The senior pastor and his wife that visited us from Australia last October brought back a few packs of smelly root (臭枳根) for me from Sibu, Sarawak while visiting their family members there.
The smelly root (I simply called it as I don't know its actual name in English) is imported from China and it can only be found in certain parts of Sarawak such as Sibu, Bintagor and Sarikei. And I believe only older generation of Foochow appreciate the root nowadays. My nephews didn't even know the existence of such thing and some of them can’t even stand the taste which is a little bit bitter :-(
My wife told me that when she was studying in primary school, her headmaster would advised his students to take the smelly root during sports day to gain extra strength so that they could run faster :-)
We cooked pork leg soup with smelly root and dried cuttlefish once in a while in the kampong when we were young. My mother used to tell us that eating the smelly root makes us stronger; our body will gain more strength and power. And that is why the kampong people like to eat it as they need strength to do heavy work in the farm.
My wife cooked the dish last Saturday, and I felt my health improved a lot after eating the dish. I think the smelly root is still as effective as what my mother used to say :-)
The root
The dish - see the root?
A zoom in view
See you next post :-)
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