Kala Shoots, Food Smells Weird

Kala tree (Indonesian: kecombrang. Aceh: kala), a plant about 4 meters high, with small stems like sugar cane, but the use and taste and smell of the two plants are contradictory, very different.

In our village, kala shoots and flowers that have not yet bloomed—still in bud—from this tree are cooked in several ways. One of them is used as an ingredient for making “gulee pliek”curry made from pliek, one of the famous dishes in Aceh. That is one of the main ingredients of “gulee pliek”.

Kala shoots and flowers have a strange smell, and the pliek itself is a rotten head that has been dried and squeezed to extract its oil. Kecombrang and pliek kala shoots, both smell. However, I like gulee pliek, but not kala shoots or kala flowers.

Matah Sauce of Kala Flowers

Another one, as far as I know, is chopped and boiled until the anchoic smell is gone—not gone, just reduced—then sprinkled with grated coconut. This food is disgusting to me. In fact, I would stay away from such smelly food. However, some people like it. Their tastes are indeed interesting.

Kala trees are not widely cultivated in Aceh. It usually grows alone or is planted as a single stem and then propagates on its own. If many don't know where to take it. In our parents' garden, there are several clumps of kala stems. In my own garden there are several bushes of this strange-smelling plant. I like to see the bamboo shoots and the flowers, they are bright red mixed with white.

Because of its unique aroma, the kala tree has no predators. Goats, cows, buffalo, chickens, even pigs don't want to go near the kala tree.

Self Predator

However, there is one thing that is unique from nature. Even though it has a strange aroma and has no external predators, the kala tree also has predators, its special predators.

For some reason, there is a kind of green caterpillar that appears from the kala leaf itself. It's just in the leaves. He ate the leaves little by little until they were gone. The size of the caterpillar is from small to as big as the kecombrang stem itself. The size of the kala stem is that if we hold the tree with the index finger and thumb, the tips of the two fingers meet.

It's one of nature's uniqueness. Each tree has its own predators. That's what I see in our garden. On the kala tree, I saw that. On the taro tree that I planted, I also saw a kind of caterpillar that only exists when the taro tree is there. But strangely, on the taro tree, if I eradicate the green caterpillar, jet black appears again. Only the color has changed, the food and all the forms and ways of the caterpillar have remained the same. Likewise, fruit caterpillars, such as mangoes, emerge from the fruit itself.

Selling Kala Shoots and Kala Flowers

We rarely eat kala shoots, although there are some shrubs in our garden. Nobody really likes it, except our mothers. She can eat all kinds of food, but that keeps her healthy, because what she eats is usually natural.

We often sell kala shoots and kecombrang flowers at the Batuphat morning market instead of eating them ourselves. Plants with a distinctive smell, can not be eaten often.

Maybe in other parts of the world people also have kala trees, but the way of cooking and presentation is different. The difference in treating those weird smelling foods would be interesting.

Survive the Dry Season

I'm not sure whether the kala tree can store water. What is certain, in our place, the tree can survive during the dry season. Roots grow deep. He has deep roots. Either because of that he was able to survive, or because it grew up in our coconut plantation, the sunlight was blocked by the coconut trees.

Once it grows, it will spread everywhere, from a single stalk to tens and hundreds of stalks, in a single clump.

Thank you

January 17, 2023

Kind Regards
Thayeb Loh Angen

All Photo Captions: Kala tree (kecombrang) in our parents' garden, Dayah Paloh, Lhokseumawe, Aceh, Sumatra. Small, January 16, 2023. Photo by Jamaluddin. With Nikon D7000 Camera, Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm Lens.