Cooked by Nature.

• Ikan Terubuk Masin - The numerous waterways provide the people with an abundance of fresh water fish like the Tilapia, which incidentally is the most widely cultivated.  it's no surprise then that some of the popular Sarawakian dishes also include these 'gifts' from the sea.  The salted ikan terubok is sold in markets around Sarawak.
• Umai - Umai (Umei), This is a dish for the brave. The umai is traditionally a standard lunch meal for the Melanau fisherman.  Thin slivers of raw fresh fish, usually iced but not frozen, combined with thinly scliced onions, chili, salt and juice from sour fruits like lime or assam go into preparing this dish.  The dish is usually accompanied by a bowl of toasted sago pearls and is so simple that fishermen prepare it easily on their boats.

How to make Umai.

Heard of the term "Umai" before? I guess most Sarawakian would know what does it mean. It is actually a cuisine which is synonym to Melanau people in Sarawak.

I am sure lots of people are quite familiar with Japanese sashimi? Ya! If you know what Japanese sashimi is, then Umai is "Melanau's sashimi"! It is thinly sliced fish either eaten raw by dipped into a specially prepared sauce or marinated with calamondin lime, onions, chillies and some gingers.

Few types of fish can be used to prepare Umai, but the most common one is this Empirang fish with gold body color. It is not too hard to recognize this fish in the market. Why this fish? Well, honestly I am not sure. Maybe is because its flesh textures suitable to make Umai?

Basically preparing Umai is not too hard because at the end of the day, you just need to soak everything together for a short while before you can eat it.However, the hardest part is to prepare the fish! Yes, it certainly needs a very good skills to do so.

1. To prepare the fish, first of all of course you need to clear and clean the fish. Then the toughest part is here - fillet the fish! If you not use to carry the knife, well I guess it is difficult to do this.
2. After filleting, it is time to slice the fish into tiny pieces. Make sure you slice the Empirang fish in the correct direction or else you will end up eating sashimi with a lot of fish bones!
3. and don't forget the calamondin lime juice! It is not easy to prepare as you can imagine how much juice you can get from a tiny calamondin.
4. Is there any easier way beside using this traditional and out dated technology to squeeze the lime juice? How much juice needed? Well, as long as it is enough to marinate everything in.

• Mee Deen - The unique in Sarawak. If you try only one unique, local food in Kuching, make it midin. Pronounced “mee deen”, midin is a green jungle fern that grows in Sarawak. Apparently this particular fern only grows on the island of Borneo. Unlike other greens that get soft when cooked, midin remains crunchy giving it an enjoyable texture.The natives would pluck the top section of the fern and sell them at the local jungle produce market. I heard that these days people plant them for sale. The thin, curly shoots are a delicious and healthy alternative to noodles and rice. Midin is often stir-fried with garlic, ginger, or optionally shrimp paste and chili.