Indonesia’s Most Wanted Food: Dendeng Batokok.

DENDENG BATOKOK

Ramadan has entered its first week. How's everybody doing? For my Muslim friends in Indonesia and the world, is it still strong to fast? The weather is still very anomalous here during the day is very hot , and the afternoon rains. Hopefully we are always given health to live the day.

Today we are very tired to cook iftar dishes. So I asked my husband for help to order ready meals, I did not say what type of food, I left it to him to choose what kind of food to buy.

‘Dendeng Batokok’ is a side dish that my husband bought. The other name is ‘Beef Jerky’ This food is one of her favorites, my husband really likes a variety of culinary from Minang Restaurant, such as Rendang, Ayam Pop, Ayam Gulai, Tunjang, and Dendeng, maybe it was an influence when he studied in Padang, West Sumatra where this food originated.

Dendeng Batokok is a unique food, many countries in Asia and other countries that have similar foods like this. In America it's called beef jerky, Spaniards and Mexicans call it charqui. This is natural because jerky is also one of the meat preservation techniques.

‘Dendeng Batokok’ making is very easy, fresh meat is cut thinly thin and eliminated fat then sprinkled with salt to prevent bacteria from developing before sufficient moisture. After that it is dried in the sun or in the oven.

Meat used generally using beef, keep in mind Indonesia is a muslim-majority country and certain moment such as Eid al-Adha, and Eid al-Fitr meat stocks are abundant so it needs preservation techniques in order to be stored for a long time.

At the time of drying using sunlight should be considered, if the sun is too hot can make the surface of jerky cracked but if the sun is less and not dried then it becomes a medium where bacteria grow. The durability of jerky is very determined by drying, the meat will become dry so that the moisture content becomes very low, as a result bacteria and fungi can not grow. In making dendeng/jerky recipes, keep in mind that meat does not need to be washed
To maintain texture and fiber.

Especially for ‘Dendeng Batokok’, thin thin self-cooked meat with a widened field, then beaten - hit with a cobek so that the meat becomes soft and then fried in hot oil so that it becomes crisp. Then given sambal with slices of coarse chilli. Batokok in minang language means hit, which signifies the process of making Dendeng Batokok to be hit, the texture of which meat is crispy, savory, sour, and spicy makes this dish is very suitable for indonesian tongue.

Dendeng Batokok is very delicious served with a portion of hot rice plus goulash gravy, maybe looking at the photo alone will make us swallow saliva and can imagine the pleasure.

In addition to Dendeng Batokok, in West Sumatra there are also other types of jerky dishes that may be difficult to find elsewhere other than in West Sumatra namely Dendeng Balado, Dendeng Lambok and Dendeng Baracik.

What kind of Dendeng/Jerky team are you?