SEAToday.com, Jakarta - Full of Spice. Sour. Savoury. Those three words seem appropriate to describe the flavours of Acehnese cuisine. This region of Indonesia's western edge indeed has exoticism in its food. Aceh is blessed by its proximity to the international trade route, the Strait of Malacca. Aceh is also the entry point for various traders from the Silk Road to enter Indonesia. 

"So far, we know that Acehnese cuisine is influenced by Arabic culture, when in fact Acehnese cuisine is influenced by Turkish and Persian culture. Chinese also influenced Acehnese cuisine, which we can see in Acehnese noodles," explained Mei Batu Bara in the 'Merayakan Gastronomi Indonesia' event at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Saturday (3/2). 

Mei Batubara and her husband Chef Ragil Imam Wibowo shared their experiences travelling across Indonesia to study and document Indonesian recipes and ingredients. From her trip to the Aceh region, two of the ingredients documented were pliek u and jruk drien. These two ingredients are what I mean by exotic here. 

Many Acehnese dishes have a sour element that comes from a variety of fermented ingredients. Not to mention pliek u, jruk drien, asam sunti  and cuka enau. These ingredients provide a more complex sour flavour than the fresh sourness of citrus varieties. 

"So from our journey, we realised the different uses of ingredients to add a sour element to dishes. In the East part of Indonesia, we use a lot of leaves, such as kedondong (or usually known as June Plum) leaves. Well, in Aceh, we use a lot of fermented ingredients," explained Mei Batubara. 

Pliek u is a fermented coconut meat product that goes through a process of fermentation and drying, oil extraction, to produce coconut granules with sour and savoury flavours. Pliek u is commonly used in Acehnese kitchens as a flavouring. 

"But each house tastes different because pliek u undergoes an aging process when stored. The older it is, the tastier it is", explains Chef Ragil while cooking. From his exploration, pliek u can last in a closed container for about a year. 

In the live cooking session, Chef Ragil cooked kuah pliek u by blending pliek u with coconut milk and yellow base spices combined with a variety of vegetables and clams. Sure enough, the kuah pliek u was sour, savoury and creamy at the same time. 

In addition to pliek u, Chef Ragil cooks gulai jruk drien or curry with durian. But the durian used here has been turned into tempoyak. Old durian that has a lot of sugar content is chosen to be processed into tempoyak to produce a rich flavour. When mixed with the curry spices, sure enough, the durian tempoyak then provides a new layer of flavour that is slightly tangy and fragrant. 

According to Mei, there is slight difference between coastal areas and mountain areas. For instance, in mountain area Bener Meriah Regency, some dishes use andaliman, which is synonymous with Batak cuisine. 

"So indeed, Indonesian cuisine cannot be limited by territory. There are always gradations and similarities, especially in border areas," Mei explains. (ALIF/DKD)