The slow braise of ingredients in this pong teh coax out every bit of flavour, which means that it’s worth splurging on some good chicken and soy sauces for this dish.

Between the char of the crispy shallots, the umami of the soy sauce, and the sweetness of the prawns, one really doesn’t need anything else.

The Temuan way to cook this fish is over the embers of an outdoor stove. If you have an available setup, we highly encourage you to go for it.

Leela’s late mother was the family’s ‘culinary comforter’, and taught her how to make this vegetable dish. Complex in flavour, this recipe takes no shortcuts.

This is a traditional recipe originating from Jerantut, Pahang, and has since spread to neighbouring areas in the state.

Umbut sawit is the young shoot or heart of the oil palm tree. Plentiful in Borneo from the plantations, resourceful locals have found that it makes for a terrific ingredient.

Many kampung folks catch freshwater fish as a cheap source of protein, and pekasam is a way of fermenting a glut of a catch.

This dish, inherited from Banyen’s late grandmother, makes an appearance at least twice a week on their dinner table at home, as it is her dad and grandfather’s favourite dish.

This is quite possibly the best version of kangkung belacan we’ve tried—spicy, briny and still-crunchy.

Hinava is a traditional native dish of the Kadazandusun people in the state of Sabah, which is a method of cooking saltwater or freshwater fish using lime juice.

The star of this dish is fenugreek, along with the freshest fish possible. When Nisha first introduced it to her daughter, it was “the most delicious thing I had ever eaten”.

This dish is a common staple on Diana’s family dining table, as her mom would buy terung Dayak whenever they were in season.

Natasha learned how to make this dish from her mother (who she assumes learned it from her mother), and craves it on gloomy rainy days.