Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Vegetarian Cuisine
The Chinese and Indians have venerable vegetarian traditions, and all of Borneo's gastro-
nomies include plenty of dishes made with vegetables such as
daun ubi
(cassava leaves),
cangkok manis
(a dark green leafy vegetable often fried with eggs),
sayur manis
(often
called 'Sabah veg') and
kangkong
(water spinach or convolvulus). Soy beans (
dao
or
tau
) are widely available, often in the form of
tauhu
(bean curd) or tempe (fermented whole
beans). Chinese establishments may be able to whip up
cap cai
(mixed vegetables), and
you can always order a soup without meat, fish or seafood. At Malay places, the rice part
of
nasi lemak
and
nasi campur
is obviously vegie, though some of the side dishes they're
served with are not.
That's the good news. The bad news is that
unless you specify otherwise, Malay-style stir-
fried vegetables are often made with
belacan
(fermented shrimp paste), and Chinese stalls
usually make their soup stock with animal
bones, and slip into all sorts of dishes small
quantities of pork (minced or ground) or lard.
These ingredients may also make an unnoticed appearance in Dayak dishes.
If you're vegetarian, say:
'Saya hanya makan sayuran'
(I only eat vegetables). If you're
a vegan, you may want to take it a step further:
'Saya tidak makan yang di perbuat dari
susu, telur, ikan atau daging'
(I don't eat dairy products, eggs, fish or meat).
For a cooling dessert, try ABC
(ais batu campur)
,
also known as
ais kacang,
a hillock of shaved ice
garnished with red beans, palm seeds, grass jelly,
sweet corn and lurid-coloured syrups.
