Emping

Emping
Emping melinjo
Course	Snack
Place of origin	Indonesia
Region or state	Nationwide
Serving temperature	Room temperature
Main ingredients	Deep fried dried Gnetum gnemon nut
Variations	plain, salty, sweet and spicy hot
Cookbook:Emping  Emping

Raw emping

Emping as topping on lontong sayur

Emping is the name of a type of Indonesian chips, a bite-size snack kripik cracker made of melinjo or belinjo (gnetum gnemon) nut. The emping crackers have a slightly bitter taste.^[1] The emping snack available in the market can be plain (original), salty or sweet depends on the addition of salt or caramelized sugar.

Production

Emping production is a home industry, traditionally handmade in a labor-intensive process. The melinjo seeds are sauteed in a medium fire without oil, or sometimes using sand as media, some people boil the melinjo seeds too cook it and to ease the peeling process. Then both the softer outer skin and the harder inner skin of the seeds are peeled off by hand. Each of the gnetum seeds is whacked with a wooden hammer-like instrument or pressed with a stone cylinder to create flat and rounded emping, and later arranged in a tray made of weaved bamboo and sun-dried for a whole day. Each emping chip is commonly created from a single gnetum nut, however there are other variants that combine several seeds to create larger emping with a size similar to krupuk. These large emping however are often mixed with other types of starch, such as corn or tuber starch. There are two types of emping thickness available in the market, the thin and thick ones. The thin one usually tastes original or salty, while the thick one usually tastes sweet coated with caramelized sugar or spiced with chilli pepper.

The dried emping chips are collected, packed and sold to market. Raw emping, as bought from traditional markets, are better to be sun-dried first to reduce their humidity, then later fried with ample hot vegetable oil until they expand, becoming crispy and turning golden yellow. Emping is produced in many parts of Indonesia, from Pidie in Aceh to Sulawesi, however its main production areas are in Java, such as Karangtawang village in Kuningan Regency West Java,^[2] Bantul Regency in Yogyakarta, Klaten Regency, Batang Regency, and Magetan Regency in Central Java.

Consumption

Raw (unfried) emping are usually only available in Indonesian traditional markets; while in snack stores, supermarkets or restaurants only pre-packed, ready to eat emping are available. Most emping are plain flavoured (original), served with the addition of a pinch of salt. Emping is a unique type of cracker, it has been exported to USA and Middle East.

Emping are frequently served solely as a snack or accompaniment to Indonesian traditional dishes. They are often added as a crispy addition to Indonesian dishes such as soto, nasi uduk, sop buntut, gado-gado, lontong sayur, nasi goreng, nasi kuning, laksa and bubur ayam.

See also

• Kripik
• Krupuk
• Rempeyek

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emping.

References