Culinary Trip in Sumatra

Have u ever go to Sumatra?

Have u ever taste Sumatran Food?

Whatever your answer, I’d like to share a bit about my culinary trip in Sumatra .. 😀

Sumatra is one of big island in Indonesia which located in western Indonesia. The people who lived here represent many different ethnic groups, speaking 52 different languages. Most of these groups, however, share many similar traditions and the different tongues are closely related. Malay-speaking people dominate the eastern coast, while people in the southern and central interior speak languages related to Malay, such as the Lampung and Minangkabau people. The highland of northern Sumatra is inhabited by the Batak, while the northernmost coast is dominated by Aceh. Ethnic Chinese minorities are also present in urban centres. .. From the richness of  Sumatran culture, it makes this Island become heaven of delicious traditional foods! ;9

Sumatra has  a lot of traditional foods that we can taste, the characteristic of Sumatran food is the taste. It has  a strong flavor of spices. So, prepare your stomach when you want to try Sumatran food. Mostly, Sumatran food were used chili or something that make its food so hot. Last year, I went to my Father’s Hometown, which located in Riau province. I took the trip by car, so I traveled across province to province. It was very.. very.. long trip from West Java to Riau. It takes about 50 hours or 2 days for a car-trip. I Better I  enjoyed my trip than got bored all day.. So, I spent my time to taste Sumatran food from place to place! It was soo exciting! Here, I want to share Sumatran food which I have tried, and I love it very much! I recommend you to try these food when you go to Sumatra. 🙂

That picture is Ampera Bridge, A bridge which is crossed over Musi river, one of famous biggest river in South Sumatra. I ussually fall asleep when I was on my way to South Sumatra, I often woke up and saw this bridge, so, I knew that after seeing that bridgne, I will have my lunch time with Pempek! ^^ 😀

Pempek is one of traditional food originated from South Sumatra which made from mixed of fish and flour. Pempek is served with brown vinegar to make pempek become spicy. Pempek become one of the most favourite delicious food in Indonesia, it can be seen from there are many food shops and restaurant which sell Pempek. Mostly, if we buy raw pempek, we should fry it first then we can eat. But, When I visited Pasar Cinde, one of traditional market at heart of the Palembang (capital city of South Sumatra), I went to a Pempek shop, and I found different way in serving Pempek.  All of Pempek shop in here sells two types of Pempek (based on how it cooked : fried pempek and ‘unfried’ pempek. The unfried one looks like boiled pempek, so we can eat it without fried. The seller said it’s already cooked, I guess pempek had been boiled, not fried.

Beside selling, they are also also offer the customer to eat directly at their shop. They already put some tables and chair wether customer want to eat Pempek directly. My mum and I  ordered 1 portion of Pempek (see the picture). At first, I was being confused when I saw ‘unfried’ Pempek, I picked up one small pempek and swallow it..

hmmm,, it taste sooooooooooo deliciouuuuusss, I can imagine how delicous this food, I can tasted fish taste so strongly. 🙂

For one small piece of pempek, it costs Rp 3.000,-.  Actually, There are many shape of Pempek. Different shape, different taste! So, you won’t get bored when eating! After done eating, I took a shop’s name card and keep it for me. The name of  the diner is “TOKO PEMPEK KEONG MAS 501”, Address : Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Palembang. Phone number : +62711374325.

the shop-owner is very kind person to the customer.. so that’s why I usually buy Pempek in this shop when I come to Palembang.

Pempek 501 – Cinde Traditional Market

After Palembang, let’s move to traditional food from Riau Province!

When I arrived in Cerenti, name of small district which is my father’s hometown, I just remembered one food in my mind, it’s Sate Topuang. When I think about that food, I just can’t wait to eat it as much as I can. hahaha. Before, I tell you about it. I’d like to share about the ‘Starbucks’ in Cerenti. Every district ussually only have one traditional market, there’s no shopping mall or modern market. This the-only-one traditional market contains many kind of shops, from food to home appliences. All you can have in there, except Internet centre and Bookstore (sadly).

In Cerenti, traditional market (called Pasar Cerenti) provided many coffee shops, and it’s taste soo nice. The coffee made from orginal Sumatran coffee. My family and I ussually come by to drink a coffee and eat some snacks. The seller of the coffee shop are mostly my father’s friend. so, my father also visit the cafe not only for drinking, but also for chatting with his old-friends. 🙂 so, I called coffee shop in Pasar Cerenti with Cerenti ‘Starbucks’. hahaha.

there many types of coffee in there. In general, all of the coffee named Kopi Kodai. There are black coffee, milk coffee, and many more (I dont know the others). I have tried black coffee and milk coffee. I prefer to milk coffee that black coffee because milk coffee has softer taste, not too strong. When I came to coffee shop, I always order milk coffee. 🙂 The shop also sells  cakes and chips. Mostly, local people come here in the afternoon when the break time has come or in the evening after they’re working for entire day. Every times I come to coffee shop, there’s no woman as customer. All of the customers are men.

Kopi Kodai (Traditional Cafe Coffee)

I don’t know why.. but maybe it causes from culture reason. maybe since long time ago, Local women are rarely to stay in coffee shop for one drink as their habit, they prefer to stay at home, cook, clean their home and take care of their children. Because all of customers of coffee shop in Pasar Cerenti are men, so I think local women (maybe) are not allowed to stay and have some drinks in the coffee cafe, and it become a culture. But my mum and I were breaking the rules. We think that we are not local people, so it’s okay I guess, hahaha. Even I drink a coffee with my mum, I always accompanied by my dad, so we aren’t to be claimed as bad women. 🙂

“Let’s go breaking the rules Mum! Keep drinking! X)”

Next food : *drum rolls* is SATE TOPUANG!!

Sate Topuang (Melayunese Chicken Satay)  is one of famous traditional food from Riau province, Sumatra. In you go to some places around Sumatra, you will always find this food. Believe me! At first, Sate Topuang is like similar with Sate Padang (traditional food from West Sumatra), but I realized that there’s very different. Sate Topuang has it’s unique taste. The sauce made from spice, but it already mixed into one. The sauce use small shrimp in order to be more tasty. If I see people sell this food, I always buy it. I feel like I never get bored to eat this food. Sate made from chicken, but there are some people who also sell the cow meat.  Sate Topuang is combined with ricecakes and sauce plus chilies, ad it tastes really really good.. I don’t know how to express the deliciousness of this food. It makes me so addictive! 🙂

see Sate Topuang..

Sate Topuang (Chicken Satay)

Ingredients :

Chicken

Ricecakes (Indonesia : ‘lontong’)

‘Topuang’ Sauce

Chili Sauces

Last food that I want to share is Miso!

Miso is one of traditional food in Cerenti, it’s like a soup which contains noodle, vermicelly, and some vegetables. It’s so tasty and warm. It recommended for you to eat at night when you feel cold, because Miso is better served hot. Also, you can add salt or chilis to make Miso more tasty.

Miso

That’s all culinary report from me, I hope you will have desire to go to Sumatra and try on these foods, trust me, it’s so delicious! Visit Sumatra for Culinary Trip! see you on the next episode of culinary trip.. ^^