Cuisine
Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who
you are.
~Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin~
KADAZAN CUISINE
It is easy to understand the essence of a
Kadazans traditional cuisine as it only
consists of the:
Natural
Ingredients
Traditional
Ways of
preparing
Food
INGREDIENTS
The main ingredients of a Kadazans
traditional cuisine are taken afresh from:
ones own
backyard
farms
surroundings
from a greater
resources such
as the forest
and the
rivers.
NATURAL INGREDIENTS
These are among other ingredients used in the
preparation of a Kadazans cooking.
FOOD PREPARATIONS
Food preparation methods are basic and
simple yet promote healthy and nourishing
cooking. Traditional Kadazan cuisine employs
little use of oil and involves mostly:
Boiling &
Simmering
Simmering
until dry
Salad
Pickling
Preserving
Barbequing
Non-heated
soup
Toasting
Frying
Boiling & Simmering
These methods are normally used to
prepare for food such as :
Rice
Soup
Dishes with gravy
Porridge and
Desserts such as Boiled Pumpkin
with Coconut Milk
Examples of dishes
prepared by boiling &
simmering method
Bamboo Shoots Soup
Napa' do Soko
Pohod Palm Shoots & Chicken
Napa' Tivak Pohod om Manuk
Chicken Soup with Melon
Suup Manuk om Kulobu'
Boiled Young Jackfruit with Pork
Puku om Nangko'
Chicken Soup with Rice Wine
Suup Manuk om Hiing
Simmering until dry
Simmering until dry method is used
to cook
Pinaasakan sada' for everyday dish
Tapioca for breakfast or
Sweet potato and yam for snack
Examples of dishes
prepared using the
simmering until dry
method
Fish Cooked Simmered with Bambangan
Pinaasakan Bosungan miampai
Bambangan
Cockles Cooked Simmered with Salt
Pinaasakan kokogis
Calamari Cooked Simmered with Tamarind
Pinaasakan Sutung miampai Toonsom
Jawa'
Salad
Preparing a salad the traditional
Kadazans way uses a lot of natural
ingredients such as lime, ginger,
salts, grated bambangans seeds and
proteins such as fish, prawns,
anchovies and dried prawns. A
famous Kadazans salad is the
Spanish Mackerel Hinava.
Examples of traditional
Kadazans Salad
Fish Hinava
Hinava Tongii'
Prawn Hinava
Hinava Gipan
Banana Bud Hinava
Hinava Tontidok Punti
Local Spring Onion Hinava
Hinava Bavang Sokid
Pickles & Preserves
Food preservations is not only a method to
prepare food for the Kadazan people, but it
is also a way to ration seasonal food like
the bambangan fruit. Ingredients used in a
preserve are salt and cokked rice. Foods
that are normally preserved are:
Protein : Fish and Pork
Fruits : Mango, Bambangan, Carambola
Vegetables : Wild Ginger Shoots
Examples of food
prepared through
Pickling & Preserving
Pickled Wild Ginger Shoots
Tuhau
Pounded Mango & Dried Anchovies
Tinutuk Mangga' om Bilis
Pickled Carambola
Sinuko Tulod-ulod
Preserved Bambangan
Nonsom Bambangan
Preserved Tilapia Fish
Nonsom Tilapia
Preserved Saavi Fish
Nonsom Saavi
Barbequing
The Kadazans normally barbeque their
foodstuffs over hot charcoal on an open
fire or by putting the proteins with other
ingredients in a banana leave then placed
on top of the burning charcoal.
Protein : Seafood, Freshwater Produce,
Pork, Poultry, Game
Vegetables : Wild Mushrooms, Eggplants
Barbequed
Barbequed Mushroom in Banana Leaves
Hinumpit do Kuhat
Small Fishes & Tadpoles with Bambangan
Tundongi, Handoi om Bambangan
Barbequed Stingray
Hinugu' do Pai
Toasting
Preparing food through the toasting method
is also employed in the Kadazans cuisine.
Some examples are:
Toasting of Paddy Grains for the
preparation of a dissert called Hinobok.
Toasting Rice Grains for coffee like drink
and
Toasting of Sago Flour to get Sagun for
snacks.
Frying
Frying method can be seen in two ways:
a. Dry-frying
b. Stir-frying
. Dry-frying does not use any oil and is employed in the
making of a traditional Kadazan Pancake called the
Hinungkakap.
. Stir-frying with a bit of oil is of course a cooking style very
much influenced by the Chinese. However, it is used quite
widely in the preparation of the traditional Kadazan food
nowadays such as in the cooking of traditional vegetables
such as stir-fried Fern Tips with Dried Prawns (Napa' do
Pakis).
Vegetables
Fern Tips with Dried Prawns
Napa' do Pakis
Fried Snail with Kaakatung
Ginuling Kaakatung om Tungo
Young Cucumber Leaves with freswater Fish
Napa' Tunduk Sangop om Kouk
Lonsiman with Salted Fish
Napa' Lonsiman om Kinoing
Yam Stem with Salted Fish and Carambola
Napa' Taduk, Kinoing om Tulod-ulod
A TRADITIONAL MEAL
A Kadazans family normally eats as
a family during mealtime. A meal
normally consists of:
Salads
Napa'
Staple
Me
al
Pickles
&
Preser
ves
Dissert
s
STAPLE
Rice has always been the staple food
of the Kadazans as they are also the
planters of rice.
Rice is central to the Kadazans
cuisine, as it is an ingredient for food
preservation and in the making of
rice wine.
The veneration of rice spirits
annually reflects its paramount
importance.
NAPA'
Napa' in the Kadazans language
means dish with gravy.
A traditional napa' can be any of
these categories:
BOILED
SIMMERED
Suup
Manuk om
Hiing
Pinasakan
Bosungan
BARBEQUE
D
Hinugu'
Sada'
VEGETABL
E
Ginuling
Kaakatun
g om
Tungo
NONHEATED
SOUP
Hinombu'
Sangop
NON-HEATED SOUP
Hinombu' Sangop
Hinombu' Bambangan
Hinombu' Kohopis
DISSERTS
Sago Jelly with Coconut Milk
Boiled Pumpkin with Coconut Milk
Young Coconut Juice with
Young Unripe Rice
Steamed Tapioca/ Rice Flour
in Banana Leaves
EXOTIC FOOD
The Kadazans palate can be very
adventurous and daring as they also like
to eat some exotic delicacies such as:
Butod
Sago
Grub
Tutumba
kon
Sand
Worm
Tambaiambai
Sea
Grapes
Bahat
Sea
Cucumbe
r
