Saturday, April 26, 2014

GOURMETS IN INDONESIA


GOURMETS IN INDONESIA
1.       TEKWAN
The food of this one was just as yummy with pempek. The shape is round like fish Meatball, even some are oval, smothered in Gravy eaten with shrimp. The meaning of the name tekwan is also quite interesting, namely tekwan, bekotek samo kawan”, the meaning is chatting with your friends, where normally people eat tekwan while chatting with friends. In addition there are also stories that the actual meaning of the name tekwan is a one-take one, because the sound of the word tekwan is similar to the sound of the word take one in English. Whether coincidence or not, because it is how to eat tekwan is eaten the individual commandments themselves.

2.       PEMPEK KAPAL SELAM
The giving of names pempek submarine was because the manufacturing process. Pempek is cooked by drown it in many waters, and when it is fully matured then pempek  will float  and rises to the surface automatically. Because the manufacturing process as how it works submarines, then it called pempek submarine (Pempek Kapal Selam). It is called pempek submarine due to its shape similar to a submarine.

3.       NASI KUCING
Nasi Kucing (also called Sego Kucing), is an indonesian rice dish. It comes from Yogyakarta, Semarang, and Surakarta. It can now be found in many places. It is a small serving of rice with different toppings. Sometimes the toppings can be egg, chicken, and cucumber. Often the toppings include chili sauce, dried fish, and tempeh. It wrapped in banana leaves. It is able to be eaten immediately after it is bought. It is served wrapped in a banana leaf and paper.
The name Nasi Kucing, which means “cat rice” or “cat’s rice”, comes from the size of the rice served. There is very little rice, almost like what a Javanese Person would give to a cat.

4.       SATE KERE
Kere simply means poor. Javanese commonly used this word for addressing to people who are inferior in finance. So why can it become the name of satay? In the past, many people could not afford to buy chicken satay due to the economic condition. Since they want to enjoy the pleasure of eating it, they have creativity to cook the food with cheap budget having similar style like delivering satay plus it uses sauce which is just the same with sauce in chicken satay. That’s why people began to call it as sate kere; the kere satay, the satay which could be afforded by the poor.
The main composition of it is gembus: soybean dreags as the remain from tofu (tahu) making process. That’s why the cost of it can be very low and make the price to sell become very cheap. Since there is no meat, vegetarians can also enjoy it even they can have similar experience like eating meat – it can be solution of menu variations for vegetarians.
Gembus is grilled in fired wooden charcoal which is commonly called by Indonesians as arang. Just in several minutes, the dish is ready. Then, sate kere is poured with peanut sauce which has strong sweet taste from palm sugar. To make it more exotic in taste, you can ask the seller to put slices of chillies and onions.
When you come or stay in kampongs along Solo, you probably can meet the ladies who sell sate kere door to door with traditional modest Javanese cloth. You can also find them by sudden on the main street, when they walk passing it. Most of them are still very traditional in making, performing, and delivering sate kere. In fact, that makes sate kere more interesting for tourists.
Now, people can also find sate kere in street stall which has better style in performance; it is similar to restaurant. Even most of them now add satays from beef offals including lever and intestine which are off course more expensive sate kere from gembus.
With only IDR 3,000 (from traditional seller) – 7,500 (from street seller similar to restaurant), you can enjoy this sate. You can add ketupat or lontong (rice which is covered by young coconut leave before boiled) to make you more full. Since it is cheap and not fatty, you can eat it a lot and don’t worry, you will not be kere because of it 

5.       GUDEG
Indonesia have so many traditional dish that have unique form and complexity, most of them are so popular around us. One of the most popular one is Gudeg. Gudeg or we can say it in English as green jackfruit stew is a very sweet traditional dish made of young jackfruit, cooked with palm sugar and seasoning until it turns dark. Gudeg is a traditional dish from Yogyakarta, but any source also tell that Gudeg is from Central Java. Nowadays Gudeg become very popoular in Indonesia, we can find it almost in every place in Indonesia, not only in Yogyakarta. There are many special and unique things that we can find in a Gudeg dish.
Gudeg has unique and special not only in the taste of dish, but Gudeg has unique history also. The name ‘Gudeg’ has a story behind it. The story is that long time ago there is a couple lived in Yogyakarta. The husband is from England, and the wife is a Javanese girl. The husband called the wife with ‘dek’. One day the wife was confused what must she cook for the husband, then the wife found an old recipe with made from young jackfruit. Finally, the wife cooked it, and when the husband come, he try the dish, he like it and say “Good dek ..”. Becuse the wife was very happy to hear that, she talk to their neighbors, and than for a long time, the spell ‘good dek’ transform to Gudeg and become the name of that dish which made from young jackfruit. Gudeg is a unique, special, and complex traditional dish from Yogyakarta, which now become very popular in Indonesia. Now, we as an Indonesian must save gudeg and develope it more with our creativity.
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