Spicy Padang food a finger-licking feast

Spicy Padang food a finger-licking feast

BUKITTINGGI, West Sumatra (JP): Minang men have spread local
culinary delights in their practice of merantau, (to travel far
and wide seeking one's fortune), thus introducing Padang food to
the world.

Rich in color and flavor, Padang food is a culinary experience
second to none. The food steeped in curry and coconut milk based
sauces, with chili, turmeric, green ginger and other ingredients,
is generally hot and spicy. The colorful array of sauces reflect
the sun's passage from palest yellow at midday through to deepest
orange with streaks of red at sunset. Padang food has a long
shelf life, as the sauces not only marinate and flavor dishes but
also preserve them.

There are 20 main dishes which are mainly for the meat-eater.
The most famous is spicy rendang, beef marinated in hot spices
and cooked in coconut milk until the sauce thickens to a paste.
Chicken, a staple in West Sumatra, is fried, curried and baked
tandoori style.

For seafood lovers, there is a choice of fish, prawn, squid
and octopus delights. There is also an incredible selection of
offal dishes for the adventurous.

The highly inventive vegetable dishes include beans, seed
pods, papaya leaves, spicy spinach and banana flower cooked in
coconut milk with green ginger, kaffir lime leaves and chillies.

Padang restaurants are easy to spot by the large bowls and
plates of food artfully stacked in the front window, displaying
what's on offer. There is no menu and each restaurant has its own
specialities. A selection of dishes is brought to the table by
waiters who skillfully stack the plates up their arms, competing
to see who can carry the most.

Padang food, normally eaten with your fingers, is accompanied
by rice and glasses of tea. Each dish consists of two portions
and the customer is charged only for what they've eaten, the rest
being returned to the window display.

-- Nicky Walsh