Daun Salam (Salam Leaves)
This tree produce leaves, daun salam, containing an aromatic, volatile oil which ginves a sutle 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 latter is the leaf of a quite different tree. Murraya koenigii.
