Lokal is food

• Pempek

Pempek is the best-known of Palembang's dishes. Its origin is undoubtedly Palembang. However, the history behind the creation of this savoury dish is unclear. According to local tradition, around the 16th century there was an old Chinese immigrant who lived near the Musi river. He noticed an abundance of fish caught by the local fishermen. In the Sumatran tropical climate, before the invention of refrigeration technology, most of these unsold leftover fish decayed and were wasted. The indigenous people, however had limited knowledge and techniques for processing fish. During that period, most of the indigenous people simply grilled, fried or boiled their fish instead of adding other ingredients to make new dishes. The old Chinese man mixed in some tapioca and other spices, which he then sold around the village on his cart. The people referred to this old man as 'pek-apek, where apek is a Chinese slang word to call an old man. The food is known today as empek-empek or pempek.

Pempek Ingredients:

Fish Cake

• 500 gram flesh of Spanish mackerels, grinded – you can also used other fillet fish such as herring, pangasius

• 3 egg yolks

• 200 ml ice water

• 2 tbsp salt

• 1 tbsp white sugar

• 1 tbsp white pepper powder

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 3 tbsp vegetables oil

• 800 – 1000 g sagoo/tapioca flour

Soup (Cuko)

• 250 g palm sugar

• 2 tbsp white sugar

• 6 cloves of garlic, no need to peel the skin

• 25 g bird’s eyes chillies

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp of tamarind (depend how sour you want the soup is)

• 250 ml water

Additional optional Ingredients 

• Cucumber

• Egg noodle, fried

• Grinded dried shrimp

Pempek preparation

1. Grind all the ingredients to make fish cake, except sagoo/tapioca flour.
2. Mix them well. 
3. Then take 1 tablespoon of fish batter, add about 2-3 tablespoons of sagoo flour, mix and shape pempek as you wish. Set aside and shape the rest of batter until finished. 
4. Boil the water using saucepan, and cook the pempek, about 15 minutes. When they are coming up to the surface, mean it cooked. 
5. Deep fry the cooked pempek. 
6. Make the soup: boil the water with all the ingredients until sugar is dissolved. 
7. Then grind the sauce using food grinder or hand mixer, filter. 
8. Place the pempek in plate (you can cut into small pieces), add the noodle and then pour with the soup. Garnish with the cucumber. Some people like to add ebi (grinded dried shrimp).

•  Gado - Gado

Gado-gado is widely sold in almost every part of Indonesia, with each area having its own modifications. It is thought to have originally been a Sundanese dish, as it is most prevalent in Western parts of Java (which includes Jakarta, Banten, and West Java provinces). The Javanese have their own slightly similar version of a vegetables-in-peanut-sauce dish called pecel which is more prevalent in Central and East Java. Gado-gado is widely available from hawkers' carts, stalls (warung) and restaurants and hotels in Indonesia; it is also served in Indonesian-style restaurants worldwide. Though it is customarily called a salad, the peanut sauce is a larger component of gado-gado than is usual for the dressings in Western-style salads; the vegetables should be well coated with it.

Some eating establishments use different mixtures of peanut sauce, such as adding cashew nuts for taste. In Jakarta, some eating establishment boast gado-gado as their signature dish, some of which have been in business for decades and have developed faithful clientele. Gado-Gado Boplo restaurant chain for example has been around since 1970, while Gado-Gado Bonbin in Cikini has been around since 1960.

The key to a delicious gado-gado is the sauce made of fried crushed savory peanuts, sweet palm sugar, garlic, chilies, salt, tamarind and a squeeze of lime. Formerly, gado-gado sauce was generally made to order, sometimes in front of the customers to suit their personal preference for the degree of spiciness, which corresponds to the amount of chili pepper included. However, particularly in the West, gado-gado sauce is often prepared ahead of time and in bulk. Gado-gado sauce is also available in dried form, which simply needs to be rehydrated by adding hot water.

Gado-gado sauce is not to be confused with satay sauce, which is also a peanut sauce. 

Ingredients

• 200g snake beans, cut into 4cm lengths
• 200g Chinese cabbage, shredded
• 250g choy sum, roughly chopped
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, halved
• 250g bean sprouts
• 2 peeled potatoes, boiled, cubed 

Peanut sauce 

• 150g unsalted peanuts, dry-roasted in the oven until dark
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 eschalots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 teaspoons chilli paste or sambal oelek
• 2 teaspoons finely grated palm sugar or raw sugar, plus extra to taste
• 2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 teaspoons shrimp paste or 4 anchovy fillets
• 270ml can coconut milk

Method 

• Step 1 : Finely grind peanuts in a food processor. Heat oil in a deep frypan over medium-low heat. Add eschalots and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes until onion is soft. Stir in peanuts, chilli and shrimp pastes, sugar, tamarind, lime, coconut milk and 1 cup (250ml) water until well combined. Increase the heat to high and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened. Adjust salt and sugar to taste. 
• Step 2 : Blanch the beans, cabbage and choy sum separately in boiling salted water until just tender. Refresh briefly in cold water, then drain. Gently toss with eggs, sprouts and potatoes, and serve drizzled with the peanut sauce.