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Jakarta Post

Sweet treats from the past

The making of dodol, a glutinus rice cake

Wibisono Notodirdjo (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, August 7, 2011

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Sweet treats from the past

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span class="inline inline-left">The making of dodol, a glutinus rice cake. Jakarta’s traditional sweet delicacies offer more than just a unique taste to satisfy a sweet tooth, but they also take us on a historical journey.

Even in a rapidly evolving city like Jakarta, sweet delicacies survive through time, as a trip down the streets often brings pleasant surprises.

A new culinary tour called “Sweet memories from the past”, organized by Alchemy Creative Communications in
Jakarta, rekindled fond memories of Jakarta’s most popular sweet treats.

At a time when most Jakartans prefer modern franchise bakeries in shopping malls, the tour visited one of Jakarta’s oldest bakeries, Tan Ek Tjoan.

Originally opened in Bogor in 1921, the bakery expanded to Jakarta in 1953 and is the longest-running bakery in Greater Jakarta.

On that particular day, there was no queue in the two-story Cikini branch in Central Jakarta. The bakery relies on loyal customers and the 100-or-so carts that roam Jakarta’s streets for its sales.

Hidden behind the shop, the simple kitchen may not compete in looks with the new bakeries in town, but it does churn out tasty breads and cakes, which are renowned for being free of preservatives.

The bakery’s best-selling bread is roti gambang, a brown bread topped with sesame seeds. A dominant ingredient is brown sugar, accounting for the bread’s natural sweetness and brown hue. It is also made without water, adding to its toughness and acting as a natural preservative.

A bite of roti gambang is almost like biting a biscuit, since it is tough and dense, but it is also pleasantly sweet and filling. For Rp 4,000 (50 US cents) a piece, that’s a nibble you could delay lunch with.

“Our customers come to us because our bread is filling. Just one piece would be enough to make you feel full,” said chief baker Deden Suherman when asked how his bakery stayed competitive.

“Secondly, it’s nostalgic for them, since they usually come to this bakery just like their parents and their grandparents before them.”

Cuisine from Jakarta’s indigenous Betawi culture also retains the same sweet taste, with many desserts using coconut milk as a main ingredient, giving them their signature savory sweet flavors.

The next stop was at Rempah-Rempah restaurant, dedicated to authentic Indonesian cuisine, where they served a cake called kue ape.

Circular in shape, it has a thin, crispy crust and a soft center filled with coconut and pandan flavors. The cake is usually sold by Jakarta street vendors who cook and sell it at their carts.

The hunt for sweet bites continued to Kampung Betawi, a cultural heritage center in South Jakarta where the group gets the chance to make some of the most common Betawi sweets such as dodol, a glutinous rice cake.

The soft and sticky cake – traditionally made by stirring for eight hours and waiting for the dough to set – is sweet and usually eaten as an everyday snack or served at family gatherings.

The next presentation was the local ice cream, es puter. The dessert is rooted back during Dutch colonial times, when locals imitated European ice cream but substituted milk with coconut milk.

The name puter (churn) came from the process of churning the cylindrical container that is filled with the mixture in a bed of ice and rough salt for freezing. This heavy churning process takes up to an hour for the mixture to set into ice cream. Just like with dodol, it requires some muscle to make such a sweet and soft dessert.

Es puter is very sweet with its signature coconut milk flavor. It can also be combined with pieces of fruit such as jackfruit for new flavors.

“I’ve been experimenting with es puter, giving it flavor similar to ice cream, such as durian, avocado and jackfruit flavors,” said Mamat, an es puter maker who has been in the business for more than 10 years.

Roti Gambang, a brown bread topped with sesame seeds.
Roti Gambang, a brown bread topped with sesame seeds.Usually sold on carts, es puter is also known locally as es dung-dung, referring to the sounds coming from a small gong placed on the cart used by the seller to attract buyers.

Scoops of es puter are usually served on a piece of bread, in a cup or simply with a cone and often topped off with chocolate condensed milk.

Also on the tour was Indra, who sells a Betawi beer called bir pletok (ginger and cinnamon drink), historically made by the locals to imitate European beers that bring warmth but do not intoxicate.

Bir pletok is made by blending local herbs, including clove, cinnamon and black pepper. Served hot or chilled, this non-alcoholic beverage has a spicy flavor with a dominating ginger aroma, but gives a warm feeling inside.

“These local delicacies bring back sweet memories of the past,” said Arie Parikesit, a culinary food consultant who explains the local delicacies to tourists. “They also reflect our cultural heritage.”

And he’s right. There are many more sweets waiting for you to discover.

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