Page 91 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Many of the basic ingredients in the Indonesian kitchen are rhizomes, herbs and

spices. Gingers include common ginger, turmeric, Chinese keys and kencur. The
dried spices include black and white pepper, coriander, nutmeg, cumin and
cloves. In addition, Indonesian cooks use tamarind, candlenuts, brown sugar,
salam leaves (similar in appearance although not in flavour to bay leaves),
lemongrass, kaffir limes, chilli, red onions, garlic and dried shrimp paste.

To explain this concept, examples of food that double as medicine are
included below. The ingredients are typically Indonesian, found on every table,
grown in the villages, or bought in local markets.

Rice (Oryza sativa)
No Indonesian meal would be complete without rice, and the popular tonic,
Jamu Beras Kencur, depends on it. Visitors travelling through parts of Indonesia
are impressed by the endless terraces of immaculately cultivated paddy fields,
which represent a livelihood to the people they feed. Consequently, rice features
prominently in numerous ceremonies and celebrations in Indonesia. Births,

deaths, marriages, a new venture, boat or house—all receive their fair share of
rice in some shape or form. The tumpeng or yellow rice cone coloured with
turmeric takes pride of place on most of these occasions.
As food, rice adds protein, fat, carbohydrate and ash to the diet. Beriberi,
which causes inflammation of the nerves and results from a deficiency of
vitamin B, is often treated with rice polishings because they are rich in this
vitamin. Western research has recently announced that rice starch protects
against cancer. The starch can also be scented and used to make a cooling face