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I often noticed that ginger is included in much of the jamu recipes shared on the internet but it was not listed (by name) as part of the eight primary concoctions. Instead, ginger appears to be an add-on ingredient, except probably for jahe wangi or jahe rempah. An invitation to share about the tea cultureContinue reading “The Common Ginger in Javanese Wedang and Jamu”

Starting to make jamu can be overwhelming when we attempt to work it out on our own and have ready access to hundreds of recipes from the internet. I learned to make jamu growing up as my late mother was a practitioner of traditional healing. Often, she would invite me to make jamu with her,Continue reading “Making Jamu is Simple and Easy”

Let’s Safeguard Jamu Tradition! has been my rallying call since a month ago. It started with Jom Jamah Jamu! that emerged in 2024 and became firmed with a performance art by my daughter, Kamelia, later that year. By May 2025, our involvement in the Singapore Heritage Festival inspired the creation of a series – JomContinue reading “Jom Lestarikan Jamu!”

It was the invitation to represent Singapore at the International Conference on Intangible Cultural Heritage at Kuala Lumpur that got me conceptualising much of my work on jamu as “Making jamu exciting again!“. This tagline that guides my work from July 2025 follows the one that I had for Elefpi Learnscapes up to 2025 –Continue reading “Making Jamu Exciting Again!”

Each year, at the start of the fasting month, there is the Hari Raya light up. How did it start? It probably came from the tradition of lighting up our homes with flicker lights, that possibly came from traditions such as ‘’malam tujuh likur”, “malam selikuran” and “malam lampu colok”. In the Javanese tradition, malamContinue reading “WHY DO WE HAVE HARI RAYA LIGHT UP?”

Few years later, memories of iftars in Ramadan will be filled with imaginations of enjoying nasi ambeng with friends and family. Over time, when this practice continues, having nasi ambeng for iftar becomes part of the Ramadan tradition in Singapore – a re-invention of tradition. Due to the resemblance of the side dishes and significanceContinue reading “FROM SLAMETAN TO RAMADAN : THE REMAKING OF NASI AMBENG TRADITION”

Nasi ambeng has been traditionally served during communal ritual gatherings known as slametan in Java and kenduri in Singapore. In the traditional serving layout, the dishes are placed on banana leaves on top of the rice on a round large platter. In the nasi ambeng we see today, it follows more of the layout ofContinue reading “THE PECULIAR NASI AMBENG OF SINGAPORE”