Lumai or leunca or Black Nightshade

I was first introduced to this leave when I attended MAHA 2010 and at one of the stalls they had sayur lemak lumai.  Later, I found out that they were growing at the farm.  This plant belongs to the terung or solanaceae family although the fruit is not eaten especially the unripe fruit and the leaves are eaten either raw or cooked.  In Indonesia, it is also known as Ranti.

This plant produces tiny white flowers which turns into a dark purplish black berry which contains many tiny seeds.  These seeds can be used to propagate new plants by squeezing out the seeds and putting it into soil, lightly covering the seeds.  However, once you have seeded it, this plants do fare well when moved and transplanted to a different location.  It prefers a semi-shade location and flourishes in moist but not soggy ground.

The young leaves can be consumed raw as ulam or cooked such as in coconut milk creating sayur lemak pucuk lumai  or in water creating sayur air pucuk lumai.  To the cooked vegetable you can add shrimps, dried or fresh, or anchovies.  Add this to your vegetable selection to increase your repertoire :)