Talking about food, it looks like something very interesting. Because the need for food is a primary need for everyone. Interestingly, where I work, food is the main thing. There is a rule, if the food is not good, the employees will not work optimally. So, food is the most important thing. My office provides lunch for each of its staff. In fact, there is a middle-aged woman who is a cook where I work. She specially cooks lunch for the staff.
The most interesting thing is that we often prepare special foods from the Indonesian region. For example, pecel, soto, prawns with sauce Padang, chicken rendang and others. In fact, if one of the staff has a birthday, we often eat yellow rice and other side dishes. Yellow rice (you can call Nasi Kuning) is considered as gratitude and happiness.
Yesterday, I went to the office. The chef where I work cooks typical West Javanese food. This dish is often made by my parents. I feel at home. We made tofu pepes (you can call Pepes Tahu), fried eggs, fried tempeh, sauteed kale, sayur lodeh and sambal korek. Of the many foods that I have mentioned, Pepes Tahu is the one I enjoy the most. Next, sauteed kale. That food is my favorite food. Lastly, sambal korek. these foods make me hungry for lunch. I will review the food.
Almost all the food cooked by the Chef in the office is very good. To make Pepes Tofu (you can call Pepes Tahu), you only need tofu as the main ingredient. Crushed tofu is added with other seasonings and eggs. Cooked by steaming by banana leaves for two hours. According to the story, no one knows when the food will be eaten in West Java. However, given the simple manufacturing process, this dish must be very old.
Usually it's not tofu that is made into pepes. It could be fish, mushrooms or chicken. For chicken or fish, lemongrass and turmeric are usually used. Two spices are added so that the chicken or fish does not smell fishy. Cooking pepes the first time takes a long time.
In the past, this dish took a minimum of eight hours to cook. This is because the food is cooked as a whole. In fact, it used to be cooked using firewood. Another thing, so that the spices absorb perfectly. If you inhale freshly cooked food, you will feel the food want to smell very good. And arouse your appetite.
I think if this food exists in some areas in Indonesia. I also think that this food is most often cooked by people in Indonesia. At this point, there is no information on when this dish was first made. This food is an ancestral heritage to be proud of.
Kangkung has vitamins C and B which are good for our bodies. This kale plant can only grow in the tropics and subtropics. Some countries in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, are good places for growing this plant.
For the people of Indonesia, it doesn't taste good to eat without sambal. Warm rice with chili sauce and fresh vegetables is a very good meal. Especially if you add fried sea fish, fried tempeh, eggs or fried chicken. Some Indonesians call this food with the name Sambal Korek. Sambal is very easy to make. Enough with chili, onion and salt.
This sauce has historical value. One of the culinary experts during the Dutch colonial era, Catenius Van Der Meijden, once made this Sambal. Catenius is also the Dutch mistress of Indonesia. His expertise in making Sambal published a book in 1942. In addition, he wrote a book on "Eat Nasi" which was published in 1922. His famous recipes are Sambal oeleok and sambal egg. Catenius makes other unique, sambal serdadoe, Sambal bajak, Sambal brandal and others
Picture by Nurdiani Latifah
Nurdiani Latifah
My name is Nurdiani Latifah. I currently live in Jakarta – Indonesia, after 25 years I live in Bandung. I am a media staff at an NGO in Indonesia. I have worked in this institution for almost 2 years on issues of women and peace. I had been a journalist in Bandung for 3 years.
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