One of the things I fear most in my blogging activities is the possibility of running into a dead end called the writer’s block.

I’m afraid that is what is happening to this blog at the moment.

The post frequency is getting less and less, which is a pity because when I first started this blog just under a year ago, I had intended to blog here on a regular basis.

The truth is I’ve been busy and secondly, I’m currently not living in Borneo and therefore, having little in-situ access to the place I’m blogging about.

Thirdly, my attention to Borneo Blog was diverted by a new blog which I’ve just set up a month ago.

Anyway, I hope this writer’s block will find a way to unblock itself starting this month.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of sayur manis or better known as Sabah vegetable (Sauropus androngynus), which I’ve been trying to grow here in Peninsular Malaysia, with little success so far because of the lack of space that has proper soil.

If you are heading north either to Kudat or Kota Marudu, from Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia’s Borneo, you will pass by Langkon at one point of your journey, or to be exact, somewhere on the 125th km of the road.

Kacang Kudat on sale by the roadside stalls

Langkon — old folks in my village still call it Langkum — is located around the intersection of Kota Kinabalu, Kudat and Kota Marudu.

About 1km from the T-junction, you will find a row of wooden stall by the roadside, selling various local produce, including what is popularly known as Kacang Kudat or the Kudat Ground Nut.

[Picture: the ground nuts being dried up in the sun prior to being fry-grilled]

Kacang Kudat is prepared in the unique traditional method perfected since time immemorial.

But hey, you don’t have to go all the way to Langkon to get the aromatic grilled nuts. You can prepare them all by yourself because I’m going to teach you how to do it.

The method is a cross between frying and grilling, minus the use of cooking oil. Sounds complicated but it really is very simple. It’s just a matter of pouring in 3kg of sand onto a wok, heat it up while stirring it at the same time to distribute the heat evenly.

Then add 1kg of dry ground nuts (with their shell intact) and stir the mixture inside the wok.

After some minutes, you are done. Scoop the nut out of the wok, break open the shell and you can now enjoy the sweet, aromatic grilled nuts.