it’s a festive vegetable and a very important ingredient for making popiah (fresh spring rolls), usually for Chinese New Year and other festivals.

The Kuching popiah is a very popular street food. In Indonesia and Singapore, sengkuang spring rolls are also in high demand.

The Hokkiens of Marudi on the Baram River, Miri Division, enjoy a savoury speciality called Marudi kuih or just kuih sengkuang.

The sengkuang and the other ingredient, rice flour, are deep-fried in a mould made from a Milkmaid tin cut in half.

The Chinese call the Milkmaid brand of milk ang ji goo leng. The tin is often used to measure rice for cooking, grain for sale, and even as a water scoop for bathing babies.

Helen Lau, a Mirian, told thesundaypost she used to buy kuih sengkuang at 50 sen each in Mosjaya a few years ago but now the price has gone up to more than RM1 apiece.

“It’s really nice with good chilli sauce. I miss it when I visit my children in West Malaysia.”

Lau goes to the Ho’s cafe to buy sengkuang kuih whenever she visits the Central Market which is close by.

“There used to more ingredients like dried prawns, fried onions, and a bit of chilli. It’s always that size and that thick. Only now do I realise the round shape comes from the Milkmaid tin,” she said.

The batter is placed in the tin, then dipped in hot oil. When almost cooked, the batter is removed from the mould and fried for a few minutes longer.

Good fresh oil makes the kuih fragrant and tasty.

 

Seasoning

According to Ho, the shredded sengkuang is seasoned with salt, sliced chillies, some pounded dried prawns, and pepper.

A rice flour batter is used to mix the sengkuang. It’s important to make sure the heat of the oil is not too high nor too low. When the kuih starts to float in the oil, some turning will be necessary. The end-product must not be too oily.

“Today, many people use special ladles. Making do with half a Milkmaid tin is obsolete,” he said.

Ting, a teacher, noted that when she was still working in the government, sengkuang kuih was often served as a snack during courtesy calls or meetings.

She said church gatherings in the Baram and Miri areas would always have this kuih as one of the nibbles, adding that many liked good chilli sauce to go with it.

The Hakkas in Marudi make a lot of chai kuih (steamed vegetable dumpling) or dim sum (Cantonese-style steamed dumpling) filled with stir-fried shredded sengkuang. They are popular street foods and a regular item on the menu of some posh restaurants or eateries.

Rojak is another Malaysian street food with liberal use of sengkuang. A mix of fruits and vegetables, especially sengkuang, in a sweet and salty dressing makes it a addictive street snack.

Sengkuang can also be shredded and deep-fried as fritters. Many fruit vendors cut it up and sell the slices in plastic bags for the office crowd during lunchtime. One slice can cost up to RM1.

 

Foochow siew muai

Sengkuang is a very important ingredient in Foochow siew muai, made famous by a restaurant in Sibu.

For the Foochow community, it’s a dish served during festive seasons like Chinese New Year or special occasions like birthdays and weddings.

Although some say the Sibu siew muai recipe is more than 100 years old brought over from Fujian, it’s believed to be much older.

According to Fujian folklore, the daughter of a poverty-stricken family invented the first siew muai (shaped like a gold ingot) as a present for her father on his birthday to symbolise good life and wealth.

The first word (siew) sounds like birthday, denoting that the sweetness of life comes from the sweet taste of sengkuang.

Eating siew muai is, thus, a reminder of the desire for longevity and the sweetness of life.

Sliced sengkuang used to appear on banquet tables in Foochow restaurants in Sibu alongside slices of apple, oranges, and other fruits.

In Fujian, sengkuang is served as appetisers in different forms and sometimes even as a health drink or juice.

It’s a versatile ingredient used for garnishing as well and can be carved into white doves and beautiful white flowers and colours can be applied.

Eating sengkuang is now trendy with the media promoting it as a healthy food, high in several nutrients, especially potassium, fibre, antioxidants, and might help with weight loss.

Lest we forget, the tasty sengkuang kuih of Marudi was brought from China by a bound-feet granny who left behind a delicious legacy that is worth keeping alive.

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