Salam

Eugenia polyantha. This tree produces leaves, daun salam, containing an aromatic, volatile oil which gives a subtle flavour to certain dishes if a single leaf is placed in the pan during cooking. The dried leaves can now be bought in London, at a few specialist shops, but are still much easier to find in Holland. If you cannot get any, use a bay leaf instead.

The salam leaf plays in Indonesia something like the same role as the ‘curry’ leaf in India. But the latter is the leaf of a quite different tree, Murraya koenigii.