Betawi cuisine

Betawi dishes; soto betawi and asinan betawi in a Betawi restaurant at Sarinah, Central Jakarta.

Betawi cuisine is rich, diverse and eclectic,^[1] in part because the Betawi people that create them were composed from numbers of regional immigrants that coming from various places in the archipelago, as well as Chinese, Indian, Arab, and European traders, visitors and immigrants that attracted to the port-city of Batavia (today modern Jakarta) since centuries ago.^[2]

History and influences

Kerak telor vendor selling spicy coconut omelette, a popular delicacy during Jakarta Fair.

The Betawi cuisine developed and evolved with influences from various cuisine traditions brought by waves of newcomers to the port-city on the north coast of Western Java. From the small port of Sunda Kalapa, it grew into an active hub of international trade, primarily involving Indonesian, Chinese, Indian and Arab traders. By early 16th century, drawn by the spice trade, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrived, followed by the Dutch later in the same century. During colonial VOC era, foreign communities were kept in enclaves under Dutch colonial rule, as the result the culinary concentration grew in each area: Tanah Abang for Arab cuisine, the Glodok and Kuningan area for Chinese food and Tugu in North Jakarta for Portuguese.^[1]

Betawi cuisine is in fact really similar to Peranakan cuisine, as both are hybrid cuisine heavily influenced by Chinese and Malay, as well as Arab and European cuisine, to neighboring Sundanese and Javanese cuisine. Nasi uduk for example, which is a savory rice cooked in coconut milk and served with several side dishes, may be a local version of the Malay dish nasi lemak.^[1] On the other hand, asinan, cured and brined pickled vegetables, and rujak juhi, vegetables served with shredded dried squid and peanut sauce, demonstrate Chinese influences. Because of this common heritage, some of Betawi cuisines, such as asinan and lontong cap go meh, are shared with Chinese Indonesian. Betawi cuisine also shares some recipes and dishes with neighboring Sundanese, such as both of them are familiar with sayur asem and gado-gado (lotek). Another examples are nasi kebuli and soto betawi that uses minyak samin (ghee), which indicates Arab or Muslim Indian influences.^[3][4]

A gastronomy expert suggests that some Betawi dishes can describes the past condition of Betawi people reside in Batavia. For example, kerak telor was created due to the low quality of local glutinous rice, with the egg and other toppings added to make it more tasty and satisfying. Soto tangkar, which today is a meat soup, was mostly made from the broth of goat rib-cage bones in the past because meat was expensive, or the common population of Batavia were too poor to afford some meat back then.^[5][1]

Today, many authentic Betawi dishes are hard to find even in its native land. This is partly because as a cosmopolitan city, Jakarta also features dishes from many far-flung parts of Indonesia, as well as international cuisines — which is a myriad dishes for Betawi cuisine to compete with. Moreover, Betawi community were pushed out of the inner city to the marginal suburbs in and around Greater Jakarta in the wave of development.^[1] Nevertheless, some Betawi restaurants are striving to preserve their heritage cuisine, such as rare pecak gabus, snakehead fish (Channa striata) in pecak sauce.^[6]

Ingredients and cooking method

Betawi cuisine uses rice as staples, numbers of its dishes are revolved around rice, either steamed, cooked in coconut milk as nasi uduk (coconut rice), or compressed as ketupat sayur or lontong sayur rice cakes in vegetables soup. As a Muslim-majority community, Betawi people favour beef, mutton and goat meat, as they adhere Islamic halal dietary-law which forbid pork consumption. Fishes are consumed too. Interestingly — for a coastal city — there are hardly any seafood dishes in Betawi cuisine. But there are plenty of freshwater fish dishes, using local varieties of snakehead fish and carp. Popular Betawi dishes include soto betawi (beef offals in milky broth), sayur asem (sweet and sour vegetable soup), sop iga sapi (beef rib soup) and kerak telor (spiced coconut omelette). Most of Betawi dishes are cooked in deep-fried, stir-fried, barbecued or braised methods, and feature a delicate balance of sweet, sour and salty flavours.^[2]

Dishes

Ketoprak street vendor in Jakarta.

• Asinan, a salad made from a mix of pickled vegetables, yellow noodles and sweet, sour and spicy peanut sauce, topped with a handful of rice crackers.^[2]
• Gado-gado, a kind of boiled or blanched vegetables salad in peanut sauce.
• Kerak telor, a glutinous rice cake cooked with egg and served with shredded coconut and a dried shrimp topping.
• Ketoprak, vegetables, tofu, rice vermicelli and rice cake in peanut sauce.
• Ketupat sayur, ketupat compressed rice-cake in spicy vegetables soup.
• Lontong sayur, almost identical to ketupat sayur, but uses lontong instead.
• Mie kangkung, noodle with water spinach.
• Nasi kebuli, Arab-origin spicy steamed rice dish cooked in goat broth, milk and ghee.
• Nasi uduk, rice cooked in coconut milk.
• Nasi ulam, rice with vegetables with side dishes.
• Pecak gabus, spiced snakehead fish dish.^[6]
• Pesmol, spiced fish dish, usually carp or milkfish.
• Pindang serani, a fish dish with vegetables from Marunda.
• Roti buaya, crocodile-shaped bread.
• Rujak juhi, vegetables with shredded dried squid in peanut sauce.
• Semur jengkol, a pungent-smelling bean stewed in a sweet soy sauce.
• Sayur asem, vegetables in tamarind soup.
• Sayur papasan, mixed vegetable soup.
• Soto betawi, beef offal soup with diced tomatoes and slices of fried potato.
• Soto kaki, beef or goat leg tendons and cartilage soto.
• Soto tangkar, soto made of chopped beef ribs (Betawi:tangkar).

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  Asinan betawi, pickled vegetables in peanut sauce.

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  Gado-gado, vegetables in peanut sauce.

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  Kerak telor, spicy coconut omelette.

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  Ketoprak, vegetables, tofu, rice vermicelli and rice cake in peanut sauce.

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  Ketupat sayur, ketupat rice cake in spicy vegetables soup.

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  Lontong sayur.

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  Laksa Jakarta style.

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  Mie kangkung, noodle with water spinach.

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  Nasi uduk with empal, krechek and semur jengkol.

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  Nasi ulam Betawi.

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  Sayur asem Betawi version.

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  Soto betawi, a Betawi beef meat and offals in rich and creamy milk or coconut milk soup.

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  Soto kaki cow's foot tendons and cartilage soto, a Betawi specialty

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  Roti buaya, crocodile-shaped bread is often served in festive occasions.

Snacks

• Kue pepe, a sticky, sweet layered cake made of glutinous rice flour
• Kue ape-ape, a soft-centered cake with a flimsy but crisp crust
• Kue gemblong, a coconut cake
• Kue pancong, a sweet flour cake
• Dodol, a sticky confectionery made of coconut, glutinous rice and brown sugar

Beverages

• Bir pletok, a non-alcoholic drink made from the bark of the secang tree.
• Es selendang mayang, a sweet iced dessert made of kinca or liquid palm sugar, coconut milk, pandan leaf for aroma, ice and cakes made of glutinous rice flour or hunkwe (mung beans starch powder).
• Sekoteng, a warm beverage made of ginger and milk, poured with peanut, cubed bread, and pacar cina (tapioca pearls).

See also

• Indonesian cuisine
• Javanese cuisine
• Sundanese cuisine
• Malay cuisine
• Peranakan cuisine

References

External links

• Media related to Cuisine of Betawi at Wikimedia Commons