By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, April 12: A neatly tied bundle of leafy vegetables at a farmer’s market recently caught the attention of this reporter who had never seen it before. Upon closer inspection, there was a whiff of a fruity scent about it.
Thus was this reporter’s introduction to ‘daun singkil’, a wild local vegetable that is commonly foraged for in rural areas where it is then brought home to consume or to mix into and garnish their dishes.
Some locals here also call the vegetable ‘daun bebuas’.
It can be eaten or used as a herb to cook meat, fish and vegetables or for garnishing as an aromatic to a dish.
A vegetable seller at the farmer’s market said that the vegetable is in demand because people like to use it as a garnish in a spiced porridge like ‘bubur pedas’ during the holy month of Ramadan, as well as a herb in beef or mutton dishes.
“But I like to use it as a garnish in my simple fried bamboo shoot dishes. The fruity smell brings an extra aroma to the simple dish which is appetising,” she told DayakDaily when met recently.
“It is not commonly used or consumed in our dishes as we are more familiar with other wild vegetables like many species of wild ferns, mushrooms and local and leafy herbs or roots like ‘tepus’, ‘lengkuas’, ginger, turmeric or lemongrass,” she added.
She revealed that as the vegetable is in demand, some people have started to grow it in their gardens due to potential commercial value.
“Unlike before, we foraged for it from nearby forests, or we planted it near paddy fields. It is useful. We consume it by using it in meat or fish dishes. It gets rid of the some meat or fish smell. This helps to make the dish more appetising to the palate,” she explained.
A small bundle of ‘daun singkil’ at the farmer’s market is often priced at RM2.
According to its Wikipedia entry (https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebuas), it can also be consumed as ‘ulam’ or salad and made into herbal tea.
The vegetable can also be blanced and dipped into ‘sambal belacan’ (fermented prawn paste cooked with sambal), ‘budu'(fermented anchovies) and ‘cencaluk’ (fermented shrimp) before it is consumed.
It is also believed to have health benefits and is used as traditional medicine or in tonic drinks by Malay and Chinese communities. — DayakDaily
