Hawker fare, king’s ransom

Ready to serve: Chew offering a plate of his char koay teow with extra cockles that costs RM19.50 at his stall in Bagan Lalang, Butterworth. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

BUTTERWORTH: Are you prepared to pay RM16.50 to RM26 for a plate of char koay teow with a sumptuous heap of half-cooked, fat blood cockles piled high along with large shrimps and fried eggs?

Blood cockles are so rare and pricey now that if you want lots of them for the perfect char koay teow, be ready to fork out a king’s ransom for this dish.

Michael Chew, 40, sells his char koay teow in a kampung in Bagan Lalang here with those big, juicy bivalves. His prices prove how costly shellfish is now.

“I source them from two local fishermen who send them to me twice daily, in the morning and noon, to ensure freshness,” said Chew, adding that he started his hawker stall in February.

Despite the steep prices, Chew said eight out of every 10 customers want his premium plates.

A “normal” plate of his char koay teow costs only RM6.

Patrons craving his cockle-laden plates can be seen jamming the parking spaces around his kampung house, especially on weekends.

Diner JY Shen, 50, from Melaka, dropped by to try the dish with friends for the first time on Sunday. They paid almost RM100 for five plates.

“The blood of half-cooked cockles makes char koay teow perfect.

“He serves big ones, and they look like they will be as expensive as oysters someday. Today, cockles in char koay teow elsewhere are the size of peas,” Shen said.

On Penang island, a curry noodle seller who wished to be known only as Chiam, 52, said she had stopped looking for large cockles because of the price and inconsistent supply.

“I now serve medium-sized ones that used to cost RM8 per kg but are now RM16 per kg.

“For each bowl of curry noodles, I give five.

“Some customers want extra cockles. I charge RM3, but I can only add it if I have extra,” she said.

Selangor Fisheries Department director Noraisyah Abu Bakar confirmed that there had been a drop in cockle production in the state.

She said the shellfish were cultivated off the coasts of Sabak Bernam, Kuala Selangor and Klang, and her department had been compiling years of data to determine the severity of the drop in production.

“On Sept 2, we had an engagement session with all cockle farmers in Selangor.

“We narrowed down the problems to three: the hardening of the seabed (cockles need a soft, muddy seabed), pollution from land caused by humans and the theft of juvenile cockles,” she said.

Noraisyah said the Fisheries Department had been tackling the drop in output for years, and the Fisheries Research Institute had started research projects to enhance breeding techniques.

“We know how important cockles are to Malaysian food.

“It is just not right to have char koay teow, curry noodles or steamboat without cockles.

“We even formed a task force to bring production back up to speed,” she said.

Noraisyah agreed with findings by scientists that human pollution was the biggest problem.

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (Cemacs) research officer N. Nithiyaa said studies showed that nitrates and phosphates from pesticides and factory run-offs were among the main culprits.

“The chemicals bind with their blood system and reduce oxygen absorption. They suffocate,” she explained.

Cemacs director Prof Datuk Dr Aileen Tan said researchers were trying to find other ways to cultivate cockles rather than breed them in their natural habitats, which had become too polluted.

“We introduce cleaner and bigger sediments for them to attach to.

“If you see the cockles opening up, that means they are comfortable with the environment. They will start to dig into the substrate and feed,” she said.

The government data website, www.data.gov.my, shows only the 2016 adult cockle production rate.

Perak was the largest producer of cockles at 5,281.49 tonnes in 2016.

Selangor came next at 2,023.65 tonnes, with Johor at 1,263.21 tonnes, and lastly, Penang at 1,008.21 tonnes.