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!