This has got to be the worst heat wave ever in Malaysia. The other night I almost dropped my hot night dress in surprise. It didn’t make sense as I had yanked it off the clothes rack in my bedroom, not a sizzling kitchen grill.
I could feel the heat radiating off the walls upstairs. Perhaps it was because I had been away for a couple of hours after having turned off my tired old fans and bolted the windows tight against those damned burglars.
The heat was an unpleasant surprise for just a month ago I’d wake up to lovely cool air in the in the depths of Subang (I kid you not, it’s way cooler here than in PJ). Anyway, now I just start my day sweating like a very unladylike oink oink at the break of dawn.
You see, there are no air-conditioning units in my home (I’m a truly rare species…. okay, okay I’ve got fears of ending up with certain ailments but that’s another story) so there’s no room to seek shelter within the house.
So what do I do? Other than watering my plants who have it worse than me, twice a day, I have taken to drinking cumin water for its cooling effects. It is strange the things I get up to these days.
I have memories of my father gulping this down from the time I was a toddler until I was a working adult. I thot it was just another Kerala habit, never bothering to investigate the many benefits that lay behind this innocuous little brown spice.
Cumin, jerakum or jintan manis is something that can be easily bought at all stores in Malaysia. My mother used to fling half a teaspoon of it into a pot of water (about 3 glasses), boiling it until it turned a light yellow colour wihtin about 20 minutes. My friend (I’ve got to credit Mr Ramamurthy’s daughter for this) suggested I roast it for a few seconds before adding the water. It’s a lot more pungent, sending a sweet aromatic smell through my house. the process of making it is ridiculously simple.
Does it work? Yup, it certainly does as I feel cooler after downing a hot glass of it. Plus, it is said to help the digestive system which may be why I don’t feel so lethargic after meals these days.
It’s surprising how years later you find out that all those things the old folks used to eat, drink and grow in the garden had myriad health values. Take for instance the yoghurt mixed in with diced cucumber, giving it a really cooling effect, the yellow turmeric splattered into vegetables and curries which has cancer fighting properties and that much hated bitter gourd turns out to be an excellent preventive measure for diabetics.
Let’s not forget tulsi or holy basil, the revered plant found in most Hindu homes. You could pluck some of the leaves to rub onto your skin to cure certain skin diseases, swallow it whole to gain from its medicinal properties (but I believe you are not supposed to bite into it as it may have adverse effects), or even boil it. If consuming it does not appeal to you, just grow it in your garden as the old folks say it keeps negative energy away.
Coincidentally, one article that was circulating on the net says tulsi emits a remarkably strong positive aura. No matter what, it just makes me happy to see it sprouting all over my little garden. Passersby may think that I’m a Hari Krishna devotee but that doesn’t bother me. On days when I feel down, ten minutes near my lovely tulsi plants lifts my spirits high.
When I did my research on my cumin drink, I found a whole lot of other kitchen spices with medicinal properties. There’s coriander that can be boiled for my asthma, ginger to be thrown into dishes to reduce the “wind”, and the list goes on.
By the way, seems that you can do some “oil pulling” (sloshing the oil about for 20 minutes in your mouth) with that vegetable oil sitting pretty in your cabinet to rid of every ailment under the sun. Wanna give it a go?
