Pepes
Encyclopedia
Pepes is an Indonesian cooking method using banana leaf
as food wrappings. The banana-leaf package containing food is secured with lidi seumat (a small nail made from central rib of coconut-leaf and sew upon banana-leaf), cooked on steam, in boiled water or grilled on charcoal. This cooking technique allowed the rich spices mixture to be compressed against the main ingredients inside the individual banana leaf package while being cooked, and also add distinct aroma of cooked or burned banana leaf. Although being cooked simultanously with food, the banana leaf is a non-edible material and its function was as the cookable organic wrapper.
, Brengkesan in Javanese
, Brengkes in Palembang
, Palai in Minangkabau
, and Payeh in Acehnese
. The name pepes was derived from Sundanese word papais; the plural form of pais in Sundanese language
. Because its popularity was first contributed through the Sundanese cuisine, today pepes is often associated with Sundanese cuisine
.
. In West Java, ikan mas (Cyprinus carpio) is the most popular fish to be cooked as pepes. In Palembang, patin (Pangasius sutchi) is the most common fish to be used, while in West Sumatra, people use bilih fish (Mystacoleucus padangensis). However fish is not the only ingredient to be made for pepes. Seafood, meat, chicken, tofu
, tempeh
, oncom
, mushroom or vegetables are also available to be prepared in this method. There are many variations of pepes recipes. Other seafoods such as shrimp
and squid
, although less common, can be used in pepes. Non-fish meat such as chicken
and minced beef
mixed with egg can also be used. A rather exotic and unusual meat might also be cooked as pepes, for example as swikee
variations, frog legs and frog eggs might be prepared as pepes. The method is used in several Indonesian dishes, and also become the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example:
Pepes products are typically consumed with steamed rice
. Otak-otak
is similar to pepes, it is a mixture of fish and tapioca flour with spices wrapped in banana leaf. The vegetables with shredded coconut pepes is called Botok
. Buntil
is prepared in a similar way, but used papaya
or cassava
leaves instead of banana leaves, making the wrapping edible as part of the dish.
, chilli, shallots, garlic
, turmeric
, ginger
, lemongrass, curry leaf, candlenut
, tamarind
, tomato
, and lemon basil
all wrapped in a banana leaf. Sundanese cuisine recognizes two types of pepes: the regular or “plain” variety and yellow pepes, which is cooked with turmeric. The leaf is wrapped tight and secured with a stick at each ends, then steamed or grilled. To make a soft-boned fish pepes, the method using pressure-cooker or prolonged cooking time is employed.
Banana leaf
Banana leaf is the leaf of the Banana plant. It is used for various functions, such as for decorative elements, wrappings, plate mat, and employed in cooking method....
as food wrappings. The banana-leaf package containing food is secured with lidi seumat (a small nail made from central rib of coconut-leaf and sew upon banana-leaf), cooked on steam, in boiled water or grilled on charcoal. This cooking technique allowed the rich spices mixture to be compressed against the main ingredients inside the individual banana leaf package while being cooked, and also add distinct aroma of cooked or burned banana leaf. Although being cooked simultanously with food, the banana leaf is a non-edible material and its function was as the cookable organic wrapper.
Etymology
The cooking technique employing banana leaf as the wrapper is widely distributed troughout Indonesia and it is known in many names in several dialects; Pais in SundaneseSundanese language
Sundanese is the language of about 27 million people from the western third of Java or about 15% of the Indonesian population....
, Brengkesan in Javanese
Javanese language
Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...
, Brengkes in Palembang
Palembang language
Musi, also known as Palembang and Sekayu, is a Malay language spoken by about 1.4 million residents of the Palembang metropolitan area, Palembang being the capital of South Sumatra, Indonesia, and has about 2.5 million additional speakers in the surrounding area...
, Palai in Minangkabau
Minangkabau language
The Minangkabau language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau, who often trade or have a restaurant...
, and Payeh in Acehnese
Acehnese language
Acehnese or Aceh is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by Acehnese people natively in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia...
. The name pepes was derived from Sundanese word papais; the plural form of pais in Sundanese language
Sundanese language
Sundanese is the language of about 27 million people from the western third of Java or about 15% of the Indonesian population....
. Because its popularity was first contributed through the Sundanese cuisine, today pepes is often associated with Sundanese cuisine
Sundanese cuisine
Sundanese cuisine is the cuisine of Sundanese people of West Java, Indonesia. It is among one of the most popular food in Indonesia. The Sundanese food is characterize with its freshness; the famous lalab eaten with sambal and also karedok demonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables...
.
Variations
This technique is most commonly used to prepare fishFish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
. In West Java, ikan mas (Cyprinus carpio) is the most popular fish to be cooked as pepes. In Palembang, patin (Pangasius sutchi) is the most common fish to be used, while in West Sumatra, people use bilih fish (Mystacoleucus padangensis). However fish is not the only ingredient to be made for pepes. Seafood, meat, chicken, tofu
Tofu
is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...
, tempeh
Tempeh
Tempeh , or tempe , is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty...
, oncom
Oncom
Oncom is one of the traditional staple foods of West Javan cuisine. There are two kinds of oncom: red oncom and black oncom...
, mushroom or vegetables are also available to be prepared in this method. There are many variations of pepes recipes. Other seafoods such as shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
and squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
, although less common, can be used in pepes. Non-fish meat such as chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
and minced beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
mixed with egg can also be used. A rather exotic and unusual meat might also be cooked as pepes, for example as swikee
Swikee
Swikee or Swike is a Chinese Indonesian frog leg dish. The dish can be served as soup, deep fried or stir fried frog legs. Originally a Chinese dish, this dish is popular in Indonesia. "Swikee" is originated from Hokkian dialect sui and ke , which probably an euphemism to refer frogs as "water...
variations, frog legs and frog eggs might be prepared as pepes. The method is used in several Indonesian dishes, and also become the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example:
- Pepes ikan mas (carpCarpCarp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
pepes) - Pepes daging (minced beef pepes)
- Pepes ayam (chickenChickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
pepes) - Pepes tahu (tofuTofuis a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...
pepes) - Pepes oncom (oncomOncomOncom is one of the traditional staple foods of West Javan cuisine. There are two kinds of oncom: red oncom and black oncom...
pepes) - Pepes teri (anchovyAnchovyAnchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
pepes) - Pepes jamur (mushroomMushroomA mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
pepes) - Pepes kodok (boneless frog legsFrog legsFrogs' legs are one of the better-known delicacies of French and Cantonese cuisine. They are also eaten in other regions, such as Thailand, Vietnam, the region of Alentejo in Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, northwest Greece, and the Piemonte region in Italy, as well as the Southern regions of the...
pepes) - Pepes telur kodok (frog eggs pepes)
Pepes products are typically consumed with steamed rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. Otak-otak
Otak-otak
Otak-otak is a cake made of fish meat and spices. It is widely known across Southeast Asia, where it is traditionally served fresh, wrapped inside a banana leaf, as well as in many Asian stores internationally - being sold as frozen food and even canned food.-Distribution:Otak-otak is found in...
is similar to pepes, it is a mixture of fish and tapioca flour with spices wrapped in banana leaf. The vegetables with shredded coconut pepes is called Botok
Botok
Botok is a traditional Javanese dish made from shredded coconut flesh which has been squeezed of its coconut milk, often mixed with other ingredients such as vegetable or fish, and wrapped in banana leaf and steamed. In the past the coconut flesh is discarded after squeezing the coconut milk, but...
. Buntil
Buntil
Buntil is a traditional Javanese dish of "scraped coconut meat mixed with teri and spices, wrapped in a papaya leaf, then boiled in coconut milk." Described as "shredded coconut with anchovy-type fish wrapped in papaya leaves," the dish is served at Tembi's Resort Ndeso.-See...
is prepared in a similar way, but used papaya
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
or cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
leaves instead of banana leaves, making the wrapping edible as part of the dish.
Preparation
Pepes is made by mixing descaled and gutted fish or any type of food with a mixture of spices including saltSalt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
, chilli, shallots, garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
, turmeric
Turmeric
Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
, ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
, lemongrass, curry leaf, candlenut
Candlenut
Aleurites moluccana, the Candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, Buah keras or Kukui nut tree....
, tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
, tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
, and lemon basil
Lemon basil
Lemon basil is a hybrid between basil and African basil .It is an herb grown primarily in northeastern Africa and southern Asia, for its strong fragrant lemon scent is used in cooking....
all wrapped in a banana leaf. Sundanese cuisine recognizes two types of pepes: the regular or “plain” variety and yellow pepes, which is cooked with turmeric. The leaf is wrapped tight and secured with a stick at each ends, then steamed or grilled. To make a soft-boned fish pepes, the method using pressure-cooker or prolonged cooking time is employed.