Yogyakarta offers visitors wide variety of local treats

Yogyakarta offers visitors wide variety of local treats

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

If you have a hankering for some local snack specialties while
you are staying in Yogyakarta, there should be no problem. A wide
range of traditional snacks, from fried to boiled or salty to
sweet ones, are on offer for you to savor.

The names may sound strange, unfamiliar. But taste is the main
thing that makes people seek them out.

Among the popular traditional specialties are geplak (sweet
cake made of sugar and grated coconut), kipo (cake made of sticky
rice and sweetened grated coconut), yangko (sweet cake made of
sticky rice), jadah tempe (two pieces of sticky rice cake
sandwiched with a sweet fried soybean cake), and bakpia (baked
cake filled with sweet soybean mixture).

The snacks made of cassava alone are quite varied. Among other
things, they are locally called gethuk, growol, gatot, thiwul,
sawut, bapak pucung, lemet, cethil, cemplon and geblek. Most
Cassava-made snacks, especially the boiled ones, are usually
served with salted and grated coconut.

Gethuk is made of pounded steamed cassava, while growol is
also made of steamed cassava -- only the cassava needs to be
soaked in water first for three consecutive days before it is
boiled, then repeatedly pressed and served with teakwood leaves.
That's why this particular snack produces a specific smell when
served.

Gatot is made from steamed dried cassava, or gaplek as it is
locally known. Thiwul is also made of steamed gaplek but the
gaplek needs to be pounded first before steamed.

Sawut is steamed, roughly grated cassava while bapak pucung,
lemet, and cemplon are made of well-grated cassava. Both bapak
pucung and lemet are wrapped in banana leaves before being
steamed while cemplon is fried in hot cooking oil.

Geblek is made of the sediment of well grated cassava fried in
hot cooking oil, while cethil is made of cassava flour, or
tapioca as it is popularly known.

Local snack specialties made of ingredients other than cassava
include apem and lapis (both are made of rice), klepon (sticky
rice balls served with grated coconut), cucur (fried rice cake),
and ongol-ongol (sweet cake made of ganyong flour served with
grated coconut).

The traditional markets are the best places to find all kinds
of the traditional snacks that Yogyakarta offers. But for many
people, shopping in such places is inconvenient.

For such people, the city's malls and cake shops, including
bakeries and those in some star-rated hotels, are the right
places to go.

Stopping at Jl. Mataram, near the back entrance to the
provincial administration's office complex in the Kepatihan area,
one can find many local snack specialities. Or try a visit to Jl.
Pathuk, which is also well known as the bakpia center of the
city. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

However, there are some traditional snacks that can only be
found in particular places or traditional markets. Kipo, geblek
and growol are among the examples.

Kipo (green roasted sticky rice cake) can only be found in a
small shop in Kotagede, some five kilometers east of Yogyakarta,
while geblek and growol are found in the Kulonprogo region, some
30 kilometers west of here, where they originally come from.

Yogyakartans often refer to a particular snack after the city
of its origin, like a Kaliurang sandwich. This snack is named
after how it is served, two pieces of boiled sticky rice cakes,
locally known as jadah, are served with sweet, fried soybean cake
sandwiched in between.

In order to enjoy this snack, one has to go to the Kaliurang
tourist resort, some 30 kilometers north of Yogyakarta, if one
wants to taste the original recipe. Here, dozens of street
vendors and food stalls serve the snack. One of the best known
vendors is Warung Jadah Mbah Carik, established by Mbah
(grandmother) Carik, who is also said to be the pioneer of the
business in this resort area.

Mbah Carik's offspring now run at least four food stalls
selling the snack.

According to Beja Wiryanto, one of Mbah Carik's grandchildren,
his grandmother started the business in the early 1930s, but it
was only in the 1980s that more people joined the business. In
1990, the local government named it as one of the resort area's
specialties, serving the snack at official events alongside other
traditional snacks.