1. Pempek-Palembang,
South Sumatra
Pempek is the
best-known of Palembang's dishes. Its origin is undoubtly Palembang, however
the history behind the creation of this savoury dish is unclear. According to
local tradition, around the 16th century there was an old Chinese immigrant who lived near the Musi river. He noticed an abundance of
fish caught by the local fishermen. In the Sumatran
tropical climate, before the invention of refrigeration
technology, most of these unsold leftover fish decayed and were wasted. The
indigenous people, however had limited knowledge and techniques for processing
fish. During that period, most of the indigenous people simply grilled, fried
or boiled their fish instead of adding other ingredients to make new dishes.
The old Chinese man mixed in some tapioca and other spices, which he then sold around the
village on his cart. The people referred to this old man as 'pek-apek, where apek
is a Chinese slang word to call an old man. The food is known today as
empek-empek or pempek.
Another theory
suggests that pempek was a Palembang adaptation of Southern Chinese
ngo hiang
or kekkian (fish slice)
as a surimi
(魚漿, yújiāng) based food. But instead of
being served in soup or plainly fried, pempek is notable for its spicy palm
sugar-vinegar based sauce.
2. Rendang-Minangkabau,
West Sumatra
Rendang originates
from the Sumatran Minangkabau region. One of the earliest written
records of rendang is from the early 16th century Hikayat Amir Hamzah. The making of rendang
spreads from Minangkabau region to Mandailing,
Riau, Jambi, across the strait
to Malacca
and Negeri Sembilan, resulting in a variety of
rendang traditions.
The popularity of
rendang has spread widely from its original domain because of the merantau
(migrating) culture of Minangkabau people. Overseas Minangkabau leave their hometown
to start a career in other Indonesian cities as well as neighboring countries,
and Padang
restaurants, Minangkabau eating establishments that are ubiquitous
in Indonesian cities, spring up. These Padang restaurants have introduced and
popularized rendang and other Padang food dishes across Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, and the wider world.
Andalas University historian, Prof. Gusti Asnan
suggests that rendang began to spread across the region when Minangkabau
merchants and migrant workers began to trade and migrate to Malacca
in the 16th century. “Because the journey through the river waterways in
Sumatra took much time, a durable preserved dry rendang is suitable for long
journey.” The dried Padang rendang is a durable food, good to consume for
weeks, even when left at room temperature.
3. Serabi-Bandung,
West Java
Serabi, surabi
or called srabi is an Indonesian
pancake
that is made from rice flour with coconut milk
or just plain shredded coconut as an emulsifier. Most of traditional serabi tastes sweet, as the
pancake usually eaten with kinca or thick golden-brownish colored coconut sugar
syrup. However another savoury version also existed that uses oncom toppings. Each
province in Indonesia has various serabi recipes corresponding to local tastes.
The origin of
serabi is obscure, however it is thought that the name serabi derived
from "Serbia" as it came from the originator of the recipe who was at
the time trying to recreate palačinke,
an originally Serbian pancake. It was probably progenited during Dutch East
Indies era where the immigrants from Serbia came to the Indies and left
their marks in local culinary. Yet the rice flour coconut milk based kue (delicacies) are
already developed earlier in Indonesia.
4. Bika Ambon-Medan,
North Sumatra
Bika Ambon is a dessert from Indonesia.
Made from ingredients such as tapioca flour, eggs,
sugar,
yeast and coconut milk, Bika Ambon generally sold in pandan
flavour, although now available also other flavors like banana, durian, cheese, chocolate.
The yeast creates
bubbles, which gives it a unique spongy texture when it is baked.
Although the name
contains the word "Ambon", the name of an island
and its largest city, Bika Ambon is widely known as the
specialty cake of Medan
in North Sumatra
and often brought as a gift by those whom visited the city. The origins of Bika
Ambon are not known, however there is some speculation that they came to Medan
through Ambonese traders, where the locals took a liking to it. Mojopahit
Street, Medan Petisah is a most famous sales region of Bika Ambon in Medan, North Sumatra.
There are at least 40 stores that sell this kind of cake.
5. Lumpia Semarang-Semarang,
Central Java
Lumpia Semarang is the kind of food rollade containing
bamboo shoots, egg, and chicken or shrimp.
The taste of lumpia Semarang is a fusion
between Chinese and
Indonesian flavors because first made by
a Chinese descent who is married to an Indonesian and settled in Semarang, Central Java. This meal started sold
and recognized in
Semarang when GANEFO
Games held in
the reign of President Sukarno.
Another
theory suggests that Lumpia are pastries of Chinese
origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia.
The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia, which is an alternate term for
popiah. The recipe, both fried and fresh versions, was brought by the Chinese
immigrants from the Fujian province of China to Southeast Asia and became
popular where they settled in Indonesia and the Philippines.
In the
Netherlands, Belgium and France, it is spelled loempia which is the old
Indonesian spelling for lumpia and has also become the generic name for
"spring roll" in Dutch and French. A variant is the Vietnamese
lumpia, wrapped in a thinner piece of pastry, in a size close to a spring roll
though, the wrapping closes the ends off completely, which is typical for
lumpia. In Venezuela, it is spelled "lumpia" and it was introduced by
Chinese people who migrated to the South American country.
