Terung Iban Soup
Coming from a mixed background of Indian and Iban heritage, I grew up surrounded by unique and rare dishes.
Among those dishes, there is one that stands out and has remained my absolute favourite—Terung Iban Soup. This dish brings back a lot of sweet nostalgic memories from my early childhood days.
The first time I had this dish was back when I was 8 years old. It was during Gawai celebration in June when my family and I paid a visit to my mother’s village in Kapit.
We travelled there a few days earlier to help out with the final preparations. Once we were there, my mother brought me to the kitchen to help out with preparing the dishes.
A variety of ingredients were splayed out on the kitchen table, but a particular yellow vegetable caught my eye.
My curiosity got the better of me so I went over to the table and picked it up, examining it up-close. Fascinated by the vegetable, I approached my late grandmother who was chopping the said vegetable.
Innocently, I asked her about the vegetable, and she explained that it was a type of sour eggplant. I listened to her intently as she described the vegetable with a keen mind.
While she was chopping them, I kept hovering around, asking if I could help her cook the dish and to my delight, she agreed.
For the entire time, I stood by her side, being her excited little helper and I even had a little apron on!
Helping her to stir the contents, I got a little too excited and tried to dip my finger in the soup for a little taste, only to get my hand swatted away.
Feeling naughty, I giggled and eagerly waited for the dish to cook.
Once all the other dishes were plated, the elders brought them out to the ‘ruai’ of the longhouse. I quickly settled down on the mat after washing my hands and waited patiently for a bite.
My grandmother lovingly filled my plate with the dish, smirking slightly just to tease me. Finally, she handed me the plate and I dug in ravenously. Layer upon layer of flavour burst in my oral cavity as the sourness of the vegetable tingled my tastebuds, triggering my salivating response.
I devoured the dish in a matter of minutes. I once thought that the dish did not look appealing but once I had a taste, it was worth dropping everything for a single taste.
As the years fly by, the first memory I had of this dish washes over me in waves of emotion whenever it is served during the festivities.
It has since become a tradition for me to continue making this dish every Gawai. Although my grandmother is no longer with us, the memory of us preparing Terung Iban Soup is forever etched in my mind. — DayakDaily
Lyra Nigella Roberts from Sibu is recognised as a top ten writer (Adult Category) in the ‘Gastronomy and I: My Favourite Dish’ writing competition organised by DayakDaily and supported by the Sarawak Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, and Imperial Hotel Kuching.
