Sunday, December 04, 2005

Wild Jungle Fern

I'm sure every Sarawakian know what is this :) This is the wild jungle fern, also known as bilin/milin/midin fern. Different people called it different names ~ bilin, milin or midin This wild jungle fern is a culinary dish of Borneo Island/Sarawak. It can be cooked with sambal belachan(shrimp paste) or anchovies(ikan bilis) or garlic or wine.

So far, I haven't see this jungle fern elsewhere outside Borneo Island. And I'm pretty sure all Sarawakians KNOW about this vegetable :) One can get this fern in almost every market in Sarawak. The price was RM 2 per pack.



Besides bilin/milin/midin, there's lotsa other jungle ferns available in Sarawak, as shown in the photos above. But, out of all these jungle ferns, I still prefer Bilin/milin/midin the most :) Everytime I go back to Sarawak, I won't miss my favourite vegetable Bilin. I'm sure most Sarawakians who study abroad or working outstation will eat this dish whenever they go back home to Sarawak.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

gwen jie`s fav?

hehe...

i wana eat too...jiejie got bring back anot?

hehe...=P

Chen said...

Icey,
Gwen get influenced by me liao.. Hahha.. She never tasted the vege before but now she really dreams of it :P
Nope, I didn't bring back any...
I ate a lot liao during my stay back home :)
I ordered this jungle fern everytime I go out makan :)
And I bought back home from the market in Kuching to cook as well :D

Anonymous said...

aiyo, talk about bilin ar......i never miss this dishes when i got the chance to eat in the restaurant or anywhere. I like it to be cook with belacan...some people cook it with red wine. Sarawak Belacan + Sarawak Bilin = The taste can't be descibe hmm.....when i think about it, im really hungry now.

Cynthia said...

ok.. this is new to me. another thing to put in my to-do-list next time i go sarawak. =)

mercuri2000 said...

One of the best kept secret. Bilin is tops of my pick. Simply mouth crunching and delicious! yummy!! :P

Sam I Am said...

Chen,
What do you cook with it .
Sorry to say I have never had it..

Chen said...

kcyap,
U r lucky cos at least u can eat it anytime when u wanted to do so :)
not like me or the others outside Sarawak, can only eat it when balik kampung time

Cynthia,
There'll be lotsa to-do-list for u in the next couple of days.. :D
Look out for the next few posts :)

mercuri2000,
those who have never tasted bilin won't know why we liked it so much :)

Glutton Rabbit,
It's wild jungle fern, so no doubt that it's healthy..
But whether it contain any medical values or not, I dunno..
Might be one day, someone will do research on it :D

Sam I Am,
Can just cook it the simple way with garlic or can add cooking wine to it..
Or cook it with shrimp paste or sambal belachan..
but don't over-cook it.. Or else it won't be crunchy
I will post in my subsequent post how the cooked bilin looks like since my friend has requested me to do so :)

Sharl612 said...

Chen,
This is a must-not-miss when balik kampung. Belacan or dried prawn, any type of cooking is tasty.

Jellyfish said...

waaa...
now suddenly got a lot of bilin, milin, etc...

lagi confuesed
hehehehehehe....

Fish Fish said...

Wah~~~ Bidin!!! Now you really making me very very homesick. :( *sob sob*

Chen said...

sharl612,
yeah.. regardless how the dish is cooked, it is tasty :)
Must-Not-Miss dish when balik kampung ~ how true...

jellyfish,
no need to confuse lah.. all the names refer to the same thing :D

Chen said...

fish fish,
hug fish fish, U coming back home soon right? I mean CNY?

[null] said...

Hey, Chen, my dad's been working quite often in Sarawak this year, and he's kept on about midin and once even brought some back.
Nice pics!

Chen said...

tibbar de gniw,
Wow, so nice.. How u like it?

Greenapple said...

i have seen this plant before when i was in Canada, they sell this fresh produce in grocery stores... but I couldn't recall what is the name they call it ... let me think...

Chen said...

greenapple,
huh? u mean this is available in Canada ??
Mmmm.. that's great :D

cooknengr said...

What up Doc, in US/ Canna it's called Fidddle head ( Lookd like hte head of a violin, or in the counrty music arena , referred as Fiddle). I saw them in Seattle, WA's farmer;s market. $7.99/lb.

Anonymous said...

cooknengr is absolutely right.It is fiddleheads here in Canada and is avalable only in the Spring, specifically in May, usually about $3.99 Cdn lb. In Malaysia this vegetable is called daun paku.

Chen said...

cooknengr, Patrick Wong
Fiddlehead?
I search the picture images from search engine, it indeed looks similar like bilin but not exactly the same..
How's about the taste?
Does it taste like bilin? :)

[null] said...

The taste is okay but quite sticky (my brother says slimy, but he ate more than I did) :D

day-dreamer said...

Bilin... milin... got lilin ar? Muahahaha!

I've never seen this kind of veggie in Peninsular Malaysia leh. Suei lar u, Chen, post photos only, didn't being some back for me... :'(

Chen said...

tibbar de gniw,
I do agree on the slimy part, hahaha...
So nice :P
*drooling*

day dreamer,
lilin? That one available in your house lah..
I also never see that vege in Peninsular loh..
That's why this is the MUST EAT dish when balik kampung :D
u go to Sarawak lah.. Then u can eat all u want :D

KittyCat said...

Hi Chen,

I was googling for midin when I stumbled upon your blog, which is excellent for Sarawakian stuff/food!
I'm married to a Sarawakian and was just blogging about midin etc from my recent return trip there...hope I can link your blog to mine.

Chen said...

kittycat,
Thanks for dropping by.
I hope u enjoy the Sarawakian food stuff.

Sure, go ahead :)