The weather’s been out of whack lately, it was raining constantly for a while, and then now it’s super max hot. Look at cendawan the delinquent Bengal cat here, even the wild animal’s feeling the heat and had to stick out his tongue to get some relief.
Cendawan is over heating
Yes, we do occasionally take the cat out for a bit of a tour, to let him pretend he’s a dog of sort. Perhaps that’s what made the kitty learn how to play fetch in the first place.
Anyway, we found ourselves a salvation on a hot Sunday afternoon while driving around Puchong buying lights a couple weeks ago. (by the way Top Ten trading is the best place to buy any lights, it’s way cheaper than anywhere else we tried).
The salvation was a road side coconut juice stall.
coconut juice by Jalan Puchong, near Tesco
Places like this used to litter every other street corner in Klang Valley, but lately most of them have since been replaced by the likes of 7-11, 88 speedmart and such.
RM 2+ (RM 2.50 if I remember correctly) for a freshly opened young coconut, and they even have crushed ice to go with it too. You also get that sweet coconut meat in that 100% pure juice drink.
Ahhhh, how I wish we could get this everywhere!
Address: Jalan Bandar 8, by LDP, Puchong GPS: 3.03170, 101.61442
From my trusted and very handy Webweb dictionary (anyone with a PC should download a copy from wordweb.info):
Naked: Having no protecting or concealing cover
Coconut: Large hard-shelled oval nut with a fibrous husk containing thick white meat surrounding a central cavity filled (when fresh) with fluid or milk
highly skilled professional at work
While walking at Carrefour in Tropicana City Mall with Mellissa, Suanie, Horng, and Kerol, we came up to this dude who was manning a stall with a stash of coconut at the back and rows of plastic container with shelled coconuts in front of him. Yes, shelled also mean removed from shell, English is funny like that, go figure.
suanie gave her seal of approval
We were curious on how that is done and stood there to find out. Apparently the procedure is not overly complex:
pick a coconut
use a machete with power and precision to cut the coconut till a ring of flesh shows
use a sharp plastic blade to separate the meat from the shell
make sure there’s a crowd watching
flip the naked coconut high up and catch it with a plastic container
profit!
The first time I saw this was over 10 years ago back in Penang, but it seems that they are gaining popularity only recently. Very cool to see the way it is done though.
action shot of naked coconut to container sequence
After the performance which I took a video of (and somehow a crowd had built up), suanie felt that we couldn’t just leave without buying a couple coconuts from the fella. So she did, RM4 for one, and supposedly RM 7.60 for two but we didn’t get the discount somehow at the cash register. Oh well.
so you know this isn’t from the factory!
After having the coconut chilled in the freezer for about an hour, it was just the most awesome thing in the hot afternoon. Pure coconut juice without anything else, and that glorious firm and delicious coconut meat all for the taking. *slurps*
Did you know that Karak highway isn’t the only route going from KL to Genting Highland? Long before the shiny toll way was built, there was an older road from just behind Batu Caves going to Genting via a little town called Ulu Yam. That road is still there, and remain my favorite way to go up to the highland retreat if time is on my side.
There are a few reasons:
The scenery is beautiful, especially when you drive by Batu Dam lake.
the winding road makes driving a pleasure
coconut shrimps at ulu yam!
Okay, maybe mostly about the coconut shrimps..
Sammy liked it!
The first time I went there was on the new year eve of 2006 with the MR2 club. Wait, I just realized that’s more than 2.5 years ago… Anyway, I went there again a few months ago with Sammy (her account) and of course, we ordered the coconut shrimps, and a plate vegetable to go with rice.
We had actually ordered the lala as well but I must applaud the honesty of the shop keeper in informing us that lala wasn’t very fresh that day and advised us against ordering it.
prawns, slurps slurps
Coconut Shrimps is basically a curry dish where by they stuff a lot of prawns cooked much like the asam prawn style into a fresh coconut. The curry mixed with coconut creates a unique taste that is both spicy, sour, and slightly sweet of coconut taste; very unique and rather tasty. Onion, garlic and chili padi makes up part of the ingredients too.
Ulu Yam is some 27 kilometers from batu caves
There was plenty of prawns in that one single coconut and we thoroughly it. The ingredients were fresh and curry flavorful. Even the simple fried vegetable dish was rather delightful too.
If I remember correctly, that meal was less than RM 35 for the two of us. Value for money, and great tasting too. Give it a try if you’re up for an alternate way to Genting. GPS coordinate might not be spot on, but it won’t be far off.
Address: 14, Kampung Baru,
Ulu Yam Baru, 44300
Ulu Selangor, Selangor GPS:3.427212, 101.659948 Tel:03-6075 1826, 012-228 2546
