Sabah AKM Tour: 'Jeruk Bosou Umbut Pisang' gaining popularity among KL folks

KOTA KINABALU, May 22 (Bernama) -- “Pickled bosou umbut pisang (a traditional dish using banana stem) is very tasty and suitable to serve as an appetiser,” said Laila Zakaria from Kuala Lumpur, a visitor to the Small and Medium Industry (SMI) sales carnival at the Sabah edition of the Malaysian Family Aspirations (AKM) Tour.

Laily, 42, decided to return to the booth, run by Velen Edith Galingan, and this time to buy the traditional dish of the Kadazan Dusun Murut Rungus tribe in bulk, to be brought back to the Peninsula after being captivated by a combination of flavours that she said were ideal as an appetiser.

Although Laily has previously visited Sabah several times, this is the first time she has experienced the delightful dish.

“Yesterday (Saturday) I bought a bottle of pickled bosou umbut pisang to try and finished a plate of rice. I had never eaten a pickle dish such as this. It is a perfect combination of sour and spicy flavours.

“It's very tasty and I do like appetisers, which is why I came back here to buy 10 bottles of pickled bosou umbut pisang. I need to stock up as it is not available in the Peninsula,” the civil servant said when met today.

Laily said that she would promote the dish to other friends and convince them to buy the Sabah traditional dish.

Among the main ingredients in the dish are banana stem, rice, white or red pepper, ginger, galangal, torch ginger flowers and salt.

Velen Edith, 54, from Kota Marudu, was smiling and excited that her dish, sold at RM8 per bottle, is well received by the visitors, including those from Peninsular Malaysia.

She said that she didn't expect the traditional dish to sell so well since the first day of the Sabah AKM Tour, held at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), here, throughout the three-day programme which concluded today.

“I only brought 300 bottles and on the first day alone, I sold over 100 bottles,” said the entrepreneur, who received guidance from the Sabah Department of Industrial Development and Research.

Despite having many distributors throughout Sabah, Velen Edith said that the AKM Tour could be a platform to help promote and expand the potential of her food products to be known throughout the country.

Thus far, Sabahans working in the Peninsula, as well as in Singapore, Australia and Dubai have helped her introduce the dish, because some of them bought and then sold it to friends, she said.

-- BERNAMA