Tuban Eats

Traditional Tuban cuisine is characterized by the extremely hot chili flavor. I guess, the majority of local Tubanese loves to eat very spicy foods. To them, the more their mouths numb and their bodies sweat when eating spicy foods mean that the more they enjoy eating the food. Accordingly, some Indonesian food that is not supposed to be spicy, such as sayur bening (spinach soup) and sayur asam (mixed vegetable in sour soup), here they also put chilies within.

In relation to my interest to explore traditional Tuban cuisines, I usually ask my local friends to accompany me on my food safari. Not to forget, I always bring stomach-relieving tablets, promag, to prevent discomfort due to excessive gastric acid, chewed before and after having the very spicy food.

Here, I recommend some popular place to eat traditional spicy foods in Tuban (I challenge if you dare to try). I put 1 star (mild) to 5 stars (extremely hot) just to indicate the ‘hot’ level of the food.

Pecel Pincuk Patung*
Description: A mixed vegetable (agati flower, cassava leaves, bean sprout, petai cina (a kind of bean), and basil with peanut sauce, served with rice.
Place: Near Patung round about in Kalijogo St. The small warung (food stand) is in the left side if you come from the round about. ASK locals which one pecel pincuk stand is.
Open time: around 6 p.m. till mid night.
Other info: They also have empal (spice-flavored beef), fried eggs, chicken egg satay, perkedel (potato cake), rempeyek kacang (peanut chip), rempeyek teri (anchovy chip), salted duck egg, and soy bean milk.

Lontong Tahu Tri Dharma*
Description: Lontong (rice cake) and fried tofu with peanut sauce.
Place: Sutomo St. in the intersection to Ronggolawe St.
Open time: around 6:30 p.m. –

Wader MU**
Description: Fried fresh water fish with sambal (chili paste). I give 2 stars for the sambal, the fried fish itself is not spicy.
Place: Warung Moeloeng. Go toward Semen Gresik mess, if you come from Tuban, the place is about 1 km after passing the mess in the left side. Phone number: +6281335304014.
Open time: morning till night around 10 p.m.

Lontong Kikil**
Description: Kikil soup served with lontong (rice cake). Kikil is the chewy part around the cartilage and foot part of the ox meat. The soup is rich in traditional spice of the typical East Javanese cooking.
Place: Near Patung round about in Kalijogo St. The small warung (food stand) is in the left side if you come from the round about. ASK locals which one Lontong Kikil stand is.
Open time: morning till afternoon.

Bechek Menthog (Duck Curry)**
Description: Duck curry and satay, served with steamed grounded corn or lontong (rice cake).
Place: go to Medika Mulia hospital, pass it heading south for another 300 m, then ASK locals for more detail guidance. The place is on the right side, under pohon sawo (big sapodilla tree).
Open time: morning-afternoon.
Other info: curry will be ready after 12 p.m. better come on time otherwise they run out of stock quickly due to so many customers.

Nasi Pasar Baru***
Description: Various Tuban cuisines including delicious seafood cooking, served with warm rice on a piece of teak leaf. Famous for all sorts of curry: catfish, sting ray, squid curry cooked with squid ink. Ask for the sambal (chili paste).
Place: Pasar Baru (central market of Tuban), go in through eastern gate (main entrance), and you’ll notice a warung there.
Open time: 6 p.m. – 3 a.m.
Other info: Ask for the teak leaf on the plate.

Ikan Bakar Nurhamidah***
Description: Grilled fish served with rice and fresh vegetables. The sambal (chili paste) is very tasty. The way they grill the fish is excellent, well cooked but not too dry making the taste of the grilled fish so marvelous. I give 3 stars for the sambal.
Place: Tuban-Semarang Highway km. 4, the place is precisely on the beach.
Open time: morning-night.
Other info: They also serve other seafood; fried shrimp/squid are highly recommended. Arrange your time to come earlier as they take at least 45 minutes to bake and prepare the meal.

Nasi Jagung Jangkar****
Description: Fried eels/frogs/catfish coated with red chili sauce, served with steamed grounded corn wrapped in banana leaves. The sauce can be separated by request.
Place: go to Medika Mulia hospital, pass it heading south for another 1 km, then ASK locals for more detail guidance.
Open time: morning, normally by 12 p.m. the foods have been sold out.
Other info: Tuak, a traditional drink that contains alcohol is also served here. (See also my other posting about this place).

Belut (eel) Pak Min****
Description: Same dishes of spicy eels and steamed grounded corn, except the sauce is slightly different, a bit yellowy color due to turmeric use in the ingredient.
Place: go to Medika Mulia hospital, pass it heading south for couple miles until the road ends at a T-junction, turn right until you find the 1st alley on the left. Car is not accessible to this alley but the place is in walking distance (5 min walk). ASK locals for more detail guidance.
Open time: around 5 to 9 p.m.

Belut (eel) MU*****
Description: Eels in spicy thick sauce, served with steamed grounded corn. A half spoonful of the sauce is enough to burn your mouth! Suggestion: keep eating till you finish, a pause will make you suffer even more.
Place: go to Merak Urak (MU) market, from the T-junction, drive another 2 km to Suruan village, heading to Tuwiri Wetan until you find the first alley in the left side. ASK locals for more detail guidance.
Open time: morning-afternoon.

Rajungan Rhemason*****
Description: A very hot addictive crab curry.
Place: Manunggal Jaya in Manunggal St. in front of SMUN 3. Phone number: +6281357388219.
Open time: morning-night.
Other info: They also serve black squid curry, goat satay, and goat curry.

Happy Eating!

Soto Ayam Sleko

“The best of soto ayam I’ve ever had” is the reason why I compose this essay and dedicate it to Ibu Narto, for her brilliant recipe of a perfect spice mixture creating such a great taste of a traditional East Javanese style of Soto Ayam.

Soto ayam is an Indonesian type of chicken soup (soto=soup; ayam=chicken) characterized by its yellow color due to the use of turmeric and other spice. Talking about soto ayam, Indonesian people normally refer to East Java as the place where you can find the original taste of this soto. Soto ayam in East Java is slightly different from the one in West Java. Soto ayam in West Java is with coconut milk whereas the one in East Java is without. I myself prefer the East Java one since the exotic taste is purely from the perfect mixture of the spice. As reference, Lamongan in East Java is the most popular place for soto ayam. I often drop by there on the way from Tuban to Surabaya to eat soto ayam.

Lamongan soto ayam is good but not until I found this place called Warung Soto Sleko during my food safari in Tuban. This place offers a really great taste of soto ayam, the best I’ve ever had so far. I got information about this place from local Tuban people. From them I can tell that this place is pretty well-known among the old generation of Tubanese. They said that this place has been popular since long time ago. However, not so many young Tubanese know about the place.

The owner of this small warung is a 72 year old lady called Ibu Narto. In her late age, she is still active to run her business selling soto ayam. She uses a small patch in the front part of her house with a nice little garden in one side. She told me that every morning she has to go to the market to buy free-range organic chickens, then prepare the ingredient based on her excellent recipe and finish her cooking by mid noon. The place previously opened from 5 to 9 p.m. but now opens from lunch time to 9 p.m. everyday except on Sunday for the church.

Ibu Narto told me that in the beginning she ran her business, she didn’t utilize the front part of the house for the warung. When she had finished the cooking, her late husband would bring the big pot full of soto to the nearest market. They opened a stand there because there were more customers around the market than around the house since the area around her house was not convenient for access. But after couple years passed, Tuban city council had fixed the area up and facilitated it with street lights. Since then, they opened this nice comfortable little warung at home. Her loyal customers still come to the current place in Pahlawan St. no. 7, just in front of a monument in the T-junction. Her customers are not only from down town Tuban, but also from Jakarta, Surabaya, and other areas.


Apart from serving soto ayam, Warung Soto Sleko also serves fried chicken and sambal lalapan (fresh vegetables and chili paste). Both soto ayam and the fried chicken are from free-range organic chickens therefore the taste are very delicious. Soto ayam here can be served with rice or lontong (rice cake). Normally the rice is poured with the hot soto within one bowl, but you can ask to separate the rice from the soup as what I usually do. Before, this place also offered grilled chicken, but they have withdrawn it from the menu. The reason is simply due to ease to prepare soto ayam and fried chicken only, said Bu Narto. So, I strongly recommend you, try this marvelous soto ayam and the fried chicken. Bon Appetit ;)


Price info:
A bowl of soto ayam + rice: IDR Rp. 7,500.00
A piece of fried chicken: IDR Rp. 10,000.00
A glass of tea: IDR Rp. 1,000.00

Batik Gedog, a nice souvenir from Tuban

Batik Gedog, one of the Indonesian traditional hand-painted batik, is a well-preserved cultural heritage which is originally from Tuban, East Java. The artistic feature of this batik is characterized by its coloration. The base color of the fabric could be any color. Red, blue, green, brown, black and white are common among other basic colors. The conspicuous pattern of this batik makes it unique relatively to other Indonesian batik. The patterns are mostly inspired from nature for example flowers, leaves, marble, insects, lizards, peacocks, and many other types of birds.

Batik Gedog can be worn as informal or formal clothing. Pajama, casual T-shirt, short- or long-sleeves shirt, and formal gown are common clothing made from this batik. The highest to lowest quality of the fabric used for painting Batik Gedog are silk, juantiu, and primis (local term) respectively. Cotton is the most suitable fabric to make Gedog T-shirts. Any fabric other than those types is less appropriate to apply for batik painting.

The center of Batik Gedog making can be found in several villages in Kerek, the western suburb of Tuban. A village called Margorejo, about 30 km from down town Tuban, is a very popular Gedog making center where you can see the process of drawing Batik Gedog by most female local workers.

It is very interesting to see those skillful hands of the ladies drawing particular pattern on the fabric. They use a wax-based ink to make permanent color on the pattern so it can hardly bleach for long.


The only thing you should be aware of when you wash a new clothing of Batik Gedog for the first time is that you have to separate it from other clothes as the remaining ink will dissolve and can contaminate other clothes. The second wash will be perfectly okay to mix up.

Ginger ice cream, cooling and warming

Temperature today is so hot! Spontaneously I just remember ginger flavored ice cream. So, I just write this essay, dedicated to my favorite things ^_^

Ice cream with ginger flavor might not be as popular as strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate one. I my self knew about this very late. At the very first time I tried, this ginger ice cream already made me addicted totally!

It was in Frosty Mango, a nice comfortable little stop-over in between Townsville and Cairns I found this ginger ice cream. We were on the way back from Orpheus Island to Townsville, and we dropped by there. From the name of the place, I thought they must be specializing in processing fresh mangoes for the ice cream since they have their own mango farm around the shop. Certainly you can get ice cream with mango flavor, but there are many more unique flavors such as coconut, lemon, jackfruit, longan, lychee, sapodilla, and ginger!

ice cream bar in Frosty Mango
So, I decided to try this ginger flavored ice cream. The color looked quite similar to vanilla ice cream. The taste was so great. I had the cooling sensation under the hot North Queensland climate, and at the same time I felt warm and comfortable in my throat. What a great ice cream!!!

Unfortunately, ice cream with ginger flavor was not so common. I can hardly find it in Stockland and any other ice cream stands. So, I had kept asking my friends who went for a field trip to Orpheus, to get me a box of ginger ice cream on the way back.

Until now, ginger flavor is still my best favorite choice of ice cream!... mmmm yummy...

Poinciana, The Flame of the Forest

No wonder this tree is also called Flamboyant (Delonix regia), as the bright scarlet petals become the whole canopy during the flowering season, drawing attention and amusement to anyone who passes this tree.

Beautiful and elegant, those were my first impression looking at this tree during my childhood time. Those days, every Sunday my mum and dad used to take me to the beach. That was my happiest moment during the olden days. We passed a pleasant road where Poinciana trees always shaded us from the hot tropical sun.

In the mid shiny day, the green leaves was so soothing to my eyes. In the cloudy day, the brilliant reddish blossom really cheered up the gloomy atmosphere. Would this be the reason why I’m getting more and more admiring this tree; or is it simply because of the pleasant memory aroused every time I see Poinciana flame.

The only thing I know is that anytime I see Poinciana, it does really make me very happy.

Vegemite, from yucksss to yummm

It's a typical Aussie breakfast: toast and vegemite spread. Vegemite is made off concentrated yeast extract and very rich in vitamin B.

First time I dealt with vegemite was during breakfast in Orpheus Island Research Station. I saw my Australian friends put vegemite very thick on their bread. I sniffed this dark brown paste. It smelled very sharp. Yet, I tried to put some on my bread. That time I completely couldn't take it. First time I had, it tasted weird in my tongue... salty and smelly... My mistake I guess, I put it too much on my bread. As a result, I just said no more vegemite to my self.

But then, I used to go to the church to help distributing bread for the orphanage. We're allowed to take some home for ourselves. Once, I tried a peanut bunch.

I didn’t know if the filling was a mix of peanut butter and vegemite, until the lady there told me about it... not bad I thought. Then I encouraged my self to buy vegemite, and tried this way: put it thinly on my toast

and mixed it with some fruit marmalade. Well, I can take it! Amazingly, I didn't know how my tongue can adjust gradually with this taste until I can put more vegemite and less fruit jam. Eventually, I can spread merely vegemite on my bread.

I remember one of my OZ friend said to me: "wow, that's very thick! I guess you've been australianised"...heheh...Well, I guess, I've been addicted to it. Now, I always have vegemite on my bread.

I would introduce and recommend this to my friends. Mum and my brother still can't take it. I've explained them that it’s one of nutritious food source recommended by health magazines. It's also recommended to vegetarian people. Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), etc... every thing you need is contained within one jar!

LoVe these AROMATIC HerBs aNd sPiCes

It’s very common for Indonesian people to serve fried meat with fresh basil leaves. Eating fried chicken or fried catfish seems to be much tastier with basil leaves. Ayam kemangi, or chicken basil, is one of my favorite cuisines. It’s such an exotic taste and aroma. Thai basil which has slightly wider leaves is another type of this herb. This basil is used mostly in Thai curry. Green curry and fish red curry are my favorites among any other amazing tastes of Thai foods. The aroma of fresh basil really can make me mouth-watery, hmmm...

Some people don’t like the smell of coriander leaf although some considers it nice. Most of my Japanese friends can not take coriander leaf. But for Chinese people, coriander leaf is very common to use for cooking. I remember my first experience having mixed sea cucumber and duck meat cooked with soy sauce. This Chinese delicacy food was sprinkled with fresh coriander leaves hence the coriander scent dominated every single bite of the dish. My aunty and I also love to put lots of fresh coriander leaves on Vietnamese spring roll. Among Asian food; Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai cooking use lots of coriander leaves. That is why I like them very much.

My first experience tasting food with Chinese prickly ash (花椒) was when my aunty from China brought this spice to Indonesia and made sautéed dried tofu with it. It was really good! Furthermore, I had more encounter with this spice when I was in China. This spice is the main ingredient in Sichuan foods. Once, I was invited to attend dinner by a Chinese family in a Sichuan restaurant. I was astonished with the taste of the boiled carp (水煮鱼) and the small box fried chicken (炸鸡丁). They use a huge quantity of this spice! Numb in my lips...that’s the effect of this spice. Then I started sweating, and felt burning sensation in my mouth. But I enjoyed this experience. My friend told me that the Chinese prickly ash has a kind of opium effect. I guess I must agree with him as I’ve been addicted. Whenever I order Chinese noodle (米线), I also put lots of prickly ash oil... Hmmm, mouth watery again I am.

The name of this spice has been familiar to my ears since I was a little kid. But I didn’t know how cumin looked like and smelled. Cumin is widely used in Indian and Indonesian cooking, goat curry particularly. I knew that goat curry was very delicious, but I didn’t know what spices that made it so. Cooking experts like my mum and my aunties used to tell me that cumin matched well with mutton or goat meat. Moreover, I started to enjoy the unique aroma of this spice when eating Xinjiang goat satay. Xinjiang is a province in China where majority of the people there are Muslim. Goat meat seems to be part of their food culture, and they are really good in processing goat meat. That’s why Xinjiang area is very popular with their goat satay. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr", if you hear that, that’s the specific tone of Xinjiang goat satay sellers. The first time I ate this satay, I didn’t know what the dominant spice was which characterized this satay. Until I found it out, it was cumin! Then I started to enjoy more on any cooking that had this cumin aroma.

Coriander seeds are also widely used in Indonesian cooking. Mentioning about coriander, the tasty "ayam ketumbar" or coriander fried chicken instantly pops up in my mind. Chicken meat is boiled with coriander seed powder and other ingredient for couple minutes. Then after that, simply fry it, mmmm mamma mia... the smell of fried meat combined with the aroma of coriander really boosts everyone’s appetite. Coriander seed is also a perfect match for pork satay and beef jerky.

I like the clove smell in sup buntut, Indonesian ox tail soup. The best ox tail soup I’ve ever had was the one in Tegal (thanks to Budi Ortega for taking me there). The meat was so tender and the composition of the ingredient there was so perfect! You have to be very careful to put clove as an aroma sharpener as its strong aroma might ruin the whole spice composition. Some cooking, like ox tail soup, if there is no clove, it will taste that there is something missing on the flavor. Too much clove will outweigh the scent of other aromatic herbs or spices hence spoiling the food. My aunty told me just to put 2 to 3 cloves when boiling the sauce for spaghetti Bolognese. Amazingly, the taste overall was improved becoming very punchy compared to the previous sauce I made without cloves. But learning from my experience, I thought the more cloves I put, the punchier the flavor would be. I put more than the usual amount when cooking red spaghetti sauce. As a result, the whole sauce was dominated with clove scent; other aroma of oregano, bay leaves, and other spices were gone. So, be careful with clove in your cooking.

Cinnamon is my favorite spice for sweet dessert. I like the strong smell of cinnamon in the apple pie. I always add cinnamon in my chocolate milk and cappuccino. Sometimes, I just boiled ginger, brown sugar and added a little piece of cinnamon bark. It is such a nice drink in a cold rainy day. I used to pass a cinnamon tree when walking back home from a friend’s house. Then I picked a small twig from the tree. I squeezed it and inhaled the cinnamon scent along the way home. It was really refreshing for me, such a nice natural aroma therapy after a whole tiring day.

Ginger is strongly related to Chinese cuisine. My aunty always uses ginger to make stir fried vegetables. A combination of ginger and other herbs also creates such a distinctive oriental sauce, such as the sauce for Chinese style steam fresh grouper. Boiled chicken with chopped ginger dipping is another marvelous dish which I can’t resist. However, not only for main dishes, sweet dessert like ginger cookies is also a nice pleasure during Christmas times. The ginger ice cream! I found this incredible taste in Frosty Mango, on the highway 1 from Townsville to Orpheus Island. This ice cream is so cooling but it makes our throat warm. Hmm, I’ve been craving for ginger ice cream so badly. I couldn’t find it in other place so far.

Black pepper seems to be well-suited with meaty stuff. Barbeque, steak, and gongbao jiding (one of my favorite Chinese dish) are also dominated by the aroma of black pepper. Not to mention the beef black pepper of Ambun’s recipe (thanks Ambun), normally I put more coarse black pepper when I make it. KFC, the fried chicken, also has a strong aroma of black pepper. I love this fast food... yeah yeah I know…miserable. I take it very rarely though. Once, my Philippino house mate made a "raisin kambing", I love this Philippino dish. It was goat meat with sweet raisin sauce and ungrounded seeds of black pepper. Wow, it really made my body warm.

I love to put white pepper powder in a bowl of hot soup. Chinese, Western, creamy, soury, or any style of soup won't taste so good without white pepper. I always put it a lot in my chicken soup, veggies soup, chicken porridge, or boiled noodle. I also enjoy my mixed stir fried vegetables with strong white pepper aroma. Omelet, steam eggs, and other egg-based cooking are very suitable with white pepper. Hence, I take white pepper as my favorite spice as well.

pfiuhh, it's very taft to write this essay. My mouth keeps watery all the time.&&^%$

Fly me to the sky

It was at deep night with clear sky full with twinkling blue stars. No one was around. I went up to the veranda at the 3rd floor of my house. Admiring the silence of the night for a moment, then I climbed the veranda wall. From the top of the wall, I confidently jumped into the air. I felt that my body was very light... I flew...

What a nice aerial view of my neighborhood that I’ve never seen before. I can see details of whose roof, whose backyard from the sky. It was such an amazing sensation of floating in the sky, such a free soul! ...

... Till I woke up, I still can’t forget that sensation. The closest thing I can think to describe is that when you take a fast lift inside a skyscraper, go up from the ground floor to the highest one within couple seconds.

That night, I wished I could fall asleep again and re-enter that dimension where I could fly, fly like a bird...

I’ve been looking forward to having this dream again and again, a wonderful dream I had when I was a little kid. However, it has never been happening till now... Dear the God of dreams, I wish I could have this dream tonight.

The singing bulbuls

Their chirp breaks the quiet dawn

I just realize that every morning I can hear heaps of bulbuls singing around my place in Tuban. They really draw my full attention. I could stand up behind my glass window doing nothing except observing them for couple minutes. They are really playful. Once, in the early morning, I notice them pecking on my red ripe tomato on my backyard. Well, I let them enjoy it. It’s nice to see them around...such a cheerful starting day with them.

Sunset and Oldies Songs

I really enjoy the reddish ray of light inside a comfortable room while listening to soft and beautiful melody of oldies song.

I used to have this experience when I was a little kid. Whenever I had this moment again, it always brings me back to that time I was with people I love. It was such a calm and warm atmosphere that I miss...

Earth Day

A place where the end of sleepy ocean meets the clear azureus sky, fresh green trees grow among ease of the modern city; There I will start my friendship and build my own community; There will be the happiest place of mine to live in

I love the blue of Dalian

Dumpling - Jiaozi (for 2-3 persons)

For the bao (coat):

1. 400 gr flour
2. salt (1 tea spoon)
3. water

Add flour with water little by little, pour salt, mixed them gently until they becomes fine dough. You need to feel the texture, make sure the dough is not too wet. Put the dough in a bowl, coat it with a little amount of flour, leave it for about 15 minutes and cover the bowl with any lid.

For the xianr (filling), mix the following material together:

1. minced pork (250 gr)
2. skinned-shrimp cut into small boxes
3. chives (as many as you want), chopped into small piece
4. oil, soy sauce, salt, chicken stock (depending on your tongue)
   

Wrapping

This is a bit "mafan" as you need to see the person on how to make the wrapping, and how to wrap the filling properly.

Cooking

Boil water, put all the jiaozi slowly, use a spoon to mix gently so they won't be attached each other. Wait until water get boiled, then add about half glass of cold water, wait again until water get boiled, and do the same procedure of adding cold water for another 2 times.

Sauce

Mostly you need to use black vinegar-Chencu (陈醋), and mix it with minced garlic, coriander, chilly powder, depending on your preference.

>>>>><<<<<

The recipe of making jiaozi seems to be simple, however you need to ask some one who is already able to wrap and show you the technique, as wrapping is the most important process on making jiaozi. Hence, here i just need to write what the important materials and procedures are in making jiaozi. However if you want to practise, i am willing to show you how to do the wrapping, well...of course won't be as good as my Chinese friends do though, but as they said, still OK haha....Thanks to my Chinese teacher Xuli and my friend JiangYang for teaching me 'bao jiaozi'.