Madura, small island, great dishes

Suryatini N. Ganie, Contributor, Jakarta

Once, when watching the kerapan sapi, traditional bull racing in a small Madura village, I remember the bulls coming nearer and nearer, their steaming nostrils and reddish eyes promising impending doom. It seemed they were heading right for us. Thank goodness a matador interceded it and saved our skin.

I told a friend from Pamekasan this story. She advised me to cherish the memory of the racing bulls, but more so Madura's food.

Madura deserves an honorable place on the archipelago's culinary map. Soto Ayam Madura, for example, is already a common item on oversees Indonesian restaurant menus.

However, it was the charging bulls that truly aroused my curiosity.

I wondered how they were kept so fit and looked so strong given that they are relatively small compared to bulls in a Spanish corrida.

My Pamekasan friend told me how the bulls were treated like kings. They would be bathed two or three times a day to keep clean, fed one kilogram of hen's eggs daily, increasing to two kilograms when races drew near.

The eggs are mixed with a glass of pure honey and a bottle of soda water and wine. The soda water serves to quench thirst, while the eggs, honey and wine give strength.

On the day of the races, the bulls are fed one kg of mashed cabai rawit, tiny chilies, which are also massaged onto their hind quarters to convince them to keep on running.

And all that is just for the racing bulls. For spectators and guests to the house of the champion bull owner, there is a typical Madurese rice plate called nasi jhajhan.

Nasi jhajhan consists of rice supported by an array of dishes, including fish or squid with curry, a soupy dish of local spinach, salted fish, eggs in fermented shrimp sauce and thinly sliced beef filetts.

Our hostess at the fight also served a blackish looking drink called cendol celeng, which was made from black colored rice flour balls in a cold, sweet, thin, coconut sauce.

"I forgot to tell you", my friend said as we were presented with the cendol celeng, "we like black. In food it is fascinating and mysterious."

The color is obtained by sifting finely stamped grilled dry rice straws, which are then added to the food by the teaspoon as required.

Recipes:



Soto ayam Madura Barat

West Madura Soto made with a chicken stock

Ingredients:

500 g chicken
2500 ml water, for stock
4 cloves garlic, 20 g
1/2 tsp trassi
1/2 tsp pepper
2 slices of fresh ginger, pounded
2 stalks of lemon grass, pounded
1 Tbs salt or to taste
2 Tbs cooking oil, for stir frying

Side dishes:
75 g soun (glass noodles)
600 ml tepid water, to soak the glass noodles
4 tsp chopped selederi (local celery), for topping
8 tsp crisply fried shallot slices, for topping

Method:

1. Boil full chicken in 2500 ml of water to form a stock. When half done, cube the meat and return to stock.
2. Press garlic, trassi and pepper into a paste and stir fry until aromatic and add to stock.
3. Add ginger, lemon grass and season with salt. Continue until chicken is tender.
4. Soak the glass noodles in tepid water until limp. Take out and sieve.
5. How to serve: Place glass noodles into a bowl and pour in stock including the cubed chicken. Top with 1 tsp of chopped selederi and 1 tsp of crisply fried shallot slices.

Makes 8 servings.

4. Janang Jhagung

A cornmeal sweet

Ingredients:

250 g cornflour, sifted
1200 ml thick coconut milk
200 g granulated sugar
2 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp cooking oil (optional)

METHOD:

1. Mix cornflour, coconut milk, granulated sugar and salt.
2. Bring corn flour mixture to the boil over low flame until thick.
3. Take a suitable rectangular cookie tray, grease lightly with oil when needed and flatten the corn flour mixture into a 26 x 26 cm square, about 1 cm thick. Let cool completely and cut into diamond shapes or to your liking.

Makes 20 servings.

Sumber: The Jakarta Post, Sun, 03/02/2008