Our Little India

Originally posted by Ucingitam.

While waiting for my photos to be printed, I decided to take a little walk at Serusop shopping area or unofficially known as Brunei's Little India. This area is a major attraction for budget shopping and boasts an increasing number of shops, restaurants and sidewalk vendors.

Varieties of freshly fried fritters known as cucur, banana, yam, sweet tapioca cuts coated with flour and then deep fried. Also available curry puffs, spring rolls and other light snacks... you can't resist!

The camera shy street fruit mongers moved away when they saw me approaching with my camera. So I had my sweet time taking photos of their merchandise as much as I could.

Check out some of the exotic fruits of Brunei. The Membangan (Mangifera panjang), a seasonal fruit from the mango family. The tough outer skin can be removed by making longitudinal cuts, revealing a yellow or orange delightful mango fragrance. Pleasantly sweet and juicy, the flesh is smooth but fibrous.

The Kembayau (Canarium odontophyllum), is another unique fruit of Brunei. Quality breeds have oily yellowish appearance while the outer black-purple skin is removed. The edible portion is the mesocarp which is softened by soaking the whole fruit 5-10 minutes in hot water. Eaten with sugar, it has a fine flavour, crunchy with a rich creamy taste.

Another native fruit of South East Asia and Brunei, the Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), has red (sometimes yellow) hairy skin, hence the name rambutan, derived from the Malay word rambut which means hairs. The white fruit flesh is tranlucent, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavour.