tuhau

No tuhau Cooking Competition for 2010

2010-05-27T16:15:00.000+08:00

We were informed via SKYPE that the village communities around Ranau were interested to know for the following cooking competition. And certainly, it would have been nice to continue the tradition of organising the tuhau cooking competition.

But we are here in Australia. And as expected, there are no such cooking competition being organised in Malaysia at any level. This is no surprise as it is always assume that the effort is to be carried out by the public bodies that were instructed by the Rakyat's representative... Whether they are aware or not.... is no longer the issue. The question is why no priority?

I guess that when we come back next time, we will organise it at the state level. But anyone wants to help fund it?

Impossible to export to Australia

2010-05-26T19:12:00.001+08:00

For those of us who are abroad, sometimes having a taste of home-cooked meal (at least home ingredients) will have soothed the heart. From the many chat space that we have come across, it is clear that most Sabahan crave tuhau...kami di Australia pun sama juga...

Generally, most Sabahans don't really have the time, access or means to taste tuhau overseas. We on the other hand do have the time, access and means. But we found out a number of things that is important to us all, particularly those in Australia.

Firstly, The genus Etlingera is a familiar item for import/export, particularly the Torch Ginger (Bunga Kantan). But for tuhau (Etlingera coccinea), it is not listed as an export of any known country. This means that anyone who wants to get some tuhau overseas.... be ready to have a lengthy explanation of what it is to the Customs. Anyway, since Etlingera can be imported/exported, it would be of interest to run through the its requirement. There are two things that we found in relation to this species.

soaked in Sodium Hypochlorite solution for a minimum of 20 minutes
blanched at 95C for 20 seconds
to be commercially produced and packaged
frozen and stored at -18C for at least 7 days

Obviously, present local people may not have the capacity to prepare tuhau in this manner. But more importantly, anyone who understands the benefits of eating tuhau will know immediately that the processing of tuhau for import/export will distroy the nutritional value (particularly its anti-oxidants) of this plant.

Ah-ya. apa guna export, rasa lain sikit punya...

Oh yes, we purposely want to mentioned last, for Etlingera sp. only the flower buds are recognised for import/export. The stem untuk sop (it bah dia...)... not chance!

The basic information that we have provided came after hours and hours of information searching through Agriculture, Customs and Quarantine related organizations in foreign lands. We did not get the information from the book illustrated on the left. You are of course welcome to purchase this book and run through things yourself if you need information in importing/exporting tuhau for your tastebud. But if you need more details from us, drop us a line at rfp@enwork.com.my or just leave a comment on this blog. We will be more than happy to assist in any manner possible. Lagipun, we Sabahans got to stick together when it come to food.

But let's not look at it from a negative lens. At least, we all know that to get the khasiat of tuhau, home is the place to be....

Jangan putus asa, tahan-tahan lah kita semua.

Cheers.

Who is doing what in Research...

2010-05-26T15:58:00.000+08:00

As you may have already known, tuhau sounds so common that it is impossible to imagine why people don't really know about it. Try and ask you non-KadazanDusun friends, how many can answer you that they are familiar with it.

Now the situation is no different in research. Although Sabah is blessed with tuhau, it is surprising that there are no real active research in tuhau being done there. In the years that i have been in UMS, i can really count the number of times that research on tuhau are being carried out by our undergraduates.

Konon-lah-tu bakal pemimpin Negara.

It is rude to state that tuhau is not important enough for local researchers to look into it? Or is it that the system we are living in don't want our traditional knowledge to excel? Here is one website of a researcher that has been involved in tuhau research for a very long time. Poulsen not only has been doing research on it for so long, he also has published a book about the genus.

I think the slogan Sabah Boleh somehow does not really apply here... could be because there is no glamour in it...... What say you?

Did Sos Chilli tuhau Suddenly Became Famous?

2010-05-08T19:55:00.001+08:00

I was googling tuhau and my eyes caught something interesting about Sos Chilli tuhau. Apparently, in January 2008 Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) was host to a film festival. That evening, there were some excitement when a clip about Sos Chilli tuhau was screened.

The date strucked me. Only a year before that, a group of UMS went on an excursion trip to Kg Kokob Baru, Ranau to appreciate the process of natural resources development. Agriculture, ie. tuhau was the highlight. During that trip, the undergraduates was introduced to sambal tuhau, the plant (explaination given by Roy Disim) and Sos Chilli tuhau!

Is it coincidence or what? and that is worth investigating.... will keep you updated.

Can tuhau blogging generate any online revenue?

2010-05-06T16:07:00.003+08:00

tuhau is common amongst Kadazandusuns and probably a handful of food lovers. For most of these food lovers, the idea of blogging or facebook tuhau, seems right. But i seriously doubt that anyone will condor to the idea of generating on-line revenue that is based on tuhau.

Sure we can accept buying goods and products online. But Why do we need to buy tuhau online when its always better to get it fresh from the market. Well for those who are studying overseas... just hang-on a bit longer that crave until you get back home. Regardless to the situation, we may believe that online revenue from tuhau seems foolish.

I would have agreed to the idea that trying to get online revenue by utilising tuhau seems foolish. But when i looked back a all the experiences me and my partner have had, it make sense to go for online revenue. so that i can be objective, let me list out the reasons;

For something to be an icon (not just locally but internationally), there are certain among of interest that needed to be generated. Online revenue is one mean to generate this interest in tuhau. Surely if there is a bandwagon to jump on... won't you want to join the ride?
By diversifying economic means (besides selling tuhau raw on the market ground), local people have the opportunity to achieve financial freedom without having to be dependent on public handouts (kampung projects based on "permintaan kepada YB") or consumers' simpity (common phrase of tamu's seller = "bili-lah ni").
revenue earned via online means will be used to publish tuhau cookbook and organise more tuhau-based cooking competition

While there is not assurance that online revenue can be generated from tuhau blogging, we can all be assured that a learning experience is there to be gained.

Book finish

2009-03-30T16:50:00.002+08:00

Manuscript already finish but no funds to publish. Need about 1000 copies.

MARDI Inquiry

2009-03-03T16:11:00.000+08:00

MARDI inquire information about tuhau research. reluctant to give information cause not sure how it is to benefit local.

The flower will determine its locality

2009-02-07T16:24:00.000+08:00

Noted that the fruitfly is the polinator when comparing to other species. Acknowledge to the three girls Tasha, Siti and Laila.

3rd tuhau Cooking Competition

2008-12-27T19:14:00.008+08:00

The 3rd tuhau-based cooking competition was held in Kg. Kokob Baru's Community center, Ranau, Sabah. This time round, the competition was held at the district level.

Because the competition was held at a higher level, more funding was needed. It was estimated that RM7,500.00 was needed for this competition. Sponsorship and lucky-draw were chosen as the machnism to raise funds. Sponsorship approach was not successful as most potential sponsors such as PETRONAS and NESTLE were downing their accounting system for the year end reporting. The lucky-draw attracted half of what was expected. Even so, the competition carried on with http://www.enwork.com.my/ bearing most of the funding requirement.

The promotion of this competition was carried out through posters and brochures that were distributed throughout the districts at various points.

There were comments that the competition ought to be carried out during the Harvest Festival. Those comments were noted but unfortunately the dates to which the competition is to be held, is closely linked to funding matters.

Nevertheless, there were more than 30 entries for the competition.

An interesting observation was on the presentation approach. After running this competition for several years, we noticed a huge improvement in the presentation of those dishes. They looked even more appetising and this indicated the achievement of one of the competitions' main objective that was set up several years before.

tuhau Exhibition during Pesta Kobis

2008-11-15T19:13:00.002+08:00

On this day, Pesta Kobis or Cabbage Festival was held in Kundasang. Its part of Ranau's local authorities activities to spur rural development via awareness. Not only that, it was hoped that the event could be recognised as a tourism event. It makes good sense because for the past 20 years or more, Kundasang is known for its highland produces like cabbages, mushroom, asparagus, and many more.

No...no... tuhau is not commonly found in the highlands. But to excite the festival even more, the Ranau District Office invited us to participate by setting up exhibition booth. Well, we did a bit more than that. We set up one exhibition booth and one seller stall.

Our exhibition booth was small. Tak apa lah... janji ada kan? Tingkui Enterprise, Enterpreneur @ Work Sdn Bhd dan Mrs Selekoh combined all their efforts to realise this exhibition. Our booth was dwaft by comparison to KPD, Jabatan Pertanian, and the other bigger organisation. But we had many things. We exhibited the various description of tuhau. We also exhibit some information about medicinal research conducted by UMS (yes.. we had access through information sharing means with the researchers; "info 4 access"). Beside that, we exhibit how tuhau was used as the bases for undergraduate fieldtrip. FYI; the blue display units were not ours. We pinjam the space from the Royal Police that opened their booth. The materials for exhibitions were courtesy of researchers from UMS. Good for them.

The other booth/stall were filled with tuhau-based products. We were selling serunding tuhau, and the regular stuffs. Our intention for this stall was to introduce new products of tuhau. We also promoted the up-coming tuhau-based cooking competition.

During the Pesta, the Guest-of-Honour did not visit any of our two spots. Biasa-lah. Lagipun, he had to visit the other bigger players bah. No doubt, the locals around Kundasang recognised tuhau and there were nothing special about it. Nevertheless, on the whole, the participation in Pesta Kobis did create awareness about tuhau, being not as just as a common plant but rather more.

All photos are copyrighted to eN@work.

The Right Cookbook

2008-03-03T16:09:00.002+08:00

Making the cookbook was no easy task cause there is no standard. It does not look impresive so used the Japanese version.

tuhau Sebagai Ikon Pelancongan Alam Semulajadi

2007-08-08T19:05:00.001+08:00

Roy Disim graduated from Universiti Malaysia Sabah. In his final year, he did a thesis on tuhau and its possibilities as a Nature Tourism icon, along side of the Rafflesia, Orang Utan and Mount Kinabalu.

2nd tuhau Cooking Competition

2007-05-27T19:11:00.008+08:00

The second tuhau-based cooking competition was held today in the Community center at Kg. Kokob Baru, Ranau, Sabah. This competition was held at the sub-district level. This would involved the villages around the Kilimu sub-district, namely kg. Kokob Baru, kg. Libang, and a few more. This event did receive endorsement from the District Office of Ranau.

This competition was held around the harvest festival period. In total, there were 17 different dishes that were presented for the competition. Contestants made up mainly from kg. Kokob Baru. Among the reason for this situation was its close proximity to other official events of the district which made many potential contestant to move away. Another reason given was that the two weeks notice given was insufficient. Personally, i believe that people were still not sure of the event to want to participate in it.

The following photos are of some of the contestants with their dishes.

In general, the 17 dishes were more refined from the last year's event. The garnishing were more classy while generally, the taste were clear. This made the judging even more harder. Among the winners for this competition were as follows;

1st Place: Linah
2nd Place: Mariana
3rd Place: Anthony

Other contestants were awarded consolation prizes.

way to go............

Advise from District Office

2007-05-08T12:03:00.002+08:00

Even they did not know that tuhau is a protected plant

Help from the Sabah State Ministry of Rural Development

2007-05-08T12:01:00.001+08:00

Not much help cause already using MARDI's mechism

Cook Book

2006-10-28T16:49:00.001+08:00

plan to publish cooking recipe

Antibacterial Studies on tuhau

2006-07-08T19:08:00.000+08:00

Dr. Charles S Vaireppan as supervisor and Jacuqueline Vincent as MSc student doing studies on "potensi of Anti-mikrob dalam herba hutan tempatan". She would finish her work in 2 years time.

1st tuhau Cooking Competition

2006-05-28T21:06:00.008+08:00

The first known tuhau-based cooking competition was held today at the compounds of Mr Tingkui house, Kg Kokob Baru, Ranau, Sabah. This competition is regarded as the first of its kind simply because there is no record of previous competition ever held in Sabah or Malaysia. The competition ground was build through the kampong people's effort known as rukut-rukut.. aka gotong-royong

The competition was carried out to coincide with the Harvest Festival that is celebrated by the KadazanDusuns of Sabah in the month of May. In general, the contesting recipes are prepared at the contestants' home that morning and is submitted to the organising committee around noon time. The closing time was stated at 1pm whereby judging was carried out imidiately. In total, there were 25 different dishes presented for the competition.

The following photo shows the judging carried out by 5 people. Most of them are either retirees or civil servants. Judging were based on appearance or presentation, aroma or smell and taste (its authenticity).

Judging was completed about half hour later and the annoucement of the winners were carried out after all the contestants and attendees treat themselves with the dishes (noon lunch..time.)

The result of the competition are as follows;

1st Place; Javica

2nd Place; Julita

3rd Place; Mariana

Consolation prizes and participation gifts were also given out after the event.

Congratulations to all.

With the competition done, the day continued with the homely harvest festivals.

What is tuhau?

2004-12-02T17:34:00.000+08:00

tuhau is a plant known only among the kadazandusuns of Sabah. No doubt the natives of Sawarak do know what the plant is, however the name is different, obviously the species will be different too.

Kami gulung tikar...

2003-11-07T16:34:00.003+08:00

Business world in not for the faint at heart. The simplest reason being that all risks are shouldered by the entrepreneurs. On the other hand, when you work for someone else, be it public or private, your risk is limited to the duties and responsibilities assigned to you.

When we started distributing sambal tuhau to hawkers around Putatan market, we knew a sure success was on the way. We did our homework well (competing products NIL, competitors NIL, consumers AVAILABLE & UNTAPPED).

then the most funniest thing happened...

The products that we distributed were Sooooo popular that we spurred a new industry in Putatan. The hawkers themselves began coming up with their own versions of the sambal tuhau. Not only it was slightly lowered in quality (among many...less chilli), the price was higher by 20% from our products. Those hawkers stashed our products aside and pun their in place. And then, they told us that our products no longer had any demand!

Reluctantly, we took our products back and stop distribution in Putatan. But at the same time, we were suspicious about the situation. After a week had gone by, we did a casual survey in Putatan market. That is when we found out the truth. The hawkers never knew that we found them out and we left the matter as it was. Nothing can be gained through confrontation.

We knew the hawkers had to survive too.

License for tuhau Dealing

2003-11-03T16:38:00.000+08:00

did it via wildlfie department for tingkui interprise

Why not?

2003-05-07T20:26:00.001+08:00

do business with tuhau but why just sell raw material?

Distributing sambal tuhau

2003-04-14T18:41:00.002+08:00

Prior to doing business with tuhau, we did some basic work. We looked at the supply back in Kg. Kokob Baru, Ranau. We assess our own capabilities. And we analysed the potential market (fresh goods market). And we found that there were several ways on how we can get involved in a business that deals with tuhau. After much discussion and brainstorming, we knew what needed to be done. And we decided to act as broker or distributor. By acting as the middle person, we can be assured that the suppliers (back in Ranau) can concentrate on providing quality supply in the given time. Not only that, we reduce the burden of suppliers having the need to acquire new business knowledge. Apart from that by being the middle person, we made sure that sellers or retailers need not worry about product quality control. The suppliers were from the highlands of Ranau and the retailers were from the lowlands of Putatan. Simply put, we linked both suppliers and retailers. Every can make some money without having to change their way in doing work.

So after processing, testing and product designing, we felt that we found our product. We gave our instructions and arrangements to both suppliers and retailers. The suppliers were to provide fresh and cleaned tuhau for us to process and a fixed price while the retailers were told of the commissioning system. In the process, we labelled the product. The illustration was the actual label used for sambal tuhau. The smaller product was to be sold at about RM2 (targeted at young couples), medium product sold at RM3 for general consumer while large product for people like you and me (tuhau lovers) was to be sold at RM5. On the average everyone (supplier, distributor & retailer) would get around 30% profit with 10% for cost throughout the level. For people without degree in business.... it is as good as it gets. At anytime, practical matters will always supersede teoritical matters.

When business was on, we took supply once every two weeks. Processing in a product took about 2-3 days. And we distributed the goods once a week to different retailers (Putatan market hawkers) on different dates. By this way, everyone will get some income on a periodical term.

The outcome was good. People in Ranau had something to trade, we had our hotel meals more regularly (as mentioned, we value the experience more than the chase for money), while the hawkers had more products to offer. As for the consumers.... you know-lah, who can ever pass up a good bottle of sambal tuhau to go with your rice!

tuhau @ Kokob Baru

2003-03-14T16:06:00.003+08:00

Kokob too have tuhau. Its the reminance from the forest fire.

a product ahead of its time

2003-02-14T16:43:00.004+08:00

A product ahead of its time. Yet it never got off the ground quite successfully.

Introducing tuhau

2003-01-05T09:50:00.000+08:00

Tuhau is a local kadazan term for the plant that is scientifically known as etlingera coccinea. Its a very interesting plant although not well-known.