Oil Palm shoots

 In Sarawak there are many species of palm shoots that can be cooked  as vegetables. Among the wild palm shoots that are popular are the Arenga brevipes (Aping- Iban), Eugeissona insignis , Eugeissonia tilis (Pantu - Iban) and Plectocomiopsis geminiflora (Lalis - Malay, Iban). Bamboo shoots are also commonly sold in many 'Tamu' or jungle produce markets.  But today I found one palm species that is becoming easier to obtain its shoots and sold in tamu markets due to its popularity as a cash crop among Sarawak's smallholders.  It is the oil palm shoot ( Sawit - Malay)  as shown in the inset.

A single stem shoot as seen above fetches a price of RM 30 per piece at the tamu market in Bintulu. But some vendors have sliced them up into small pieces to cater for small serving.  A small basket of the sliced oil palm shoots as seen in the inset costs RM 2, sufficient for a serving for two.  One of the most common recipe is to cook it with coconut milk called locally as ' masak lemak'.