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A number of indigenous ingredients come through our restaurant each day. This is our attempt at documenting as many of these ingredients - as a way to showcase the vibrant biodiversity of one of the oldest jungles in the world.
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Asam gelugur fruits are large and lobed, shaped much like a miniature pumpkin, though grows up on tall trees. It is orange-yellow in color when ripe, surrounded by drooping branches and leaves.
The fruits look like colorful fresh dates on the stalk, ranging from vegetal green to bright reddish-purple when ripe. The trees grow tall and not very wide, with shiny oval leaves.
The spiky fruits ripen brown then fall to the ground, where it splits and releases the nuts. They are less than 5cm wide, smaller than the more common Castanopsis hypophoenicea which grow up to 11cm wide.
Related to other rhizomes like ginger and turmeric, bunga kantan is the flower of the torch ginger plant. That said, its true flowers are hidden within pseudo-petals that range in shades of pink from pastel to fuchsia. All these pseudo-petals and flowers are edible and highly aromatic.
Closely related to jackfruit and breadfruit, its flesh is often confused with jackfruit. It is smaller in comparison to jackfruit (about 2kg on average), though with larger individual "eyes" on its skin.
Can appear white, cream-colored, or gray. Reputable foragers will sell cendawan busut with its long one-meter root stems attached, as it is an identifier of the correct species.
Visually similar to a cross between tomatoes and persimmons, the cepu is shaped like a flattened globe, bright green when young and orange-red when ripe.
The small, lobed fruits grow along the trunk and branches of its prolific tree. The fruits appear similar to the common gooseberry, though those are smooth and not lobed.
The skin of the fruit is rough in texture, in various shades of light brown. The flesh of the fruit is juicy, yellow to reddish-brown, though must be fully ripe before consumption.
Similar to the Indian long pepper, it grows as a flowering and climbing vine. Tiny berries grow densely in a cluster, forming an almost corn cob-like multiple fruit appearance. These fruits are reddish in comparison to the Indian long pepper's dark brown, and are picked and dried whole.
The legumes grow underground, with leaves growing in bunches aboveground like groundnut plants, though pointed and lighter in color. The legume pods normally contain single nuts.
The stalk and leaves are comparatively large, with silvery green coloring. When the main stalk is mature, the corms need to be harvested as soon as possible or they will grow into saplings/shoots.
This aquatic plant grows year round in mud, up to a height of 60cm. The small yellow flowers grow in clusters at the end of the stalks, surrounded by broad and light green leaves.
Visually a cross between snakefruit and lychee, the fruit grows in tight clusters. The trees are botanically part of the palm family and appear visually so.
The tree is fairly large, with the fruits growing far above ground and require climbing to procure. The shell of the fruit is a dark velvety indigo, almost black. The fruits are sun-dried after harvesting so the pulp separates from the shell. The shell is then broken to obtain the bright orange pulp. The seed is not consumed.
Belonging to the same genus as the common mango, the kuini is sometimes confused with another mangifera species, the bacang. The skin is still green when ripe; if it is turning yellow it means that the flesh inside is already overripe.
The perah nut is not a botanical nut, but the seed of the fruit from the perah tree. The fruit splits open upon maturity, revealing the seed within. Perah nuts require careful preparation to remove toxic hydrocyanides before consumption.
Rambai is botanically related to the various tampoi fruits, which is a common jungle fruit in Malaysia. It looks like a beige, thick-skinned mangosteen and grows in bunches close to the trunk of its rather short tree.
A palm tree with multiple tall and thin stems, the fruits grow in clusters along the base. The fruit skin is reddish-brown and scaley, hence the name snakefruit.
The sukun ripens while still green or yellowish, with a weight of up to 2kg. The pulp is cream to white in color, and all parts of the sukun tree exude sticky white sap. Sukun is both botanically related and visually similar to cempedak and nangka (jackfruit), which quickly becomes obvious when the fruits are peeled apart, revealing the structure of these compound fruits.
Grows as a creeping plant across the ground with downy leaves. The tubers are small, similar to fingerling potatoes. However, it is not botanically related to the common true potato.
