Indonesian Food or Food in Indonesia

A Plate of Head Please..

2007-11-02T19:06:00.000+07:00

In a few months Idul Adha will come, the holy day for us moslem to commemorate the sacfrice Ibrahim made of his son Ismail. To cut the story short, each year on Idul Adha able moslem all over the world will slaughter a goat and divide the meat to poorer people. It will also coincide with the Haj Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Anyway.. i remember a couple times on Idul Adha we usually received some 'left-overs' from the mosque, parts of goats that are not usually distributed, that is to say the non-meat part.

A head, is one of the most prized dividing that a family could get. Tough it's laborous (highly laborous) to cook one, if done right a goat's head could be one of the most satisfying meal on that holiday. Along with the, well, testicles of the goat.

The reason i'm writing this now, instead of later, is that i had come across a posting on cracked.com that lists goat heads (Iraq's Pacha) as one of the most terrifying food ever. And mind you, the list is pretty terrifying even for a 'food enthusiast' like myself.

(Check out the full list on Cracked.com's The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World)

From that list, i might dare myself to one day tries the Balut. The head is of course a no brainer (pardon the puns). But all the other food listed is just simply.. well scary and deeply unappetizing.

Anyway.. here's what to expect when eating a goat's (or sheep's or lamb's or cow's) head:

hard to crack skull with juicy delicious brain inside
strong fibrous yet delicious meat from the face (argh.. face meat!)
ignore the teeth.. they're probably the grossest part.. the tongue can be delicious, but need extra preparation
the nose (or snout) can be used in rujak.. yumm
eyeballs are a delicacy.. just dont let it stare at you for too long

I dont think we ever cook the head as whole. The general wisdom is to chop it up (with an axe, perhaps) and cook it's parts, sometimes as separate dishes or as one gulai (a sort of curry). Yummmy.

This, I Can't Believe!

2007-10-08T16:55:00.001+07:00

There is a group in FaceBook called INDOMIE NOODLES APPRECIATION SOCIETY!

I just.. I mean.. I just can't believe it. I'm, well, I'm shocked.

I mean it's cool and all that. But i wont go so far as declaring pride on all things IndoFood. But it does gave a weird sense of something warm and savoury.. not unlike a bowl of hot Indomie (which i happen to eat this morning at Sahur).

PS. On a side note, me & hes have just launched 'Masuk Dapur: The Comic'. Here's hoping this one will last much-much longer.

The Joy of Soy

2007-05-21T14:26:00.000+07:00

Our journey to find the 'much-hyped-by-commercial' Vitamilk brand soymilk is over. Last weeks, I came across packs of Vitamilk at Ranch Market (an import-oriented, for expatriate supermarket).

For a heavily promoted product, it sure was hard to find Vitamilk in Indonesia. My previous search on local supermarket had left me empty handed. Turns out I was looking at the wrong places. (Or perhaps their distribution team just wasn't strong enough).

There were two flavors of Vitamilk. One was Original and the other is Choco Malt. By the names we might have guessed that the original is simply sweetened soymilk, while Choco Malt is chocolate-flavored plus a bit of malt. As it turns out, the original actualy contains a bit of milk (cow's). Perhaps to increase the taste of the drink.

A closer look at the Choco Malt reveals a 'dirty' texture. That is perhaps the chocolate and/or malts floating around. It's not uncommon for chocolate milk to have this kind of 'dirt', because chocolate does not mix well with milk. This was, in fact, a sign of quality since they're probably using real chocolate to flavor the Choco Malt variety.

But in other commercial chocolate milk (liquid, not powder) this 'dirt' doesn't always show. That's because the producer might employ some sort of emulsifier to keep the chocolate suspension from separating.

Anyway, our verdict for the Vitamilk brand soymilk is good-tasting. Definitely better than the other brand we've tried, but not so much that it surprised us (as the commercial suggested). My wife still thinks the Original tasted 'blaaah'.

My Early Nineties Breakfast

2007-04-30T18:03:00.000+07:00

What I remember about the early nineties / late eighties is, well a lot actualy, but in terms of food one of the more memorable is soymilk. There was, if I recall correctly, a growing trend for soymilk drinks. Wether it's on peddlers or factory-packaged. One of them is Yeo's, my second favorite to Target brand Soymilk.

Yesterday, as me and my wife did some monthly shopping, we came across a Yeo's brand soymilk in Tetra-Pak. What a treasure! And indeed it's still as I remember it, every bit of delicious drink. My wife of course 'despises' soymilk and would only take a sip than follow with a 'blah..!' I, on the other hand, loooved it.

(We were actualy looking for Vitamilk brand Soymilk. The advertisement, currently being bombarded to us through TV, claims it to be surprisingly tasty)

Along with Yeo's, we bought a pack of Nissin Lovely cracker. Also another classic, though I dont remember eating them in the past. The taste, texture, and feel of this 'Lovely' really reminds me of classical late 80'a early 90's snack.

The cracker itself is rather dry, crunchy, and has a bit of burned (but not bitter) taste to it. While the filling, sandwiched between three crackers, has a sandy texture, sweet (clearly sugary), and not a very distinct chocolate taste. It's every bit as 'those days' as it can be, i guess.

The label, as with many things in Indonesia, mixes liberally Bahasa and English. This one is 'Rasa Chocolate' which is a combination of 'rasa' (meaning taste or flavor) and 'chocolate'. The grammatically correct version should read 'Chocolate Flavored' or 'Rasa Cokelat'.

Another discovery I hadn't realized back 'in those days' is that Yeo's is actually made in Malaysia. Never would have guessed it.

All Sambal Special Restaurant

2005-07-04T20:51:00.000+07:00

When I was in Jogja, my friends there took me out to have dinner at a place called 'Spesial Sambal' (SS). Literally meaning, special chilli condiments.

I thought they were joking when they said the place serves all sambal menu. I found out they were telling the truth.

Many kinds of sambals were served there. From the more traditional Sambal terasi to the more complicated Sambal Teri (salted small fish) and Sambal Rempela Ati (gizzard, heart, and liver).

Sure enough it was a fiery feast!

Still the sambals reminds me of my dear wife at home. She could fix me up a very delicious sambal, customize to my liking or hers. :p Wish you were there dear..

The Misadventure of Schoolyard Meal

2005-04-03T22:32:00.000+07:00

I was at my wife's parents home around Easter (26th - 28th March 2005, to be precise). Their home is at Ciapus, Bogor, on the foot of Mt. Salak. I had taken a leave of absence from my daily journalistic work and we were spending holiday away from the stressful Jakarta.

On Monday morning, i have a mild case of boredom. Well actualy i was kind of hungry and looking for something 'different' to eat. So my wife suggested we took a little adventure to a nearby schoolyard and give some of the peddlers there a shot. After all it would be kind of a nostalgic-gastronomic trip.

It is a known fact that Elementary Schoolyard in Indonesia holds a 'fiesta' (a 'carnaval' of some sorts) of many kind of peddlers' food. It is also known fact that most (if not all) the food sold there is low in nutrition and high on additives.

But we go there anyway. Brave ourselves up and went for A (Gastronomic) Misadventure at The Schoolyard.

A Starchy Start

We started with Cakue, this was a starch based snack originated from China. The name itself must've been an adaption to its original Chinese name. (Exactly what the real name is, i have no idea).

These Cakue is not the usual kind found on many peddlers in Jakarta. The Mamang (the man who sells it) made his Cakue a lot smaller than usual. Priced at only 200 IDR per 'finger-sized' Cakue.

To enjoy the Cakue, one must dunk it in a special red sauce. The composition to this sauce remains a mystery. I would guess it consist of Acetic Acid, Chilli pepper and bottled sauce. Mind you, this bottled sauce is not the kind usually sold at a known supermarket. It's the one sold cheaply by the bulk and, as i happen to know for a fact, consist of textile coloring and leftovers from starch making. How healthy is that? (Yet we happily dunk the Cakue in it anyway)

The same peddler who sold Cakue also sold them on stick (for IDR 100 per stick). Aside from that, he also sold Cireng (short for Aci Digoreng which is roughly translated as 'fried starch'). That particular Mamang had made Cireng like i never seen before. It was rounded into small balls, and every three balls is put on a stick (much like satay).

Having spent 2000 IDR on Cakue and Cireng, we had almost call it a day. It was when we were heading back home when the idea came to us. "Let's go to other schoolyard and find other food"

On The Way to The Peddlers Heaven

So there we went, happily along some labyrinth like alleyways. What's at the end of the tunnel you might ask? It is 'the peddlers heaven'. A large field, known as Sakura Field, near by at least three elementary school. On the side of that field is a small shady areas under large trees where the peddlers gather to sell their MSG-filled meal to children.

That was where we headed, The Peddlers Heaven!!

But it was in the middle of the labyrinth-like alleyways that we found a 'treasure'. It was a peddler selling some stuff called Cimol. Until today, we dont know what Cimol stands for, the Ci suggest Aci (Starch) but the Mol? We're utterly lost there.

It was a snack like i had never seen before. It was starch, possibly fried. Shape like cubes. It was priced at 500 IDR each portion (of 15 pieces). The cubes was served inside a plastic pocket and sprinkled on top with 'special powder'.

The Mamang asked us if we wanted our Cimol complete. Complete? We asked, of course we want it complete! We want the whole nine yards, the real McCoy, give us the full monty! Or just sprinkle both kind of seasoning on it and we'll be happy!

Sad to say though, after that Cimol all the other food at Peddlers Heaven seemed a bit dissapointing.

A Little Too Weird

We had brave ourselves up for some pasta (noodles, macaronis, shells and spirallis), fried dry that is. And that pasta on a plastic tray is served with sprinkles of pink dust (Oh My GOD!!). I almost said to the lady who sells it, "What the hell are you putting on my food?"

Another snack we had was sliced Cakue on nutsauce. It was so and so and was nothing compared to the first Cakue in redsauce.

We also had some fried spaghetti-like snack. It was like spaghetti, but not quite spaghetti. It was like noodle but was not quite noodle. It was fried dry and served hot with redsauce. When we want to buy some, the Mamang would take a layer of dough, process it through a machine (sort of like a pasta making machine) and out come the dough in strings (small or big, it's your choice). He then fried the strings, put it in a (sort of) papercup and spray some redsauce.

Our misadventures ended on a bottle of softdrink to wash it all down. We had decided not to finish our fried-pasta with pink powder, it was just too weird. Oh yeah, it didnt taste as good as it look anyway.

One thing left on my mind though. How can it be lawful to sell such strange food to children? I mean the textile colouring and MSG's aside, fried starch is not exactly real food is it? Go figure.

(first of all, excuse the grammatical errors.. second of all, 1 IDR equals 0.000105480 USD, so you'd understand how cheap all those 'food' was)

The Many Kinds of Indonesian Pancakes (Part I)

2005-02-26T17:51:00.000+07:00

There are many kinds of pancake in Indonesia.

My favorite is Serabi. This traditional pancake is made using 'clay pan' on a woodfire. It's main ingredient is Rice Flour and the water from a coconut fruit.

Traditionaly, this pancake is served with sweet sauce of Coconut Milk and Brown Sugar mixture. But in the late 1990s modified version of Serabi has emerged.

This 'modern day' Serabi has a 'topping' of ingredients such as sausage, chocolate, pineapple jam or even Oncom (fermentead soy bean curds, leftover from soy sauce production).

Another kind of Indonesian pancake is 'Kue Ape'. Roughly translated as 'The What Cake' or simply 'Cake?'.

I believe the original name for Kue Ape is something rather vulgar. When first introduced, people quickly shouted 'What!?' at the cook. Hence the name.

(If you must know, i believe the original name is the same as a certain female body part. I'd rather not say it here)

There's also several other pancake-like food in Indonesia. Namely 'Kue Cucur' and 'Kamir'. I'll talk about those later.

The Tongue!

2005-01-25T18:52:00.000+07:00

(image courtesy of Fear Factor)

We Dont Fear The Internal Organs

2005-01-25T18:40:00.000+07:00

Here's a quick one.

Indonesians does not fear the internal organ as a food. We often wonder why 'Fear Factor' often potrays such and such as a fearful food.

Just last week most Indonesians (all Moslems in the world) 'celebrate' Iedul Adha. Which is basically a holy sacrificing day.

On that day we slaughter mature male cattle, goat, lamb or camel. We give out almost all of the meat to the poor.

(Just a note, the sacrifice is not to give the animal to God, it's simply proving one's faith by sharing one's welath with others. The history is quite long and i promised this would be a quick post).

In Indonesia, what's left of the slaughtered beast is usually taken and processed as food. This would include intestines, stomach, heart, liver, 'balls', eyes, face meat, tongue and (most delicious of all) the brain!

We don't fear any of it. That's for sure.

But last couple of days, i grew tired of eating all that 'other than meat'. I've eaten the snout, legs and feet, the cattle's eyes and this morning i had 'fried cattle brain for breakfast'.

I mean, c'mon, it's already three days since the Iedul Adha. Isn't there any other food?

(Well in my family's case, i guess i should be grateful. And i am grateful, of course. We're having a serious financial crisis anyway, and free-meat is a blessing for sure)

I'm oficially stuffed by red meat and 'other body parts'. :D

Yummy Bunny

2005-01-15T13:42:00.000+07:00

Look at that.. delicious huh?
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Diced The Bunny, Grill'em Good!

2005-01-15T13:17:00.000+07:00

I'm not sure about the custom ef eating rabbit in other countries. I'm sure there are enough rabbit-based cuisine in the world, so not to consider rabbit an exotic food.

Well in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta, eating rabbit/hare (or any of the Lagomorpha family for that matters) is not common. Young girls often found the pratice of eating 'cute, fuzzy-wuzzy, wabbit' a barbaric act.

Personaly, i think it's ridiculous. Rabbit is consider Halal and it have meat. Why resist the meat? Why i ask you, why!? (And came the squeaky little voice saying.. but they're so cuute little animals). Bah Humbug!

Last week i eat a particularly delicious Rabbit Satay. This dish is a specialty from East Java. The Bunny meat is treated as any satay meat (cleanly diced) and then it's threaded onto skewers and grilled over a flame.

The satay is served on a bed of a generous amount of shredded cabbage and shallots. Under the haystack-like layer is a pool of soysauce (the sweeteened kind) and some more sliced shallots with several slices of chilli pepper.

Sprinkled on top of the skewed-meat are grains of pepper (as in salt and pepper).

In my opinion, it's pretty delicious. And for just over a dollar, the dish is worth it. Yummy bunny! :p

GIve Us Rice and Give Us Peace

2005-01-07T14:44:00.000+07:00

Well, since i've decided on writing a blog about 'food, eat and indonesia', i might as well talk about Rice, right!? Because, you see, rice is the main diet of Indonesians.

The saying goes in Indonesia, you haven't eaten unless you've eaten nasi (steamed rice). It is often the case with Javanese than with any other.

The saying goes, you can serve a Javanese a plateful of bread, with soup and lambchops, fried chicken, french fries and a set of Big Mac © if you will, and he would not say he have eaten. Until he have servings of steamed rice.

That's the classic view anyway.

Anyway, rice is always on the menu for me. And i think the same goes for most of Indonesian here in Jakarta. Give Us Rice And Give Us Peace! :p

Here's a quote on why rice isn't so succesful in European countries (from Riceweb):
"Interestingly enough, medical geographers in the 16th century played an important role in limiting the adoption of rice as a major crop in the Mediterranean area. During the 16th and early 17th centuries, malaria was a major disease in southern Europe, and it was believed to be spread by the bad air (hence the origin of the name) of swampy areas. Major drainage projects were undertaken in southern Italy, and wetland rice cultivation was discouraged in some regions. In fact, it was actually forbidden on the outskirts of a number of large towns. Such measures were a significant barrier to the diffusion of rice in Europe. "

I think you people are missing on a lot. Rice is by far, still, the best food i have ever tasted (Thank God for that).

Common Rice Based Food in Indonesia:

Steamed Rice served with 'a pack' of side-dishes, the Netherlanders called this rijstaffel

Fried Steamed-Rice or Fried Rice a.k.a Nasi Goreng

Steamed Rice with Coconut Milk a.k.a Nasi Uduk

Steamed Rice with Turmeric a.k.a Nasi Kuning, usually it is served in a cone shape

Steamed Rice shaped with leaf wrap, such as ketupat, lontong or bacang

Rice Porridge

The Food of Indonesians

2005-01-06T13:44:00.000+07:00

So what's so interesting about Indonesian food? Well Indonesians are people who eat brain, liver, gizzard, intestines and those sticky layer of indigestible protein that layered a cow's foot.

Anyway, i'm gonna try to make my 'first attempt at an english language blog' the best i could by doing a well focused blog. That is talking about food, indonesian food, food i eat and food that came to indonesia. It's gonna be all about food and eating. Hey, that's the least i could do to satisfy my hobby! :p

Hopefuly it'll be updated frequent enough.

Many thanks to my Wife and my future child for the support. And inspiration for this blog is credited to the-fool-found-a.blogspot.com. It's one cool blog, i can tell you that.