Have you ever seen how a sagu palm tree is processed from tree to starch? This short how-to video from our research trip reveals the traditional step-by-step technique used in Southeast Sulawesi by local farmers. Plus – an inside look on how it is cooked!
Special thanks to Rizky, Budur and Darman in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi. If not for them, this field trip to Andaroa village would not have been possible.
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My first thought was,
“These open-toed Birkenstocks were not the right choice of footwear for this afternoon walk in the jungle.”
While my eyes were quick to track the mosquitoes swarming me, the eyes of the Dayak minas leading me were quick to track something else.
“Itu rotan.”
I squinted my eyes. “Dimana?”
They pointed and I spotted a menacing vine covered with thorns suspended mid-air between trees.
“Itu rotan?”
“Iyo.”
How the first Dayaks came to see this plant — the same source of material for outdoor furniture and handicrafts — as edible is beyond me.
Continue reading “Recipe | Juhu Singkah ft. Kalimantan Tengah”
In this episode featuring Toraja, South Sulawesi, Crystal discovers a new way of processing kluwak, a native Indonesian ingredient she thought she already knew.
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Did you know homemade cheese can be found in Indonesia? We didn’t until our research trip! Watch this short how-to video to see how the only village in the country is making cheese. The process will surprise you.
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Asians and cheese do not pair well.
While conducting research and development at Room4Dessert in Bali for a new dessert menu, I aged a wheel of camembert with house-made amaretto distilled from salak seeds.
The office above the kitchen was the only space to store my project in a “cave-like” temperature, since this was the only room with an air-conditioner.
The camembert ripened quickly. The rind developed a light-orange tint and the interior was fast approaching a liquid state. And the smell.
Being raised in a Western country helped me develop a palate and nose that didn’t discriminate against barnyard ripeness, so every time I opened the box, I inhaled deeply and began to long for cheeses I could never find in Indonesia.
My staff, on the other hand, did not have as much of a mature reaction.
The moment the door swung open, sleepy eyes from the previous night’s service would widen in shock once their olfactory senses were alert to the smell. Hands to nose in less than a second. A muffled scream in less than three. I could have timed it with a stopwatch.
Needless to say, the office — usually a traffic jam of bodies and movement — was undisturbed when I was working with cheese.
So when I heard there was a village in South Sulawesi voluntarily making cheese, and had been for generations, I had to see for myself.
ASLI FOOD PROJECT 