Herbs Garden
While Chinese use of medicinal and culinary herbs is well known, the Malay way with these plants is less so. According to the authors of Herbs of Malaysia, before the 19th century many herbs were introduced to the country by foreign traders (mint by Sri Lankans); beginning around 1900 others were carried in by Indonesian and Indian migrant labor brought to Malaysia by the British. The Malay love of ulam (herbs) is evident in dishes like kerabu (salads of various ulam mixed with ingredients such as grated coconut, dried prawns or fish, shallots, chilies) and nasi ulam. Ulam are also eaten raw or blanched, dipped in spicy sambal. Malaysian wet markets are sources for a mind-boggling variety of ulam, but those living outside the country's urban areas can also forage for ulam in jungles, streams, and paddy fields.
The menu at Restoran Herba is limited to sup (soups) and hot and cold beverages. At Ali's suggestion we began with tall, cold glasses of jade green air pegaga, made from pounded pennywort leaves. The herb's natural bitterness tempered with a bit of sugar and livened with a good hit of kalamansi juice, this drink proved just the thing after a long drive.
Partial to sun and moist soil, pennywort is believed to stimulate the appetite and aid in digestion. Its medicinal uses are wide-ranging, from ingestion for treatment of epilepsy and skin diseases to the application of the herb in paste form to the forehead and body to cure fever. Traditional Malay medicine recognizes pennywort as a 'warm' herb, recommended to mothers who have just given birth.
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