Bin Gregory Productions » Blog Archive

Official Organ of an American Muslim in Malaysia

The Yard: Bunga Kantan

16 April 2006 12 Comments

The variety of herbs and spices used in Malaysian cooking is incredible until you realize this is where all the spices came from in the first place. Plenty of spices like cloves, cinnamon, and pepper are traded around the world. Some, for whatever reason, are still unknown outside of the region. One of these is Bunga Kantan, known in English as Torch Ginger and in Latin as Etlingera elatior. Bunga Kantan is in the ginger family, and sends green shoots out from large rhizomes just like common ginger, but the shoots are enormous, capable of growing several meters in height when the plant is happily established. Down at the base of the plant, smaller shoots are produced that at first look like the leafy ones, but soon take on a pinkish cast at the tip. These shoots, which only grow about a foot tall, slowly open up into thick, fleshly, deep pink petals that resemble flowers. I suppose they are flowers, except they don’t appear to have a reproductive function. They are gorgeous enough to cut for table ornaments, and you might sometimes see them used as such in hotels or fancy restaurants.

But their primary use is culinary. Bunga Kantan has a wonderful fresh spicy flavour. It holds its pink color even when cooked, adding a lovely look to a dish. It is an essential ingredient in the famous sour fish soup, Laksa Penang. The use of it together with mint is typical for Vietnamese-style rice or noodles in fast food stalls here, though how truly that represents Vietnamese food I don’t really know. It’s a fairly expensive ingredient, as much as a ringgit a stalk, making it a worthwhile plant to grow for the kitchen.

Bunga Kantan can also be seen in the ornamental landscape, as it is here, growing in a corner of PutraJaya, Malaysia’s new show-piece capitol city. There are varieties with different flower colors, like white, and pastel pink. The plant has an incurably wild look to it, but fits nicely in tropical-style landscapes.

[Update: A thousand apologies! I thought I had photographed a bunga kantan in PutraJaya last year but on visiting my photo archives at work found only an ornamental banana, which I've duly added to the banana post. Did I really see a bunga kantan there too on that trip or is my memory playing tricks on me? - ed.]

12 Comments »

Israd said:

My wife says its really hard to source this plant out of Asian. She has been wanting to make “laksa” for some time since we’re here. Mind sending us some?

# 16 April 2006 at 9:55 pm

Nizar said:

Hmmm thanks for the English name u provided. I think the Baba ppl use bunga kantan a lot in their cookings. I sometimes used it in Tom Yam or Penang Laksa, although the Johor Laksa suits my tongue better BTW, a repeat question:
What do u call limau purut, limau kesturi, and limau nipis in English?

# 30 April 2006 at 3:24 pm

Bin Peter said:

Salam alaikum. Those are very beautiful photos – they remind me of some I took in my own garden for my blog, hoping visitors could help me identify the plants. But I bought the RHS Ecyclopedia of plants and flowers for my wife instead and this seems to have done the trick. Sorry – I know I have just gone off on a huge tangent. Do you remember Colman’s Mustard?
Br Tim

# 5 May 2006 at 5:42 am

Administrator (author) said:

wa alaykum salam –

Thanks for writing. I do remember Coleman’s Mustard. Why do you ask?

# 5 May 2006 at 11:51 am

Bin Peter said:

You were talking about the varied spices used in Malaysian cooking and I was pondering what the English used to make cooking more interesting traditionally. Sorry – nonsense. Enjoy your sunny clime. All the best!

# 6 May 2006 at 3:55 am

Bin Peter said:

Salam alaikum,
Your post inspired me to put my garden pictures up at last. Not as nice as yours, but our camera is not great…

http://neurocentric.blogspot.com/2006/05/into-garden.html

# 6 May 2006 at 5:32 am

Administrator (author) said:

Those are nice pictures Br. Tim. Speaking of English condiments, you may be interested in my post about the Malay origins of ketchup and probably worcestershire sauce: Malay contributions to English: Kicap

# 8 May 2006 at 10:01 am

Administrator (author) said:

Nizar – I don’t know offhand, but i’ll look into it!

# 8 May 2006 at 10:02 am

Sall Hasnan said:

Asalamualaikum, I live is Sioux City Iowa and I had no problems getting all my spices here locally. My only problem is asam gelugor (asam keping) that I had sent from malaysia 20kg’s at a time. Recently I opened a Malaysian fusion restaurant here with olabaration of the local organic farmers and the mid-westerners have opened up their eyes to malaysian food. Now they are addicted to mamak sop ayam/kambing on those cold nights, ayam rendang pedas, and nasi minyak, nasi dagang. ome over to Sioux City if you are near us in USA and go to the Firehouse restaurant.

# 14 November 2006 at 7:54 am

Bin Gregory (author) said:

wa alaykum salam. Malay food available in Iowa, who would have thought! That’s great, I hope your business keeps growing. The closest thing I could find back in the Detroit area (aside from home cooking, mind you) was Vietnamese food, and they had a lot of babi on the menu.

# 14 November 2006 at 9:44 am

Rositah Yahaya said:

Congratulation Sall hopefully you will make it big out there pal. Surprise and happy that the mid-westerners are now more open to taste other types of food. Food of Malaysia is actually combination from folk of different cultural background, and becomes malaysian.

# 3 August 2007 at 4:53 pm

Roslan Mohamed said:

Congrats Sall Hasnan for the opening of Malaysian Fusion restaurant. I know you are a good cook since knowing you in Maryville. I am now in Manchester, England about to finish my phd. My email address, roslanphd@yahoo.co.uk
All the best pal!

# 10 August 2007 at 8:25 pm

Leave your response!

Agripleasure # -
An article about Three Roods Farm by Garrison Benson.

When Dr. Greg uses the verb "observe" (which is often), he means a willful action, not a passively received effect. Once, for instance, we delivered a cartload of dead leaves to the adolescent chickens, to "stimulate their instincts," and Dr. Greg suggested that we observe them. We sat in silence for ten minutes (that’s a third of a TV show, for most of us) watching the chickens stand still and nervously eye the leaves. "Well," he said eventually, "We can come back later."
Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed # -
Interesting critique of consumerism, counter-culture and the culture-jamming movement:

So here we have the paradox of anti-consumerism. The major remedy of the consumer society which has been adopted almost without question by the Left and by the radicals more generally has been one of the most powerful forces driving consumer capitalism. The Adbusters sneaker is just the latest and most extraordinary example. This is also why counter-cultural rebellion is not a threat to the system, but rather has become the system.[Update: link fixed]

[Via]

Vaguely related in ways I can't fully articulate to themes in Yursil's ongoing series on Suburban Capitalist Islam.
Brass Crescent Awards # -
Eid Mubarak, Selamat Hari Raya Korban! The 6th Annual Brass Crescent Awards have been announced. Congratulations to all the winners. If you haven't subscribed yet to Islam in China, Muslimah Media Watch and Seekers Guidance, you ought to do it right now. I'm very happy to be mentioned along with Folio, Al-Miskeenah, and the Manrilla, honorable people all. Keep your eyes on TalkIslam and AltMuslim to take part in the contest next time. Thanks to everybody who voted.