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with these are mixed ripe slimèng (blimbing)[1] pounded fine, chilis, onions and sreuë (sěrai)[2]; 2°. keumamaih reundang or tumèh, the ingredients of which differ little from those just described, but which is not eaten raw but fried in oil.
A fourth article of food, which is greatly relished by the Achehnese is boiled fresh fish from the sea or the rivers (eungkōt teunaguën). To this is added a considerable quantity of the juice of various sorts of limes (e. g. bòh munteuë, kruët, kuyuën, makén and sréng), with chilis and various savoury herbs. The whole is set on the fire in a pot with water, and not taken off until the water boils.
At kanduris (religious feasts) and suchlike occasions glutinous rice (bu kunyèt) coloured yellow with turmeric is a favourite dish. To this are always added either tumpòë (a sort of pancakes, six or seven of which are laid on top of the rice) and cheuneuruët, a gelatinous network formed of the same kind of rice, or else grated cocoanut mixed with red sugar (u mirah), or long strips of stockfish boiled in cocoanut milk, called keumamaih teunaguën.
At weddings, funeral feasts, receptions of distinguished guests and other ceremonious occasions, it is customary to serve up the rice and its accessories[3] in a definite traditional manner on dalōngs or trays. This manner of service is called meuʾidang, and we shall have occasion to notice it more fully later on. An adjunct of every idang, after the rice, fish and gulé, is the tray of sweetmeats, containing a dish of glutinous rice (bu leukat), this time without turmeric, and a dish of pisang peungat—ripe plantains sliced thin and boiled with cloves, cinnamon, sugar and some pandan-leaves. To these is often added sròykaya—eggs with cocoanut milk and herbs well cooked by steaming.
Fruits (bòh kayèë) are constantly eaten, but do not form the special accessories of any feast. After a funeral those who are present at the burial ground eat plantains and such other fruits as are for sale in the market.
Sweetmeats are called peunajōh (which properly means simply „victuals”), and are as in Java very various in form and name[4], though
- ↑ The blimbing is an acid fruit (one of the Oxalidaceæ) growing on a tree of moderate size. It is very popular with the Malays as a relish or sambal in curry. (Translator).
- ↑ Sěrai is Malay for the lemon-grass. Andropogon Scheenanthus. (Translator).
- ↑ All that goes with the rice is called lawan bu or teumòn bu.
- ↑ For instance bōy, halua Meuseukat, pasisa, dōy-dōy, peunajōh thō, halua u, halua
