Betawi old timers yearn for tastes of yore
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
It was a festive Lebaran -- the local name for Idul Fitri -- at Setu Babakan, a Betawi (native Jakartan) cultural reserve in Srengseng Sawah, South Jakarta, but many of the elder generation were longing for the good old days.
"Many types of food aren't found on our dining tables these days and have been replaced with store-bought cookies or tins of biscuits. None of us in the neighborhood serve geplak, wajik, tape uli or carabao meat anymore," said Sahroni, 38.
Sahroni is one of the around 3,000 Betawi people living in Setu Babakan, many of whom are sad to see that less and less traditional dishes have been served at Lebaran over the last few years.
It is a matter of simplicity, according to Ibu Mai. Many Betawi families now prefer not to make the traditional snacks and dishes as cooking them is too complicated.
"For example, we must mix all the ingredients of geplak with our hands for hours while it is still hot in the tray. It also take a long time to make wajik," Mai, who is in her 60s, told The Jakarta Post.
Geplak is made from rice flour, palm sugar, and coconut milk while wajik is made from rice, palm sugar, and shredded coconut.
Tape is made from fermented glutinous rice, while uli is made from boiled glutinous rice, which has to be pounded until the rice sticks together.
"It is very complicated and tiring preparing tape and uli, not to mention the fact that they have to be stored for weeks before they can be served," said Mai.
Most households in the community now prefer to make simple traditional cookies, such as kembang goyang, kembang ros, akar kelapa, and biji ketapang, which all are made from wheat flour, coconut milk, margarine and sugar, and are all shaped differently.
Sahroni said that carabao meat was also hard to find at Lebaran now as nobody slaughtered water buffalo anymore and instead simply bought beef in the market.
"I tell you, it tastes much better when we use carabao meat, instead of normal beef, in our dishes," he said.