A culinary presentation unique to the
Minangkabau ethnic group of West Sumatera, Rendang is a spicy Indonesian beef dish
originally prepared for special festive occasions. Today, however, its
popularity has spread across the country and can easily be found in any Padang Restaurant
all throughout Indonesia.
Rendang has also become a favorite
dish in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, Brunei, the Southern Philippines,
Southern Thailand, and even as far as Australia, Europe and the United
States.
Although some consider Rendang to be a
curry, and others a stew, real, authentic Rendang is nothing like either of the
above. If you have not yet had the pleasure, the complex flavours of
Rendang could only be described as a tender, savoury, dry beef stew, layered in
the rich spices of lemongrass and ginger, with a burst of chilli and immersed
in creamy coconut milk.Ultimately though, you’ll have to taste it for yourself.
In the Minangkabau tradition, Rendang
was served to honoured guests, and on ceremonial occasions such as births,
weddings, Al Quran recitals, and much more. In the Minangkabau culture,
Rendang also has spiritual connotations since the four main ingredients
symbolize each essential part of Minangkabau society. Meat, as the elders and
nobles. Coconut as the teachers, poets and writers. Chilli as the religious leaders.
The hotness representing the strictness of religious law. And the spices
as everyone else.
In the days before refrigeration, when
wealthy Minangkabau farmers slaughtered a cow for a feast, it was often made
into Rendang. Garlic, ginger and shallots, some of the main spices used in in
the dish, are known to have strong anti-microbial properties and therefore
serve as preservatives. If cooked properly, the rich spices and low moisture of
the dish will ensure that the meat will stay good for up to four weeks, despite
the country’s tropical heat. And yet another point that must be mentioned – the
taste only improves with time.
For the culinarians out there, itching
to give this dish a try, bear in mind that it’s not your everyday beef stew
that can be cooked up in a few moments. Au contraire, concocting
this explosively flavourful dish demands a great deal of patience, several
cooking techniques, and the better part of four hours.
First, an assortment of aromatic spices
are ground into a thick paste, which is then fried to bring out the flavours.
Next, the meat is slowly cooked in coconut milk and the spices on very low
heat, allowing the meat to tenderize and absorb the seasonings. As the liquid
slowly evaporates, the cooking process is changed from a boil to a fry in the
oil released by the meat during the boiling stage. The meat must be carefully
stirred and monitored, so as not to be burnt or ruined until all the liquid and
spices are absorbed perfectly. This technique is known as caramelizing, but
using coconut milk in the place of sugar. This creates an extraordinarily
flavoured coating around each piece of beef, giving it a delicious and
unparalleled taste. Rendang is usually served with steamed
rice, boiled cassava leaves, young jackfruit and sambal.
"GUDEG"
Jogjakarta is already known as gudeg city for
most Indonesian. If you read or googling, hundreds people missed the gudeg.
They love gudeg so much! If they go to Jogja, the first thing that may want to
taste is gudeg.
Gudeg known as local food from Jogja, made from young jackfruit cooked with santan and kluwak for 2 hours in a big pot. Santan is water got from extract coconut and kluwak is local flavor. Sometimes the pot made from metal or clay. People say that the gudeg cooked on clay pot gets different taste, more well-done and characteristic on the aroma smells nice. Every gudeg cookers have their secret recipes; have been passed down from generation to generation. In Jogjakarta, there is a famous Kampong Wijilan which gudeg has being made on traditional way by firewood and clay pots. The other gudeg may find in Solo Street, Maliboro, Alun-alun Lor, Kaliurang Street, etc. Almost big streets on Jogjakarta have their own gudeg sellers.
Tasty gudeg will be out of this world if served with hot rice, vegetable, egg, chicken and krecek. Krecek is fried condiment mixing with santan and tempe. Tempe is local food made from fermentation of soya bean. Uncommon from the other gudeg, the gudeg mercon is spicier because of lots peppers and chilies add on. It made gudeg looks oily, redness and thick.
You can find gudeg early in the morning, at 5pm - 8 pm, being a favourite breakfast menu. Sometimes gudeg seller also open at 0.00am until 4am everyday. So it will be an early breakfast if you get there. Costumers are not served by luxury place ambience, as restaurant or fast food, but just sit at the pedestrian or at little chairs front of the food. During eat the gudeg, you can sit around with the seller or everyone come there. Some sellers has been selling gudeg from tens years ago. Take a chit chat with the seller, you'll find amazing stories behind the gudeg.
"KERAK TELOR"
Famous in Jakarta, the capital city of
Indonesia, kerak telor is a traditional type of Indonesian
omelet. Similar in appearance to scrambled eggs, this dish was reserved for the privileged
class in colonial times but is now sold by street vendors. It is normally made
with rice and duck eggs and usually topped with shredded coconut and dried
shrimp.
Glutinous, or sticky, rice is always used to make this dish. Usually the rice is soaked in water hours or even a full day before it is cooked. When the kerak telor is ready to be made, the rice is partially cooked before any other ingredients are added. Afterward, the eggs are added. Though chicken eggs can be used, normally kerak telor is made with duck eggs. Salt and pepper, sugar, and chili peppers are the usual seasonings used for this dish.
No oil is used during the cooking process because cooks want the omelet to stick to the sides of the pan while cooking. When complete, the edges should be crispy and the center still soft.Kerak telor is usually cooked over charcoal, which provides additional flavoring to the dish. Shredded coconut is first toasted, then placed on top of the finished omelet. Dried shrimp or shrimp powder is also sprinkled on top, along with fried onions.
"RUJAK CINGUR"
Rujak Cingur is one of the traditional food in
Surabaya, East Java. Rujak Cingur usually consists of several kinds of sliced fruitssuch
as cucumbers, krai (a type ofcucumber
typical of East Java), bengkoang, young mango, pineapple, and added rice cake,
tofu, tempe, cingur, bendoyo andvegetables such
as seedling / sprouts , swamp cabbage and long beans. All ingredients were
mixed with the sauce made
from shrimp paste, boiled water, brown sugar, chili pepper,
fried peanuts, fried onions,
salt and thinly sliced of green beans young bananas. All the sauces /
seasonings are mixed in crushed.
This food is called rujak cingur for the spice processed that is used is shrimp paste and sliced cingur. This is what distinguishes the food in general rujak usually without the use of materials such cingur. Cingur salad served with extra ordinary cracker, and with the base pincuk (banana leaf) or a plate.
"RAWON"
Rawon is a JavaRawon is a Javanese black beef soup
that has its origins in Surabaya, one of the provinces in East Java, Indonesia.
This aromatic, richly flavored soup is one of the traditional dishes of
Indonesia and is typically served over rice or glass noodles. The main spice in
this dish is keluak, a black nut that is the seed of the fruit of the Kepayang
tree found in the region. This spice is responsible for giving the soup its
exotic, deep-black color.
This soup or stew is considered to be one of the distinctive foods of Jawa Timur and eastern Jawa Tengah. It comes with a variety of accompaniments, such as shrimp crackers, mung bean sprouts, salted duck eggs, and sambal chili sauce. Sometimes, it is referred to as Nasi Rowan or Rawon rice in Indonesia when served over a bowl of rice.
"PEMPEK"
Pempek is the best-known of Palembang's dishes. Its
origin is undoubtly Palembang, however the history behind the creation of this
savoury dish is unclear. According to local tradition, around the 16th century
there was an old Chinese immigrant
who lived near theMusi river. He noticed an abundance of
fish caught by the local fishermen. In the Sumatran tropical climate, before the invention
of refrigeration technology, most of these unsold
leftover fish decayed and were wasted. The indigenous people, however had
limited knowledge and techniques for processing fish. During that period, most of
the indigenous people simply grilled, fried or boiled their fish instead of
adding other ingredients to make new dishes. The old Chinese man mixed in some tapioca and other spices, which he then sold
around the village on his cart. The people referred to this old man as
'pek-apek, where apek is a Chinese slang word to call an old
man. The food is known today as empek-empek or pempek.
Another theory suggests that pempek was a Palembang adaptation of Southern Chinese ngo hiang or kekkian (fish slice) as a surimi (魚漿, yújiāng) based food. But instead of being served in soup or plainly fried, pempek is notable for its spicy palm sugar-vinegar based sauce.
"GUDEG"
Gudeg known as local food from Jogja, made from young jackfruit cooked with santan and kluwak for 2 hours in a big pot. Santan is water got from extract coconut and kluwak is local flavor. Sometimes the pot made from metal or clay. People say that the gudeg cooked on clay pot gets different taste, more well-done and characteristic on the aroma smells nice. Every gudeg cookers have their secret recipes; have been passed down from generation to generation. In Jogjakarta, there is a famous Kampong Wijilan which gudeg has being made on traditional way by firewood and clay pots. The other gudeg may find in Solo Street, Maliboro, Alun-alun Lor, Kaliurang Street, etc. Almost big streets on Jogjakarta have their own gudeg sellers.
Tasty gudeg will be out of this world if served with hot rice, vegetable, egg, chicken and krecek. Krecek is fried condiment mixing with santan and tempe. Tempe is local food made from fermentation of soya bean. Uncommon from the other gudeg, the gudeg mercon is spicier because of lots peppers and chilies add on. It made gudeg looks oily, redness and thick.
You can find gudeg early in the morning, at 5pm - 8 pm, being a favourite breakfast menu. Sometimes gudeg seller also open at 0.00am until 4am everyday. So it will be an early breakfast if you get there. Costumers are not served by luxury place ambience, as restaurant or fast food, but just sit at the pedestrian or at little chairs front of the food. During eat the gudeg, you can sit around with the seller or everyone come there. Some sellers has been selling gudeg from tens years ago. Take a chit chat with the seller, you'll find amazing stories behind the gudeg.
"KERAK TELOR"
Glutinous, or sticky, rice is always used to make this dish. Usually the rice is soaked in water hours or even a full day before it is cooked. When the kerak telor is ready to be made, the rice is partially cooked before any other ingredients are added. Afterward, the eggs are added. Though chicken eggs can be used, normally kerak telor is made with duck eggs. Salt and pepper, sugar, and chili peppers are the usual seasonings used for this dish.
No oil is used during the cooking process because cooks want the omelet to stick to the sides of the pan while cooking. When complete, the edges should be crispy and the center still soft.Kerak telor is usually cooked over charcoal, which provides additional flavoring to the dish. Shredded coconut is first toasted, then placed on top of the finished omelet. Dried shrimp or shrimp powder is also sprinkled on top, along with fried onions.
"RUJAK CINGUR"
This food is called rujak cingur for the spice processed that is used is shrimp paste and sliced cingur. This is what distinguishes the food in general rujak usually without the use of materials such cingur. Cingur salad served with extra ordinary cracker, and with the base pincuk (banana leaf) or a plate.
"RAWON"
This soup or stew is considered to be one of the distinctive foods of Jawa Timur and eastern Jawa Tengah. It comes with a variety of accompaniments, such as shrimp crackers, mung bean sprouts, salted duck eggs, and sambal chili sauce. Sometimes, it is referred to as Nasi Rowan or Rawon rice in Indonesia when served over a bowl of rice.
A bonanza of various flavors, this black soup is typically served with a large
assortment of colorful garnishes. Some of the more common garnishes are green
onion, blanched bean sprouts, and crispy shallot flakes. It may also be
garnished with wedges of boiled egg and Chinese celery sticks. While it is served as a main course in
both East and Central Java, there are subtle differences in both its appearance
and taste in the two regions. The Rawon made in Central Java is sweeter and
blacker in color than the Rawon stew found in Eastern Java.This soup or
stew is considered to be one of the distinctive foods of Jawa Timur and eastern
Jawa Tengah. It comes with a variety of accompaniments, such as shrimp
crackers, mung bean sprouts, salted duck eggs, and sambal chili sauce.
Sometimes, it is referred to as Nasi Rowan or Rawon rice in Indonesia when
served over a bowl of rice.
"PEMPEK"
Another theory suggests that pempek was a Palembang adaptation of Southern Chinese ngo hiang or kekkian (fish slice) as a surimi (魚漿, yújiāng) based food. But instead of being served in soup or plainly fried, pempek is notable for its spicy palm sugar-vinegar based sauce.
