myFood - Food and recipes of Malaysia and Singapore by myMalaysiabooks

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Local Herbs

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Some typical Malaysian herbs are: mint, daun kesum, serai (lemon grass), bunga kantan (flower of blue ginger), turmeric, daun kasuk, lengkuas or galangal, etc.

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Local Herbs and spices

Bunga kantan or torch ginger is the flower of a ginger plant common in Southeast Asia. It is taken raw in salad and rice dishes and commonly used in Nyonya, Thai, Indonesian and Malay cooking. Bunga kantan is highly fragrant and gives the unique flavour local dishes such as laksa and nasi ulam.
Daun kadok or sirih tanah is a vegetable common in Southeast Asia. There is no common English name (scientific name: piper sarmentosum). It is called cha plu in Thai and bo la lot in Vietnamese.
Galangal or lengkuas is a rhizome and member of the ginger family. This aromatic ginger gives a distinctive flavour and is used together with lemon grass in Malay and Nyonya dishes.
Lemon grass or serai is an aromatic herb commonly used to flavour food, especially fro curries in Southeast Asia. The plant looks like grass with the base like spring onion blbs. (substitute with lemon rind if unavaialble)
Pandan leaves or leaves of the screwpine are very fragrant. It is added to food and cooking to give a distinctive fragrant and flavour. The pounded juice of the leaves also serve as green colouring for food in Malaysian.

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