Celebrating Street Food In Indonesia

Celebrating Street Food In Indonesia

Celebrating Street Food In Indonesia by Will Meyrick

FOOD CULTURE | INDONESIA

Published in NOW! Bali – October 2018

When we think of  “street food”, the image that most often comes to mind is the street foods of Thailand and Vietnam, where the food served on and from the street is from established, menu based, street located stations that will prepare a dish to the customers order from a range of specialities. Food trucks, streetside stalls set up with multiple styles of grills, stir frying, steaming and boiling components. 

Here in Indonesia ‘street food’ operates on a whole other level, street food is both static and mobile, the best alignment to Thai Street Food would actually be Warung food and the street food, the kaki limas, the push carts are more like mobile snack vendors. 

Will Meyrick in Denpasar 2019

Will Meyrick In Denpasar, Bali

A “KAKI LIMA”

WITH RINRIN MARINKA

WOMAN SELLING SATAY

Much of the cart food is fried foods “Gorengan” ayam goreng, tempe goreng, tahu isi, that customers buy on the go, they don’t have stools or tables around them. Bakso carts do travel though , rolling through neighbourhoods serving out their meal-in-a-bowl soups to customers that eat standing at the cart, handing back the bowl when they have finished.

It’s the Warungs that are really serving what could best be described as street food and their story is one that gives a clear, cultural understanding of the archipelago and the Southern China Sea trade routes in its telling

a typical Indonesian warung

In Bali many will have been introduced to the warungs through the Padang and Minangkabau style establishments that serve daily dishes from large bowls arranged on shelves in front of a window, often protected from the heat and dust of the street and flies by a gauze curtain.

Here whole small fish, chunks of beef, bowls of deep red sauces and bright green sambals along with bite sized parcels of stuffed tofu and stringy, deep green kang kung sit at room temperature waiting to be served around a steaming mound of rice. This is the home cooking of coastal and mountain West Sumatra.

The Minangkabau warungs were established originally to feed the generations of young men who, according to cultural tradition, leave their homes to make their way in the world and marry out , thus ensuring the continued extension of their tribe.

Warungs provide for vast numbers of ‘homesick’ and help them maintain links with their traditions through the provision of ‘home’ foods. In Medan Northern Sumatra the large community of Tamils celebrate their festivals of Durga Puja, Gandhi Jayanti, Independence Day and Republic Day with aromatic Biryani dishes, Malabar curries and soft pancake-like dosas.

A Padang Restaurant Shelf

The Afghans and Yemeni’s introduced the cumin flavoured rice of Nasi Kabuli and beautifully grilled goat meats, while the Chinese brought in rice noodles, the dumplings and the Siew Mai dishes, served with peppery, chili fired soups and the Malay diaspora brought with them the delicate karis, or curries, creamy with coconut milk lifted with lemongrass and galangal to keep their communities of traders, itinerant field, plantation and dock workers eating well.

This is what makes Indonesian food so interesting, complex and fascinating because to add to the fabric of this culinary anthropological puzzle insular, indigenous communities contribute their own dishes to the kaleidoscope.

BU SIE ITEK
ORIGIN: ACEH
(MAMA SAN VERSION)

SATE PADANG
ORIGIN: PADANG PANJANG
(HUJAN LOCALE VERSION)

MARTABAK TELOR
ORIGIN: LEBAKSIU TEGAL
(MAMA SAN VERSION)

From the isolation of mountainous Toraja and the bamboo filled meats and spices that takes hours of cooking over smoking coconut husks  to the far flung Eastern Island culture where refrigeration is scarce and food is best prepared daily by the local warung utilising the daily catch and the slim pickings of arid grown corns, greens and chilies and everywhere in between the Indonesian internally displaced rely on Warungs for a connection to their place of birth. 

UDANG WOKU
ORIGIN: MANADO
(HUJAN LOCALE VERSION)

Warungs often appear to have sprung from the private homes of the women who prepare and serve the food of their birth place, and they do this with pride. The style of food preparation in the archipelago , based, as it is, on limited resources, requires preparation time and a commitment  to create the best possible dishes.

DENDENG BALADO
ORIGIN: SUMATRA
(MAMA SAN VERSION)

AYAM TALIWANG
ORIGIN: LOMBOK
(HUJAN LOCALE VERSION)

BETUTU – ORIGIN: BALI
CUMI CUMI KALIO
ORIGIN: PADANG
(HUJAN LOCALE VERSIONS)

The balances of spices, herbs and the long cooking of less than prime cuts of meat in order to use all available ingredients, think chicken feet, short cut rib bones, dried fish or fermented pastes and soy cakes also demand a knowledge and a passion to create so it makes sense that the women, with families to take care of, would open up the front of their homes from where they could serve their loyal customers.

  Ibu-Ibu’s Secrets

And here from a tale of culinary adventure, we move into one that illustrates the character of Indonesia, and certainly its women. In my travels across almost the entire country, I have learned that the women of warungs are highly regarded in their community.

They are revered for their consistent provision of the best tasting foods from ‘home’, they build up their reputation so much so that they run sometimes two or more warungs under strict supervision with only a handful of helpers, often members of the extended family, who keep the valued recipes of the dishes under tight lock and key.

And I am not joking, I once tried to extract some information from a Bukit Tinggi matriarch who demanded I offer her my car in exchange!

There are male warung owners too, but not as many, the previously mentioned Yemini community have male dominated kitchens while many years ago a  Chinese immigrant arriving in Jakarta began a small noodle stall that now has over 20 branches run by the original owner’s family.

A WOMAN COOKING IN BUKIT TINGGI

PEPES IKAN
ORIGIN: WEST JAVA
(SARONG BALINESE VERSION)

RAWON
ORIGIN: MALANG
(HUJAN LOCALE VERSION)

OCTOPUS RENDANG
ORIGIN: PADANG
(HUJAN LOCALE VERSION)

Warungs truly are the grassroots of Indonesia’s culture, they tell the history, they show the tenacity of the island’s women and they illustrate clearly the very real nature of community in a continent that spans from the tips of Malaysia and Singapore to the highlands of Papua and encompasses over 13,000 islands.

My recommendation to anyone at all interested in discovering Indonesia is to spend time in these wonderful places, always look at the ones that are busy, pay no heed to the decor and jump in.

As was told to me many years ago, while you love Indonesia and you love your Indonesian wife until you learn about Indonesia’s food you will never understand either!

The Nyonya Cuisine from Malaysia

The Nyonya Cuisine from Malaysia

Unveiling Nyonya

FOOD CULTURE | MALAYSIA

Published in Hello Bali – January 2015

The Nyonya Cuisine from Malaysia Unveiled by Will Meyrick in the beautiful city of Penang.

I am here on a mission to meet the wonderful Nyonya cuisine expert, Pearly Kee and her sisters at Pearly’s cooking school. I am hoping they are going to weave stories into their cooking, and if I can I will get them to divulge some secrets about Nyonya cuisine.

Pearly Kee Cooking School
85, Taman Berjaya, Pulau Tikus, 10350
George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
+60164374380

Will Meyrick in Denpasar 2019

Will Meyrick And Pearly Kee

I have been to Malaysia a number of times, but on a recent visit, I was afforded some pleasing time in the beautiful city of Penang, where I discovered yet more layers of the Nyonya culture and its cuisine – a whole area of history that I find so fascinating.

Nyonya cuisine is steeped in the history of migration, intermarriage and the passing of secret recipes from one generation to the other. Nyonya women mostly welcomed the arrival of wives from China, and would share and mix up local and foreign recipes for their husbands. What a time that must have been!

  Meeting Pearly Kee

I am here on a mission to meet the wonderful Nyonya cuisine expert, Pearly Kee and her sisters at Pearly’s cooking school. I am hoping they are going to weave stories into their cooking, and if I can I will get them to divulge some secrets about Nyonya cuisine (below are some dishes from Pearly Kee, prepared especially for a past event in Mama San Bali.

chicken buah keluak curry

nasi ulam

jiew hu char

Pearly tells me that while it’s only Chinese of mixed descendant that are Peranakan, there are also the Eurasian, the generation of mixed European and Malay heritage; the Totok, born in China; and the Malay K’ling or K’ling Jawi Indian Indonesians – and all with a Nyonya cuisine. “The Penang Nyonya are from the Thai culture, and their food is spicy with a sour taste; the Melacca Nyonya food is a little sweeter. Still, we all make food according to the old recipes; the differences stem from the locations of the settlers.”

“In the old days,” she continues, “we ate for health. Turmeric for blood circulation, and shark meat for breast-feeding mothers. If you had a fever you’d be fed watery rice porridge. The rice water lowered your temperature, while the rice grains filled your stomach when you had no appetite. And food was preserved for when times were lean.” The traditional century-old eggs are a good example of ancient preservation methods, using herbs and salts to preserve the eggs, which are encased in candle wax for longevity.

But I am neither sick nor in need of a three-week-old egg doused in horse urine, so I eagerly move the topic along to the dishes we can find today. Nyonya cuisine, the girls tell me despondently, is going to die. “It will not evolve.”

A Peranakan Wedding couple, Penang 1941

But how can these dishes – amazing Laksa pungent with fish sauce, sweet with coconut, and hot fiery curries with their Chinese spices mixed in with local ingredients from the Northern Cantonese Nyonya – just disappear? Pearly laughs. “We never wrote anything down.” For years the recipes went from mouth to mouth, with the women learning them from their grandmothers. Then in the ’70s the women went out to work, and the Nyonya food was sold by male hawkers to the workers. The cuisine thus skipped a generation of women, and before we knew it the old cooks were dying along with their recipes. “So now we write it down; we figure out the measurements and we keep the recipes. And we teach them to others, so maybe it won’t die out after all.”

  Chowrasta Market

As Pearly and I venture outside I see no justification for this pessimism. Our first stop at Chowrasta Market reveals food stall upon food stall, with customers slurping from bowls of Laksa and picking at Hong Kong-style Dim Sum. The aromas rising from the bowls waft into the morning air. Like all good Asian markets you have to be here early to get the best of it.

(read below) Pulau Tikus Market

While you’re here, have breakfast with the locals, who will have put in a good few hours already hauling carts through the nearby fish market and pig market. Visit the Pulau Tikus Market, otherwise known as the rich man’s market, situated as it is in the Pulau Tikus area of Georgetown. There is an obvious Thai influence here originating from Phuket.

  Seng Lee Cafe & Lorong Seratus Tahun

Head over to Jalan Burma and the junction of Bangkok Lane and see the Seng Lee Café, where nothing’s changed in nearly 100 years. The Mee Rebus and Mee Goreng gain their unique flavour from the main ingredient – dried cuttlefish. Check out Lorong Seratus Tahun, a corner building where the owner sells soft drinks only and rents out spaces to hawker stalls like Curry Mee, who serves a sensational curry mee with prawns, pork and pork blood. It’s so good. The prawn head stock gives it a kicking flavour, but it remains light and clear – truly spicy and delicious. This corner is like a mini food court with vendors scattered around the building.

Seng Lee Cafe
270, Jalan Burma, George Town, 10350
George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Lorong Seratus Tahun
34, Lorong Seratus Tahun, 10400
George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

  Tek Sen Restaurant

I think my favourite, despite a choice being hard to make, has to be Tek Sen Restaurant. It’s a real inspiration of Nyonya Chinese, with stir-fried clams, sweet crispy double cooked caramelised pork and a tofu stuffed with fish balls.

Actually, they stuff everything here – including their customers. Tek San started out as a rice stall in 1965, but now it represents what is so great about Penang: the revival of preservation, the determination not to get lost in homogeny, and, despite them not being written down, the cooking of Nyonya recipes.

Tek Sen Restaurant
18, Lebuh Carnarvon, George Town, 10100
George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

A bowl of goodness: Fish Head Soup

A bowl of goodness: Fish Head Soup

One of Indonesia’s most popular delicacies is Fish Head Soup.  This popular dish is full of aromatic herbs and spices that make a delightful meal out of some very basic ingredients. It’s a real tribute to resourcefulness of the cooks of Indonesia and their artful, instinctive application of a long list of wildly different ingredients.

Indonesia is formed from thousands of sprawling islands, populated with farmers and fisherfolk who know the value of everything and waste nothing, the soup is no exception

Check out my Balinese Fish Head Soup Recipe here!

While the soup is found from one end of the archipelago to the other there is a distinct difference in the tastes of the soup, from east to west and north to south. In West Sumatra for example, the soup comes to the table thick, savoury and spicy with coconut milk and chilies, whereas in Maluku the same sounding dish is light, clear and refreshing with a distinct sharp flavour verging on the sour.

Indonesia is formed from thousands of sprawling islands, populated with farmers and fisherfolk who know the value of everything and waste nothing, the soup is no exception.

Traditional fish head soup in some islands contains every part of the fish, the delicious fish cheeks, the intestines, skin and back bone all add their flavours to the broth that forms the base of every aromatic Fish Head Soup.

In Bali the Fish Head Soup broth is flavoured with the ever present Bumbu Gede. It’s the Balinese go to spice mix for everything, “bumbu” translates as spice and “gede” refers to large, which very easily could apply to the abundant ingredient list, over fifteen of them, from galangal and turmeric to cumin and nutmeg.

Lighter than the West Sumatra version, the Balinese version of Fish Head Soup is rich and tasty, it is served with a slice of Balinese lime, that adds a refreshing kick to the soup. The soup is made either with whole fresh fish direct from the markets or from fish cooked the day before, and as is often true of flavoursome soups, the use of ‘leftovers’ adds an extra boost to the distinctive regional flavour. 

Some warungs, the local small restaurants of Bali, sell only Fish Head Soup as a testament to their expertise, in seeking out warungs in which to try this health giving dish chose ones that are located near the sea and brimming with customers. Try these ones below:

Pantai Lebih beach at Ketewel area. Many warungs built along side the beach and all of them sell fish head soup. Here, you may want to try Warung Ayu and Warung  Delah

Sup Kepala Ikan Kakap at Sesetan area, Denpasar. The tastiest white snapper head soup you’d find on the island. It comes with spicy raw chilli sambal.

Mak Beng at Pantai Sanur beach. Even though it doesn’t precisely sell fish head soup, but the famed fish soup drive so many people to visit the warung to have the soup. It can be a good start for you in case you hesitate to try the head.

The Betutu Story

The Betutu Story

The Betutu Story

FOOD CULTURE | BALI

Published in Hello Bali – December 2015

Discovering the secrets of Balinese cuisine is a fascinating journey, and one that at times has an almost fairytale feel to it. Take for example the story of the bumbu genep. This mixture of 13 spices is the basis of nearly every Balinese dish.

BETUTU, HUJAN LOCALE STYLE

Even though there is no scientific evidence, it is believed to have been part of Balinese history for more than 2,000 years. Also, the bumbu was supposed to have been a present from the gods to human beings given through the Pandavas, the five children of King Pandu.

The Pandavas:
Yudhishthira (Or Dharma), Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva
who are the main characters in the epic Mahabharata.

The Balinese believe in the importance of balancing every aspect of their lives, and that includes their culinary culture. Bumbu genep consists of four main spices which represent the balance of four gods, as well as four main directions. Galangal symbolises The Brahma and the south, turmeric The Mahadewa and the west, ginger The Vishnu and the north, and kencur The Iswara and the east.

My interpretation of Bumbu base genep: – CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE –

In traditional Balinese kitchens, these four ingredients are measured with the length of fingers; galangal by the middle finger, turmeric the index finger, Ginger the ring finger, and kencur the pinky. Eight more spices are combined with these main ones, including shallots, garlic, shrimp paste, chilli and salt. The bumbu genep is used to season sate lilit, lawar and many other dishes, including the succulent betutu, one of the most popular Balinese ceremonial dishes and made from chicken or duck.

THE UBUD VERSION OF THE BETUTU

There are a few different versions of betutu found throughout the island. In Ubud, the birds are stuffed with cassava leaves encasing the full complement of the bumbu genep, then wrapped in banana leaves and placed inside a husk, coconut or rice, then roasted slowly for up to twelve hours. This double wrapping makes the flesh of the cooked bird tender and succulent. The roasting permeates the spices to make an insanely satisfying, almost barbequelike flavour.

A FESTIVAL OF FOOD IN GILIMANUK

Other regions, such as Gilimanuk, Bangli and Klungkung, cook their betutu in different ways. Fortunately, to try any of them you don’t have to wait to be invited to a festival, since there are speciality warung making the most out of the everyday and turning any meal into a festive occasion.

  Ayam Betutu Men Tempeh

THE FRIED BETUTU OF MEN TEMPEH

The late Mrs. Tempeh, originally from Gianyar, began this venture with her husband, a native of Bangli in 1978, at Gilimanuk bus station. Their version is still the most popular, and involves boiling the bird for an hour in the bumbu genep spices and serving it soup-style with plecing, the green leafy vegetable mixed with spicy sambal. Also offered is fried betutu, spicy and tender inside but crispy outside.

The betutu has been so successful that many of the employees of the warung have set themselves up as competitors, right at the bus station! It has become impossible to work out which is the original, as the ex-workers have not only copied the recipes but also taken the name of the warung with them. Today you will find almost a dozen “original” Men Tempeh traders.

The business is now run by Mrs. Tempeh’s son, who has decided to open a branch in Denpasar at Krisna Kuliner food mall. Here Ketut Nuryasta, a childhood friend, closely guards the secret recipe as he prepares the original betutu over an authentic traditional fireplace serving up a superbly spicy Men Tempeh Gilimanuk-style dish.

  Ayam Betutu Khas Gilimanuk

One of the former Men Tempeh workers did in fact take an individual approach. When Oka Suci branched out he also rebranded. First he switched the recipe from being super-spicy to a little bit milder, allowing more people to experience the taste. Second, he added humour. He turned his comedian friend Dadab into a Ronald McDonald-like character, making Dadab’s face the logo on the yellow signboards that proudly advertise Betutu Gilimanuk across the island. While Men Tempeh is famous among locals, Oka’s Betutu Gilimanuk gets the biggest slice of the tourist market.

  Ayam Betutu Ibu Nia

Moving with the times, Betutu Ibu Nia has taken the bus depot betutu style into more pleasant surrounds at Jalan Merdeka, in leafy tree-lined Renon. Here you will find a very good betutu nicely presented with raw vegetable and sliced tomato. Cleverly, Ibu Nia serves only the chicken, and has created a niche market for her ayam betutu on account of not serving duck. She is gaining ground in a competitive market since just around the corner from her place is one of the popular Betutu Gilimanuk’s.

  Ayam Betutu Warung Liku

Warung Liku – which means meandering like a lazy river – on Jalan Nakula sells its betutu as part of a whole set meal, so you absolutely have to be meandering to enjoy the full benefits. The betutu here is grilled first then boiled in the spices of a bumbu gede. The warung is always full at lunch time.

  Hujan Locale

At Hujan Locale we adopted gilimanuk-style betutu. I like this for the toothsome resistance of the roasted skin that is followed immediately by the yielding of tender aromatic flesh. Life is worth celebrating, and the betutu served at Hujan allows you to do just that. With a chilled glass of wine and a Balinese temple view, you can unwind and enjoy the traditional flavours of Bali.

Timeless Nasi Kandar

Timeless Nasi Kandar

I have become enchanted by Malay culture, prompted by recent travels to Penang, conversations with people who identify themselves as Malay, and also by the confusion the word causes. Malay, Malaya and Malaysia all have different meanings, and those meanings can depend on whether you are outside looking in or inside looking out.

And I do love a good puzzle.

But even more I love to trace the history of culture through the food that represents it, which is why I decided to find out more about one special dish, the Nasi Kandar.

Nasi Kandar originated in Penang, where food traders from Tamil Nadu used to serve rice – nasi – and their home-style curry from wooden buckets balanced on either side of a long mangrove pole or yoke – kandar in Malay – that the vendor slung across his shoulders. Picture a milkmaid balancing her pails.

Kandar was the name for the pole, but today it refers to the entire dish. Mohd Rawther, owner of Ramzan restaurant, explained that the original Nasi Kandar sellers were independent men who came voluntarily from Southern India to take advantage of a business opportunity, selling home-style food to the workers.

The British rulers at the time granted these valuable traders licences, which remained valid once the colonialists had departed. This allowed the wandering Nasi Kandar sellers to set up “Ottu Kadai” stalls alongside walls where they could put down their buckets and form the mountainous variety of curry that is still seen today in the popular Nasi Kandar street side cafes and restaurants of Penang.

Nasi Kandar rice gets its distinct flavour from being steamed in wood, and the curries are various and fragrantly aromatic. The recipes are from the Tamil Muslim families, with Southern Indian kitchens adding regional variety that includes the use of pandan leaf and lemongrass stalk. Mutton, squid, chicken, quail, tongue, beef or oxtail and vegetables are cooked in curry sauces, which range from butter-rich to pale and creamy, to original dark gravy with a hint of aniseed. Very popular is ayam ros, a chicken rose curry with a sauce made from turmeric and tomatoes that has a rosy glow to it.

A lot of Nasi Kandar places, Rawther tells me, use a generic curry powder. But you can find places that mix up their own or add ingredients to the masala mix, and others that serve biryani rice with chopped herbs instead of the plain steamed rice.

The traditional rice, as I mentioned, came from wooden buckets, giving it a sweet flavour. The curries are always cooked until the meat is tender to the point of disintegration. Even the squid curry, a particular favourite, is soft as though melting.

We serve tandoori squid at Sarong, which emulates the flavours of the curries here in Penang, and I am tempted to try out some new dishes based on the inside information I gleaned from Rawther.

He was at pains to point out that Nasi Kandar curries are not a variety of meats served with a curry sauce, but that the sauces themselves must work to compliment the meats.

So for example his fish curry uses sour flavours including a little fenugreek, which he maintains attracts the “ladies”, along with curry leaf and chilli leaves. He adds a twist to his prawn curries with the slightly asam flavour of coriander and cumin.

The beef he cooks in traditional Kandar sauce using the black soy to create the dark gravy. Unusually, he also makes a duck curry, telling me that Malays are really embracing the eating of duck these days.

It had never been a popular choice for non-Chinese dishes in this part of the world. As with the mutton curry, he uses every part of the bird, chopping it into cube-sized pieces before frying it, ready to soak up the rich sauce.

When you consider the history of this dish you come to understand the tenacity of food culture and its survival over the years. This Nasi Kandar business is truly a heritage craft, and like much of Penang it has a living history.

Khao Soi Joy, the Laksa of Thailand

Khao Soi Joy, the Laksa of Thailand

Khao Soi Joy

Thesaurus | Food

 Khao Soi Joy is said to be the laksa of North Thailand. There are similarities in Laos, Burma (considered the country of origin) and Cambodia.

The main ingredients? Coconut milk, lemongrass, birdseye chilies, cardamom, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garlic, makrut lime leaves, coriander, palm sugar and shrimp paste.

Not a Thai curry as you know it, but a Burmese originated Thai curry!

This yellow curry dish is very light in texture,and is the perfect match with chicken, pork ribs and beef. It comes with freshly prepared egg noodles and crispy deep fried noodles.

This bowl full of deliciousness is typically served with picked mustardgreens, fresh lime, sliced shallots, and green chilli vinegar. Crushed chillipowder and sugar are also tasty additions if you are after a little extraseasoning.

In Chiang Mai, whatever restaurant bears Khao Soi in it’s name, is probably an excellent experience.

MY RECOMMENDATION