Today I will cook a "special" dish. I call it special because we don't find this dish in restaurants, this dish is unique because the ingredients we use are taken from some wild plants that grow carelessly in our yards or gardens. the name of the dish that I will cook is "buntil".
Buntil is one of the traditional dishes from the province of Java, Indonesia.This dish is getting rare and very rarely cooked by the public, this can be due to several things such as the difficulty of finding taro leaves as the main ingredient for wrapping the dough. The taro used is usually wild taro that grows in rice fields, yards and shrubs.
This morning when I was taking a walk to the garden that I haven't taken care of for a long time, because I don't have time to take care of it, I found some wild taro plants growing in my garden.
The first taro plant that I found was the taro plant which is usually taken for its tubers, the tuber of this taro plant is very soft like bread when we boil it, that's why the people around us call it taro bread.
The second taro plant that I found is usually called caladium cente and the leaves are used for carp food.
The third taro plant we usually call "lompong" this type of taro is a type of taro whose stems are used for sour vegetables, the tubers are very delicious when fried and we take the leaves to make "buntil" dishes.
When I saw this taro leaf / lompong, I was so excited to make "buntil", so I took some taro leaves to wrap the buntil and I also took the banana stem as a rope to tie the buntil.
Buntil is a dish that is usually wrapped in taro leaves and filled with grated coconut, anchovies or rebon prawns, tempeh and seasoned, then all the ingredients are wrapped in taro leaves and steamed, after the taro leaves are steamed and then boiled again with coconut milk which is seasoned like curry seasoning. But the buntil that I will make is not boiled with coconut milk, because there is an additional "secret" taught by my grandmother, the addition in question is Chinese petai seeds (Leucaena leucocephala).
Chinese petai seeds (Leucaena leucocephala) is a shrub, this plant usually grows in the yard and is used as a shade. Chinese petai seeds are used as traditional medicine to prevent and treat children affected by intestinal worms, the way is by eating one tablespoon of raw Chinese petai seeds that are still green, until the worms come out during defecation.
My grandmother said if we cook buntil using Chinese petai seeds, then we don't need to boil it in coconut milk.
The ingredients we need to make buntil are first the wrapping material, namely taro leaves and banana stem midrib (if there are none we can stab with a stick).let the taro leaves wilt a little to reduce the oxalic acid content in the taro leaves, this oxalic acid is what makes the taro leaves itchy if not cooked in the right way.
The next ingredient we need for the filling is :
100 grams of Chinese petai seeds
100 grams of anchovies (for vegan friends, no need to use anchovy)
50 grams of oyster mushroom (can be replaced with other mushrooms)
1 piece of tempeh
grated coconut from 1 coconut
The ingredients for the seasoning we need are :
5 pieces of red chili
10 pieces of cayenne pepper
3 pieces of candlenut
5 cloves of garlic
5 cloves of red onion
1 segment of turmeric
1/2 tablespoon of salt
How to make delicious buntil is:
The first step: peel the skin of the garlic, onion and turmeric then wash it clean.
The second step: remove the red chili stalks and then wash the red chilies, cayenne pepper and candlenut, I don't throw away the cayenne pepper so it doesn't hurt my stomach.
The third step: puree red chili, cayenne pepper, candlenut, onion, garlic, turmeric, I'm lazy to pound with a pestle, I blend the spices.
The fourth step: add the spices that have been mashed into the grated coconut.
The fifth step: add salt to the grated coconut, then stir all the ingredients until combined.
The sixth step: cut the tempeh and mushrooms into small sizes.
The seventh step: put the pieces of tempeh and mushrooms into the grated coconut, then stir until mixed.
The eighth step: add the Chinese petai seeds and anchovies, then stir until all the ingredients are mixed.
The ninth step: take a few leaves of taro, I used 3 - 4 pieces, then take the dough and place it on top of the taro leaves.
The tenth step: roll the taro leaves, then tie it with a rope made of banana midrib.
The eleventh step: arrange in a pan / tool for steaming buntil. Steam until the taro leaves are soft, so they don't itch when eaten.
let's serve it with a plate of warm rice. Millennials now don't know what "buntil" is because this dish is very rarely served at big events. My husband just when I cook buntil, he is confused whether the taro leaves can be eaten or not, even though the most delicious part of this buntil is the wrapping part (taro leaves). For those who are first trying it may feel a slight itching sensation in the throat after eating buntil, but this is not dangerous (the proof is that our family has never been sick after eating buntil)😅😅😅
Hello my friend 