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Elderly culinary legend’s sweet treats stand the test of time
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‘Jajan’ legend: Satinem, 76, prepares lupus, a traditional sweet dish made from glutinous rice and served with grated coconut and palm sugar syrup, at her street stall in Yogyakarta on June 22. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
A
s the morning twilight unfolds in the city famed for its street food scene, a line of sleepy customers snakes its way along the road in anticipation of a local culinary legend.
The clock strikes 5 a.m. in Yogyakarta, and out of the darkness appears a small and frail sarong-clad woman on the back of a black motorbike. She climbs off slowly, tightly holding a basket that carries the sweet snacks she has been selling for more than half a century.
Now 76 years old, Mbah Satinem was the best-kept secret in the cultural hub for decades, but is today a cooking sensation after she shot to fame in the 2019 Netflix series, Street Food: Asia.
Every day, she opens her stall before dawn and hunches over a table to prepare and dish out jajan pasar, traditional snacks sold at markets.
Displayed on a banana leaf is a selection of treats, including a sweet cake made from glutinous rice called lupis. Alongside it, the star dish is tiwul, made from cassava flour, palm sugar and cenil, a worm-shaped tapioca jelly.
"I've been selling lupis for a very long time, nothing has changed," she said at the stall she has run since 1963.
"Lupis and I are destined for each other," she added, laughing quietly.
