Native ice treat hard to find in town
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Amsyir scoops some shaved ice into a small bowl in his right hand, adds two spoonfuls of sugar syrup and two more of coconut milk.
With the left, he lifts a banana leaf covering a container, revealing the red top of a selendang mayang, a pudding made of mung bean flour. He cuts three pieces of gelatin about two centimeters wide and quickly places them in the bowl.
Voila, a portion of es selendang mayang.
The traditional Jakarta ice treat may be simple, but it is not easy to find in the capital today.
Among the numerous food vendors crowding a narrow space on Gang Kali Mati, a narrow alley in front of a department store in Kota, West Jakarta, no other vendors sell es selendang mayang.
"There are very few of us left," Amsyir, or Pak Haji -- the honorific used for a man who has gone on a haj -- as everybody calls him, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Another vendor fixes the ice treat on Jl. Sabang, Central Jakarta, and another in Palmerah, West Jakarta, but neither were operating on Wednesday.
Amsyir has kept the same post in the alley since 1988. He used to sell only es cendol, a shaved ice treat of green rice-flour droplets in coconut milk and palm sugar, but expanded his selection two years ago to satisfy his customers.
"A lot of people asked whether I had es selendang mayang," he said. "Most were of Chinese descent."
He makes the pudding fresh every day, using two kilograms of mung bean flour to make a portion in a round can 40 cm in diameter and 10 cm tall. It takes him approximately one hour to finish preparing the white gelatin, tinted red just at the top.
"Real Betawi (native Jakartans) use red. If you see a green one, the seller is likely Javanese," said Amsyir.
The pudding is tasteless in itself, but the sugar lends it sweetness and the coconut milk, richness.
Es selendang mayang is one of Jakarta's traditional foods to be featured on Aug. 29 in the Heritage Food in Heritage City event at the National Archives building on Jl. Gajah Mada, Central Jakarta.
Visitors can enjoy performing arts as well as try rare foods and fruits from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on the day at an entrance fee of Rp 30,000 (US$3.25) each.
Amsyir, who is in his 50s, opens shop at 10 a.m. and works until his supply runs out.
"I need to work hard. I have so many mouths to feed," said the father of eight. His youngest child is still in the second grade at an Islamic elementary school, while his eldest is finishing university.
Amsyir's father used to sell es selendang mayang too, but his children do not want to follow his footsteps.
"Of course not. They'd rather work elsewhere," he said.