The Daily Brunei Resources

‘Kuih Mor’ is traditionally rolled into a ball before it is baked. Picture: Courtesy of Norhafizah Hj Bagol New and different variations of the ‘Kuih Mor’ are also popular now and use ingredients such as Oreo cookies. Picture: Courtesy of Norhafizah Hj Bagol Nurhamiza Hj Roslan BRUNEI-MUARA Saturday, September 5, 2015 DESPITE first making its appearance in the Sultanate during the 1940s, Kuih Mor continues to be a household favourite today as a tea time snack or festive treat particularly during Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Siti Norhafizah Hj Bagol, a final year student at Universiti Brunei Darussalam who researched on Kuih Mor as part of her Brunei Traditional Industry module, said the three-ingredient sweet treat may have existed in Brunei as early as the 1940s when padi was known to have been grown to make different food items. Over time, the cookie has also become a popular door-gift choice often handed out at Malay weddings or gatherings, said Siti Norhafizah...

The original Bruneian ‘Kuih Koci’ is filled with shredded coconut that is sweetened with a brown sugar syrup. Picture: BT/Nurhamiza Hj Roslan ‘Kuih Koci’ is not entirely unique to Brunei as it can also be found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Picture: BT/Nurhamiza Hj Roslan BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Saturday, September 5, 2015 PASSED down from generation to generation, Kuih Koci – one of Brunei’s traditional Malay food items that sees a simple glutinous rice dumpling filled with sweet coconut – still remains a delicacy for much of the older generation in the Sultanate. Noor Auji Mohammad Harunthmarin from the Academy of Brunei Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, explains that to make Kuih Koci, the flour must first mix with water to form a dough which is then divided into palm-sized portions or smaller and then filled with sweetened shredded coconut. The dumplings are then wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. Noor Auji says Kuih Koci can be found in night mar...

The colourful packaging is the Gardenia butterscotch bread from Kuala Lumpur, the other one shows a packaging from Sabah but was told that this is made in Brunei and test marketed using the Sabah packaging Two years ago, my brother gave us a loaf of bread on his return from a meeting in Kuala Lumpur. My son ate it and said it was one of the most delicious he had eaten. It was the Gardenia Butterscotch bread. So, when I attended a meeting in Kuala Lumpur last year, buying this bread was a must. I found that people in Brunei had been buying this by the boxloads and bringing them back to Brunei. In December 2015, when my family and I were on holiday in Sabah, we asked our Sabah guide whether this bread was available. He had families in KL and traveled to and fro, told us that even travelers from Sabah bought these and brought them back from KLIA. Gardenia had a large table at KLIA and travelers buy them by the dozen. Sometime last week, I saw someone posted that this bread is now...

During the end of a meeting yesterday, my senior colleague was talking about an old friend of his, now very much his junior, who is based in Bangar, Temburong. My senior colleague was talking about that friend getting him Durian Senokoh which he said is very nice. I am not much of a local durian connoisseur but I am pretty sure I have not come across that particular name. So I looked through my collection of durian books – I have a few, believe it or not. My brother in law used to head the agriculture agency and he gave me quite a few books on agriculture during his tenure. There are indeed many Durian species in Brunei – both the white ones and the yellow ones. The white durians (scientific name D. Zibethinus ) are generally imported from Malaysia and Thailand. The yellow ones are apparently Brunei’s specialties. The most common is the Durian Otak Udang Galah ( D. graveolens Becc. ) whose colour is highly variable and ranges from greenish, brownish yellow to yellow. The pulp has a ran...

The other night, our agency was hosting a bunch of international people here in Brunei. During dinner, I overheard one of my colleagues trying to explain to them about Brunei’s local food – the ambuyat – how it was prepared and where it came from. I realized that even though most of us Bruneians know what ambuyat is, and probably know a little bit of how it is prepared, some of us might know a little bit where it came from but a number has no idea at all. Just in case, there are pockets of Brunei people who have no idea what ambuyat is. Look at the attached photo. The one in the middle is it. The ambuyat is eaten or rather swallowed using a two-pronged bamboo stick called a chandas. As it is quite tasteless, it is taken with a sauce made from sour local fruits like binjai (mango like fruit but very sour). The ambuyat is rolled around the chandas until about the size of a small fist (children’s size preferably unless you got a really big mouth – physically that is), immerse it int...

Last night, I was at the banquet hall of the Palace - Istana Nurul Iman – for the Official Banquet given by His Majesty in honour of Bouasone Bouphavanh, the Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The previous banquet for a visiting head was almost a year ago when it was a State Banquet for the visiting Indonesian President. I thought the food wasn’t as lavish as the last one as this was an Official Banquet as opposed to a State Banquet. The Lao Prime Minister is a Head of Government, so this is an Official Banquet. The Indonesian President was a Head of State, so it was a State Banquet. There were also other differences. There was no national anthem, so His Majesty together with the Prime Minister walked in and sat down and a doa selamat was read. Of course, there were still speeches by both His Majesty and the Prime Minister. As usual, after a banquet, this blog becomes a temporary food blog. The banquet last night was lighter and not so heavy. After the starter and ...