Monday, January 19, 2009

Harum (Arum) Manis

I was walking down the street when I saw this man selling the traditional candy similiar to "cotton candy" which I used to eat it during my childhood. This candy has different names such as Harum Manis or Arum Manis (trans: Sweet Fragrant ) and Rambut Nenek (trans: Grandma's Hair).

I asked the man how to make harum manis and without any hesitation, he explained it to me. The main ingredients are sugar, flour and vegetable oil. It's pretty interesting to know the process of making this Harum Manis. First, heat the sugar and vegetable oil together until it becomes clump then add a little food color (usually red color), pour flour on the sugar dough to become formed. Next, put it on a brass foil and then it need to be pull over and over until it becomes like fiber/thread. This process is quite difficult because it requires special skill and extra energy.

gulali 2

Rp. 5.000/plastic bag

Harum Manis is usually eaten with special Kerupuk (chips/wafers made from sago flour).
Do you think it really looks like grandma's hair? hehehe...

62 comments:

  1. The secret is in the skill of pulling and and no wonder he has no qualms in explaining it. I thought you are featuring the harum manis mango which I thought is in season in April?

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  2. worldwindows: Hahaha.. yeah, you are absolutely right about the reason why the man has no doubt to explain it.

    Ah.. yumm, harum manis manggo... the manggo season just passed for about 2-3 months ago.

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  3. Hehehe...ermm..another name for it...DOG's FUR!!!

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  4. precious pea: Hahaha... ya lor... it does look like dog's fur :D

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  5. Sure looks interesting...have not seen it before.
    Good to know about this Harum Manis and thanks for sharing.

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  6. think it looks more like a furball! or some blond woman's hair :p

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  7. ck lam: it's interesting for me too in order to know the process of making it :)

    sc: yup... blond woman's hair looks almost the same like grandma's hair, hehehe...

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  8. pearl: Hehehe.. wait until you try it ;)

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  9. smells nice?
    all the street food are so interesting in indonesia. so many varieties too. so fun!

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  10. Say thats the ethnic way to make cotton candy; quite ingenious.

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  11. hey this is new .... grandma's hair? hahaha ... more like blonde bombshell's!

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  12. Look alike our cotton candy but this is a mash mesh of strands. Macam ice cream with two wafers over it !

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  13. Very interesting and yes it does look like grandma's hair. I am sure it was tasty - especially since it was so fresh.

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  14. It looks like those "dragon beard" sold over here.

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  15. mistipurple: uhmmm.. *sniff sniff* no smells at all... I wish they put almond or vanila flavour in it, it would become perfect :D

    laveena: yes, it's traditional. Do you have a traditional cotton candy in India?

    j2kfm: Hahaha... I guess blondie bombshell's hair sounds more attractive than grandma's hair.

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  16. jencooks: eh.. true, it kinda looks like ice cream with two wafers... I should change the word "chips" to "wafers", can't think about it since "kerupuk" is translated directly as chips. Thanks :)

    pam: It's sweet and quite crunchy. As for the "chips aka wafers", it's tasteless :)

    food for tots: Dragon beard? Never heard of it, sounds interesting though :)

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  17. The photos are beautiful. I love your introduction to all your local food and snacks, we have something similar here in Singapore but it's packaged differently :)

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  18. noobcook: thank you for your compliments, it's really encouraging for me to post more local food in Indonesia :)

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  19. i like the name Rambut Nenek. though simple, i'm sure there are lots of skills involved in making such refined strands! very interesting post, this! ;)

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  20. nic: thanks :) yes, without the skills, the sugar would clump together.

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  21. You have a lot of great food stuff in Indonesia. I've been discovering some nice things in here :D

    Now all I need to do is come visit you so you show me around and bring me to taste those foodies I have found in this blog ^^

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  22. angele: welcome to my humble blog :) Glad that you can discover Indonesian food in here.

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  23. Wow! I enjoy discovering similarities between cultures as well as discovering new things.

    This Harum Manis is just similar to Turkish "pishmaniye"
    snack.

    I guess I would love Harum Manis too as I like pishmaniye :D

    Cheers from Istanbul, and thanks for your visit to my blog!

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  24. bal: Hi Bal, nice to see you in here :)
    Wish that I know about pishmaniye when I was travelling in Turkey. I only tried the Baklava and the Turkish delight which are so delicious :)

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  25. It really looks like grandma hair! In a first time it makes me think to our Barbe à papa in France (father's beard) as we call it! but this fench sweety looks more like cotton! I am very glad to visit your nice blog!

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  26. and it looks like bird nest too ;)

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  27. claudie: hi.. thanks for visiting my blog, please come again :)
    That's so cute that the cotton candy got the name of father's beard, hehehe

    chen: Whoaaa.. it getting many new names for the Harum Manis, hahaha...

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  28. It really does look pure sweet & aromatic , even from here !

    simplicity is bliss , simply

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  29. Yes! It really does look like grandma's hair. Your blog is wonderful - I've never seen most of this kind of food! It goes to show that I have so much to learn about global cuisine. Hopefully, your site will help me. Thanks for visiting my blog, too!

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  30. That may be similar to an Indian sweet which is like the pulled stuff, but then recompressed together into a crunchy crumbly block.

    Harum manis looks like a lot of fun to eat!

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  31. The arum manis looks really pretty, and I'm sure it's a nice sweet treat. I'd love to try it some day. It'll satisfy my girlish cravings. :-)

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  32. backstreetgluttons: I like the way you said "simplicity is bliss" coz' it's true :)

    tangled noodle: hello, welcome to my blog :) It would be my pleasure to show the local food in Indonesia to you through my blog.

    olivia: the indian sweets sound interesting, probably it also looks similiar to our indonesian taffy named "gulali".

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  33. lyrical lemongrass: Defintely a nice sweet treat! As for me, eating it is also bringing my sweet childhood memory :)

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  34. Dear Selba!
    Greetings from Shizuoka, Japan!
    We have something similar in France called Pa's Beard, but the idea of savouring between "crackers"!
    One learns all the time!
    LOL
    Chhers,
    robert-Gilles

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  35. Dear Selba!
    Just ealized that Claudie said the same thing!
    LO
    Robert-Gilles

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  36. Robert-Gilles: hello, thanks for dropping by in my blog. Now, since the Pa's beard is being mentioned again, I really wonder how it looks and tastes :D

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  37. It does look kind of like hair! Interesting stuff!

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  38. This is something special and unique! Tks for your sharing!

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  39. sam: hi sam, welcome to my blog :)

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  40. bits of life n taste: Glad to share it :)

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  41. looks interesting. i wonder how it tastes like...

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  42. Wow what an intersting way of doing candy! And so nice of the man to explain it to you. Yes, it does look like gradma's hair, lol!

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  43. I can see why it's called grandma's hair - but only if the person's grandma doesn't brush her hair! That's great that he explained to you how to do it so you could share the process with us.

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  44. I have been to Indonesia for several times but never see Harun Manis.

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  45. Wow that does look like grandma's hair. How interesting to learn how this is made. The man was really sweet to show you.

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  46. Thanks for sharing! I love seeing everyone's favorites!! Have a wonderful day!

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  47. kyh: The harum manis tasted just sweet like cotton candy but not soft and a bit crunchy, nice though ;)

    clumsy cookie: Hi.. nice to see you in here :)
    Yes, the man was really nice, usually vendors would not share the process of making his selling stuff.

    hopie: Hello... welcome to my blog :)
    Hahaha.. You are right, it looks like hair that hasn't been brushed.

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  48. shelyn: thanks for dropping by :) These days, it's not easy to find harum manis' sellers on the street, they are more in the suburb area.

    katherine aucion: Hello... nice to see you in my blog :)
    Frankly speaking, I was quite surprised when the man was so nice to explain the process of making the harum manis to me.

    cheffbliss.com: Hi... welcome to my blog :)
    Have a wonderful day too.

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  49. Hihi!! I'm going to Jakarta in 2 days time. Any tips on the great food around Mangga Dua area?

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  50. annna: hi annna, great to see you in here :)

    Well, Mangga Dua area is the old area in Jakarta and considered still as the China town, so mostly, you can find chinese food there (many small old chinese restaurants).

    If you happen to visit ITC Mangga Dua (one of the biggest place for wholesaler), you can find a lot of food and snacks there (usually they located in the corners).

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  51. Hair or fur either way - I'd love to try that!

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  52. lunch buckets: hello there.. thanks for dropping by in my blog :)

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  53. We don't have traditional cotton candy in India. We have a 'mithai' or sweet called Sonpapdi which is also referred to as 'budhi ka bal'. Literally translated it means old women's hair as it resembles fine strands. :)

    This is what it looks like
    http://shreejisweetsbhuj.com/images/sonpapdi.jpg

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  54. wahahaha.. thanks! I just got back from Jakarta. Seriously great place to shop! Didn't have time for food hunting. But I had a lot of masakan padang during the tour. I likey lalamb.

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  55. laveena: Hehehe.. it kinda looks the same as our harum manis :) I saw in the picture there's something green in it, is it pistachio? If yes, then it must tasted really yummy :)

    annna: Hahaha... Well, it's quite cheap compared to other SEA countries ;) I bet you did a lot of shopping, hehehe...
    Wooohooo... padang food! Yummy, right? Lalamb? Hmmm... not familiar with that name.

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  56. Love your site! Such great information and I am addicted to cotton candy.

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  57. jeff: Hi Jeff, welcome to my blog :)
    Cotton candy is one of the best treats in the world, don't you agree? Hehehe...

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  58. Thanks for sharing info on Indonesian food. I miss food sold by the street vendors, so many different varieties, so convenient, and highly affordable too. Reading your blog helps me appreciate what we have in Indonesia, especially after living so many years overseas and when my own business revolves around edible products and spices. Thanks again.

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  59. pizza smizza: Hi Pizza sMizza, thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm glad that I can share Indonesian food and make people aware of what we have here in Indonesia :)

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  60. Hello Selba..
    nice blog..
    i wonder if u know the ingredient on how to make this..
    do u know where can i find it?
    TQ

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  61. liku-liku hidupku: Hi there, thanks for stopping by my blog. Well, harum manis has very simple ingredients which are sugar, flour and vegetable oil but the process of making it, needs a good skill.

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