Fast food can't replace tastes of home

By Sonia Kaur, Special to the Rocky

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

As the recipient of a fellowship, a cultural exchange program for journalists, I've spent recent months working here at the Rocky Mountain News, far from my job at the Borneo Bulletin in my home country, Brunei Darussalam.

As I near the end of my first visit to the United States, I realize there are two cuisines I will miss. I have become a big fan of Italian and Mexican food.

Those may be the only cuisines that have yet to arrive in Brunei Darussalam, located on the island of Borneo in the South China Sea. My country's population is a mix of Malays, Chinese, Indians and indigenous people, and our cooking reflects that.

My father is Indian, while my mother is Chinese from Malaysia. Many Bruneians are Muslim and don't eat pork. Because my family is sikh, we don't eat beef.

Despite being a very small country, Brunei has its share of American fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Dairy Queen, so your fast foods are not alien to me. But unlike here, fast food is something my friends and I have once in a while as a treat.

Still, I am amazed by all the fast-food burger restaurants. Back in Brunei, we only have McDonald's and two Asian favorites, Jollibee and Sugarbun. Here I am spoiled by all the choices.

Lately I have been missing the taste of home as I am getting closer to finishing my fellowship at the end of August. My grandparents owned a Chinese restaurant in Brunei. My grandmother was a cook for the restaurant, which is where my mother got her skills. At home, my mother would cook Chinese food most of the time and would sometimes make simple Indian dishes.

Here are the dishes, to give you an idea of what we eat at home:

* Roti Kawin - Two slices of bread (preferably toasted) spread with coconut jam and margarine.

* Half-boiled eggs (not cooked too hard) seasoned with soy sauce and pepper.

* Roti Canai - A kind of flat bread of crispy fluffy texture, best served with a bowl of curry, but sometimes served with condensed milk.

* Yi Fu Wa Tan Hor - One of my Chinese favorites. It is a plate of wet noodles served with fishcakes in egg gravy and roasted chicken rice. (I must have this at least once a month - better yet, every two weeks.)

* Nasi Lemak - A local favorite. It's a dish of rice cooked in coconut milk served with small portions of fried chicken or beef, spicy shrimp paste, anchovies, sliced cucumber and a half-boiled egg. (I usually prefer to have it with salted egg.)

* Ayam Masak Merah - Also known as Red Chili Chicken. It is basically deep fried chicken covered with a thick red sweet-chili sauce.

* Ayam Rendang - Also known as Spicy Meat Stew. The meat (mutton) is slow-cooked with shallots, ginger and lemon-grass paste.

* Rojak - A mix of ingredients such as squid, fried sweet potatoes, fried tofu, bean sprouts and crushed peanuts smeared with a black sauce.

Usually after lunch I have either a cold bubble milk tea or a cold coconut jelly green tea. (Bubble tea has tapioca pearls; the green tea has chewy pieces of coconut jelly.) Brunei is hot and humid all year round, and these beverages really quench your thirst.

I might try to take home some Mexican vegetarian green chili because my family would like it - they like spicy food and we don't have it there. But I haven't figured out how I'm going to get it back.

Maybe my favorite Mexican restaurant in Denver, Benny's, will open a branch back home.

• July 22, 2008

  8:52 p.m.

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  arek writes:

  Nice article Sonia, no mention of ambuyat? Bring back some Burritos