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Rinrin Marinka: A taste of Jakarta
In the kitchen: Rinrin said she got to make her own versions of Jakartaâs favorite street foods for Back to the Streets: Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-center">In the kitchen: Rinrin said she got to make her own versions of Jakarta's favorite street foods for Back to the Streets: Jakarta.
Good food, good talk. Celebrity chef Rinrin Marinka is introducing Indonesian cuisine to global audiences in her own style.
An energetic Rinrin stole the limelight when she became a judge for MasterChef Indonesia and Junior MasterChef Indonesia from 2011 to 2014.
'Life has been pleasant, mostly, and also a little challenging, but I'm grateful for what has happened in order to get where I am now,' Jakarta-born Rinrin told The Jakarta Post over e-mail.
Having a strong passion for cooking, the 34-year-old, whose real name is Maria Irene Susanto, joined chef Will Meyrick of Portugal in hosting the Back to the Streets: Jakarta TV show on the Asian Food Channel.
The show, which premiered globally on Nov. 28 and which is slated for rebroadcast locally early next year, uncovers the best street-side food in Jakarta ' from bakso (meatball soup) to the ever-popular nasi goreng (fried rice).
Rinrin said that the series showcased the heritage, diversity and flavor of Jakarta's culinary scene. 'The shooting took part on the streets, so it was naturally hot and dusty. However, it was fun for me to get a chance to appreciate and explore the sights I've been walking past for practically my whole life ' including the beautiful old town Batavia and the Chinatown temple.'
The series also led her to places that sold famous Betawi dishes such as kerak telor (sticky rice duck omelet with floss and shredded coconut) as well as the legendary late-night street eatery Nasi Goreng Kambing Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta.
Besides visiting celebrated eateries, the show allowed the chefs to make their own versions of street food.
'The featured dishes were all chosen carefully. It had to be a staple of the Betawi culture with a significant heritage and story behind it,' said Rinrin, who earned a diploma in French cuisine and patisserie at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Sydney, Australia, in 2004.
The show also covers other Indonesian signature dishes such as rendang (beef simmered in coconut milk and spices); dendeng balado (crispy thinly sliced beef with chili) from West Sumatra; and nasi liwet (savory steamed rice with spicy fried condiment) from Central Java.
All the dishes were popular among residents of the city ' and tasty enough to be introduced to the world, Rinrin added.
From her exploration with Meyrick, Rinrin said that she learned that Jakarta's street food was influenced by Chinese, Arabic and Indian cuisine ' with a healthy dose of Javanese flavor.
'The food really varies from the west to the east of the archipelago. There are so many textures, so many different flavors ' from sweet to spicy. I would say it's very eclectic,' said Rinrin, who put her studies in fashion design at KVB Institute College in Sydney on hold in 2002 to learn how to cook.
Rinrin said that asinan Betawi (Betawi-style vegetable salad with peanut sauce) and kerak telor were Jakarta's unique dishes. 'Meanwhile, satay, curries and nasi goreng are dishes that our neighbors have similar versions of,' she added.
As for her personal favorite, Rinrin said that she loved siomay (steamed dumplings) sold from a bicycle and served with peanut sauce.
'I make my own version of siomay, too. I usually cook it on Sundays, or if I want to serve something small and savory to my guests whenever they come over to my place,' she added.
The owner of Mars Kitchen restaurant said that she really liked the dish because she couldn't have much of it when she was a child. 'My mother was really careful of what I ate, especially when it came to street food.'
Given the countless delicious and unique dishes available through the archipelago, Rinrin said that Indonesian cuisine had a big potential to go international.
Nevertheless, the country needed to do extra work to improve hygiene and presentation for its street food, she said.
Starting cooking as a hobby, Rinrin says that she is now living the life she wanted. 'I do believe that if you follow your passion, success will soon follow. I started studying at Le Cordon Bleu because I was curious about food and cooking.
'I worked for a while in Sydney, went back to Jakarta and opened a restaurant and did a little teaching here and there before I was approached to star in a cooking show,' she said.
Looking at the future, Rinrin said she wanted to be the best at whatever she did ' and to become one of the best and most well-rounded chefs.
'My goals are to someday start my own family and have my own show where I can cook and host talking sessions on anything that's educative and fun.
'I also really want to bring Indonesian food to the next level and make it popular around the world, like Japanese and Thai cuisine,' said the host of local cooking show Cooking in Paradise.
