Monday, August 15, 2011

Dragon fruits / buah naga by the roadside.

We were on the road again, meandering along East Malaysia coastal road. Weather was hot, sky was clear blue. There was this little stall that attracted us to stop. An old lady with her grandchildren made full use of shade under a casuarina tree. They were selling dragon fruits.

 Kakdah picked the good ones

These dragon fruits are known by many names:  
Malay Buah Naga
Vietnamese thanh long, Laos: mark mang gohn,  
Chinese huǒ lóng guǒ  
French:  fruit du dragon, cierge-lézard, poire de chardon, 
German: Drachenfrucht, Distelbirne,   
Hawaiian: panini-o-ka-puna-hou
Swedish: skogskaktus, röd pitahaya, 
Thai: แก้วมังกร (kaeo mangkon), 
Portuguese: cato-barse, cardo-ananaz, rainha da noite,  
Spanish: pitahaya roja,   
Other names are  :  Red Pitaya,  Red Pitahaya, Dragonfruit, Night blooming Cereus, Strawberry Pear, Belle of the Night, Conderella Plant 

 a lady with her grandchildren

 Kakdah selecting dragonfruits, but i wonder how she did, because they looked the same


 the lady said "add another one will make 2 kilo", as she eyed the scale.

five dragonfruits finally made 2 kilo.

The place was somewhere in Terengganu, 
a state facing South China Sea.
Terengganu has perculiar accent which I can't comfortably imitate. A friend Sulong manage to hide his true accent most of the time, but at times he punctuates conversation with Ganu Kite "ak"..., and slip of tongue with "makang". WanZul on the other hand is different, claiming a true Ganu Kite from Besut , but comfortable only with Kecek Kelate. Bangchik remains secretive of his background with his own blend of Kelate....... I remember an associate, Jalil who after all these years, picked Pahang accent so well, that nobody knows he hails from Kuale Terengganu. Jalil has only Dato Burn to beat as outsider residing permanently in Pahang. ZolJobshi sticks to his Perak accent while working in Dungun for almost 5 years now. Some can switch accents easily, most cannot. Yes, Malaysia a small country yet the accents are numerous.

It was RM8 per kilo. Kakdah in the end bought 2 kilos of dragonfruits.


bangchik and kakdah

8 comments:

  1. They look delicious! I have never seen dragon fruit that big!!!

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  2. Rohrerbot
    ~ those, about the average size. Some could be a lot bigger!

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  3. i love the colors of your pictures and i love to tour the countryside and stopping by the road stalls to buy fruits. it is the best way to experience the country. and as for the dialect, it is enjoyable to hear the different slangs but i think kelate is still the most infectious!

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  4. My kids loves dragon fruit, I don't! What did Kak Dah do with all that fruits? Dragon fruit makes delicious ice cream! :)

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  5. oceangirl
    ~ Easy riding.... that sums up the feeling, traveling down coastal road. Stop as you wish..... that's the beauty. Huh, Kelate is romantic!

    kitchen flavours
    ~ We consume one dragon fruit a day..., cut into large slices. Less than a week HABIS LA.

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  6. I love them too. Tried planting them, but was not successful. They need that strong support that I couldn't make for them in my garden. In the end semua mati.
    Rosie

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  7. Swedish: skogskaktus, röd pitahaya - See you found the Swedish name, we do not have it here but I did try it when I was in India.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My garden haven
    ~ Some use woods as stakes, some concrete..... Space them well, they will look nice as boundary to a home garden. I have not tried growing them yet...

    Maria Berg
    ~ yea, you cant grow dragonfruits but you can with apples and plums!!

    ReplyDelete

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