Palm Wine a.k.a. Toddy

In Malaysia, especially where there are INDIANS living, there's always a place called heaven for this special drink. Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree.

In different countries, various names are being used. This drink is common in various parts of Asia & Asia's cousin, Africa and goes by various names, such as "emu" and "oguro" in Nigeria, nsafufuo in Ghana, kallu in South India, tuak in Indonesia, goribon in Sabah and tuba in the Philippines. Well I personally wonder how will people in Ghana gonna pronounce it?? Nsa fu fuo??? Weird but well, it's still Toddy in Malaysia. Hahahahaha..

Just to make you people sure, toddy isn't "Samsu" (a cheap intoxicating liquor) & it costs from RM 1.50 to RM 5.00. Never wanna try that shit & don't intend to...

The young inflorescence (knows as a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch) is tightly bounded with twigs and beaten with a weighted wooden mallet, morning and evening, for a number of days. When the inflorescence begins to ooze its sap, the tip is cut and the sap allowed to trickle into an earthenware pot. Owing to the yeasts and other organisms i.e. ants & bugs already present in the used pots, alcoholic and other fermentation begins immediately. Each morning and evening, the tapper climbs up the tree to collect the toddy, and at each time he climbs, he shaves off a fine transverse section of the inflorescence so as to leave a new oozing surface. The fermented toddy, which is milky in appearance, is normally brought to the toddy bars to be sold. 

 Uncle Tapper working his way up the tree for collection.

Work In Progress..

This is how toddy looks like...

As much as I promised you guys, I wen't to Banting from Kajang with 2 friends. Lol, poor Kedah (a friend of mine)... On the way, we fetched a chap named Karu from Shah Alam & our "taxi" friend Lailith...This guy just met with an accident a week ago & could eventually come from OUG, and drink toddy in Banting. Indians what..what can we expect right..:)


We reached there around 1.50pm Thursday afternoon. The roads were damn bumpy & 5 friends including me in a Proton Wira, what can you expect. With the back tires grinding above the fender while passing by every uneven road or bumpy road. The toddy shack couldn't be located from the main road. That's a  toddy shack. Hahaha..Actually, the shack is located opposite a secondary school after a traffic light and if your coming from S.Alam, then the school is on your left. Take a U-Turn and go straight  about 300m. As you pass another school on your left, before the traffic light you can see one small road turning into your left. Follow the road and you will see a house. Well, I love village smell. The trees, the goats and cows, the chicken roaming around. Damn, miss North.. Park your car anywhere and walk in between the hut and a house, you will see the toddy bar 1st and then heaven on your right...Took some pictures to share with you guys.. 

The view from the place we sat to the toddy bar...

The shack, tables and chairs & some with an umbrella. 

Damn, i tell you guys, the place is just fantastic. You could not ask for more..There's a guy there who is like a waiter cum gardener, we call him bhaiya. Well that's normal, but the best part is that he understands Tamil & he can tell you the menu and the price of it in TAMIL... Surprising right?? A guy from Bangladesh speaking Tamil. But, he would have went for few classes from different alcoholic teachers in the shack..hahaha..

That's the chicken curry 

We were dead hungry, they had wild boar curry, chicken curry, lamb belly and iguana curry. The menu was interesting enough. So a group of 5 ordered a plate of rice, vege & papadam(indian crackers) and a plate of any meat. We took all the 3 in the menu. Actually they had more items in the menu but its only on weekends when there's crowd. Can't blame them anyway. Budget Toddy 2009..:P  

 Iguana Curry ( Vudembe Curry in Tamil)

 

Wildboar Curry (Katte Pandi Curry)

Served with rice, beans and papadam(Indian Crackers)

After eating, we digested ourselves nicely & we ordered a bottle. The taste was refreshing, after a hard week of tiring work, running here & there, damn!!! Sweet & Sour kinda taste. Bubbly taste and you gotta try it to feel it..

Part of our guys..*sorry for the brightness guys, 

I was tempted with the shack.

Original Natural Toddy

Some like to mix toddy with Guinness Foreign Extra Stout or maybe some of them with green or red chillies, onions, curry leaves. That's to give a real KAW or KICK kinda taste.. 

We met a few friends there, Mr. Chipmunk

We had a few bottles & packed one home. Our trip was an enjoyable one. Can't forget the stuffs happened while going and coming back from Banting.. 

Our total Bill

Reasonable for a group of 5. The toddy was RM6.50 a bottle & a plate of meat was at RM3.00 each. 


Next, maybe Brickfields & Sentul..Keep ya alcoholic hearts out.:) Cheers




My Ratings: 7/10