This gives the illusion of ground spices and herbal smells, but it is a lot more...
It was a sunny, very hot day when Kannan welcomed us to his Sri Ambika Flour Mill in Klang. His great grandfather started the business in India. When his grandfather emigrated to Malaysia in 1940, he started the spice business in Klang, which Kannan’s father then took over.
In 1985, Kannan took over, which he runs with his wife Usha and four employees. He sells to private customers in the Klang Valley, but mostly he sells spices to restaurants in 3, 5 or 10 kilo bags. He grinds different powders, such as coriander, tumeric, fennel, cumin, chili and cinnamon, but also medicinal ones like jamu which women mix with water and put on the stomach after giving birth.
He also grinds chickpeas which Indians use for sweet and vegetable dishes. Kannan gets his chickpeas from Australia where they are much cheaper than those from India. While we were at the factory, we also met a man who brought several hundred kilos of chickpeas to be ground for the Thaipusam festivities.
Kannan also grinds rice to flour. For this he uses broken rice which he must grind twice, 100 kilos takes 30 minutes to grind. Several grinding machines are used, as the various ingredients could negatively affect one another. We learned about the different curry mixtures and differences in chinese and indian chillies: chinese chilis give a lot of color but little taste, Indian ones give little color, but a lot of taste.
Kannan showed us Tongkat Ali, which is ground from a large root and is used by men and women alike, with many benefits, such as improved blood circulation, better digestion, and to act as an antioxidant and aphrodisiac.
We were also given a booklet about the healing affects of honey in combination with cinnamon. For example, if you have a cold, try taking one tablespoon lukewarm honey with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon daily for 3 days. I have tried it and it really works!
We also visited a woodwork factory next to Kannan’s mill, where Moses Ting kindly showed us around. It was fascinating to see a raw piece of wood turned into a nicely curved balustrade.
We ended our tour with a delicious buffet at the Royal Selangor Yacht Club, a lovely, airy spot close to the water. Here Kannan introduced us to his Bharatam Dance School, where he gives free dance lessons to Indian boys and girls. They begin when they are seven years old and it takes many years to become a skilled dancer.
Both Kannan’s grandmother and mother were Indian classical dancers, but he is the only one in the family to practice and give performances. Three of his students showed us both classical and modern Indian dance and it was a wonderful experience to see these young women in their beautiful clothing and expressive body movements whirling across the floor.
It was the perfect ending to a very interesting day, and we all thank you very much, Kannan.
- Christina Kihl
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