Rediscovering our Malay roots

Ongoing at the Café Jeepney of the InterContinental Manila until Nov. 25 is its Stopover: Indonesian Food Festival. During a quick walk through the lunch buffet, one can’t help, especially being Filipino, to notice the close similarities between our two peoples. After all, not only do we look alike physically, coming from the same Malay race, but our languages belong to the same Austronesian language family.

In addition, there’s Sup Buntut or Javanese Oxtail Soup (Tagalog buntot), Ikan Bakar Colo Colo or Spanish mackerel with spicy soy sauce (Ilocano ikan or fish), Sambal Goreng Udang or fried prawns with chili and coconut (Tagalog/Pampango ulang or freshwater prawns), Gulai Itik or Sumatran duckling with coconut milk (Bicolano gulay meaning coconut milk, exactly the same words used in Javanese — gulai and lada or chili, popularly known here as Bicol Express; Filipino itik or native duck); Nasi Goreng Kambing or fried rice with goat/lamb (Pampango nasi or cooked rice, Pampango/Tagalog kambing for goat).

Not only do these dishes sound familiar, they taste familiar, too, to any Filipino palate. More so with the chicken and beef satay, and the gado-gado salad, which are both served with a spicy peanut sauce, quite reminiscent of our own kare-kare. And not to forget the ever-present krupuk or prawn crackers, which are no different from our own kropek.

If our republic boasts 7,100 islands with so many different cultural and culinary traditions, can you imagine how much more diverse 17,508 islands can be? Regarded as the world’s largest archipelago state with the fourth largest population, Indonesia boasts a culture and cuisine as diverse as its many ethnic groups and different agricultural produce (after all, this is the fabled land of spices). Like us, trade with foreign countries like China and India has influenced their diverse culinary traditions. And then there are our several centuries of colonization — us by Spain and them by the Dutch. And that’s where the great divide started, with the then two world superpowers being rivals in the control of the spice trade. As Filipinos, we’ve always looked westward to the Americas and Europe for trade and culture to mimic.

The continuing Stopover program brings us closer to our roots, rediscovering our long-lost brothers from our southern neighbors. It has flown in two Indonesian chefs from Jakarta to do the cooking during the festival, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and Cebu Pacific Air.

Catch it while you can till Nov. 25, for lunch or dinner. The buffet is priced at P1,600++ per person. For inquiries and reservations, call 793-7000.

Here’s a recipe of the popular Javanese oxtail soup by chef Mamo Suparmo.

SUP BUNTUT (Javanese oxtail soup)     
 

Ingredients:

600g beef oxtail, cut into 2” sections

100g onion leek

75g fresh ginger, crushed

10g cinnamon stick

5g whole clove

60g fresh nutmeg

1 liter water

100g carrot, peeled and sliced

100g potato, peeled and sliced

75g celery, sliced

75g fried shallots

100g lime

100g green sambal chili sauce

100g sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

300g shallots

200g garlic

Procedure:

Pour the water into a pot, then blanch the oxtail for one minute. Discard the water and set the oxtail aside.

Sauté the garlic, shallots and ginger until fragrant, then pour in new, clean water and bring to a boil.

Add the oxtail, nutmeg, cinnamon and clove and boil for at least two hours or until the oxtail is tender.

Add the diced carrot/potato and the sliced leek/celery to the soup. Let simmer for a short period.

Serve with fried shallots, sweet soy and lime wedges.