Cuisine

Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who

you are.
~Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin~

KADAZAN CUISINE
It is easy to understand the essence of a
Kadazans traditional cuisine as it only
consists of the:

Natural
Ingredients

Traditional
Ways of
preparing
Food

INGREDIENTS
The main ingredients of a Kadazans
traditional cuisine are taken afresh from:
ones own
backyard

farms

surroundings

from a greater
resources such
as the forest
and the
rivers.

NATURAL INGREDIENTS
These are among other ingredients used in the
preparation of a Kadazans cooking.

FOOD PREPARATIONS

Food preparation methods are basic and

simple yet promote healthy and nourishing
cooking. Traditional Kadazan cuisine employs
little use of oil and involves mostly:
Boiling &
Simmering

Simmering
until dry

Salad

Pickling

Preserving

Barbequing

Non-heated
soup

Toasting

Frying

Boiling & Simmering

These methods are normally used to

prepare for food such as :
Rice
Soup
Dishes with gravy
Porridge and
Desserts such as Boiled Pumpkin
with Coconut Milk

Examples of dishes
prepared by boiling &
simmering method
Bamboo Shoots Soup
Napa' do Soko
Pohod Palm Shoots & Chicken
Napa' Tivak Pohod om Manuk
Chicken Soup with Melon
Suup Manuk om Kulobu'
Boiled Young Jackfruit with Pork
Puku om Nangko'
Chicken Soup with Rice Wine
Suup Manuk om Hiing

Simmering until dry

Simmering until dry method is used

to cook
Pinaasakan sada' for everyday dish
Tapioca for breakfast or
Sweet potato and yam for snack

Examples of dishes
prepared using the
simmering until dry
method
Fish Cooked Simmered with Bambangan
Pinaasakan Bosungan miampai
Bambangan

Cockles Cooked Simmered with Salt

Pinaasakan kokogis

Calamari Cooked Simmered with Tamarind

Pinaasakan Sutung miampai Toonsom
Jawa'

Salad

Preparing a salad the traditional

Kadazans way uses a lot of natural
ingredients such as lime, ginger,
salts, grated bambangans seeds and
proteins such as fish, prawns,
anchovies and dried prawns. A
famous Kadazans salad is the
Spanish Mackerel Hinava.

Examples of traditional
Kadazans Salad
Fish Hinava
Hinava Tongii'
Prawn Hinava
Hinava Gipan
Banana Bud Hinava
Hinava Tontidok Punti
Local Spring Onion Hinava
Hinava Bavang Sokid

Pickles & Preserves

Food preservations is not only a method to
prepare food for the Kadazan people, but it
is also a way to ration seasonal food like
the bambangan fruit. Ingredients used in a
preserve are salt and cokked rice. Foods
that are normally preserved are:
Protein : Fish and Pork
Fruits : Mango, Bambangan, Carambola
Vegetables : Wild Ginger Shoots

Examples of food
prepared through
Pickling & Preserving
Pickled Wild Ginger Shoots
Tuhau
Pounded Mango & Dried Anchovies
Tinutuk Mangga' om Bilis
Pickled Carambola
Sinuko Tulod-ulod
Preserved Bambangan
Nonsom Bambangan
Preserved Tilapia Fish
Nonsom Tilapia
Preserved Saavi Fish
Nonsom Saavi

Barbequing

The Kadazans normally barbeque their

foodstuffs over hot charcoal on an open
fire or by putting the proteins with other
ingredients in a banana leave then placed
on top of the burning charcoal.
Protein : Seafood, Freshwater Produce,
Pork, Poultry, Game
Vegetables : Wild Mushrooms, Eggplants

Barbequed

Barbequed Mushroom in Banana Leaves

Hinumpit do Kuhat

Small Fishes & Tadpoles with Bambangan

Tundongi, Handoi om Bambangan

Barbequed Stingray
Hinugu' do Pai

Toasting
Preparing food through the toasting method
is also employed in the Kadazans cuisine.
Some examples are:
Toasting of Paddy Grains for the
preparation of a dissert called Hinobok.
Toasting Rice Grains for coffee like drink
and
Toasting of Sago Flour to get Sagun for
snacks.

Frying
Frying method can be seen in two ways:
a. Dry-frying
b. Stir-frying
. Dry-frying does not use any oil and is employed in the
making of a traditional Kadazan Pancake called the
Hinungkakap.
. Stir-frying with a bit of oil is of course a cooking style very
much influenced by the Chinese. However, it is used quite
widely in the preparation of the traditional Kadazan food
nowadays such as in the cooking of traditional vegetables
such as stir-fried Fern Tips with Dried Prawns (Napa' do
Pakis).

Vegetables
Fern Tips with Dried Prawns
Napa' do Pakis
Fried Snail with Kaakatung
Ginuling Kaakatung om Tungo
Young Cucumber Leaves with freswater Fish
Napa' Tunduk Sangop om Kouk
Lonsiman with Salted Fish
Napa' Lonsiman om Kinoing
Yam Stem with Salted Fish and Carambola
Napa' Taduk, Kinoing om Tulod-ulod

A TRADITIONAL MEAL
A Kadazans family normally eats as
a family during mealtime. A meal
normally consists of:
Salads
Napa'

Staple

Me
al

Pickles
&
Preser
ves
Dissert
s

STAPLE
Rice has always been the staple food
of the Kadazans as they are also the
planters of rice.
Rice is central to the Kadazans
cuisine, as it is an ingredient for food
preservation and in the making of
rice wine.
The veneration of rice spirits
annually reflects its paramount
importance.

NAPA'
Napa' in the Kadazans language
means dish with gravy.
A traditional napa' can be any of
these categories:
BOILED

SIMMERED

Suup
Manuk om
Hiing

Pinasakan
Bosungan

BARBEQUE
D
Hinugu'
Sada'

VEGETABL
E
Ginuling
Kaakatun
g om
Tungo

NONHEATED
SOUP
Hinombu'
Sangop

NON-HEATED SOUP
Hinombu' Sangop

Hinombu' Bambangan

Hinombu' Kohopis

DISSERTS
Sago Jelly with Coconut Milk

Boiled Pumpkin with Coconut Milk

Young Coconut Juice with
Young Unripe Rice
Steamed Tapioca/ Rice Flour
in Banana Leaves

EXOTIC FOOD
The Kadazans palate can be very
adventurous and daring as they also like
to eat some exotic delicacies such as:

Butod
Sago
Grub

Tutumba
kon
Sand
Worm

Tambaiambai
Sea
Grapes

Bahat
Sea
Cucumbe
r