If there is any dish Bruneian can proudly proclaim uniquely Brunei's own, look no further than ambuyat. Oh, if you must know the history and how it was invented by a Princess, please google it up.
Made from sago flour and boiling water, ambuyat is taken with a two head prong. You dip the prong into the gruel, give it several twists and dip the formed ball of gruel into a spicy and sour condiment, either binjai (fermented mango chutney?) or tempoyak (fermented durian chutney). Personally I prefer to mix the two with extra sambal, more intensio flavour and more kick as the gruel itself is tasteless.
Side dishes to go with the ambuyat
There are quite a few to choose from and the above are my usual order. Clockwise from top left: ulam (raw vegetable salad served with sambal), stir-fried pakis (fern indigenous to Borneo Island?), deep fried fish and ayam masak merah (chicken cooked in spicy and sweetish sauce).
The above sells for roughly B$20 a set.
Aye, a bargain.
4 comments:
hi, all the food similar with Indonesian dishes ( one of the island in Indonesia), I never try the ambuyat and tempoyak because they have this kind of dishes far away from my hometown that I used to live, this is an interesting dishes, the tempoyak made from fermented durian, how did it taste?
All your pictures made me droolling :)
Hi, tempoyak is salty and er... salty. There's a hint of the original pungent fume but it doesn't taste quite like the original fruit. So it's another love it or hate it affair. I took to it immediately at first taste. It's the kind of taste you won't ever forget and one that lingers in both the mouth (a while xD) and mind for ever and ever.
wow! all the foods make my stomach rumbling
hey ... am in brisbane now! where can i get tempoyak? huhuh
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