Vendor stumbles upon secret to making tasty snack

Vendor stumbles upon secret to making tasty snack

Agus Maryono and Mamock Ng, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto, Central Java

Visiting Purwokerto is never the same without tasting its sweet
fried cassava speciality, known locally as gethuk goreng.

"I always bring back gethuk goreng to Jakarta because my
friends at the office love it so much," said Tri Lestari, a
native of Purwokerto who works in Jakarta.

Although the snack is offered by street vendors in many
places, even on trains and buses, Tri, a mother of one, prefers
buying gethuk goreng in one of the kiosks along Jl. Sokaraja,
which is famous for its many shops specializing in selling the
snack.

"I prefer to buy it directly from a one, particular shop so I
have plenty of choice and get it freshly-made," Lestari said.

She is not the only loyal fan of the snack. Every day, many
drivers park their cars and buses along the road for one purpose
only: buying gethuk goreng.

"I thought the gethuk could be consumed right away, without
having to be fried," said Pamuji, a Jombang native who stopped
over in Singaraja to buy some.

Gethuk such as that sold in Magelang, Central Java, is
normally consumed directly. Usually, after the boiled cassava is
pounded and then mixed with palm sugar, it is ready to be
consumed. But in Sokaraja, it is fried.

Strangely enough, this particular speciality was created by
accident.

It was the late Sanpirngad who is said to be the first to have
started making the snack in Sokaraja in 1918. For fear that his
gethuk would no longer be good to eat the next day, he decided to
fry it. It turned up that the fried snack tasted much better than
the original.

And although Sanpirngad has passed away, his name is as
popular as the snack he created since most of the shops on Jl.
Sokaraja tout their offerings as Gethuk Goreng Asli Sanpirngad
(Sanpirngad's Original Fried Gethuk).

Now, around 35 shops along the street stock fried gethuk,
neatly packed in plaited bamboo baskets known as besek, to make
it easier for visitors to bring home.

But, what about H. Tohirin, whose name is also to be seen
prominently displayed along Jl. Sokaraja?

"I'm one of the late Sanpirngad's son-in-laws. Even though he
had four sons, he entrusted me to continue the business he
started in 1918," says Tohirin. Thanks to the booming demand, he
and his wife have been able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Tohirin said Sanpirngad started the business from a modest
food stall.

"At that time, Bapak (father) also sold snacks from his food
stall. Most of his customers loved his original gethuk," Tohirin
said.

"But in the evenings, he always had some gethuk left over,
which gave him the idea of frying it to prevent it going stale.
Unexpectedly, the customers liked the new snack even better, and
started coming to his stall just to buy it," Tohirin recalled.

Finally, he decided to devote himself to selling gethuk goreng
and soon, sometime in the 1930s, most of his family members and
neighbors followed suit. In no time at all, more kiosks selling
gethuk goreng had sprung up along Jl. Sokaraja.

Now, dozens of shops sell gethuk goreng under various brand
names, with their products being either Murni (pure) or Ketela
Asli (real cassava). But Sanpirngad is still revered as the
father of Sokaraja's gethuk.

According to Tohirin, he works hard to maintain the original
taste and aroma of his gethuk, claiming that it is hard for
competitors to copy his recipe. "I try hard to maintain good
quality just as was done by Bapak," Tohirin explained.

Every day, Tohirin devotes himself to the running of the
business, directly supervising his 30 employees. He also tastes
the fried snacks himself to make sure everything is all right.
"If the taste is not good, we won't hesitate to throw it away,"
Tohirin recounted.

He said that the trick in producing tasty gethuk was in
selecting the cassava. "If the cassava's quality is not good, the
end result won't be tasty," Tohirin explained.

Usually, a basket of fried gethuk is sold for Rp 10,000 per
kilogram, while there are also smaller versions that are sold at
Rp 3,000 per basket. Every day, Tohirin said each of his shops
sold 300 kilograms of cassava.

With a profit of around Rp 4,000 per two kilograms of cassava,
it's clear that gethuk goreng has Tohirin laughing all the way to
the bank!