'Pelecing', hot fair of Lombok pride

Panca Nugraha, Contributor, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

Some people say that your trip to Yogyakarta is incomplete if you do not dine at a sidewalk food stall (lesehan) where guests savor the meals sitting on the mat. The same applies when you go to Lombok and fail to savor a local delicacy called pelecing.

Pelecing is sold everywhere, at sidewalk foodstalls, traditional markets, restaurants and even at star-rated hotels like Lombok Raya, which offers it as a special menu item.

Pelecing also gets the honor of being served at state dinners. For instance, West Nusa Tenggara's governor served pelecing at his residence in Mataram during a luncheon for Vice President Hamzah Haz on Oct. 24 last year.

Pelecing is the name of Lombok's traditional vegetable dish.

In fact there is nothing extraordinary about the dish. The Javanese may compare it with pecel (boiled vegetables served with spicy peanut sauce). Indeed they ares both vegetable-based.

Unlike the Javanese pecel, pelecing consists of only kangkung (water spinach), because as Nikmah, 31, one of the sellers at Rembiga, Mataram, says: "Other vegetables don't make good pelecing."

She explained the food is easy to prepare. The kangkung is boiled and served uncut when the water has been removed. A special seasoning made of chilies, tomatoes and certain spices is then added. Soon a mouth-watering pelecing is ready to tingle one's taste buds with its spicy combination of sweet, sour, salt and chili.

Inaq Nur, 46, a seller of pelecing and local traditional snacks at Kebon Roek market in Ampenan, said that pelecing has long been a popular dish among locals and migrants alike.

"I think it is because the vegetable is widely known throughout Indonesia," she said.

Before the 1980s pelecing sellers like Nikmah and Inaq Nur were more difficult to find, because it had not made it to the market. However, along with the fast pace of the country's development and the increasing number of migrants to the island, this local cuisine has found a thriving market.

Unlike Lombok's other traditional food, which are available only at certain seasons, pelecing is available all year round. At traditional markets, pelecing costs between Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,500 per portion.

"We make it available in take-away packets so that people can take it out of the (Lombok) island as oleh-oleh (present from the traveler)," said Yuki, a member of Lombok Raya Hotel's marketing staff.

Served in a nicer package, the local specialty at the hotel is priced at Rp 50,000 for five portions.

"Apart from the difference in presentation, the taste remains just as delicious," Yuki added.

However, many tend to believe that it retains more of its original appetizing and delectable taste when served traditionally on a banana leaf, the way it is sold in the traditional markets in Lombok.

"But then it is suitable for lunch and dinner only," said Inaq Nur.

Pelecing is indeed all about simplicity.