Common Indonesian Herbs and Spices for Daily Cooking

Common Indonesian Herbs and Spices for Daily Cooking

Indonesian cuisine is popular with its variety spices and herb use in cooking process. It makes Indonesian cuisine has a very rich on taste. Here there are. I tried to collect them in the list.

If I find another spices or herb which is not included in this list, I’ll add them later.

English	Bahasa Indonesia
Onion	Bawang
Garlic	Bawang putih
Shallot	Bawang merah
(red/green) Chilli	Cabe (merah/hijau), cabe keriting
Hot Chilli	Cabe pedas(rawit)
White pepper	Lada putih
Black pepper	Lada hitam
Green onion	Daun bawang
Turmeric root	Kunyit
Galangal root	Lengkuas
Greater galingale (Kaempferia galanga)	Kencur
Ginger	Jahe
Candle nut	Kemiri
Leek	Daun bawang
Spring onion/green onion	Daun bawang
Turmeric leaf	Daun kunyit
Salam leaf	Daun salam
Cardamom	Kapulaga
Caraway (Carum carvi)	Jinten
Star Anise	Bunga Lawang, Peka
Nutmeg	Pala
Clove	Cengkeh
Fruit of Kepayang Tree	Keluwek/keluwak
Flowering garlic chives	Bunga bawang
Lemongrass	Serai
Lime leaf	Daun jeruk purut
(A kind of) Indonesian very sour lime	Jeruk nipis
Lime	Jeruk limo
Coriander seed/ground	Biji/bubuk ketumbar
Coriander leaf	Daun ketumbar
Curry leaf/ground	Daun kari/ bubuk kari
Lemon Basil leaf	Daun kemangi
Celery leaf	Daun seledri
Cumin (Cuminum cyminum ) seed/ground	Biji/bubuk jintan
Garlic chives	Kucai
Sesame seed	Biji Wijen
Tamarind	Asam Jawa

Bright Red Tea, Hibiscus Tea..

Hibiscus sabdariffa, I bought one small pack of dried roselle’s calyx at delicatessen nearby. Commonly, Indonesian people say it is roselle’s flower due to widespread misinterpretation. It is not flower but part of flower to protect a flower before it opens, CALYX.

Roselle have planted in Indonesia for a few hundred years ago. People used its fiber just like jute. But lately people also use it for food and drink. The dried calyx processes into rosella jams, syrups, and tea.

To make some tea, simply pour 250 ml boiling water on 3 to 5 dried rosella’s calyxes. Wait until it turns into bright red color. Press them with teaspoon may help them become red faster than just leave them. Add amount of sugar cube, stir. You can drink it cold or warm. Fresh but sour. Off course it is sour, because of the high level of vitamin C. So be careful of your stomach.

Wikipedia said that Hibiscus sabdariffa’s calyxes are rich in Anthocyanins. These pigments are responsible for the bright red to crimson red color of our Hibiscus tea here, depends on how many dried calyx we use. Not only take a role as the major pigment in this dried calyx, but Anthocyanins also take a part as antioxidant.

The dried calyxes are also rich in flavonoids content. That’s why people around the world use it for several folk medications. Some researchers found that hibiscus tea has anti hypertension effect in type II diabetic patients (with mild hypertension) so that it is reasonable when folk medication use it to cure people’s mild hypertension.

You can read Bahasa Indonesia version of this similar posting in my other blog.

Link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/ss01/anthocyanin.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_sabdariffa