Exotic Foodstuff @ Malaya

 Rice Paper

Edible rice paper ( bánh tráng ) is used for making fresh salad rolls or fried spring rolls in Vietnamese cuisine.  Ingredients of the food rice paper include white rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, and water. The tapioca powder makes the rice paper glutinous and smooth. It is usually sold dried in thin, crisp, translucent round sheets that are wrapped in cellophane. The sheets are dipped briefly in hot water to soften them, then wrapped around savoury or sweet ingredients.

Pappad

Pappad is a  thin, crisp, round flatbread from India.  It is typically served as an accompaniment to a meal or as an appetizer or snack, sometimes with toppings such as chutneys.

Pappad can be prepared from different ingredients, such as lentils, checkpeas, black gram, rice, flour etc, flavoured with black pepper, chili powder, asafetida, cumin powder.  The mixture is kneaded with salt and vegetable, then flattened into very thin rounds, and dried for later preparation and consumption.

Asam Jawa

 

Asam Jawa is the fleshy, acidic pulp of Tamarind fruit.

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a leguminous tree (family Fabaceae) bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species.  Yet, Tamarind has been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for so long that it is sometimes reported to be indigenous there.

Asam Jawa has many culinary uses including as flavoring for curry, acar, sources, picking agent etc.  Sweeter matured Tamarind can be consumed fresh, or made into syrup drink.

Belacan

 

Belacan, a Malay variety of shrimp paste, is prepared from small shrimp from the Acetes species, known as geragau in Malaysia. In Malaysia, normally the krill are steamed first and after that are mashed into a paste and stored for several months. The fermented shrimp are then prepared, fried and hard-pressed into cakes. 

Belacan is used as an ingredient in many dishes. A common preparation is sambal belacan, made by mixing toasted belacan with chilli peppers, minced garlic, shallot paste and sugar and then fried. Sometimes it is toasted to bring out the flavour, usually creating a strong, distinctive odour.

Kerisik

Kerisik is grated, toasted, and grounded coconut.  It is used in Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean cooking, such as kerabu and rending.  Although it is common in Malesia region, it should be almost impossible to be found outside the region.

Omum Water

Omum water is made with the distilled oil of the ajwain herb, known as Trachyspermum ammi.  It is well-known digestive aid in Ayurvedic medicine.  

Ajwain  is mainly cultivated in Iran and India.   Both the leaves and the seeds-like fruits are consumed by humans.  Ajwain's small, oval-shaped, seed-like fruits are pale brown schizocarps, which in appearance and taste resemble the seeds of other plants in the family Apiaceae such as caraway, cumin and fennel. 

The fruits are commonly used in Indian cuisine.  it is also sold as a dietary supplement n capsules, liquids or powders.