Monday, August 18, 2008

Just Another Day

Sitting at home trying to decide whether to sleep off the pain or just log about anything that comes to mind, I think the choice to that is pretty clear now. One thing though, please note that my blogging about it is not in asking for sympathy, but just to...well, blog lah!

A few years back, I could have easily called a number and asked whether a particular man is coming up to KL. Having been introduced to him by my arwah uncle, this man was a former Red Cross official (and a Hospital Dresser, I think), who practiced alternative medicine using only the humble cucumber to assist his patients. I never did know his full name, calling him abang Fuad only. He passed away in his sleep some 2 years ago at his away 'clinic' in Bandar Sri Damansara. His home clinic was in Parit Kurma, Muar, Johor; he was, a very gentle soul and loved to joke around, but he also posses knowledge, perhaps gained from his experience abroad whilst with the International Red Cross.

Whenever a patient seeks treatment from him, he would ask the patient to take his wudhu' first, if he is a Muslim. Then, he would ask the patient to lie on the treatment bed and normally, he would not even ask the problem, preferring to treat what he termed as 'the main cause of many illnesses' - the kidney. Off course, the kidney is not the cause, rather the foreign effluents that clog or mess it is.

Then, he would cut off both ends of a cucumber and ask the patient to recite surah Al-Fatehah. He would then alternate both tips of the cucumber, placing them on the kidney (and other areas as requested by the patients, including those with heart problems). After reciting several short verses, he would then cut open the used cucumber to reveal the effluents 'sucked out'. Sometimes, there's nothing at all but cucumber seedlings. Sometimes, there's a whitish substance. But most of the times, the substance is dark in colour. Often too, there would be small, black stones, somewhat like a coral. Those, Arwah Fuad said, are the kidney stones. And I witnessed several including 3 stones which he took out from the cucumber he used to treat me.
His advice to kidney stone patients: avoid commercially-raised chicken as the booster used leads to human health problems, and to drink lots of freshly-boiled barley juice. The barley, he said, helps to break down the stones. Perhaps, this goes along well together with Jaflam's and Alina's advice in their comment to the previous posting.

Anyway, with Arwah Fuad no longer able to assist now, I may have to find some other alternative treatment as I am not to keen on being hospitalised again. Not for anything though, the cost of hospital treatment can cause another form of bodily ailment.

So, sitting at home doing nothing but blogging and blog hopping, my emak decided to whip up one of my favourite dishes. Now, its been more than a year since she does any cooking. But I guess baking the sultana cookies recently, sort of put some enthusiasm back into her.
Its one of the few Melaka dish not well known to outsiders and is called 'Masak Cincuan'. Emak herself does not know the origin of the dish but its been with the family for several generations now. One just need some carrots, onions, chili, fresh tumeric, and fry them with oil. Off course, one would need to fry the fish first before frying it again with all those ingredients. For the fish itself, it would best to use either Ikan Tengiri or Merah.

Looking at the name of the dish (Cincuan), I would think it is Chinese in origin, perhaps, Szechuan. I wouldn't know, I have never tried that Chinese dish before.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

salam shah. wah. nasib baik baru lepas makan. kalau tidak, mesti dah terliur ni..

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam,

Aiseh, dah makan pula dia! Kalau dok, leh juga jemput makan kat Kota Damansara ni :)

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

i once was treated by this one traditional indian-muslim healer, whom i referred to as encik Ismail. he did fairly well, 'cleaning' my kidney by using reflexology method. the treatment was daily till he passed on. looking back, i thought he made a good friend more than just a traditional healer to me. this was during the earlier days after the road mishaps that made me immobile. when many friends walked out of my life, encik ismail was always there to give me encouragement. ahh...the not-so-good old days....

Anonymous said...

encek shah. jauh sangat lah kota damansara tu... bila tiba sana, dah teatime.

cakapaje said...

Salam kerpie,

I think that quite rare, having an Indian-Muslim doing reflexology, that is. But that he was one, meant he must have been very good. I, for one, really cannot withstand the pain of reflexology, or anything on my left foot.

cakapaje said...

Alina,

Hmm...betul juga ye. Kalau gitu, kita skip lunch dan buat high tea pulak :)

Ydiana said...

Salam Shah

All I can say, take good care of your health. All of us, including moi sometimes took our health for granted. We'll only missed that healthy life after its taken away from us.

Anyway, your mom's cooking, are you sure you did not leave any ingredients behind?...like soy sauce or tauchoo? I'm tempted to try.:)

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam ydiana,

Aye, that's true; taking care of number one, ma'am! :)

As for the Masak Cincuan, well, you can add tauchoo if you want to though we don't. But no soy sauce, mind you. That, would ruin the dish. Oh! as with most Chinese cuisine which I think this is part of, garlic is a must! Do give it a try and let me know the outcome.

Mat Salo said...

Bro'.. sorry a but late here. Sorry about your ailment. The pain must be intense!

I was whingeing about my pain in the hip falling while teaching my son to bike some weeks back which I'm sure, is NOTHING compared to kidney stones. Is there a cure, bro'?

Which reminds, me - syoru kena jaga kan bro?

Salaam.

cakapaje said...

Salam MS,

Well, if we go by Islam, there is a cure for every ailment. But what is meant by cure is not the instant removal of the pain or ailment, rather the prevention of recurrence. Food, as you mentioned, plays an important part in this process. As with Aruah Fuad's advice, avoid or reduce commercially raised chicken. Then, there's also sayur bayam or spinach, I think.

Now, it has to be emphasised that the food mentioned is not due to the food themselves, rather the foreign agents introduced into them, such as the booster for the chicken, and the pesticides and fertilisers which can be disastrous for the human body.

Roti Kacang Merah said...

salam bro shah.

now you remind me about a lady healer, ALSO in Muar, ALSO using cucumber, who does kidney-stone healing among others! my colleague just went around 2,3 mths back actually. nanti i e-mail you my colleague's number if you interested to see the lady, ok?

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Lin,

Alhamdulillah, I received your email already, jakAllah khair; will call your friend nanti.

ps. Entah entah wife Arwah Fuad kut :)