Our Mulberry Tree

The mulberry tree we bought from Kampung Simee pasar tani in Ipoh two years ago has grown and is fruiting. What a sight it was to see the little fruits bursting out in shades of pink and red as they began to ripen. I remember reading about silkworms being fed mulberry leaves in geography class and had always wondered how a live tree looked like. Now I know.


Ripening mulberry fruits in our garden.
Photo by Wuan.

Traditional Chinese Medicine uses mulberry leaves as one of the ingredients in herbal soups to improve eyesight. The dried leaves are also used to make tea and are believed to be beneficial against a number of ailments. As for me, I prefer to enjoy the fruits. They should be ripe for harvesting in the next few days when they turn black.

Pasar Tani Mega Kampung Simee In Ipoh – Part 3/3

Pasar Tani Kg. Simee
Pasar Tani Kg. Simee

December 19, 2009

The stalls selling vegetables at the pasar tani was another interesting and colourful sight. There were green from the vegetables, orange from ripe pineapples, purple from jantung pisang and pink from the bunga kantan, among others. I had expected to see more varieties of ulam. I guess the rainy season must have deterred the harvesting as less people were expected to visit the pasar tani.

I was salivating again when I saw the tender bamboo shoots called rebung on display at one of the stalls. It has been a while since I last had bamboo shoot dishes. I like it sliced and cooked in coconut milk curry with prawns. However, the Chinese believe that it will cause a lot of “wind” in the body and should be eaten in moderation, or better still, not at all.

After all that shooting and salivating, I was beginning to get tired and decided to call it a day at the pasar tani. I did not want to wear myself out too much as we had to check out from the hotel, have lunch with the in-laws in Ipoh and drive up to Penang right after that. We wanted to reach the island before dark.

Bamboo shoots - rebung
Bamboo shoots – rebung.

Flowering Chinese cabbage - choy sum
Flowering Chinese cabbage – kobis Cina – choy sum.

Torch ginger flower - bunga kantan
Torch ginger flower – bunga kantan

Pineapples - nenas
Pineapples – nenas.

Bananas - pisang
Bananas – pisang.

Pasar Tani Mega Kampung Simee In Ipoh – Part 2/3

December 19, 2009

After we have photographed to our hearts’ content the plants at the nursery stalls, we hopped over to where a strong stench emanated from. The two guys manning the stall were very friendly. When they saw us with our cameras, they encouraged us to take photos of their goods. They were selling a variety of salted fishes, dried anchovies, dried prawns, dried cuttlefishes and salted duck eggs.

I had wanted to get some heh bee (dried prawns) and ikan bilis halus (dried baby anchovies). The heh bee is for cooking dried prawns porridge. The dried baby anchovies I would steam with ginger and garlic in oil and eat with rice. The stall did not have what I wanted. I ended up taking only photographs, enjoying the pungence of the salted fishes and silently salivating over the dishes I could cook with the salted fishes available.

Salted duck eggs - telur itik masin
Salted duck eggs – telur itik masin.

Salted fish - ikan masin
Salted fish – ikan masin.

Dried cuttlefish - sotong kering
Dried cuttlefish – sotong kering.

Friendly stall keeper.
Friendly salted fish stall keeper.

Dried prawns - heh bee - udang kering
Dried prawns – heh bee – udang kering.

Pulau Pangkor dried anchovies - ikan bilis kasar Pangkor
Pulau Pangkor dried anchovies – ikan bilis kasar Pangkor.