Recently, ACMI (I Love Indonesian Food), a group initiated by Chef William Wongso and food scientist Santhi Serad, decided to organize a potluck themed Rayuan Pulau Kelapa (Solace on Coconut Island). Rayuan Pulau Kelapa is actually a popular and timeless Indonesian song written by Ismail Marzuki, praising the country’s Indonesia natural beauty,
ACMI invited food lovers to bring coconut-based creations, using coconut milk, grated coconut, roasted coconut or its meat. Participants used their imaginations or dig into the collection of family recipes and prepare either appetizers, snacks, main courses, drinks or desserts. Those with the most delicious creations would be selected as winners.
Coconut Delights
As people began coming in, two tables full of coconut-based culinary delights seemed to emerge from all corners. The selections comprise of sarikayo (palm sugar custard), , cendol (rice flour jelly drink), nagasari (steamed banana rice cake), soto degan (traditional soup with meat and young coconut), puding santan labu kuning (pumpkin and coconut milk pudding), and rendang jengkol (caramelized dog fruit curry).
Also on the tables were urap (mixed vegetables with grated coconuts), bugis mandi (soft glutinous rice flour cake, filled with sweet grated coconut), soto tangkar (traditional soup with ribs and coconut milk), sambal kaluku (chili sauce with shredded snakehead freshwater fish), and lamang baluo (rice cake with coconut and palm sugar).
Biko Mointi Boekoesoe the owner of Talaga Cookery prepared Kue TobuU (boat –shaped custard, a snack from Gorontalo, presented by Dian Anggraini from Omar Niode Foundation. TobuU’s specialty lies in the pandan leaves to mold the custard and pahangga, Gorontalo palm sugar, as its sweetener.
She graciously wrote the recipe for us, emphasizing the importance of the boat-shaped mold of pandan leaves for 50 pieces of tobuU
Recipe for TobuU Gorontalo
INGREDIENTS:
Lower dough: 100 gr flour, 60 gr sugar, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1000 ml coconut milk.
Upper dough: 3 egg whites, 20 gr sugar, 1 tbsp. flour, ó tsp. salt, 300 ml rich coconut milk, pahangga (Gorontalo palm sugar), chopped young coconut meat.
HOW TO MAKE:
1. Mix all ingredients for the lower dough, stir.
2. Mix all ingredients for the upper dough, stir and strain.
3. Prepare steamer.
4. Fill the mold with palm sugar and young coconut.
5. Pour the lower dough to ¾ mold.
6. Steam until cooked.
7. Pour the upper dough, and re-steam until cooked.
Image: Suzanty Sitorus
The Winners
Food lovers at ACMI potluck gathered around the tables to taste each dish, some had seconds before sharing some cooking tips and writing down their scores for each creation.
Imagine our surprise when the winners were announced. Soto Degan by Masak TV is the first winner, followed by Kue TobuU Gorontalo from Omar Niode Foundation in 2nd place and Puding Santan Labu Kuning by Ira came in third. We all treasured our gifts, bright red aprons embroidered with the letters ACMI.
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