April 14, 2012

Sarawak : Engkala

Beautiful tree full of engkala
The Ibans have cultivated the engkala all over Sarawak. Where you find Iban longhouses you can find engkala.

The fruits are often sold in the market and especially in the smaller towns. The fruit is well loved. It is a strange way to prepare the fruit. You normally hit the skin gently with the back of a spoon and soon the fruit is soft and almost mushy. Eaten with salt the fruit is tangy and even sweet to engkala fans.

Most of the indigenous people of Sarawak find the bark useful. Some would pound the bark and use it as a poultice to treat sprains. Some pound leaves together and squeeze the juice out to cure skin dieseases.No photo description available.

The leaves are often heated over charcoal and placed on sore arms to relax muscles and reduce tiredness.

The seeds are often used for its oil which can be made into soaps and simple oil for massage by Iban housewives.No photo description available.

The engkala as a fruit is a welcome dish in many Iban families.

6 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

don't know if I know this one.

What about the roots that you pound to get white milk juice, to throw to river to catch fish, or my mum used to dilute to use as pesticide for plants. You know the name?

mezzo solo said...

i will give to my next door kakak whenever my father passed these fruits to me...very expensive

Jobless Girl said...

Fruit that I never seen.

Anonymous said...

the root to poison the fish is known as leilinjin

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I can't remember if this is one or two things. Swimming in the Rejang River at upper Lanang Road at my Grand pa's place. we sometimes pick:
1. a helicopter propeller seed, we would throw it up and it would spin down. Great fun.

2: a flat seed/nut,about $1 size, peel off the skin and the nut is delicious.

Anonymous said...

I never know that engkala has many uses. It is good to know.

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