In Malay language onion is ‘bawang’. Moreover, in Malay language we differentiate the allium family by colour or shape. Garlic because it is commonly white in colour is known as white onion~ bawang putih (putih means white). Shallot or red onion is known as ~bawang merah (merah means red). Brown onions are known as bawang besar (besar means big). Malaysia has a famous folk tale similar like Cinderella which is ‘Bawang merah bawang putih’. Here is the short version of the folk tale copied from Pos Malaysia webpage:
Once upon a time there was a girl named Bawang Merah who lived with her stepmother and stepsister named Bawang Putih who always abused her. One day, she heard the call of a carp fish from the well who wanted to help her. Unfortunately, her stepmother and stepsister found out. They caught the fish and cooked it. Bawang Merah's mother appeared in her dreams and told her about the fish. She told Bawang Merah to bury the fish bones. Bawang Merah buried them and amazingly, a tree attached with a golden swing grew before her eyes. One day while happily swinging on her golden swing, her melodious voice attracted the attention of a prince who eventually married her and they lived happily ever after.
Garlic growing in polystyrene containers. We plant many cloves this year compare last year but after some heavy rain now 1/3 has died. Hopefully the remaining will give us some garlic produce.
Whose flower is this?
Bawang merah’s.
Red onion odourless planted in autumn has bolted.Funny though I never have luck growing vegetable seedlings bought from nursery. Lucky seeds sympathise me.
Spring onions growing near sweet alyssum and viola.
15 comments:
Your garlic looks healthy. First time I'm seeing the flowers of bawang merah. It is very cute! I like the way you are growing all your veggies, you seem to have many varieties growing! I would love to visit your garden someday!
You have so many veggies in your garden! I also plan to plant some onions and garlic... do you know the price for onion and esp garlic has gone up very high here? Happy gardening :)
Do you grow your onions from seed?
I like this beautiful tale. So happy that you remember it too. I knew about the story from a black & white movie they used to air over RTM a long long time ago which I watch many times and never get bored. Both your bawangs are doing well in your garden.
You do have lots of varieties of vegetables. Guess you don't have to to buy any from the market. People who loves to cook like KitchenFlavours would surely love to visit you. Haha!
Kitchen Flavours ~ I would like to visit your garden too.
Milka~ Garlic and onion price going up here too. They take a long time too mature. Good luck with the planting.
G.L.A~ The red onion planted from nursery bought seedlings. However we have some brown onion seedlings grown from seeds a few weeks ago. Hope they will give us some bulbs instead of flowers.
Autumn Belle~ I have not watched the 'bawang merah bawang putih' movie for a long time:) I do remember some of the scenes.
Thanks for sharing the cute story! Your surviving garlic looks good. I hope it gives you nice bulbs. The other alliums looks good, too. I grew onions from sets this year, and the bulbs didn't size up very well. I think I will try them from seeds next year.
Do you ever grow onions from sets? (small bulbs)
so fresh... oh yes.. I saw some neighbours plants their veggies on the polys containers..
You are telling a very lovely story. What a happy ending.
I tried starting onion from seed this past year, but they turned out very small. Next year I'm going to try what they call "onion starts" and see if they come out a little bigger.
Enjoyed the fairytale!
Yes, another version of Cinderella. Your bawang seem to be doing fine. just for fun, by changing b in bawang, we have pawang and sawang ( i wont include cawang, because my friend Sulong from Terengganu will always get it wrong whenever he mentions cawan...) ~bangchik
ONE~ So far we managed this year not have to buy vegetables in the market. Unless I have craving for vegetables not suitable to grow here or take a long time to grow like asparagus. I would love to taste Kitchen Flavours dishes:)
thyme2garden~ You are always good at experimenting and very patient. The seed will work for you I hope next time you try growing onions.
G.L.A~ I did not mentioned it in this blogpost. But I do have another project growing onions with sets. I can compare later when they mature whether growing with seeds or sets is suitable here.
CathJ~ Growing veggies in polys containers make them easy to move because they are light.
Rainfield61~ I like to see a happy ending from your pictures.
JGH~ Small but organic much better that the one in supermarkets.
Bangchik~ My husband family are from Terengganu, so I am getting used of hearing the ~ng at the back of a word now:)
Some edibles have impressive flowers with singular beauty: artichokes, pumpkins and onions.
However not many focus on the fact...Thanks for a nice post....Until then
Mkasih banyak informasinya.
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