Umai (food)

Umai
A bowl of Umai ready to be eaten.
TypeSalad dish
CourseAppetiser
Place of originMalaysia
Region or stateSarawak
Associated cuisineSarawakian cuisine
Created byMelanau
Main ingredientsFish (Either scaly hairfin anchovy, mackerel or black pomfret) or prawn/shrimp, thinly sliced onions, chillies, salt and lime juice
Food energy
(per serving)
123[1] kcal (510 kJ)

Umai is a traditional native salad dish of the Melanau people in the state of Sarawak within East Malaysia. It is made of sliced raw fish with a mixture of onions, chillies, vinegar, salt and lime juice.[2] The dish has been recognised as a national heritage dish by Malaysia's Department of National Heritage in 2009, alongside hinava of Sabah.[3]

Preparation

It is commonly prepared by the Melanau people living along the coast of Sarawak,[4] often made with different types of freshly caught fish such as tenggiri (Spanish mackerel), puput (setipinna), duai (pomfret), terubuk (toli shad), empirang (setipinna taty), and haruan (snakehead), although a version made from fresh prawn and shrimp also exists.[4][5][6] The salad is made by cleaning the fish or prawn/shrimp and mixing it with shallots, onions, chilli, lime juice, and ginger, together with other local ingredients based on individual taste.[5]

The fish meat or shrimp will usually be sliced thinly with the ingredients pounded and mashed thoroughly, where they will be mixed with the sliced fish or shrimp prepared earlier.[5] Lime juice, salt and seasoning will then be added to enhance the sour taste of umai with the amount depending on personal preference, with most of the salad dish preparers choosing to make it slightly spicy and tangy to taste.[5] Umai is eaten right away after being prepared, either with hot rice or sago or being kept in the refrigerator for a while.[7]

The Malaysia Book of Records

In 2012, a 170.3 metres (559 ft) umai prepared during "Masihkah Kau Ingat" (Do You Still Remember) carnival in Dalat of Sarawak was certified as the "longest umai" ever prepared.[8]

Safety

Similar to other raw fish and shrimp dishes, there were concerns about the possible presence of dangerous parasites such as (Anisakis sp.) and (Heterophyes sp.).[9] The safety guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States recommend blast freezing to at least −35 °C (−31 °F) for 15 hours or regular freezing to at least −23 °C (−9 °F) for 7 days,[9], but these treatments tend to degrade the quality of the seafood.[10] Other preservation and modernisation of chilled pre-packed umai are being explored as an alternative.[11] Prior to preparing umai, some makers also choose to freeze the raw fish chunks, while others would sun-dry their fish.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BANK KALORI MAKANAN DAN MINUMAN DI MALAYSIA [SENARAI KALORI BAGI MAKANAN DAN MINUMAN]" [FOOD AND DRINK CALORIE BANK IN MALAYSIA [CALORIE LIST FOR FOOD AND DRINKS]] (PDF). Ministry of Health, Malaysia (in Malay) (Nutritionist KKM ed.). 2025. p. 106. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 June 2026. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "Sarawakian Umai". Kuali. 23 June 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Murphy (2 December 2024). "Hinava: Heritage Salad of Sabah". MySabah.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2026. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 Liaw, Adam (28 November 2023). "Umai udang Sarawak" [Sarawak prawn umai]. SBS Food (Australia). Archived from the original on 9 June 2026. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "UMAI [Introduction and history]". National Department for Culture and Arts, Malaysia. Archived from the original on 10 June 2026. Retrieved 9 June 2026.
  6. ↑ Lau, Ian (31 May 2025). "Umai goodness for Gawai". The Star. Archived from the original on 9 June 2026. Retrieved 9 June 2026.
  7. ↑ NA, Ismail (24 January 2024). "Ini Resipi Asli Umai Ikan, Makanan Tradisional Kaum Melanau" [This is the original recipe for Fish Umai, a traditional food for the Melanau people]. ILoveBorneo.my (in Malay). Archived from the original on 9 June 2026. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  8. ↑ "Longest 'umai' enters M'sia Book of Records". The Borneo Post. 13 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 June 2026. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  9. 1 2 Chua & Nicholas 2025, p. 61.
  10. ↑ Chua & Nicholas 2025, p. 62.
  11. ↑ Chua & Nicholas 2025, p. 64.
  12. ↑ (Sukirman et al. 2020, pp. 1764–1774)

Bibliography

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.