Country 25 - Brunei

The Nation of Brunei - The Abode of Peace, is on the northeast coast of the island of Borneo in southeast Asia. Apart from its coast line with the South China sea Brunei is surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak - it is actually split into two parts by Sarawak!

Brunei has been part of Spain and Britain and was occupied by the Japanese during WW2. It became independent in 1984 with its wealth coming from petroleum and natural gas. It has a population of just under half a million with most people living in urban areas. 65% of the population is Malay with 10% being Chinese, Malay is the main language but English and Chinese are also widely spoken. The country is mainly Muslim with some Buddhists and Christians.

Bruneian food is mainly influenced by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia cuisine, with China, India, Thailand and Japan also being important. Fish and rice are staple foods, beef is also used but is expensive. Because the country is Muslim pork is banned and all food is halal. Alcohol is also prohibited.

Food is often spicy and is accompanied by rice or noodles. Ambuyat is popular - it is a sticky ball of flavourless sago starch that is wrapped around a bamboo fork and dipped into a sour gravy!!!! mmmm.

We struggled to decide what to make this week in the end we returned to the blog of Sasha Martin (the instigator of the whole World Food Adventure and author of the Global Table Adventure Blog). 

We made Sayur Lodeh - shrimp and vegetable curry, with Lontong - rice in banana leaves (without the banana leaves as we couldn't find any in Nova Scotia!) 😁

Rempah - the curry paste.

First to make the curry paste. Cashews, garlic, onion, lemongrass, anchovy puree, turmeric, chilli, and ground coriander.



Put all the ingredients in a blender and bend!

Now onto preparing the Sayur Lodeh ingredients. Raw prawns/shrimp, cabbage, green beans, carrots, mushrooms all sliced into bite sized pieces and a mixture of coconut milk and water.

First the Rempuh - curry paste is cooked in oil - we used coconut oil. The coconut milk and water are added followed by the vegetables which are cooked until nearly done. Finally the prawns are added for a few minutes. 

Meanwhile, we cooked the rice in coconut milk and water. In Brunei once the rice is cooked it is cooled, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. Then the tubes of rice are sliced into small discs.

Our finished meal

The Verdict!!!!

It was delicious! It was lovely and coconutty and very fresh tasting. 

This is one of the few meals that we will cook again - next time maybe adding fresh chilli  and cilantro to make it a bit spicier. It would also be good with chicken or beef.

You should try this!!!! 😀