Spicey, rich and tasty platters from West Kutai in East Kalimantan promise not just delicious dishes but also healthy offerings.

Two of West Kutai's cooks ' Happy Hartiasari and Yuyun Dyah ' came all the way to Jakarta to showcase their skills, cooking four special dishes as part of a recent exhibition on Kalimantan.

'These are our main dishes, usually prepared for parties back in West Kutai,' Happy says.

The casual feast was opened with Happy cooking a simple sup jagaq, a kind of couscous soup.

The soup was made of jagaq grains with small slices of chicken, carrots, potatoes, corns and button mushrooms with simple seasonings of margarine, garlic, shallots and pepper.

Jagaq soup is quite similar to any chicken soup found in the country, but it presents a unique taste of jagaq with a bit of West Kutai's spicy flavors.

'If you like a hot and spicy flavor, you can also add terong asam sambal [sour eggplant spicy sauce] to the soup,' said Yuyun, adding that chicken in the soup could also be replaced with fish or beef.

Daging teniq bawang bromot (beef stew with teniq spice and bromot shallots), came after the soup.

The beef stew is seasoned with the local spice teniq along with slices of bromot shallots ' also known as
forest shallots or Kalimantan's shallots.

'The combination of teniq and bromot shallots will naturally bring a brownish color to the stew although we don't use any soy ketchup. The shallots may also soften the beef so we don't need to cook it in a pressure cooker,' said Yuyun.

For West Kutai people, the bromot shallots are believed to have health benefits.

'If you consume them regularly, bromot shallots can reduce your cholesterol, lower your blood pressure and also be a natural anti-oxidant,' said Yuyun.

'Some people with uterine cancer have testified that as soon as they regularly drink a beverage of mixed bromot shallots and white saffron, the size of their cancer is reduced,' said the cook, adding that she could also make bromot into jam for cakes.

Besides teniq and the shallots, the stew is also seasoned with mekai leafs, garlic, ginger and pepper. The mekai leaf gives some natural food flavoring.

The two dishes can be enjoyed with crisp and savory Belida fish, or clown knife fish, and crackers.

After the two rather heavy dishes, the West Kutai duo presented guests with bromot serbat light hot beverage and jagaq porridge for dessert.

The hot beverage ' made of boiled bromot shallots with cinnamon, ginger and sugar for those who like it sweet ' gives a soothing feeling.

As for the jagaq porridge ' which includes jagaq, coconut milk and brown sugar, plus splashes of salted coconut milk ' it tastes quite similar to bubur sumsum (coconut rice pudding), while keeping the true flavor of jagaq.

' Photos by JP/P.J. Leo

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