Sarawakian cuisine is a regional cuisine of Malaysia. Similar to the rest of Malaysian cuisine, Sarawak food is based on staples such as rice, while other ingredients and food preparations distinct from that of Peninsular Malaysia come from the influence of the state's varied geography, multi-ethnic populations and indigenous cultures. Sarawak cuisine is less spicy and more subtle in taste than elsewhere in Malaysia. It uses fresh seafood and natural herbs like turmeric, lemongrass, ginger, lime and tapioca leaves.
Each ethnic group has their own specialty dishes. Among the Iban, popular foods include (stems), (alcoholic beverage made from rice wine) and (dish cooked with bamboo). The Malay have bubur pedas (porridge) and kek lapis Sarawak (Sarawak layer cake); the Bidayuh have asam siok (chicken rice cooked in bamboo) and sup ponas Bidayuh (soup dish made of tapioca). The Melanau make tebaloi (Sago palm crackers), sagu (extracted from Sago palm) and umai (raw fish mixed with lime juice) and the Orang Ulu are known for garam barrio (Highlands salt), kikid (broth), tengayen (local young leaves), and urum giruq (pudding).
Ingredients
Sarawak cuisine uses rice as a staple. It is most often steamed and always served with meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Rice is often eaten with the sauce or broth from the main dishes. Bario rice is a famous rice in Sarawak, which is named after the Sarawakian highlands where it is cultivated. It is regarded by the natives as the best and finest rice from the highlands of Sarawak. The rice, as per the natives, is known to be eaten only by the longhouse chief on special occasions although it is now available in Sarawak restaurants. In Sarawak, rice is often fried. Nasi aruk is a traditional Sarawakian Malay nasi goring or fried rice. Unlike common nasi goreng, nasi aruk does not use any oil to fry the rice. The rice must be fried for longer (compared to frying rice for nasi goreng) for the smokey/slightly burnt taste to absorb into the rice. Sago or sagu is the traditional staple food of the Melanau people in Sarawak. The bud of the sago palm is cooked as a traditional dish in Sarawak. The bud is sliced or cut up and often stewed with coconut milk and dried anchovies with spices. or sago porridge is made by pouring boiling water into a bowl of sago starch. Normally will be served together with the sambal belacan and other side dishes. The texture is very gooey and sticky and mostly eaten with a wooden fork. Tebaloi is a Sarawak sweet cracker made from sago starch, egg, coconut and sugar, flattened until thin and roasted until crisp. Tetubei is another sago dish in Sarawak. It is a traditional Melanau food made from sago starch. A variety of fruits and vegetables is often used in cooking. Midin, also called Stenochlaena palustris, paku midin, or lemidin, is a popular vegetable in Sarawak. It is a sun-loving plant that thrives in open areas, usually on swampy land. Common habitats are disturbed forests, secondary forests, rubber gardens, oil palm plantations, river banks and roadsides. Midin is usually served in two ways – fried with either garlic or belacan (shrimp paste). The most popular dish that uses midin is midin goreng belacan. Buah dabai, or Canarium odontophyllum in the family Burseraceae, is a native fruit from Sarawak that is used in cooking. Dabai is grown exclusively on the island of Borneo, in the Rajang River basin of central Sarawak, from the interior areas of Kapit all the way out to Sibu and Sarikei on the coast. It is one of the unique foods of Sarawak. The dabai fruit is slightly bigger than a kalamata olive, with a thin, bluish-black skin. Nasi goreng dabai is a Sarawak speciality fried rice in which the main ingredient is buah dabai. The rice is fried with soy sauce, garlic, shallot, chilli, oyster sauce along with dabai and accompanied by other ingredients, particularly egg. The combination of tomatoes, garlic (bawang putih), and onions is found in many dishes in Sarawak. The most important spice in Sarawakian cuisine is pepper. Pepper is commercially produced on an industrial scale as a cash crop, and the preferred choice by local cooks when heat is wanted in a dish. Granted geographical indication (GI) status by the Malaysian Intellectual Property Organisation (MyIPO), Sarawak black pepper is highly regarded by international culinary figures such as Alain Ducasse. Maize, pumpkins and yams are widely used in Sarawakian cuisine. Maize is grown around the same time as padi while pumpkins around the tilled rice and maize fields. Yams are also grown on the peripherals of padi farms.
Meat staples include chicken, pork, beef, and fish. Seafood is popular as a result of the bodies of water surrounding the archipelago. Popular catches include semah, ikan keli, baong, empuarah and prawns. Also popular are meat from deer, wild boars and even bears. Birds can be shot with blowpipes. Guns are not often used because cartridges are beyond the means of many indigenous people. Punai is another small bird the natives of Sarawak catch with sticky nets, and eat after roasting them over a small charcoal fire. Deep-fried punai is often available as part of lelapan (halal) in Miri. Jungle vegetables are found up the hills and down the valleys, and some even by the riverbanks picked out by ancestors of the natives. Palms like pantu, nipah, nibong, coconut and sago continue to be important umbut or upah or shoots the indigenous people retain as delicacies. Native cuisine differs from other cuisines in its simplicity and directness of flavor. The use of wild ginger, daun bungkang and jungle leaves can bring subtle flavours to various dishes.
Method of cooking Commonly, cooking methods adopted in Sarawakian food are menumis (stir frying), menggoreng (frying), bakar (grilling) and rebus (boiling). Each ethnic group in Sarawak has different styles of preparing, cooking, preserving and eating styles of food. The Orang Ulu, for instance, use garam barrio to preserve meat, fish and vegetables, which is called mengasam. The Iban cook and eat lulun, rice which is cooked in bamboo. Other than that, the traditional cooking methods of the Iban people are also called pansoh or pansuh, which is the preparation and cooking of food in bamboo tubes. Ingredients like poultry, fish, vegetables or rice are mixed with fragrant herbs like lemongrass, tapioca leaves and bungkang leaves (a species of myrtle from the Eugenia genus), then sealed within the bamboo tubes and placed directly over an open fire. The mixture needs to be stuffed into the bamboo logs and chopped tapioca leaves are stuffed at the opening of the logs. Cooking food this way will infuse it with aroma and flavour from the bamboo tubes while keeping it moist. Geographically, the large forest area and style of living have affected the ways native groups' traditional foods were created, prepared and cooked using natural resources. These food treasures, in turn, have contributed to the uniqueness of Sarawakian cuisine.
Popular dishes Popular dishes in the state include Sarawak laksa, kolo mee, sayur midin belacan, tomato mee, and ayam pansuh. The state is also known for its Sarawak layer cake dessert. Each ethnic group has its own delicacies with different styles of preparing, cooking, and eating food. However, modern technology has altered the methods of cooking native dishes. Examples of ethnic foods are Malay bubur pedas (porridge), the Iban tuak (rice wine) and manok pansoh (bamboo chicken), Bidayuh asam siok (chicken rice)), Melanau tebaloi (sago palm crackers) and umai (raw fish mixed with lime juice), and Orang Ulu urum giruq (pudding). The traditional food of Sarawak has been marketed as a culinary tourism product.
In September 2021, Sarawak Laksa was named the best dish in Asia according to readers' feedback on TasteAtlas.
Common dishes Sarawak is notable for its rice; currently three varieties grown in Sarawak have been granted geographical indication status by MyIPO. Among the foods and beverages particular to Sarawak are:
Acar timun Sarawak or Sarawak acar timun or pickled cucumber is a popular Malay dish in Sarawak. It is very different from West Malaysia's acar. It is preserved in vinegar and sugar for days, weeks or even months before being served. As such, the pickles are sweet and sour and full of turmeric and other spice flavours. The julienning of the cucumber is much thinner and longer than nonya acar and they usually do not use cabbage. Julienned carrot is usually used for the purpose of adding colour to the acar. Another distinction of Sarawak acar is that it is eaten with keropok ikan or fish crackers. Asam siok is a Bidayuh chicken rice that is cooked in bamboo. Asam siok is a Bidayuh delicacy served normally during special occasions such as Gawai and gatherings. This combination includes whole chicken, steamed rice, salt, ginger, lemongrass, tapioca leaves and a small amount of water to boil. Bee pang is a Chinese traditional type of crispy rice cake that is popular in Sarawak. Belacan bihun is rice vermicelli dressed in a gravy made from ground chillies, belacan, tamarind, and dried shrimp. It is garnished with cured cuttlefish, julienned cucumber, bean sprouts and century egg wedges. Bubur kapu is an Iban rice flour dessert or chendol. Bubur pedas is a type of rice congee cooked with a specially prepared spice paste, or rempah made from turmeric, lemon grass, galangal, chillies, ginger, coconut and shallots. A fairly complex and spicy dish compared to most typical congee preparations, bubur pedas is often prepared during the month of Ramadan and served during the breaking of the fast. Stir-fried cangkuk manis is sayur manis or sweet leaf stir-fried with red peppers, shallots, garlic, oyster sauce and egg. Daun ubi tumbuk or pucuk ubi tumbuk is a preparation of cassava leaves (known as empasak by the Iban) which has the consistency of pesto, and is widely eaten among Sarawak's native communities. The pounded leaves may be sauteed with seasonings like anchovies and chilli, stuffed into a bamboo tube and roasted over an open fire, or simply boiled with shallot, fat and salt. Gula mitai is Sarawak's candy floss. It is made by melting sugar and then pulling and folding it as the sugar cools – like hand-pulled noodles. Ikan terubuk masin is salt-preserved toli shad, which is endemic to the coastal waters of Sarawak, stretching from Sematan to Lawas. It is considered an iconic delicacy in Sarawak, and thus a prized edible gift. Kasam ensabi is a fermented vegetable pickle made from an indigenous cultivar of mustard greens (ensabi) and is traditional to the Iban community. Kolo mee or mee kolok is a dish of springy egg noodles tossed in a sweet and savoury shallot, lard and vinegar dressing, and topped with seasoned minced pork and char siu. It is similar to Peninsular-style Hakka mee or wonton mee in concept, but differs significantly in taste profile. A popular variant uses rendered oil from cooking char siu to flavour kolo mee instead of plain lard, which gives the noodles a reddish hue. Halal versions of kolo mee replace the pork components with beef (earning the moniker of mee sapi) or chicken, and lard with peanut or vegetable oil. Additional toppings can include mushrooms, chicken and crab meat. Kampua mee is a similar dish from Sibu of Fuzhou origin. Kompia is Chinese bread made with meat, onions, salt and flour. A ball of flour is stuffed with a filling of other desired ingredients and flattened with a rolling pin. It is then slapped onto the sides of a traditional home-made Chinese oven and takes approximately 15 minutes to bake. Kuching Siew pau is a Chinese baked bun with meat filling.