'Asinan' vs 'Kimchi': Variety is the spice of life
'Asinan' vs 'Kimchi': Variety is the spice of life
A. Junaidi
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
"Asinan!," we said almost together in a dinner at a restaurant in
Seoul, South Korea, four years ago, referring to the pickled
vegetable salad kimchi that had just been put into small bowls
on our tables.
We -- Indonesian journalists and travel company
representatives -- had been invited by the South Korean Tourism
Agency to see the preparations for the 2002 Asian Games. All of
us automatically thought of Indonesia's asinan fare when we were
offered kimchi.
In the old Korean language, kimchi meant salted vegetables.
Similarly, asinan means salted things -- whether vegetables or
fruit.
There are many similarities between kimchi and asinan; the
ingredients -- vegetables, chili and salt, among others -- and
its taste, which is salty and hot.
Both asinan and kimchi have many variants.
Asinan has at least two varieties; asinan sayur that is made
from vegetables, and asinan buah that is made from fruits, such
as papaya, pineapple and bangkuang (a white, crisp fruit).
Although asinan is generally thought to originate from Bogor
and Jakarta similar dish called sayur asin (salted vegetables) is
also popular in Surabaya.
The ingredients of asinan sayur and sayur asin are almost the
same -- local green cabbage, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts,
chili, peanuts and, most importantly, salt.
Similarly, kimchi has many variants in the different provinces
in South Korea.
Kimchi's ingredients commonly consist of Korean cabbage, white
radishes, cucumber, Indian mustard leaf, garlic, ginger, red
chili and salt.
Both asinan and kimchi, therefore, primarily use cabbage,
cucumber and salt -- the reason for the quick comparison we made
at the dinner table.
Another similarity between kimchi and asinan is in the
preparation process, where the cabbage is salted for a period of
time before it is cooked.
In kimchi's processing, however, the cabbage is fermented with
salt and acid for much longer than when making asinan. For
kimchi, this fermentation process can take months and the Korean
cabbage is stored in ceramic pots underground during the winter
to be opened in the summer.
According to various laboratory tests, kimchi is a low-
calorie, low-cholesterol food, rich in vitamins: A, B complex,
and C, and minerals.
While no laboratory tests have been made on asinan, the dish
is likely to be similar to kimchi in terms of its nutritional
value due to the similarity in the process and ingredients.
Salt, one of the world's oldest-known preservatives, is the
key ingredient in both kimchi and asinan.
The condiment, with its ability to kill microorganisms has
been known to preserve vegetables for hundreds of years.
Salt is also an important ingredient in all Indonesian foods.
There is an Indonesian proverb, a simile that underlines the
importance of the mineral: "Bagai sayur tanpa garam (like
vegetables without salt).
For Indonesians, salt is vital in all cuisine.
The proverb also teaches the importance of small elements that
are necessary to enrich a greater whole.
Big and important ingredients (like cabbage or cucumber) are
equally tasteless and uniform if salt is not added.
A similar proverb in English might be "variety is the spice of
life".
Certainly, without its ethnic variety, this country would be
far less interesting and this variety, of course, includes the
minority Korean population and their delicious, salty kimchi.