Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine March 2019 | Page 66

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Explore | Flavours
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1 Sago-pearl pudding can be enjoyed
on its own.
2 Pandanus leaves give a little twist to
bubur sumsum.
milk dressing and a slice of white bread.
A bowl of bubur ketan item and bubur kacang
ijo is more than enough to make a happy
stomach. However, bubur kacang ijo is also
good to enjoy on its own, warm or cold.
Healthy and Satisfying
While palm sugar and coconut milk are the
key ingredients for bubur eaten as a dessert,
vegetables, fish or chicken are used for bubur
main dishes. Manado, North Sulawesi, offers
a variant that is vegan-friendly. Made of rice,
pumpkin, sweetcorn kernels, sweet potato
or cassava, watercress or spinach and lemon
basil, bubur tinutuan, also known as bubur
manado (Manadonese porridge), is a tasty,
healthy meal, which can be enjoyed with
a condiment of sambal roa, a chilli-based
sauce made of roa fish (galafea).
Similar to bubur manado, bubur pedas from
Sambas Regency, West Kalimantan, also
features lots of vegetables. Found also in
Singkawang, Pontianak, and heavily
Malay-influenced regions such as Sumatra,
the crunchy and watery bubur pedas consists
of ground roast rice, watercress, fern, long
beans, bean sprouts, sweet potato, lemon
basil, daun kesum (Vietnamese mint) and
sweetcorn kernels. Fried anchovies and
peanuts are added to enhance the taste.
Although in Indonesian the word pedas
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The green sumsum, the brown candil and the red mutiara,
dressed in melted palm sugar and coconut milk sauce, make
a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.
means ‘chilli hot’, bubur pedas is not a burning
dish – in this instance, pedas refers to the large
number of vegetables in the ingredients.
Speaking of vegetables as bubur ingredients,
Buleleng Regency, Bali, offers delicious
bubur mengguh, which you should not miss
when visiting the ‘Island of the Gods’. Bubur
mengguh, typically served during traditional
and religious ceremonies, consists of coconut
milk-boiled rice porridge, spices, shredded
chicken, celery and fried peanuts. To serve,
bubur mengguh is topped with urap, a green
vegetable salad with grated coconut dressing.
Healthy and delicious.
Maluku and Papua are also famous for
their bubur variant served as a main course.
Known as papeda, the bland sago congee is
never eaten on its own. It is always presented
with a side dish of luscious ikan kuah kuning
(yellow-sauce fish). The fish for the dish can be
tailored to taste, such as red snapper, pompano,
skipjack or mackerel. The soft and sticky papeda
will smoothly glide down the throat while the
sour and fishy taste of ikan kuah kuning soup
lingers on the palate. The hint of sourness is
provided by the tropical fruit belimbing wuluh
(Averrhoa bilimbi), although some people
prefer kaffir lime juice and tamarind.
Whether it’s cooling the throat on a hot day
or satisfying a hungry stomach, bubur has
a status beyond simple cuisine; it is deeply
connected to Indonesian traditions and
conveys philosophical values.
In fact, there are many other variants
from different provinces in addition to those
mentioned here. Solo alone offers at least
17 variants of sweet porridge that can be
tasted for free during the city’s Jenang Festival.
It’s possible to enjoy bubur at any time of the
day, and at any occasion. Let’s savour it!