CULINARY OF WEST SUMATERA
RENDANG
Rendang is a spicy meat dish which originated from the
Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia and is now commonly served across the
country. One of the characteristic food s of Minangkabau culture, it is served
at ceremonial occasions and to honour guest. Rendang is also commonly served
among Malay community in Malaysia and also popular in Singapore ,,Brunei, the
southern Philippines and southern Thailand. Rendang is traditionally prepared
by the Indonesian and Malaysian community during festive occasions such as
traditional ceremonies, wedding feast
and Hari Raya ( Eid Fitri). Culinary experts often describe rending as “
West Sumatera caramelized beef curry”.
NASI KAPAU
Nasi Kapau is a Minang steamed rice topped with various
choice of dishes originated from Nagari Kapau,Bukit Tinggi, a tourism and
culinary hotspot town in West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is often describes as
Minang version of nasi ramas or nasi campur (mixed rice).
A Nasi Kapau foodstall usually consists of stages and rows
of large bowls, plated or saucepans filled with various dishes. In Nasi Kapau
food stalls after the customer is seated , he or she is asked which dished they
desire. The waiter then prepared steaming hot rice on plate with cubadak
(unripe jackfruit gulai) and boiled cassava leaf and sambal aside.
The chosen
dished will be out directly –using long serving spoon – upon the steamed rice
or in separate small plates. Nasi Kapau eating establishments usually insist on
using high quality fragrant rice. High quality Kapau rice directly brought from
Bukit Tinggi and Agam Regency.
DAUN UBI TUMBUK
Daun ubi tumbuk ( daun-leaves, ubi-cassava , tumbuk-pounded)
is vegetable in Padang food made from pureed cassava leaves. The cassava leaves
are traditionally pounded with a wooden mortar and pestle, although finely
chopping or pureeing them using a blender is an alternative.
The leaves are cooked in a fried spice paste consisting at a
minimum of chilis and shallots , but usually some or all of ginger ,galangal,
candlenut , garlic ,lemongrass and other spices , along with coconut milk and
ikan teri (ikan –fish). Daun Ubi Tumbuk is frequently cooked with cempokak, a
small bitter aubergine. For Western cooks, Kale is a possible substitute for
cassava leaves.
TEHTALUA
The Talua or Teh Telor is a tea beverage from West
Sumatra.The tea is unique because of the use of egg yolk in its preparation.
Chicken or duck egg can be chosen for the tea. Other ingredients , in addition
to tea and egg yolk, are sugar and calamondin.
A traditional method of preparing this drink is: stir the
egg yolk and 2 spoons of sugar in a glass, until a batter has developed. Pour 1
spoon of boiling water onto the tea powder. Pour the tea into the batter and
stir. Add calamondin according to taste.
DADIAH
Dadih (Indonesian : Dadih), a traditional fermented milk of
West Sumatra ,Indonesia, is made by pouring fresh raw unheated buffalo milk
into a bamboo tube capped with a banana leaf and allowing it to ferment
spontaneously at room temperature for
days.
The milk is fermented by indigenous lactic bacteria of the
buffalo mil. Its natural fermentation provides different strains of indigenous
lactic bacteria involved in each fermentation. The natural indigenous lactic acid bacteria
involved in each fermentation .The natural indigenous lactic acid bacteria
observed in dadih could be derived from the bamboo tubes, buffalo milk or
banana leaves involved in milk fermentation.
Dadih is usually eaten for breakfast, mixed together with
ampiang (traditional glutinous rice krispies) and palm sugar. Dadih can also be
eaten with hot rice and sambal.
Some studies on probiotic of indigenous strains isolated
from dadih fermented milk demonstrated to exhibit antimutagenic ,acid and bile
tolerance as well as antipathogenic properties .Natural wild strains isolated
from dadih show inhibitory ,competitive
and displacing properties against pathogens and they are promising candidates
for future probiotics. Viable cells of Lactobacillus plantarum strains from
dadih as well as active metabolism play important roles in removing
microcystin-LR,cyanobacterial toxin and natural wild strain of Lactobacillus
plantarum from dadih has the highest removal abilities as compared to the other
commercial probiotic strains. This
finding offers new and economical tools for decontaminating microcystin
containing water
SATE PADANG
Sate Padang is a specialty satay from Padang, West
Sumatera,Indonesia,made from beef cut into small dices with spicy sauce on top
of it. Its main characteristic is a
yellow sauce made from rice flour mixed with spicy offal broth, turmeric
,ginger, garlic ,coriander galangal root , cumin , curry powder and salt.In
Medan, a lot of Sate Padang use not only beef but also chicken and lamb.
There are 3 types of Sate Padang , which are Sate Padang
,Sate Padang Panjang, Sate Pariaman.The 3 types are differentiated by the
colour of their sauce. Sate Padang Panjang usually has yellow coloured sauce
while Sate Pariaman has red coloured sauce. Bearing the sauces are different,
the taste of both Sate are different. While Sate Padang has a variety of flavor
blend from the 2 types of Sate above.
Fresh meat are boiled twice in a big drum filled with water
to make the meat soft and juicy. Then , the meat is sliced into parts and
spices are sprinkled on the meat. The boiled water will be used as a soup broth
to make the sauce. Then the broth, mixed with 19 kinds of spices which have
been smoothed and stirred with various kinds of chili.All seasoning are then
put together and cooked for 15 minutes .Grill the sate when ready to eat, using
charcoal from coconut shell.
GULAI AYAM
Gulai Ayam ( Minangkabau and Indonesia for “ Gulai Chicken”
) is a traditional Indonesian dish of chicken cooked in curry like spicy , rich
and succulent yellow wish sauce called gulai. It is originally from West
Sumatra.It can be classified as an Indonesian curry.Together with gulai kambing
( (giat or mutton gulai) ,it was the most common and popular variant of gulai.
LEMANG
Lemang is a traditional Indonesian Food and made of
glurinous rice , coconut milk and salt and cooked in a hollowed bamboo stick
line with banana leaves in order to prevent the rice from sticking to the
bamboo. Lemang is usually eaten with meat dishes such as chicken curry.
The tube contains glutinous rice, salt and coconut milk is
placed slightly slanted on a small fire with the opening facing upwards. The
bamboo tube should be turned regularly in order to cook evenly. It takes about
4-5 hours to cook lemang. Lemang is popular in Indonesia, Minangkbau and Iban
communities of Borneo and Minahasans that usually prepared by using the tapai
method .Lemang can now be found throughout Indonesia due to spread of
Minangkabau people throughout the country.
Lemang is ubiquitous in Indonesia and commonly eaten to mark
the end of daily fasting during the annual Muslim Indonesian of Eid –ul-Fitr
and Eid –Ul-adha.
