Khasiat daun ketumbar

“Coriander” – We all are acquainted with this term. We have it in our daily meal but very few of us are aware about its several names and its nutritional importance for our health. It is also known as cilantro, Chinese parsley and dhania. Dhania word is commonly used in India. In India, coriander is known by several other regional names like Dhane in Bengali; Kothmiri and Libdhana in Gujarati; Kothambri in Kannada; Daaniwal and Kothambalari in Kashmiri; Kothumpalari bija in Malayalam; Dhana in Marathi; Dhanyaka in Sanskrit; Kothamalli in Tamil; Dhaniyalu in Telugu.

The Botanical name of coriander is Coriandrum sativum Linn, which is further classed within the Family name of Umbelliferae. Cilantro is the Spanish word for coriander, also derived from coriandrum. It is a common term in North America, due to its extensive use in Mexican cuisine.

It is a popular ingredient in the cuisines of many nations. Chinese parsley is used both fresh and dried, and is readily available in most markets, due to its enduring popularity. Chinese parsley quickly spread, and it was embraced by Thai, Indian, and Chinese cooks.

Coriander requires a cool climate during growth stage and a warm dry climate at maturity. It can be cultivated in almost all types of soils. Its usage in India is in cooking, in producing oils, as a spice, in medicine, in ayurveda, the usage of coriander is in the culinary and cuisine section, also serving as chutney, as soup, as curry pastes, in making dal, and preparing pickles.

All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most commonly used in cooking.

NUTRITONAL IMPORTANCE

• Coriander or cilantro contains many compounds which have anti oxidant properties.
• The flavor of coriander and cilantro is due to the fatty acids and volatile oils in it.
• Coriander is rich in dietary fiber providing as much as 42 gms fiber in 100 gms of coriander.
• This fiber helps in lowering the LDL cholesterol as it binds to the bile salts.
• Coriander contains very good amounts of minerals like iron, copper, calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium and zinc.
•  It also has high levels of vitamin C.
• Coriander is also a storehouse of the B complex vitamins, especially thiamine, niacin and riboflavin.
• Coriander oil is extracted from the seeds contain anti bacterial properties and is rich in phytonutrients, flavonoids and active phenolic compounds.
• A, beta carotene, vitamin-C that are essential for optimum health. Vitamin-C is a powerful natural antioxidant. Cilantro leaves provides 30% of daily recommended levels of vitamin-C.

HEALTH BENEFITS

• It is known for building the stomach and promoting digestion. Dry coriander treats diarrhea.
• The leaves and seeds contain many essential volatile oils such as borneol, linalool, cineole, cymene, terpineol, dipentene, phellandrene, pinene and terpinolene and have rich aroma, they acts as an excellent appetizer and helps to stimulate the secretion of enzymes and digestive juices in the stomach.
• It also helps in stimulating digestion and peristaltic motion.
• Coriander leaves are also helpful in treating anorexia.
• Fresh coriander leaves are good source of oleic acid, linoleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin-C), which are very effective in decreasing the cholesterol level in the blood.
• Coriander or cilantro herb contains no cholesterol; but is rich in anti-oxidants and dietary fiber which help in reducing LDL or “bad cholesterol” while increasing HDL or “good cholesterol” levels.
• It is helpful in decreasing the deposition of cholesterol along the inside layer of the arteries and veins and thereby reduce the risk of heart attack.
• Fresh coriander leaves are helpful to treat some skin disorders due to its anti-fungal, anti-septic, detoxifying, and disinfectant properties. “To get relief from hives, drink it as a juice or make a paste to apply to the skin. For rashes/hives, mix fresh coriander juice & honey and apply this paste on the skin area which is affected. Leave it on the skin for at least 15 minutes, before rinsing off with cool water.”
• Fresh coriander leaves are great source of vitamin-C, vitamin-A, anti oxidants, and minerals such as phosphorus which are helpful to ease muscular degeneration, conjunctivitis, aging of eyes, and sooth eyes against stress.  
• Coriander is one of the richest herbal sources for vitamin K. Vitamin-K has potential role in bone mass building by promoting osteotrophic activity in the bones.
• It also has established role in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
• It is also beneficial for women especially those suffering from a heavy menstrual flow.
• Coriander is known to lower blood sugar by stimulating the secretion of insulin. It has also been called as an ‘anti-diabetic’ plant.
• The aroma of fresh coriander leaves is also helpful for Epistaxis (Nose bleed).
• Coriander leaves are rich source of anti oxidant, anti microbial, and anti infectious components and acids. Also, the presence of iron and vitamin-C strengthen the immune system. They have a soothing effect on pox and also decrease the pain of small pox.
• Essential oils of coriander contain citronelol, a component which has an excellent antiseptic property. Additionally, other components of the coriander like essential oil have anti microbial and healing effects which prevent the worsening of the wounds and ulcers in the mouth. They freshen up the breath and help in healing of ulcers.
• It helps in reducing brain fag, tension, migraine and nervous weakness.
• It also relieves gas and stomach ache.
• It controls rheumatic and arthritic pains, muscle spasms.
• It benefits in colds and flu.
• It removes toxins and wastes.
• This herb is also great for the skin. Its juice mixed with turmeric powder can help treat pimples and blackheads.
• Coriander has been used as a folk medicine for the relief of anxiety and insomnia in Iran.
• Coriander is known as best cleaning treatment for kidneys and it is natural. Drink one glass coriander juice daily will help in removing accumulated poison from kidney by urination.

The coriander leaves, seeds, stems and their oils all are used in many traditional medicines as analgesic, aphrodisiac, anti-spasmodic, deodorant, digestive, carminative, fungicidal, lipolytic (weight loss), stimulant and stomachic.

Coriander can produce an allergic reaction in some people. But it’s very rare; normally it has no side effect.

Kajang and the Anwar-Mahathir showdown – Sakmongkol AK47

Kajang and the Anwar-Mahathir showdown – Sakmongkol AK47

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

When Anwar Ibrahim announces he wants to contest in Kajang, the whole country erupted into a fit. Most affected is the BN side. They don’t know what to do and say. So they shoot at each other.

Ahmad Maslan, the 3.85 CGPA-man, announced that Umno will use Anwar’s sex issue as the main issue. I am sure at the very moment, Kajang inhabitants wake up in the morning to find packages containing various CDs on Anwar’s sexual encounters enclosed. That’s how Umno educate Malays.

Even Dr Mahathir has entered the fray; first by saying that Anwar is only fit to become the menteri besar. As usual his initial response developed into the typical Mahathir vitriol on his onetime protégé turned nemesis.

The whole political saga involving Anwar which sets the country into political turmoil was created in the first place by Mahathir. That is why Mahathir is attacking Anwar. Mahathir knows Anwar will eventually win. So he tries to delay the inevitable.

Despite his admission that he wanted to retire earlier then when he actually did, he was actually planning to stay as long as he is mentally alert. He has to look after his friends’ business interests. He has to take care of his sons’ businesses. He wants to ensure his legacy is intact. Most of all he needed a guarantee to make sure all the mess that he has created is not exposed. He was jolted from his own perceived invincibility and infallibility by the challenge Anwar marshalled against him.

To me and I hope to many more Malaysians, this is a case of a great injustice done to Anwar and his family. He has taken more punishment than he deserves. This time it is the people of Kajang’s turn to show the world and Mahathir, this country is not owned by Umno or Mahathir. The country has been ill for some time. Now it’s time to heal.

The Kajang by-election is an opportunity for the people of Kajang to do some correction. It’s true that the right to recall should be initiated by the rakyat. But it’s unrealistic to expect a group of satay sellers, hawkers, pasar malam traders to do a political version of a class-action like this. It must be initiated by a creative minority such as politicians.

A right to recall should not be confined to applying a referendum on the ruling government but can also be extended to correct internal politics. This is what PKR is doing. It’s correcting internal politics within PKR.

As to the face-off between Mahathir and Anwar, Mahathir’s persistent interest on Anwar is another phase of a political struggle between an impatient Anwar and Mahathir. In the proper context, impatience is not a personal defect. Tolerating the excesses of Mahathir on the other hand, shows something is terribly wrong.

Dr Mahathir should not be deceiving people further by saying his continued fight with Anwar is spurred on by his desire to protect Malaysia from Anwar. That is a decision to be made by Malaysian citizens. Mahathir must stop patronising Malaysians with his wisdom in deciding what’s best for our lives.

Anyone with leadership material is sure to be impatient with Mahathir.

Tengku Razaleigh, Musa Hitam and Anwar all are leadership material impatient at the way Mahathir ran the country. Those of lesser constitution, like Najib, are people who can be cowed into toeing the line. Mahathir loves that kind of pliant and submissive material.

Mahathir wanted to remove a political threat. It’s all politics to decide who gets to keep power and who can’t. And the excuses contrived by Mahathir were only just that, convenient excuses. Because if Anwar were to be destroyed because of his legally unproven sexual deviances or moral misconduct, almost all of Mahathir’s cabinet should have been asked to go. All it needed was Mahathir saying so. They were many drunkards and fornicators in his cabinet then.

If Anwar were to be destroyed because of corruption as he was indeed convicted of, then the entire cabinet should have resigned a long time ago. So minus the sexual misconduct and corruption, it all boils down to a power struggle between Mahathir and Anwar and the former needed to remove a political threat. Anwar was a threat to him, to his friends and to the politicians hiding behind Mahathir.

Anwar is still a threat now. With a more powerful Anwar helming Selangor, life as Umno and BN know all this while will come to an abrupt end. No more halcyon days. No more salad days.

The second-rate and half-past-six BN leaders reacted as dullards do when they don’t have the answers, issuing threats and the usual show of outdoing each other by uttering disparaging remarks. Nallakarupan says he will expose the dark side of Anwar. Why would anyone believe and place faith in someone who has benefited from his friendship with Anwar but now has turned against him?

Zaid Ibrahim is a close friend of mine. But I find his rationale for contesting because he cannot agree to having Anwar replace Khalid Ibrahim as MB a bit patronising.

Does Khalid need someone like Zaid to defend him? Accordingly, I give Zaid two chances on wining Kajang, slim and none. But if he were to enter the fray with financing from Umno boys, please share with me.

Some say it’s a waste of public funds. Some say it’s a betrayal of trust, even well-meaning NGO leaders appear to accept the BN stock-in-trade explanation of the motives of Anwar.

Anwar need not contest if two things remain. (1) If those having constitutional powers stick to their constitutional role, and (b) Selangor has an MB strong and resilient enough to withstand the onslaught. The two requirements are not there.

In order to understand the Kajang move, we have to widen our sights. In the 1980s when Mahathir held sway, the Malay rulers were held at bay. Mahathir even created a special court to try royal miscreants. The rulers were weak then and Umno wasn’t that enamoured with them. Umno did not need the Malay rulers then.

Nowadays, the reverse is true. Umno is weak despite winning 88 parliamentary seats. BN won only 47% of the popular votes. No matter how they want to disguise it, Umno knows it does not have the moral victory. The people have rejected them. And Najib knows Umno won because the gerrymandering and lopsided voter representation. Umno won in many areas with relatively smaller voter population. It lost in almost all urban areas.

On the other hand, the Malay rulers have become stronger. This isn’t happening only in Selangor but in almost all the states. They have begun to reassert themselves on a weakened Umno. In Johor, Perak, Pahang, assertive constitutional rulers are making demands that Umno is only too pleased to accommodate in exchange for political favours and also in exchange for a lifeline. Ask and you shall be given.

Selangor, in particular, is the crown jewel. It’s the richest state and control of the state confers on a seasoned politician strategic advantages. We already got some indications in this direction when Anwar announced that he will be bringing Tan Sri Muhammad bin Muhammad Taib to help him in Selangor.

I was among the people who initially thought the plan to do so was so wrong. But when I look at it from a political angle, I find the plan to bring in Mat Tyson to be a brilliant move.

With Mat Tyson assigned an important and substantive role in an Anwar administration, Umno’s influence in Selangor can be extinguished. The five parliamentary seats now held in coastal Selangor will be recaptured easily with Mat Tyson working his magic there.

When he was MB of Selangor at one time, many of the local leaders owed him more than gratitude. The 12 state seats in Selangor held by BN can be easily converted by Mat Tyson. There will be complete annihilation of BN in Selangor. The rakyat should cherish such an idea: a complete decimation of Umno in Selangor.

Those vested with constitutional powers are asserting themselves on a weakened Umno. Umno is too pleased to accommodate them temporarily because Umno needed the constitutional rulers to support them.

Anwar on the other hand has the stature, resilience and bold enough to resist attempts from any quarters to launch a coup d’état or mount a Perak-like putsch. Selangor is the crown jewel of Malaysia. Controlling it means having a big say on capturing Putrajaya. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com, February 25, 2014.

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de guerre of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri, the MP for Raub, Pahang.