Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2018 | Page 70

68
Explore | Flavours
1
1 Sate taichan, uniquely without soya sauce.
Traditionally chicken sate would be inclusive of every part,
including meat, skin and fat. Today, most diners prefer just
the thigh or breast of the chicken
world’s 50 best foods. And the first? Why,
it’s another Indonesian dish, rendang.
Traditionally chicken sate would be inclusive of
every part, including meat, skin and fat. Today,
most diners prefer just the thigh or breast of
the chicken and roasted rather than deep-fried
peanuts for the sauce, a healthier option.
Sate loso from Pemalang, Central Java, uses
goat or buffalo gently simmered in spices
and herbs before applying the meat to the
barbecue – best served with peanut sauce
and chillies, but without soya sauce. Sate
tegal features cubes of young goat, similar
to sate buntel from Surakarta, Central Java,
which features minced goat meat covered
with goat fat and served with sweet soya
sauce and chopped fresh chillies. Sate kerang
uses cockles, famous in the area of Sidoarjo,
East Java. It is slow braised with spices and
herbs in a hot pan, barbecued and normally
served with lontong compressed rice and
sambal kecap, a sauce of sweet soya sauce
with chopped chillies and kaffir lime. Sate
kere from Solo is a mixture of tempe gembus
(from the residue of tofu) mixed with offal
and once again pre-cooked with spices and
herbs, then barbecued. A very old recipe,
it reminds us to avoid waste by making
full use of every ingredient.
Sate kalong literally means ‘bat’; however,
the reference is not to the meat used (which
is normally buffalo) but the late hour at which
it is traditionally served in and around the
port city of Cirebon on the north coast of
Java. Travel just two hours west and inland to
Purwakarta to enjoy sate marrangi, marinated
with more spice s and flavours including
ground coriander seeds, fresh ginger, aromatic
ginger, lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chillies
mixed with sweet soya sauce, lime juice and
palm sugar. This delightful version is served
with a sambal of fermented soya, known as
oncom. And last but not least on Java, the
capital city of Jakarta is famous for sate
kambing (goat), especially good in the
Kebun Jeruk area of the city.
Sate around the archipelago
Stepping outside Java to West Sumatra
we find another favourite, sate Padang.
Liver and heart of beef are boiled in spices
until tender, then mixed on the skewer with
small beef cubes. The stock from cooking
is then used to make the sauce, thickened
with rice flour into a rich curry packed
with flavours associated with the Middle
East or India. Alongside Java, North Sumatra
has its own version of sate kerang (cockles),
braised in a distinctive spicy sauce,
a reduction of many spices, chillies,
shallots and garlic. It shows similarities
to rendang sauce without the addition
of coconut cream.