It's the TACO TUESDAYS time!!!
On Today edition, I would like to share a food from Indonesia, especially in Jakarta and West Java area. It's called Ketoprak. Ketoprak means nothing, I mean none has known exactly why it is called ketoprak. Most literature and refence will say that the name KETOPRAK came from when someone dropped the plate to the floor and the plate made the sound "KETOPRAK"
Basically Ketoprak is a vegetarian food, although recently some people starting to put eggs and other meat into the dish. The original ketoprak consisting of ketupat (rice cake), rice vermicelli, tofu and vegetables. They are mixed and then served in peanut sauce with some additional fried shallots, soy sauce and hot peppers
Based on how it served and what it consists of, we can say it is a pure street food. The taste is dominant with sweet and spicy, because the peanut sauce is a mix of peanuts and palm sugar, and they will put some crushed garlic into it too.
I was traveling with my father and it was around 16:00. We did not get any time for lunch so we have the first meal on that time.
I get into a nearby canteen, it's called THE CANTEEN. I pick that place because it looks very neat and clean.. and that's exactly the characteristic of places I choose to have meals with my fathers who is an elderly.
He ordered chicken soup and I order this Ketoprak with a Milk Coffee. Old Indonesian people call that drink milk coffee, not café latte.
The presentation was quite ok, it's not great but at least so so. They put a banana leaf on the plate, it's a custom of some people here when serving traditional food here. The smell was not bad either, something I expected from a plate of Ketoprak.
However after a few seconds later, I started to feel disappointed. It's not about the presentation or the portion, but after I saw it for some seconds, I noticed that they did not put enough vegetables in there. I saw no Bean Sprout or Cucumber slices there.
Basically each scope of spoons was like that... some rice cake, some tofu, and vermicelli. I took that shot above, which you could see 1-2 bean sprout there... well that's if you could notice it LoL
Come on lah, Bean Sprout and Cucumber are cheap here... if you sell some salad stuffs here, don't be too stingy with the cheap veggie. I can understand if you are being stingy in giving more slices of Paprika, Broccoli or Shitake Mushroom... but not with Bean Sprouds!!
So my Ketoprak was like a calorie nuclear there.... Rice Cake, Rice Vermicelli, and Peanut sauce... with visually all veggie gone
The good thing was... It tasted good, I meant really good. I did not know for sure whether they were that good or it's just that I was too hungry that time. At least I got something good there, not all were bad.
Well That's for my Taco Tuesday today, Thank you for coming and reading my post here
