Just Another Thing

Santol or cotton fruit is a tropical fruit native to maritime Southest Asia. The santol is native to the Malesian floristic region but have been introduced to Indocina, Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia.  In Indonesia, this fruit grows only in certain town, such as in Jakarta and Bekasi West Java. We call it Kecapi. There are two varieties of Kecapi with two different species, the yellow variety and the green one. The difference is in the color that the older leaves turn before falling.  The shape of Kecapi is small round and it has a soft skin like silk or cotton. The taste of the yellow variety is sweet if the fruit is ripe enough and sour if it is not ready to pick. But for the green variety, it is all sweet. We call that variety Kecapi Daon. Daon or Daun means leave. The color of the skin is just like its leave but the color of the fruit is white.  Unfortunately, Kecapi is not too familiar in Indonesia because the fruit seller is not really interested to sell it. To eat...

Indonesia has some traditional drinks that has some benefits for our body. One of them is Wedang Jahe.  Wedang Jahe comes from Javanese which means Ginger Drink. This drink was inherited from the ancestor from generation to another generation. And now it becomes a drink that can be consumed as a healthy drink for everybody in Indonesia. Like its name, jahe or ginger, this drink made from ginger for the main ingredient. Besides ginger, there are some herbs and condensed milk added into this drink. The taste is not only good, but also it can warm our body to make it feel good, especially in the cold weather.  Because of making Wedang Jahe is so easy, so everyone can make this drink by themselves or instantly buying this in the stores.  Wedang Jahe can be served in hot or cold with ice.

Bir Pletok or Pletok Beer is the Indonesian drink which is originally from Betawi, Jakarta. The color is red, the taste is sweet and hot, and it feels warm in our body.  Unlike the regular beer, it doesn't make someone gets drunk. Otherwise, it can make our body feels so good because the ingredients of this drink are made from the herbs. It contains ginger, lemongrass, cardamon, pandan leaves, Secang wood, palm sugar, and water. All ingredients are boiled at once. We can serve this drink in hot or cold with ice cube. Why is this drink called beer? This drink has already existed in Dutch colonial. At that time, the Dutch invaders brought their habit drank beer to make their bodies warmed. For Moslem people, it is forbidden to drink something that contains alcohol. To warm their body,  Betawi people tried to find the way how to make a drink that can warm the body and didn't make someone who drank it got drunk. So came up the idea to make the drink from the herbs. Even the color ...

There is Sweet Red Bean Ice in some Asian countries, including Indonesia. Yet, it has a bit different ingredients and taste in each of those countries. In Indonesia, this beverage comes from Palembang, South Sumatra. We can consume this in any seasons. Most Indonesian people like Sweet Read Bean Ice because of  delicious and unique taste. The tender red bean with red syrup, coconut milk, and shaved ice melt in our mouth at once. It is fresh and good because red bean has so many benefits for our body. Usually, Indonesian people can buy this in a restaurant that sells Palembang's food, such as Pempek and Tekwan. But sometimes we can find it in the certain Chinese restaurant or stall.

Tekwan is one of Indonesian traditional food. It is originally from Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Besides Pempek, there is Tekwan that we can meet or order at the Palembang food stall.  Tekwan is made from tapioca and fish that shaped round like meatball, we call it fish meatball. It is served with vermicelli, jicama, mushroom, fried onion, green onion, celery and shrimp broth. Tekwan is one of indonesian favorite food. Everyone can eat it because of the taste fits for everyone's taste. The history said that this food is an acculturation culinary between Tionghoa (Chinese People) and Palembang culture. At that time, Tionghoa stayed in Palembang and introduced that food to Palembang people. Then that food was adopted by Palembang people. They changed the taste to be local flavor. The name of Tekwan comes from "bekotek samo kawan", which means "talk to friends", and shortened to be "tekwan". But some people say that Tekwan comes from English, Take...

Here is another Indonesian food or snack is made from cassava, it's called Misro. Misro is short for aMis dijeRo. Amis dijero is Sundanese language, which means sweet inside. This snack originally is from Bandung, West Java.  The shape of this food is round and flat. The texture is tender and a bit chewy. The taste is tasty and sweet. Since this food is traditional food or snack, so we only can find it in certain fried food seller on the street.  Yet, when we want to eat this food everyday or whenever we want to, it is very easy to make. The ingredients we need are: Cassava Coconut Palm sugar Salt Cooking Oil How to make: Grate the cassava and coconut. Mix them and add it salt. Mix them altogether. Slice the palm sugar. Take the dough (number 2), flatten it and fill it with palm sugar, cover it with another dough on top. Round it up and flatten it.  Fry it with medium heat until the color of Misro is brownish. Misro is ready to serve.

In some western countries have salad, in Indonesia has Asinan. There are two kinds of Asinan; Asinan Buah or Fruit Asinan and Asinan Sayur or Vegetable Asinan. But Asinan that I want to tell you is Asinan Sayur. Just like salad, the main ingredients of Asinan Sayur is vegetables. The thing that make it a bit different is the dressing or the sauce.  The word Asinan comes from asin, which means salty. It relates to how this food made. According to the history about the dish is the process of making it through salting the vegetables with salt or pickling one the vegetables with vinegar.  It is very easy to make Asinan Sayur. We only need some vegetables, such as: cucumber, carrot, bean sprouts, cabbage, and lettuce. And for the complementary we need fried peanut, tofu, yellow noodle, and kerupuk (Indonesian traditional chip). For the sauce we need peanut, palm sugar, tamarind, salt, chili, and water.