- 2 weeks ago
Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey - S01 - E04
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00:30I started my journey in Cambodia, a country brought to its knees by the Khmer Rouge in the 70s.
00:37But like the whole of Southeast Asia, it ain't down for long.
00:41And I felt a sense of resurgence in the end.
00:44But I was here for the food that I found very simple and amazingly fresh tasting.
00:49And not nearly as hot as I'd expected.
00:52And there were masses of freshwater fish and prawns from the great lake and provider, the ton le sap.
01:00I went by barge down the Mekong River to Vietnam.
01:05And here I found the food to be chock full of fresh herbs, mainly water plants and thin, light stocks.
01:11In fact, the sort of food where if I'd stayed a long time, I could have lost stacks of weight.
01:16That's everything I expect of Vietnam.
01:20I mean, everything there had to be growing this morning.
01:24And it's just a delight to the eye, or the delight to a cook's eye, I have to say.
01:28Then on to Thailand, and I was knocked out by the night markets of Bangkok, especially making the famous Pad Thai, and watching the local ladies make the fiery Tom Yung Gung.
01:40The thing that really is impressive to me is how much of everything is in there.
01:4525 chillies for a start, probably a kilo of prawns, masses of mushrooms, loads of tomatoes, five limes.
01:52This is just bang, bang, bang.
01:54And that's why when you taste it, it's got such a great deep flavour.
01:59But now I'm in Malaysia, a place that conjures up images of sailing ships queuing to take on cargo of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and a British fading imperialism.
02:16This is the island of Penang, in the northwest of the country, once a British stronghold called Prince of Wales Island.
02:24Those were the days when fortunes were made out of spice trading and mining.
02:29It's a good place to explore the multifaceted cuisine of the country.
02:37The Eastern and Oriental Hotel is one of the most famous in the Far East, and a forerunner of raffles in Singapore.
02:45I love these old hotels where they say they're proud to have welcomed various people.
02:50Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, and Charlie Chaplin,
02:57who, incidentally, entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike competition in Illinois, and came in third.
03:04It was Somerset Maughan who said to eat well in England, you should have breakfast three times a day.
03:14But I think he stayed here a lot, and I think he would have probably felt that breakfast in Malaysia is a pretty good thing, too.
03:21Simply because, like everything in Malaysia, it's a sort of mixture of so many different cultures.
03:28I mean, here we've got Chinese vegetables in a sort of soup.
03:32Perhaps the most famous dish of all in Malaysia is Nasi Lemah, which is rice, but it's cooked with coconut milk and screw pine leaf, which gives it a wonderful aromatic flavour.
03:44And with the Nasi Lemah, you have a curry, maybe a prawn curry, or if you prefer it, a chicken curry.
03:54There we go.
04:24But the Straits of Malacca was once the busiest shipping channel in the world, and a magnet for pirates, raiding ships that came from far-flung places, laden with tea, spices, silk, and porcelain.
04:38I found Penang to be a really interesting place to sample the food of Malaysia.
04:44It developed here years ago when trade was at its peak, a mixture of indigenous Malay, Chinese, and southern India, and maybe the odd cucumber sandwich.
04:54For breakfast number two this morning, I'm having a roti chanai.
04:59This is an Indian dish, or Indian Malay dish, but another example of the enormous difference of food that you can get in Penang.
05:07It's lovely, it's really spicy, it's actually just a hot curry with dal in it, lots of lentils in it, very hot, and a roti, which is that wonderful thin bread that you've probably seen.
05:21They just do it like that, straight on, out.
05:24Just watching them preparing my roti chanai just now, and they're so quick.
05:28It's like, and it's done.
05:35And this, well, this is hot, sweet tea, sweetened with condensed milk, bought here by the British.
05:44Breakfast number two over.
05:46Now let me introduce you to Lawrence.
05:48He was my guide here who turned up with a minibus.
05:51I later found out he was the boss of one of the biggest travel companies in the area.
05:55He brought me here to China Street, one of the oldest parts of Georgetown.
06:00And look at this.
06:01This is not a spillover.
06:03This is actually something very superstitious for the Indian people.
06:09It's yellow turmeric.
06:11And this is done every morning after prayers to bring the shop good luck, good business.
06:16Great.
06:17Years ago, I remember Keith Floyd saying, if only TV cameras could capture smell,
06:23well, this would be the ultimate intense aromatic experience.
06:27They're grinding chilli on these really old machines left over from the days when the British ruled here.
06:33I could have walked in here 60 years ago and heard the same sound,
06:37with my throat tingling with the amount of chilli powder in the air.
06:41I can't stop.
06:44Powder is very strong.
06:46Sorry.
06:47Yeah, I'm allergic to it as well.
06:49Mutton curry powder.
06:54Mutton curry powder, fantastic.
06:57Oh, that is so nice.
06:59Lots of faddle in there.
07:00So each curry, meat, fish, they have to use different spices, different powder.
07:05Oh, this is turmeric.
07:07Turmeric, yellow, ginger.
07:09Yeah, yellow.
07:09Yes.
07:11Turmeric, yeah.
07:12Such good quality.
07:12Very good quality.
07:13Really, really special.
07:14This has actually good cancer-curing ingredients, turmeric, yeah.
07:19Yep.
07:20So we find the latest science discovery.
07:23You know, people taking turmeric,
07:25while ladies, they get lesser chance of having breast cancer.
07:28Good Lord.
07:29Yeah, it prevents the cancer from spreading to the lungs.
07:31That is turmeric, yellow ginger.
07:33Yep.
07:34I think with my two curries that morning,
07:36I'd had my daily dose of turmeric,
07:38a spice that scientists are really taking seriously.
07:41This was the Indian part of Georgetown,
07:47full of hi-fi systems, jewellery and sari shops.
07:50And all the time I was there,
07:52even though I had had two breakfasts,
07:55the smell in the air from the many spice shops made me ravenous.
07:59Oh, this is... These are all spice shops?
08:01All spice shops.
08:01Imported, exported of spices, you know?
08:04Can we go into one?
08:05Yes, yeah.
08:05Can we go into one?
08:06Yep.
08:07Oh, I just love the smell that's coming out.
08:09It's just like being in India.
08:10Everything here is fresh.
08:12What's those tiny little seeds there?
08:14Oh, this, yeah, this is called cascars.
08:17Yeah.
08:17Or the English name is poppy seed.
08:19Oh, white poppy seeds.
08:20So this is actually something that is most important
08:23when you want to make curry.
08:25Really?
08:25This makes the curry very addictive.
08:29Addictive?
08:29Yes.
08:30After you eat with this,
08:31then you come back again and again for it.
08:32It really wets your appetite.
08:34You need this as well, yeah?
08:36Fennel seeds?
08:36Fennel seeds, yeah.
08:38Yeah, fennel.
08:39Oh, yes, yeah.
08:40Very popular.
08:41And this, yeah, this is...
08:42Cloves?
08:44Cloves, yeah, the cloves, yeah?
08:46Yeah.
08:46And the British actually brought them here
08:47from the Molokas Islands.
08:49Lord.
08:49Yeah, they brought these right under the nose of the Dutch.
08:52Well, I'm blown.
08:53Yeah, yeah.
08:53Is there anywhere we can go
08:54and have some Indian food for lunch?
08:56Oh, yes.
08:56I know we just had breakfast.
08:57I know of a very nice, you know, authentic, you know,
09:01Indian Muslim restaurant right in Chinatown.
09:03It's called Hamidia.
09:05Great.
09:05Yep.
09:05Wow, it's hot, yeah?
09:11We are here now in Campbell Street, yeah?
09:14Campbell Street.
09:14Campbell Street, this road, in the early days,
09:17the Chinese actually call it First Prostitution Street.
09:20First Prostitution Street?
09:21Yes.
09:22Because those days, you find the Chinese coolies, immigrants,
09:25they came here to work,
09:27so later they have to bring in the girls.
09:29So there's a second?
09:30That's a second class.
09:32The older ones, they move to the second class.
09:33Cheaper?
09:34Cheaper, of course.
09:35And in the middle, there's Sintra Street,
09:37that is a Japanese prostitution street.
09:40That's very convenient.
09:40Yeah.
09:41So we are now here, actually,
09:42you can smell the food we had at Hamidia's, yeah?
09:44It's one of the pioneer Indian Muslim restaurants
09:48specialised in Nasi Khanda,
09:49something that is original from Penang.
09:51It's a lunch?
09:52Yes, yeah.
09:56This is the ultimate curry experience.
10:00I don't know how many they're expecting for lunch,
10:02but there's enough here to feed hundreds.
10:04This is the famous beef rendang,
10:06and the whole spectrum of curries from all over India
10:10is reflected here.
10:11All have to pass the taste test.
10:14When you're with Indians over here,
10:16you're never far from the ingenious mechanical device
10:19to make life a little easier.
10:21My mouth was watering at the thought of lunch,
10:24and here it comes.
10:25And this plate, this is the mutaba.
10:27Mutaba.
10:28We were having a regular favourite,
10:30curried pigeon,
10:32the famous chicken capitain,
10:34cooked in coconut milk,
10:36spicy vegetables,
10:37and, of course, rice.
10:39How do we eat?
10:40We haven't got our own plates, have we?
10:42Yes, normally we eat this with our fingers.
10:45Just get a dish, you know,
10:47put on the rice,
10:48mix it with the curry,
10:49and then you pick it up, eat it.
10:51Yeah.
10:51You are eating more like local now.
10:54Yeah.
10:54Just like they say,
10:55when you're in Rome,
10:56you eat like the Romans do.
10:57Very much so.
10:58Yeah.
10:58So what does Nasi Khanda mean then?
11:00Does it mean the whole thing?
11:02Actually, Nasi means rice,
11:04and Khanda actually means the stick.
11:06Stick?
11:07You know, it's a stick about seven feet long,
11:08where the rice paddler put on the shoulder,
11:12and they've got two bamboo,
11:13you know, retten bamboo to hold two pots.
11:15Oh, I see pictures.
11:16And on the rice, one end is curry.
11:18So this is originally started as a workers' lunch.
11:21It is people selling Nasi Khanda,
11:23they carry it on the stick,
11:25and they go to the pot,
11:26to the harbour area,
11:27sell it to the workers.
11:29And in those days, for just five cents,
11:30you can have rice with a chicken or a meat with a curry.
11:34So it's a poor man's lunch.
11:36Fabulous.
11:37Yeah.
11:37I asked many Malaysians to tell me their favourite dish,
11:41and all of them said beef rendang.
11:43I'm never quite sure where beef rendang comes from.
11:47This, we saw it in the Hamadir restaurant,
11:49the great vat of it.
11:51But it's interesting, rendang,
11:53because it's part a sort of curry,
11:55but part, almost a pickle,
11:57because I read somewhere,
11:59the point of it is that you slaughter a whole beast
12:02in a hot country without any refrigeration.
12:04What do you do with it all?
12:06You can't refrigerate it.
12:07So you cook it with lots of spice,
12:10lots of paste,
12:11which acts as a preservative,
12:14as well as producing a thoroughly delicious dish.
12:17So now for the paste.
12:18This is central to any South East Asian dish,
12:23whether it's Indian, Thai or Malay.
12:27Well, I mean, it's not just any old paste,
12:29it's pretty special.
12:31I mean, this is what the whole dish is about,
12:33this rendang.
12:34I just thought I'd sort of show you, really,
12:36what goes into the paste.
12:38I mean, one of the worries I have with all these dishes
12:41is these paste,
12:42because they're so essential to the dish,
12:46and there's a lot of ingredients that goes into it.
12:48But if you just buy this stuff in supermarkets,
12:51you never get that sort of wonderfully fragrant flavour
12:55that you'll get from things like using fresh turmeric
12:57and galangal,
12:59which you can get all over the place,
13:01particularly in Chinese supermarkets now,
13:04fresh chilli, of course,
13:05and fresh coconut,
13:06not your tin stuff.
13:08You've got to grate that
13:09and use the coconut.
13:11Shallots, good garlic,
13:13plenty of chillies,
13:14and some coriander and cumin.
13:16Well, obviously, you've got to grind that first
13:18and then pound them
13:20if you've got a big enough mortar,
13:21but a food processor does the job perfectly well.
13:25There's a lot of work,
13:26but it is absolutely essential
13:27if you really want to taste that sort of
13:30mind-blowing flavour,
13:32that aromatic quality
13:33of something like a good beef rendang.
13:36Now to assemble the curry.
13:39First of all,
13:39I'm using a couple of tins of coconut milk
13:42and plenty of lemongrass.
13:44Give them a good old thump
13:45to make sure their flavour infuses into the rendang,
13:49and, of course, cinnamon.
13:50I always think of cigars when I look at them.
13:53Next, tear up as much
13:55as eight kaffir lime leaves
13:57for fragrance,
13:58complemented by a generous portion of tamarind juice,
14:01which has been previously strained
14:03to remove the stones.
14:05Finally, some salt,
14:07and then let the rendang simmer
14:09for about two and a half hours
14:10until the beef has become tender.
14:13Before serving,
14:14remove the stalks of lemongrass.
14:17A spoon of palm sugar
14:19rounds off the flavours nicely.
14:21This cucumber and coconut salad
14:24works well alongside the rendang.
14:27I've added freshly grated coconut
14:29to the deseeded cucumbers
14:31and some thinly sliced shallots,
14:34and then some red chillies
14:35with the seeds taken out.
14:37Then I made a dressing of coconut milk,
14:40lime juice and sugar.
14:42I didn't add any more salt
14:44because I'd used that
14:45to crisp up the cucumbers
14:47when I deseeded and sliced them.
14:49These eastern salads,
14:51so unlike ours in the West,
14:53are the making of something like a rendang.
14:56And if I was doing a series entitled
14:58The Best Curries in the World,
15:00the noble beef rendang
15:02would definitely be a star attraction.
15:03What I like about Georgetown
15:09is that your mind could easily slip back
15:12into the days of pith helmets,
15:13tiffin and gin slings.
15:16But next minute,
15:17you're in a bustling market.
15:19I really think that Penang
15:21is the food capital of Malaysia.
15:24Eating out is so cheap
15:26and the variety so immense.
15:29I just find things like this
15:30totally fascinating.
15:32I mean, who would have ever
15:33dreamt up this way
15:35of cooking rice noodle pancakes?
15:38What he does is just ladle
15:39some rice batter onto a cloth
15:42which is on a hot, steamy surface.
15:44And then he's sprinkling
15:46some sweet pork and prawns on it.
15:53It's really interesting
15:55the way he turns it out
15:56onto this oiled surface.
16:00He just peels it away.
16:01See, that just peels it away
16:03from the cloth
16:04and producing this
16:06really, really light,
16:08lovely breakfast dish.
16:10This is a Cantonese dish,
16:12Qi Chong Fun,
16:14and named rather prosaically,
16:16I think,
16:16after its strong resemblance
16:18to the small intestine of a pig.
16:20This chap learnt his trade
16:22working in a dim sum restaurant
16:23and having perfected the art,
16:26he did what any self-respecting
16:27Cantonese would do,
16:29set up his own stall.
16:31The dish is finished off
16:32with a stock flavoured
16:33with sweet soy sauce.
16:35Because a lot of the breakfast
16:37that you can have
16:37in these hawker stalls
16:38is either deep fried
16:40or shellified.
16:41It's quite fatty.
16:41So this is particularly
16:43in favour with those people
16:45who want to lose
16:46a bit of weight.
16:47Like me.
16:50I remember that programme
16:51called the Generation Game
16:53where things look so very easy
16:55until you try them.
16:56This is a case in point.
16:59Mr Lim has been making
17:00these spring roll skins
17:01for over 50 years
17:03and I bet people would say,
17:04don't you get bored
17:05doing the same thing
17:06day after day?
17:07I can assure you
17:08he wouldn't be bored.
17:08You can just see
17:09how much he's enjoying it.
17:10Because there's so much
17:12skill involved.
17:13I have never seen
17:14spring roll wrappers
17:16as thin as that.
17:17Nowadays, of course,
17:18they're made by machine
17:19and Mr Lim is the last person
17:22making them by hand
17:23in the whole of Penang.
17:24He's a true food hero
17:25in my view
17:26and I bet when he goes
17:28everybody will be sad.
17:31I get the same feeling
17:33walking through the market streets
17:34as I did when I was a kid
17:36going to the very first fun fair.
17:37All sorts of wonderful things
17:39being made
17:40and enticing smells
17:41from the various stalls.
17:44I feel the same sense
17:46of excitement 50 years later.
17:48I don't have a clue
17:49as to what's in half
17:50of the delicacies on offer here.
17:56Mmm.
17:58Gelatinous,
17:59soft to the palate
18:00with lots of tiny little bones.
18:04chicken's feet.
18:09Chicken's feet, yes.
18:11Oh, chicken's feet.
18:12Chicken's feet.
18:17One's enough.
18:19Yes, one chicken's foot
18:21is enough for a lifetime.
18:23Early the next morning
18:24I met up with
18:25a Malaysian food writer,
18:26Faye Koo,
18:27whose passion in life
18:28is the street food of Penang.
18:30Hi, Rick.
18:31How did you do?
18:31Very nice to meet you.
18:32And you.
18:33It's a bit early in the morning.
18:34Um,
18:35is this where we're going in?
18:36Yeah,
18:36we're going to have breakfast
18:37at one of my favourite,
18:39favourite hawker stalls.
18:40Yeah.
18:40If you don't get here by,
18:41you know,
18:427.15,
18:427.30,
18:43it's all over.
18:44I see.
18:45We're going to have
18:45something called
18:46hockey and me.
18:47Hockey and me?
18:48Yeah, you're going to have
18:48to like scoot around
18:49this, scoot around the curtain.
18:51Is that keeping the sun off?
18:52Yeah.
18:53Why, why my buck?
18:55What are you ordering?
18:55Ah, beautiful meat.
18:56We're going to have
18:57two bowls of the,
18:58the, the soup,
18:59noodle soup,
18:59with the egg noodles
19:01and the rice noodles
19:02and then those vegetables,
19:03beansprouts.
19:04They're very lightly,
19:05lightly cooked.
19:06So what you have
19:06in the left pot
19:07is actually just hot water
19:08where they cook the noodles
19:09and the right pot
19:10is the soup.
19:11I see.
19:12Ah, that's good.
19:14Okay, come see her.
19:15Come see her.
19:16Grab a chopstick full of noodles.
19:18Yeah.
19:18Put it against the spoon.
19:19Drag it up.
19:20Make sure you don't splash me.
19:21Oh, I see.
19:22Ah, you see?
19:23You see?
19:23And then you'll
19:24gently drop it in
19:25and sort of like,
19:26and then?
19:28You're like a helicopter landing.
19:29You're going to have to
19:30blow on that
19:31before you put it in your mouth
19:32because it's going to burn you.
19:36So, um,
19:37you're a bit of a,
19:38um, a regular
19:39at this, um,
19:41joint then,
19:41are you, Faye?
19:47Mmm.
19:47Nice, good?
19:49What?
19:49Yeah.
19:50Just tell me this place.
19:51It's really busy.
19:52Is it just,
19:52does one person
19:53own the whole thing?
19:54No, no, no, no, no.
19:55This is the breakfast operators.
19:57Right.
19:57Then they pack up
19:58and they run off
19:58to the stock exchange
19:59or wherever they go to.
20:00Stock exchange?
20:01Yeah, you know,
20:02they earn their money
20:02and they go and speculate.
20:04What, these guys take,
20:05really?
20:06What, cash?
20:07Yeah.
20:08Cash is king.
20:09So they leave
20:10and then the next chef
20:11comes in
20:12and they set up for lunch.
20:13And then they serve lunch.
20:14Different people.
20:15Three chefs a day,
20:16my friend.
20:17Now that,
20:19that, to me,
20:20that, to me,
20:21is Asia.
20:22That is Asia
20:23in a sort of...
20:23Resourceful.
20:24Resourceful.
20:24Resourceful
20:25and always thinking.
20:26Yeah, yeah.
20:30Faye is just the sort of person
20:31to explore food with.
20:33Her enthusiasm
20:33knows no bounds.
20:35She's knowledgeable
20:36and has,
20:37I found out later,
20:38a prodigious appetite.
20:39So we made a beeline
20:41for a market.
20:42Yeah, let's make
20:42some fish head curry.
20:43Would they mind
20:44if I get them a sniff?
20:45I was like...
20:45Yeah, I think you should.
20:46The smell test
20:47is very important.
20:48No, they're good.
20:49They're fine.
20:49They're good?
20:49Ready to go?
20:50Yeah, yeah.
20:51Should we get one or two?
20:52Let's get...
20:52Well, let's just get two.
20:53Just in case I...
20:54You get hungry?
20:55Just in case I get hungry.
20:57The fish head...
20:58Please, I...
20:59Could we, I'll just check?
21:00Oh,
21:01These heads from Grouper
21:03are highly prized here.
21:05In Britain,
21:05I don't think
21:06we have ever
21:06taken to the notion
21:07that fish heads
21:08are a great delicacy
21:09and I don't think
21:10we ever will.
21:12I feel also
21:13like asking
21:13if you'd like
21:14a job back in Padstow.
21:16Yeah, exactly.
21:17Thank you very much.
21:18Thank you, thank you.
21:20Thank you, thank you.
21:21So we're out of fish.
21:23Well, we're now
21:24into the vegetable and fruit.
21:25Veg.
21:26Yeah.
21:27We'll just help ourselves.
21:28Shall we?
21:28What do we need?
21:29Ladies' fingers?
21:30Yeah, definitely.
21:31How much shall we put?
21:31Kilo, I suppose.
21:32Something like that.
21:32Kilo?
21:33Yeah, yeah.
21:35Enough?
21:36I reckon there's enough, right?
21:37That's good.
21:38Some chilli?
21:39Chilli, yeah.
21:40Yeah, I reckon some chilli.
21:41How hot are they?
21:43They're burnt chilli.
21:44They're pretty hot.
21:46They will be very hot.
21:47Do you think this is a good representative dish
21:49of Penang, the fish head...
21:50Oh, yeah, yeah.
21:51I mean, in Penang, you've got all the major races here.
21:54I mean, Chinese, the Malays, the Indians.
21:56Yeah, yeah.
21:57And everybody makes a version of fish curry,
21:59but the one we're making now is made popularly
22:01by all the Malaysian, Indians, and Chinese.
22:04Fantastic.
22:04All use pretty much the same recipe.
22:06So we're going to get a very good representation
22:08of pretty much all the Penang guys.
22:10I'm looking forward to that.
22:12Local cucumbers.
22:14Cucumbers.
22:14It's got slightly more bitter.
22:16They're more shallots.
22:16Japanese cucumbers.
22:17What are those?
22:18Oh, that's lemongrass.
22:20Lemongrass it isn't.
22:22Isn't it?
22:22Nah.
22:23I thought it was...
22:24What is it?
22:25Lemongrass.
22:26Ginger flower.
22:28I was just testing you.
22:30I was just testing you.
22:31I wanted to make sure you knew.
22:35Faye was extremely keen for me to know about her Chinese origins
22:38and wanted to show me the family clan house
22:41in the heart of Georgetown.
22:42Are you getting ready?
22:43Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:44OK.
22:45Wow.
22:46This is it.
22:47Do you like it?
22:48Blimey.
22:49It's been recently restored.
22:50I mean, it's just amazing.
22:52Look at all the stuff on the roof.
22:54Yeah.
22:55So this is a clan house?
22:56It's a clan house for the coups.
22:59My name is Coo, and essentially, this is my clan house,
23:03although because I'm a female.
23:05You're not short of a bobbetsu.
23:06Well, you know, there are a lot of coups around.
23:08Coo's a sort of communist smith in the UK, I suppose.
23:11So are all your ancestors there?
23:14Well, technically, it's very patriarchal, so it's sexist, you know?
23:19What?
23:19My father's in there, my brother's in there,
23:21all their names are on the board,
23:23but I am a girl, so I am not in there.
23:26Get away.
23:27I know, it's shocking, but there you go.
23:29Well, I'm blown.
23:31She took me to her friend's house to cook the fish head curry.
23:34She said her kitchen was far too modern,
23:36so she thought I'd prefer a more traditional setting.
23:39You know, despite my mother's best efforts,
23:41I sort of graduated from the school of peasant cooking technique.
23:45Well, same here, Faye, so I'm quite happy with that.
23:48She insisted on using a ready-made curry powder.
23:51You sprinkle that onto fried onions and add other spices.
23:55I can smell, I think it's fennel seed, I'm sure there's fennel seed.
23:58Yeah, there's definitely fennel, there's cumin, there's turmeric,
24:00there's a bit of galangal.
24:02All right, coriander seed?
24:03Coriander seed, yeah, yeah, all that sort of stuff.
24:06All the good things that go into local curries.
24:09And this was followed by tamarind juice, shallots and okra,
24:13or ladies' fingers as we know them, and chopped tomatoes.
24:17And when we're ready for it...
24:18Well, maybe the fish.
24:19Oh, yeah, there's fish. I've got to season the fish. Hang on.
24:21Do you want me to do it?
24:23Are you saying I'm too delicate?
24:25Yeah, no, I just love fish. I don't mind.
24:28I just think you'll be moaning about the smell of fish, doesn't it?
24:30I don't moan about fishy-smelling hands.
24:34Well, OK, fair enough, fair enough.
24:38Ow!
24:39I just caught me fingers on some teeth.
24:41Who's moaning now?
24:43OK, Rick, keep going on. Let me stand back.
24:46What are you worried about? I just throw the whole lot in.
24:49Eh?
24:49I wouldn't worry about it, because you're worried about getting a splash in your blouse and everything, aren't you?
24:56OK, I'm just going to throw in the bird chilli, which, as you know, is pretty lethal, especially the seeds.
25:02And that's exactly how I like them.
25:05When making a curry, what's the point of compromising?
25:08It's got to be the whole chilli.
25:09I've added some curry leaves, a little extra water, and then some fresh coconut milk.
25:15This was made in the market this morning.
25:17You know, talk about east is east and west is west.
25:21Mention fish head curry to a westerner, and they look at you most strangely.
25:25But here, it's king.
25:28Is it good?
25:29It's very good.
25:30I can just say that.
25:31No, I'm not. Taste it.
25:32OK, I'll have a go.
25:33It's miraculous.
25:35I mean, there is so much flavour in there already.
25:38And by the time...
25:38Oh, my God, yeah.
25:39I mean, one thing that occurs to me, this is probably the world's, the place to go in the world for fusion cooking, isn't it?
25:46Because you've got complete fusion between, you know, Chinese, India, Malay.
25:52Well, Nonya is great proof of fusion cooking before fusion cooking was invented in the west, you know?
25:59When the Malay and the Chinese, you know, started, like, getting a little bit frisky and they got together,
26:03they created their own culinary subculture.
26:06And that was fusion already, because Malay cooking and Chinese cooking was fused together
26:09to create a cooking that had its own distinct identity, and that's Nonya, or Peranakan cuisine.
26:17So, yeah, fusion, definitely.
26:19We have a lot of examples of fusion cooking here.
26:21Fusion city.
26:23Being a connoisseur of fish, I was, of course, very keen to try the eyeballs.
26:28It just kind of, like, crumbles off the... crumbles off the book.
26:30Here it goes with the eyeball.
26:34Mmm.
26:36It is, as I thought, like eating a jellied eel back home in London.
26:43A jellied eel.
26:44Yeah.
26:45And the thing that really I understand about it is it's very fatty.
26:49It's got a lovely, lovely sort of viscous taste to it.
26:53And the actual ball right in the middle, you can't eat.
26:55It's just like a piece of...
26:56Solid.
26:57Solid.
26:57Yeah.
26:58But I am a fan.
27:00Quite partial to it?
27:01Yeah, I am.
27:02Fantastic.
27:02There's three more in there for you.
27:03There's three more in there for you.
27:08Being an admirer of Joseph Conrad,
27:12I can't help but think what he must have seen here 100 years ago
27:16when Penang was enjoying a trade boom in tin, cloves, nutmeg and pepper.
27:21And, of course, it was linked by ships sailing to Rangoon, Madras and Singapore,
27:27so there would be miles of these little piers and warehouses busy loading cargo.
27:32Crews would inevitably go ashore looking for a good time.
27:36It still has faint echoes of that life,
27:39but for Conrad, this place would have been manna from heaven for his novels.
27:46There's not a great deal of love, generally speaking,
27:48for old buildings in the Far East.
27:51I know the Chinese, for instance, would rather have brand-new ones.
27:55My great-grandfather was a Methodist missionary in Guangzhou in China
28:01and I went out there recently to do a TV programme about him.
28:05And his mission is now a Starbucks.
28:12Penang didn't disappoint and I'd go back like a shot, purely because of the food.
28:17I'm off to Langkawi Island, to the north of Penang.
28:26This is a place I know well.
28:28I've been on a few holidays here, staying in traditional houses like this.
28:32I really like it, although these places are not mosquito-proof.
28:37But you do feel you're actually in a strange and romantic place
28:41and not in some air-conditioned high-rise hotel with Muzak.
28:45All the time I've been making seafood programmes, I've always wanted to go out squid fishing.
28:55Well, I have been out on one or two occasions, but we didn't catch anything.
28:58But tonight it's going to happen.
29:01It's a very calm sea, the tide's right, there's loads of squid at the moment and it's overcast.
29:08Yes, it's going to happen.
29:10Well, all I do know is that they put these lights on.
29:17They're waiting for the squid, for it to get dark, and then they'll turn these lights on.
29:22And just as it's getting dark, apparently that's the best time the squid will come to the surface.
29:27So we're all waiting with bated breath.
29:32I love this. I always think that fishing's a bit like gambling.
29:36You don't really know the outcome.
29:39You could have a brilliant night, but then again, it could be what the fishermen in Cornwall call a black net.
29:45Nothing.
29:46I don't know how this rain affects the squid, except it makes everything turn quite surreal, almost dreamlike.
29:54And although I'm soaked through with warm rain, I wouldn't have missed this for the world.
29:59The lights that attract the squid work best when the moon is hidden by cloud,
30:04or indeed when it's a sliver, a new moon, so the squid won't be distracted by it.
30:09Now for the moment of truth.
30:11Like moths to a flame, I can only imagine the squid swimming towards the light and their eventual doom.
30:24Throughout my travels in Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean as well, this has been a common sight.
30:31Hundreds of twinkling lights a mile or so from the shore, tempting squid to the surface.
30:37Well, that's it. The mystery's been revealed. I didn't quite know how it was done. Now I do.
30:43But I've never seen anything like that netting before. And the way he changed the lights.
30:47He used the white lights to bring the squid up from deep down and the red lights to bring him right up to the surface.
30:54So he just zaps the red light on when he's just about to throw the net and then throws the net.
31:00And I mean, he's catching so much. I've just found out he can catch as much as 80 kilos a night.
31:06So it's really good fishing at the moment.
31:09I was told by the fishermen that the coming of the rain was a godsend because it broke up the surface of the water so the net would be harder to spot.
31:22I cooked squid back at home in Padstow. I got some seriously fresh ones from Cornwall, cleaned them and put them on skewers on the barbie.
31:30That night on those squid boats was just wonderful. And just the whole vision of those lit up boats everywhere and it was so warm and peaceful and barbie.
31:40It did rain a bit, but it's warm rain.
31:43Well, the next night we went to a night market in a village somewhere on Langkawi and I saw them making satays.
31:49They were making chicken and beef and these squid ones.
31:52And they were marinating the squid in something, but I wasn't quite sure what it was.
31:56So I made this up. I just take some fish sauce and lime juice and some sugar and just roasted some spices, cumin, coriander and a bit of chilli, mixed it all up.
32:07It's pretty good. And it's very nice squid too.
32:12To set the squid off to perfection, make a dipping sauce.
32:16To start with, fry off the usual suspects, all finely chopped.
32:21They are shallots, garlic, ginger and a red chilli or two in a light vegetable oil.
32:27You just want to soften them and start to flavour the oil.
32:31Try not to let them take on any colour and then get them smartly off the heat.
32:36When it's cooled down a little, put it into a small bowl and add some light soy sauce and the juice from a couple of limes.
32:44Then some sugar, preferably palm sugar, but brown sugar is okay if that's all you have.
32:50Now some chopped peanuts, a little more oil and the remains of the marinade that the squid has been soaking in.
32:56Lastly, stir in some coarsely chopped coriander and then all you have to do is sear the squid satays over your charcoal barbecue until you see the edges begin to caramelise.
33:09No need to take them further than that.
33:13I really like collecting dishes like this on my travels.
33:17They say travel broadens the mind.
33:20Well, it certainly extends one's cooking repertoire.
33:23Set them onto a warm plate and call your guests.
33:26Now it's just a question of dip and tuck in.
33:30Well, I must say, just looking at that, it's bound to be nice.
33:34But I do think it is very bad manners for us television cooks to try our own food and say how delicious it is.
33:42But it is. Very.
33:44Like many places I've been to on my travels, Lenkawi is surrounded by mangroves, that curious tree with a labyrinth of roots.
33:56A plant that thrives in a place that's neither land nor sea.
34:0070% of Malaysia's fish stocks are there because the mangroves are a wonderful nursery for fish.
34:06Ershad, my guide, is the mangroves' number one fan.
34:11At high tide like we are going through right now, Mr and Mrs Fish, Mrs and Mrs Prawns, they swim all the way up.
34:18They get into these little areas, they spawn, their little eggs will hatch.
34:22Baby fish, baby prawns use this as a wonderful nursery to live in.
34:27I also read that areas where there were mangroves swabs during the tsunami were better protected than other areas. Why was that?
34:37A 200 metre wide belt of mangroves will dissipate the energy of the tsunami by at least more than 75%.
34:49So do you think that the governments have realised the importance of them?
34:53Yes, yes, definitely. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a heart attack for us to change our ways.
35:02I mean, this is lovely here, it's so calm and so... I mean, you work and you live here.
35:08What does it mean to you, sort of, well, spiritually, I suppose?
35:11I love the way you say spiritually because this is an aspect, I think it's our moral duty to protect the very thing we love.
35:22It's not only our moral duty, but I like your word to say, it's also our spiritual duty, because this is a temple.
35:33And you look at the beautiful hills here, you can see...
35:35I couldn't agree more, I mean, it's just like... It's wonderful.
35:40..or Shad recommended we have lunch at this place. In fact, it's a fish farm as well as a restaurant.
35:53We had a spicy green mango salad. Will I ever get tired of them?
35:58And an assortment of really hot, spicy dipping sauces.
36:02I had to have the mud crab. Where there are mangroves, there are always mud crabs and deep-fried prawns.
36:11These are lovely prawns.
36:12They get it out in the open sea, just out of the river mark here.
36:16But they would have started their life here.
36:19Exactly, the whole cycle is now complete.
36:21Out from the mangroves into the open sea and then back into our plates.
36:26And these are mud crabs again?
36:28Yeah, this would have been got just out in the mangroves that we were enjoying just now.
36:34That's delicious mud crab, isn't it? Fantastic flavour.
36:38And that's the mango salad.
36:40So you can take spicy stuff, eh?
36:43Mmm!
36:44After about a week, you sort of settled down.
36:47And now, to be honest, if I have a sort of hamburger, as I did the other night, from Western food,
36:54it just seems really heavy, you know?
36:57I just love this rice, fish.
37:00The flavours of the spice, is it?
37:02Absolutely. And the hotter, the better.
37:04How are you going to go back now?
37:05I don't know!
37:07A fish restaurant on a fish farm. It's giving me ideas.
37:13This, this, they would get their stock from the wild.
37:17Uh-huh.
37:18And they'll raise it up here.
37:19A few more years.
37:20What are those, then?
37:21These are trevallis.
37:22Oh, they're lovely fish. Enormous.
37:24These are splendid fish and good fighters, if you're lucky enough to get one on the line.
37:28They taste wonderful, as any Aussie fish and chip shop owner will tell you.
37:32But now Ershad suggests a little feeding session of our own.
37:36Go on, then.
37:37It's like this.
37:38It's coming to you.
37:39Once here.
37:40I got bitten once feeding a horse sugar lumps, so I'm a little bit nervous about my fingers,
37:53because, curiously, I've never fed a blinking great skate like this before.
37:58Oh!
37:59Pathetic, I know.
38:00Try to get under it.
38:01There you go.
38:02Very nice.
38:03Good Lord.
38:04What do you feel like cooking skate now?
38:05I do feel a bit, a bit sorry, actually.
38:06They've got so gentle eyes.
38:07They've got gentle eyes, exactly.
38:08It's like when you look at an eel's eyes, they're very intelligent.
38:09You think, I'm never going to eat another eel.
38:10Same with these.
38:11Hello.
38:12Hello.
38:13Hello.
38:14Hello.
38:15Hello.
38:16Hello.
38:17Hello.
38:18Hello.
38:19Hello.
38:20Hello.
38:22Here we go.
38:23Hello.
38:24Hello.
38:25Please.
38:28Hello.
38:29I must have been utterly astonished by the force of this tropical storm,
38:58but like most tropical storms, it ends quickly,
39:02and I wouldn't be surprised if we're not going to have blue skies
39:05in about half an hour.
39:06It's that quick.
39:07My gosh, when it happens, it's quite something.
39:10I'm having a lovely comforting bowl of bihan soup,
39:15which is rice noodles.
39:17They're actually coloured with turmeric, the noodles,
39:21because the idea of yellow noodles implies wealth
39:25and, therefore, it gives it a bit of upmarketness
39:28having these yellow noodles as opposed to the white ones.
39:32And it's just simply these very thin noodles
39:34with a stock made with beef and sliced onions
39:38and star anise and cinnamon and some galangol.
39:42Also in the stock are fennel seeds, cardamom, poppy seeds,
39:48black pepper, cloves and pound-down leaves.
39:51And it's simmered for hours and hours until you get this fantastic flavour out of it.
39:59And then the soup's just made up with the noodles.
40:03They've got very important other ingredients.
40:06First of all, and most importantly, is a type of pickled radish that they use,
40:10spring onions and fried shallots, deep-fried for their crisps.
40:16And also some celery herb, which is not quite like celery tops.
40:20It's a bit more pungent.
40:21It's a member of the parsley family.
40:23And finally, they serve up some sambal,
40:27which is just a paste made with grilled chillies.
40:31You can put as much of that in as you like.
40:34And I just think it's a perfect thing for a rainy afternoon.
40:40From Langkawi, I thought I'd skip the rain and head back south to Malacca.
40:53Before Penang became famous as a place to trade,
40:56Malacca had already become a melting pot of cultures,
40:59all centred around spice.
41:01The Portuguese were the first Europeans to bring spices
41:05to the Western world from here.
41:07And then the Dutch, seeing all this money being made,
41:11decided to get a bit of the action.
41:13And then around a couple of hundred years ago,
41:15the British took control.
41:17I learnt all this from a brief visit to the museum.
41:20Food is a history all of its own.
41:22They've even got a replica Portuguese trading ship
41:26down at the old docks to amuse the tourists.
41:29And more importantly,
41:30to remind them of Malacca's significance in the world.
41:33I think you really have to come to somewhere like Malacca
41:37to sort of really feel the importance of spice historically
41:41to our own country.
41:43It's only when you sort of smell the smells and feel the heat
41:47that you realise that spice here virtually grows wild.
41:53And it's cheap. It would have been so cheap.
41:56But take those spices which would be so distant to life
42:00in the 13th, 14th, 15th century in Britain and bring them there.
42:05No wonder they fetched such enormous money.
42:08I mean, apart from anything,
42:09half the stuff I imagine that they ate there
42:11was sort of verging on the rotting.
42:13So it had an enormous import in making food palatable and pleasant.
42:19But just think of the sort of...
42:21The smell of something like nutmeg or cinnamon or cloves
42:25or even pepper to somebody in the 14th century in England.
42:29How exotic it would be.
42:30It would be like...
42:31It would be more wonderful than gold.
42:34When I was here last week, I met up with a curious man,
42:40a television chef who's amazingly popular.
42:45He's Jamie and Delia rolled into one
42:48and he virtually gets mobbed wherever he goes.
42:51He's chef one and he certainly knows his stuff.
42:54Well, he should do. He's Malaysian.
42:57Exactly. The trade helps to connect to every part of the world.
43:00So our cuisine is a bodot cuisine from what is existing now.
43:03Malay, Malaysian.
43:05And then today we have a bit of Pakistani,
43:07a bit of India, a bit of Africa, Sri Lanka.
43:09We have everything.
43:10As we say, Malaysia truly Asia.
43:12We are beautiful people.
43:14Darling, you're looking at chef one.
43:16How long have you been doing this for then, chef one?
43:20I ain't no spring chicken no more.
43:2221 years old.
43:2321, I think you're that long, huh?
43:25I think I got a bit to learn from you, to be honest.
43:28I mean, you're great.
43:29It's all about passion.
43:30I mean, you're fantastic too.
43:31I love this guy.
43:32I mean, I've seen all his shows and watched his programme
43:34and I buy all his books, yeah?
43:36Really.
43:37I do.
43:38When I get invited, I say...
43:39Right, right.
43:40I can't take this flattery any longer.
43:43One of the food styles in Malaysia that I haven't seen much of so far
43:47is Nonya.
43:48That's a mixture of Malay and Chinese.
43:50And here, I've been told by chef one is the place to try it run by two cousins, Amy and Florence.
43:57Florence is the chatty one.
43:59This is my lovely cousin.
44:00We grew up together.
44:01Very nice to meet you.
44:02So what are you cooking today?
44:03Yes.
44:04Today we're going to cook a special dish.
44:06It is called spicy chicken.
44:08Our food has got influences of Malay and Chinese.
44:11That is, we use Chinese ingredients.
44:14For example, we have black mushrooms, we have light soya sauce, dark soya sauce.
44:18And then we have the Malay herbs and the Malay spices.
44:21These two combinations are, I tell you, raised mine.
44:25When you eat them, all your senses will fly up to the sky.
44:30This paste is made from red chillies, both fresh and dry.
44:34Then shrimp paste, galangal, lemongrass, shallots, garlic and candle nuts.
44:39And it's all put into a blender.
44:41This is very important.
44:42The secret in producing a good curry is to cook until it is fragrant.
44:48And that is when the oil surfaces to the top.
44:51Our nonya technique of cooking, the fire must never be high.
44:55It should be just moderate.
44:57So it goes on slow fire, then the thing gets radiant, then the fragrance is better.
45:02Patience.
45:03There's patience, baby.
45:04Just while the curry is cooking gently, tell me, is nonya food as popular as ever
45:10or is it increasing in popularity?
45:12Unfortunately, it is.
45:13It is a slowly dying art, you know, because people nowadays,
45:16they don't take the time to do the food properly.
45:20And also our parents at that time, when they cook, they'll just, you know, say,
45:23oh, this is about 10 chillies and these onions like that.
45:26So the children, therefore, because their parents are excellent chefs,
45:30so they don't learn.
45:31But we, Amy and myself, you know, at this age, we feel that we want,
45:35we want the future generations to know about that food that is lasted about 600 years.
45:40That's lovely.
45:41Right.
45:42As you see, the oil has surfaces to the top, Amy, and then...
45:47Mmm!
45:48It produces a wonderful aroma.
45:50We are going to put in our chicken.
45:52There you are.
45:53And we will stir fry it.
45:55Once the chicken is cooked about five minutes, I'm going to put in lemongrass.
46:00Lemongrass.
46:01So that's more lemongrass, but some in the paste.
46:03Yes.
46:04Only two in the paste.
46:05And then this.
46:06If you have.
46:07If you don't have, it doesn't matter.
46:08OK.
46:09I'm going to bruise it to extract more flavour.
46:11OK.
46:12Here we go.
46:13Wow!
46:14So you must have this big flavour.
46:24Florence, I can't help noticing as soon as you started cooking, you've come to life.
46:27I mean, cooking must mean an awful lot to you, doesn't it?
46:30Yes.
46:31I love cooking and I love eating, because I feel that when you know how to cook, you
46:36can eat your food any time you want.
46:38But if you depend on others, right, to cook, then you have to wait for them until they're
46:43ready.
46:44You say, can I have this?
46:45I have no time now.
46:46Later.
46:47I mean, what I'm sort of thinking now is you're very petite, and Amy, you're very neat
46:51and wonderfully nicely dressed.
46:54The idea of somebody like you or your mother or grandmother sort of banging and banging
46:59banging, banging, banging, banging.
47:00But I watch you whacking that lemongrass.
47:03So you've got to...
47:04Absolutely.
47:05This is going to the gym.
47:06And she also, we do line dance, you know?
47:11Do you, darling?
47:12Yes.
47:13To be healthy, we have to eat a balanced diet, we have to exercise well, and we have to
47:17sleep well.
47:18And on top of that, we must be very kind.
47:20We must share our knowledge.
47:21Whatever you have, no secrets.
47:23Except, as I said, you share everything in the world, except husband.
47:27Oh, my...
47:28Sorry, sorry.
47:29It's all right.
47:30It's all right.
47:31It's all right.
47:32It's all right.
47:33Okay.
47:34That's it.
47:35Okay.
47:36Now.
47:37Ah.
47:38Okay.
47:39Now, Rick.
47:40Can I taste it?
47:41Let's try.
47:42Yes.
47:43And then...
47:44That's got so much flavour.
47:47Rick, we are in business.
47:50They were great girls, but what crossed my mind was what happens when Florence and Amy,
47:56and people like them, give up cooking and passing on this knowledge.
48:01I personally think the Western world would be so much the poorer if it hadn't been for
48:07the trade that came from Malacca in those heady days of exploration and commerce.
48:12Well, we wouldn't even have mince pies if all this hadn't gone before.
48:17Next, I'm going to another famous place on the spice route, the teardrop island of Sri Lanka.
48:36I have to say that I've never been happier anywhere on my travels than when I was here,
48:42but I was very conscious of the terrible fighting that was still going on in the north of the island.
48:49Here in the south, just outside the capital, Colombo, it would be easy to forget the strife elsewhere.
48:56Everywhere I went, I was greeted with smiles and enthusiasm.
49:00Maybe it's because tourists have been put off coming here and the locals are very keen to show that life still goes on.
49:07I had been told that some of the fishing scenes in Sri Lanka would be some of the most visual I was likely to see anywhere,
49:19but I must say it's exceeded all my expectations.
49:22I mean, it's like central casting, fishing-wise.
49:26I mean, when I first saw it, I just thought of Newland, of those Newland School of Painters,
49:32people like Stan at Forbes from the last century, from Victorian times,
49:37because all those boats are still powered only by sail.
49:41These ones here, which have motorised, just bring the fish into the shore from the bigger boats.
49:46But to me, it's just like I can hardly believe I'm here.
49:51I met up with Darshan, a famous chef here, half Sri Lankan and half Japanese.
49:56Darshan, I've just arrived here.
49:59I am totally knocked out by what I'm seeing.
50:02I mean, these lovely...
50:04There's plenty of fish, lovely-looking fishing boats.
50:07What are they fishing for?
50:09These windpipe boats are catching shrimp and prawns,
50:12and they bring it out here and then take it back to the market.
50:15Most of the time, all these prawns are alive,
50:18and it's a wonderful thing to have so close to the capital city of Colombia.
50:23I mean, being half Japanese, half Sri Lankan, it must mean everything to you.
50:28It's inspiring.
50:30I think food, any kind of food, starts with ingredients,
50:34not with the other sauces or spices you add.
50:36And as long as you have good ingredients, you can do any kind of food,
50:39and it'll turn out better.
50:40And it's very true for Japanese food and much stronger.
50:43Well, that's interesting because I think people now think of sushi and sashimi
50:48as probably salmon, tuna, maybe a bit of white fish, a bit of omelette, end of story.
50:52But it's not, is it?
50:54No, it's not, not at all.
50:55Sushi starts with the ocean, and what you get from the ocean, I think,
50:59is what should be a daily menu.
51:01One thing great about Sri Lanka is nothing is farmed.
51:04It's all wild catch.
51:05No farmed fish?
51:06Even the tuna is...
51:07No farmed fish?
51:08The tuna is also wild.
51:09And they taste different, the textures are totally different from farmed fish
51:13that you'd find in many restaurants in Southeast Asia.
51:16And even in Japan, some of the fish, or most of the small fish, are farmed.
51:20And one thing good about Sri Lanka's ocean, they are relatively clean,
51:24and it's a beautiful sea, it's the Indian Ocean, it's huge.
51:27There are a lot of fish out there, we don't have to farm that.
51:29Naturally, where fishing boats land fish, there's a market.
51:33I only wish I'd bought my old copy of the Observer Book of Tropical Fish.
51:38But that's all part of it, I'd never turn down a trip to a fish market.
51:42I'd just like to see how different it all is.
51:46From where you come, what's the fish market like out there?
51:50Well, it's nothing like here, the fish market at home,
51:52but, I mean, this is as fresh as you could ever see fish.
51:56But one of the things we have at home, of course, is refrigeration,
51:59as you do in Tokyo, and that is a good thing and a bad thing,
52:03because once you've got fish refrigerated, it keeps longer,
52:07but all the time it's getting...
52:09Out here, the market goes around 1.
52:11Yeah.
52:12And refrigeration, yes, it would be nice to have it,
52:14but right now, if it gets sold by 1 o'clock, we don't need to have it,
52:17so that's why we're not using refrigeration.
52:18What is really impressing me is there's no smell of fish here,
52:21it's all smells of the sea.
52:23Everyone thinks seafood smells, it doesn't now.
52:25It smells only if it rots.
52:26Absolutely.
52:27So I'm very impressed.
52:29I'm enjoying it immensely, Darshan.
52:35I noticed they were drying fish nearby.
52:37They'd caught lots of mackerel, which meant the price plummeted,
52:41so the answer is to dry them in the sun.
52:44They cleaned the fish, washed them in the sea and salt them overnight.
52:48Now my new Sri Lankan friend Joking explains the rest.
52:52Then we bring here, and we sit down like this way,
52:55and we keep one by one.
52:57Just all...
52:58Really?
52:59After two days, it becomes a real dry piece.
53:01Just two days?
53:02Just two days, only for this piece.
53:04After we make dry piece, we can keep a long time,
53:07just three, four months we can keep.
53:09But in my city, we have a fresh piece.
53:12We like dry piece, but we don't eat because we have a fresh piece.
53:17Mainly the dry piece go to the village, the tea plantation,
53:21because there is no sea.
53:23That people, they cannot get the fresh piece.
53:25Mainly, they eat the dry piece.
53:27I was asked if I fancied a trip with a bunch of fishermen
53:45further south of the island, near the town of Gaul.
53:48There's not many harbours here,
53:50so everything is launched with quite a bit of effort off the beach.
53:54The boat is called an Oru,
54:06and one of this size could certainly cope with ocean storms,
54:09but many of them are much smaller than this,
54:12and I was told that up to 80% of the local fleet
54:15was lost in the tsunami.
54:20Anyway, this turned out to be a sort of seine net fishing,
54:23with the boat laying out the net in a great big circle.
54:29And then they all started to jump ship.
54:32This is the strangest way to catch fish I've ever seen.
54:38So the reason they keep jumping into the sea
54:40is to scare the fish into the back of the net.
54:42This is the open end of the net.
54:44So they're making as much splash and as much movement with their hands
54:48so the fish will all swim down that end.
54:51Must be a great job, that.
54:53I feel like jumping in myself, actually.
54:56Go on, then.
54:57Well, I am a water baby, and it was very hot,
55:08and it did feel really good to join in.
55:11I don't know how effective I was, but I love to get involved.
55:16Mind you, getting out again is a whole different ball game.
55:20I know a thing or two about fishing,
55:27and I'm not expecting a huge catch here.
55:30But the general air of expectation sort of burst into frantic excitement
55:35as it became more certain that we're indeed fishing the net,
55:39and lots of them.
55:41Well, I have to say this is a great moment for me,
55:59the number of times we go out fishing and never catch any fish.
56:03I think it's testimony to how much,
56:06how rich the fishing grounds are around Sri Lanka,
56:09that there's so much good quality fish landed there.
56:12And those ones, they're called Parawa.
56:14Parawa.
56:15They're really good, really good money.
56:17So they've done very, very well and are very happy.
56:22I really enjoyed that.
56:23I mean, like fishermen all over the world,
56:25they really bond together.
56:27You know, it's one big family here.
56:28They look after each other.
56:30So Buddha's just told me they're feared
56:32because they're really tough.
56:34They're quite chunky.
56:35I wouldn't lie to cross them.
56:36The people inland really fear them.
56:38He just said they're the best and the worst.
56:41In other words, you know, if you're on their side road,
56:44they're looking after you, they're fabulous.
56:47But you cross them, forget it.
56:49He was also saying that these really dangerous buses here
56:53around this area, they call them killer buses
56:56because the drivers are just reckless.
56:58I mean, it scares me.
56:59He said if there's any accidents around this fishing village,
57:02they just burn the bus.
57:04Ah, I'm not quite finished yet.
57:11I still have to help get the Uru back in again.
57:14This is the hardest part from top.
57:21And what this chanting is,
57:24we want to go to the land.
57:27We want to go to the land.
57:30We want to go to the land.
57:34So like all fishermen, after a day or so ashore,
57:37they'll be saying, we want to go to the sea.
57:40Go to the sea.
57:41We want to go to the sea.
57:43Next week, a fisherman's wife shows me
57:45how they cook these Parawa fish.
57:47And I go to a Tamil restaurant in Colombo
57:50and taste the best chilli crab ever.
57:55And in Bali, I'm going to eat something very special.
57:58That is fabulous.
57:59I just know, looking at that, that I will never taste more succulent
58:03or crispy crackling and pork in my life.
58:08What I'm learning about Balinese culture
58:10is incredible intermingling of religion and food.
58:15And lucky me, I was invited to a village feast.
58:19Caramba!
58:20Caramba!
58:50Caramba!
58:51Caramba!
58:52Caramba!
58:53Caramba!
58:54Caramba!
58:55Caramba!
58:56Caramba!
58:57Caramba!
58:58Caramba!
58:59Caramba!
59:00Caramba!
59:01Caramba!
59:02Caramba!
59:03Caramba!
59:04Caramba!
59:05Caramba!
59:06Caramba!
59:07Caramba!
59:08Caramba!
59:09Caramba!
59:10Caramba!
59:11Caramba!
59:12Caramba!
59:13Caramba!
59:14Caramba!
59:15Caramba!
59:16Caramba!
59:17Caramba!
59:18Caramba!
59:19Caramba!
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