Palembang cuisine
Palembangese cuisine is the cuisine of the Palembangese people of the city of Palembang in the South Sumatra province of Indonesia. It is the second most well-known cuisine from Sumatra after Padang.
Ingredients
Palembang cuisine primarily uses freshwater fish and prawns as key ingredients due to the paramount role of the Musi River for the area. Popular freshwater fish includes patin, baung, lais, lele, gabus, mas and gurame. Historically, Palembang waters were teeming with belido, and it has become the city's official animal mascot. It is valued for its succulent flavour and soft texture. However, due to overfishing, today the belido fish are scarce and probably already extinct in Musi river area.Because of its location that is not far from the sea, seafood such as shrimp, tenggiri, kakap merah and Spanish mackerel are also popular in Palembang.
Besides freshwater fish dishes, there are many variations of dishes, snacks, drinks, and sweets in Palembang cuisine.
Spices and flavouring
Spices are also generally included although not as liberally as its same-island counterpart. Palembang cuisine is noted by its preference to the sour and sweet flavour, as evidences in pindang fish soup, funky-smelled tempoyak-based dish made from fermented durian, and also kuah cuko spicy sweet vinegar sauce of pempek fishcake. Those dishes are popular fare and often associated with the city.Influences
Malay, Javanese, Arab, Indian and Chinese culture has influenced Palembang's culinary scene.Pempek, tekwan and mie celor are the example of Chinese cuisine influence on Palembang. Pempek is basically fishcake made from deboned fish flesh and tapioca flour, which was a local adaptation of East Asian surimi fishcake making. While like most of noodle dishes of Indonesia, mie celor can trace its origin back to Chinese influences.
It was popularly believed that Palembang preference of sweet flavour was due to Javanese influences that favouring palm sugar. Indeed, Palembang absorb many Javanese elements, including language and cuisine. For example, both Javanese and Palembang Malay dialects refer fish as iwak, and cooking method employing banana leaf package as brengkes or brengkesan.
Martabak Palembang and nasi minyak which uses ghee, on the other hand, demonstrate Indian cuisine influence in the city.
Dishes
Palembang dishes are well known for its extensive use of freshwater fish, its practice of making surimi-like fishcakes as the base of various recipes, also the use of palm sugar, coconut milk, vinegar or tamarind as flavouring agent. Examples of Palembang's favourite are:Pempek, is the dish virtually everyone in Indonesia thinks of when mentioning Palembang cuisine. It is a dough of fish cake and tapioca flour which can be either boiled, fried, or grilled and is eaten with a dark, sweet and spicy sauce called Cuko made from palm sugar and pepper topped with cucumber and prawn powder. Because it is actually a dough, locals have diligently crafted them into various shapes and sizes, as well as being creative with fillings. Examples include lenjer, keriting, kapal selam, ada`an and pistel. Not every fish can be made into authentic Palembang pempek. A real authentic Palembang pempek is made of giant featherback '' as its main ingredients. However, since the species is threatened, an authentic pempek can also be made with several other fish such as striped snakehead, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, or snappers.Tekwan, are small pempek balls served with fresh prawn soup, cellophane noodles, and ear mushrooms, often portrayed as the Palembang version of bakso.Model, are a variety of pempek with tofu fillings served with fresh prawn soup and cellophane noodles. The pempek ingredients can be substituted with fried bread.Laksan, are thick sliced pempek lenjer poured with spicy coconut milk and served with prawn powders.Celimpungan, are like laksan but with large sized tekwan balls instead of sliced pempek. A coconut milk gravy, enriching the dish's taste, is another highlight to notice. The thick sauce is simmered with turmeric, pepper, and bay leaves. Mie Celor, are yellow noodles like Japanese soba poured with coconut milk, prawns, and boiled egg.Burgo, are folded pancakes made of rice flour which are sliced and served with whitish coconut milk soup, snakehead fish or powdered prawns.Lakso, is similar to burgo, but lakso made of thick rice noodles and its soup has yellowish color acquired from turmeric.Ragit, the looks of this kind of bread is similar to Malay culinary signature, Lace Bread or well known as Roti Jala. Ragit has a two form which is a triangle roll Ragit and Ragit with a form omelet look-a-like. Ragit served with a curry soup which made from curry, coconut milk, meat, and potato. Mostly, Ragit curry soup garnished with fried onion and chopped green chili. Usually, you can find ragit during Ramadhan.Martabak HAR, is an egg-murtabak served in curry and topped with chillies in sweet-sour soy. It was popularized in Palembang by an Indian Indonesian named Haji Abdul Rozak on 7 July 1947, giving his initials to the dish name.- Nasi gemuk is a local version of coconut rice dish akin to nasi lemak.Nasi minyak is a Sumatran dish of cooked rice with minyak samin and spices.Pindang Patin, is spicy iridescent shark boiled with spices and usually served hot with sliced pineapple.Pindang Tulang, is spicy beef ribs with little meat still attached to the bone, boiled with spices like pindang patin. This dish has a savory spicy sour taste.Malbi, is a beef stewed with sweet soy sauce and spices. This meal usually be served during Eid al-Fitr or Palembang traditional wedding. A portion of Malbi usually will be served with nasi minyak or oil rice, a dish of rice cooked with ghee oil and spices.Tempoyak, is fermented durian stir-fried with onion and chili pepper.Brengkes Tempoyak Ikan Patin, is iridescent shark and tempoyak steamed with spices.Otak-otak, is freshwater fish minced meat mixed with tapioca flour, coconut milk and spices then grilled with banana leaf.