Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Lotek (Sundanese vegetable salad)

Ibu Rose (Mrs. Rose) has been selling Lotek since year 1970. She has a stall in front of her house. It opens daily from 9 AM - 2 PM and only for a take-out because ibu Rose doesn't provide a place to eat.

What is Lotek? Lotek is the traditional Sundanese (West Java) vegetable salad with peanut sauce. It's similiar to Gado-gado (the famous Indonesian traditional dish) but in lotek, there's an additional ingredient which is galangal (kencur), dried shrimp paste (terasi) and garlic (bawang putih).The steamed/boiled vegetables:

Usually, Lotek is eaten with lontong (steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves)
Chips from sago.
The bamboo's root is to grind the peanut and other ingredients to make the peanut sauce. A bamboo's root will only last for less than 1 year. It will become smaller and smaller after being used.

How to make Lotek?
First grind the salt, dried shrimp paste (also can add the chili padi for those who like hot flavor) and garlic.

Then add the mixed water of kaffir lime and tamarind.
Grind it.
Grind the young steamed jackfruit to add the tickness of the peanut sauce.
Cut the fried potato, fried tofu and fried soybean cake.
Add the vegetable.
Mix it all together with the peanut sauce.Put and wrap the lotek in a brown paper.
And the final touch, sprinkle fried shallot and kerupuk aci on the top of lotek.
It costs Rp. 7.000
(currency: 1 USD = Rp. 12.000)

Selamat makan! :)

75 comments:

  1. So homely and so authentic !
    We believe the origin of Malay food in Malaysia comes from this kind of place ( top secret finally revealed)

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  2. Hi Selba,
    You did an excellent job showcasing this Lady's cooking art! If she was selling on-line, I would buy just because of the pics. you took! I am Malaysian and I learn from you guys everyday!!!

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  3. BSG: Top secret revealed?Hehehe...

    nazarina a: thanks, Nazarina :)

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  4. Wonderful display of pictures, the food is very unusual and unique. I love it!

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  5. marybeth: Thank you, MaryBeth :) It's an authentic dish from West Java.

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  6. Unbelievable - quite complex and an unimaginable mix of things you wouldn't know could go together!

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  7. livie: Hahaha.. no, no, it's not that complex like you imagine. It's easy to make by yourself actually ;)

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  8. Another great post. I love your food cart posts.

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  9. Selba, what an amazing blog/post! I'll be back often.

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  10. mary: thank you, Mary! and please do come back again :)

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  11. What a fantastic post! Very interesting - I just love to see all those lovley ingredients!

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  12. I love that mortar & pestle... A wonderful salad, wow!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  13. jan: thanks, Jan! :)

    rosa's yummy yums: Usually a stone mortar, will match with a stone pestle but ibu Rose has an extraordinary pestle which is made from bamboo's root.

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  14. mimid3vils: Hehehe.. you prefer dry food?

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  15. I so have to make time to meet you & your food stalls in my next trip to Jkt. =D

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  16. tummythoz: Hehehe.. sure! Sounds a good idea! ;)

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  17. ditto with Tummythoz, pls make sure you are available as (food) tour guide if i ever make it to jakarta. and bandung also ... =P

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  18. I always love coming overhere.. I learn something new each time. I also enjoy your pictures!

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  19. Yum, everything looks great, though very labor-intensive. (=Means I won't be attempting it in my apartment). Thanks for adding me to the blogroll, by the way. I'll do the same for you!

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  20. this is amazing, so authenticly done. drooling now!

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  21. Selba It looks so yummy I can tast all of the flavors. Lucky you.

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  22. lotek reminds me of the malaysian rojak..both the sauce and the ingredient are freshly made! very interesting, this!

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  23. This sounds fantastic! I love your pictures of the ingredients and the prep! Very neat!

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  24. selamat makan, indeed! guess what? I actually have a container of this sitting in my fridge!

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  25. What a fantastic post. I love the step by step pictures. This seems like souch a healthy and tasty treat.

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  26. How neat!! That looks delicious--I've never seen anything like it!!

    What great pictures and explanation!!

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  27. sounds delicious! i love peanut sauce!

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  28. great graphic-does the bamboo shoot adds flavor to the dish?

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  29. j2kfm: Hahaha… It would be my pleasure ;)

    donna-ffw: Thank you so much for your compliments, Donna! :)

    mica: Hahaha… It’s actually not that complicated, sometimes my mom also makes one at home :)

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  30. BBO: Hehehe… maybe you can try to make it by your own ;)

    netts nook: It is a yummy and healthy dish :)

    nic: Yes, I think so… but I’m not so sure about the ingredients. Fruits are the ingredients of Malaysian rojak, right? Or are there any vegetable in it?

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  31. 5 star foodie: Thank you, 5 Star Foodie :)

    burp and slurp: Hehehe… seriously? That must be cute :)

    Katherine aucoin: Thanks, Katherine! Yes, this dish is absolutely very healthy, the boiled vegetables, the soybean stuff as protein (tofu, soybean pancake), the vitamin C from kaffir lime and tamarind but just have to make sure not to much peanut sauce because it’s fattening :)

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  32. tavolini: Thank you, Tavolini! :)

    heather: Have you tried peanut sauce with galangal? :)

    foodbin: thanks, foodbin! Well, I don’t hink the bamboo’s root is adding flavor to the dish but if not mistaken, it gives a different texture to the peanut sauce.

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  33. This salad looks kinda complicated to me =.="

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  34. Selby, omg , this post and its content are cool. The 3 dimensional digital descriptions were out of this world. Just thought I'd tell you that I updated my blog and wrote a post about yours.,Thanks this was really cool.
    Cheers

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  35. email2me: Hahaha... if you got a chance to come to Jakarta again, give a try, ok ;)

    houstonwok: Thank you very much, David! It's so kind of you! You definitely makes my day! :D

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  36. Great photos, and a wonderfully detailed description of Ibu Rose's lotek. It looks really labor intensive, and when you know just what goes into the dish it's even more delicious, I'm sure. I can't believe it's only 7000 Rp.! Thanks for sharing this!

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  37. sapuche: thanks for the compliment, Sapuche! Glad to share it :)

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  38. sophie: hehehe.. it is indeed :)

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  39. this is awesome. very informative. thanks.

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  40. Love all of the photos!! Great post!

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  41. What a great post! I'm sure I'll never get to visit Indonesia, but with these photos I feel like I'm there!

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  42. WOW, so many exotic thing I don't know!!! How interesting!

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  43. jescel: Hi Jescel, thanks for dropping by my blog :)

    maria: thank you, Maria :)

    how to eat a cupcake: thank you! It’s a great pleasure for me to share the Indonesian food in my blog to you :)

    daziano: Hi Daziano, welcome to my blog! Hope to see you around :)

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  44. oh gosh!! luvvvv the descriptive pics! amazing job dear!
    Photoshop ahh?

    And the step by steps, really learning much abt Indo n its food..

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  45. thenomadgourmand: thanks, sweetie! Photoshop only for the words ;)

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  46. ooo, id love to try this! love the shots of the pestle and mortar by the way, and the way you named all the ingredients! very cool :)

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  47. cumi&ciki: thanks for the compliments! Come to Jakarta, then you can try this dish :)

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  48. Very interesting dish! It's a very intriguing way to use something, like bamboo root- as they might have the stone mallet with the stone base.
    Great photos and explanations! Very nice way to inform readers without tons of text!

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  49. Wow, a riot of colors, spices and herbs. I love the bamboo root pestle.

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  50. Hi Selby! I don’t know if you’re a fan of “memes,” but I have one for you at my blog!

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  51. eattraveleat: Thank you :) I also feel the bamboo's root so interesting. Oh.. yeah.. I'm trying to make a balance between pics and words ;)

    worldwindows: looks like a riot? Hahaha... Thanks :D

    sapuche: Hi Sapuche, thanks for the "meme". I'll go to your blog to find it out.

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  52. Your photos and food are just amazing. Makes me feel as if I'm right there with you. You did fabulous job of showcasing this wonderful food. Thanks and keep up the good work.
    Sam

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  53. Wonderful pictures ! & a lot of exotic things for me to know.. lovley capture of the process shelba.
    Soma(www.ecurry.com)

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  54. The lotek looks good. How come there are no lotek available in Malaysia? May be you can consider open a restaurant here and I will help you to manage it and can sell all kind of Indon's food. I believe sure very good business.

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  55. So many ingredients and steps involved! It must a great dish! Bamboo shoot as grinder - new to me!

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  56. Please stop in for a visit, I have something for you!!!

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  57. I love reading your blog because it is such an education! This sounds really delicious.

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  58. my Carolina kitchen: Hi Sam, thank you so much for your compliments, it really makes my day :)

    soma: Thank you so much for your compliments, Soma :)

    steven goh: Are you serious? Well, it sounds pretty tempting to open a restaurant business in Malaysia. Is it easy to get the licenses etc.?

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  59. food for tots: Hehehe, in a matter of fact, the bamboo shoot is also new to me :)

    Marybeth: Oh.. Ok, I’m going to visit you now! :)

    Erica: Thank you for your compliment, Erica! I’m so happy that my blog can be educational :)

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  60. Looks delicious, I've never had jackfruit before, but I do love kaffir lime.

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  61. sara: If you get a chance, you have to try jackfruit, it's yummy and has a nice sweet aroma :)

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  62. So much hard work in this salad. Looks like rojak and gado gado hybrid. ;p

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  63. tigerfish: Yes, it's similiar to gado-gado but got additional ingredients :)

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  64. wah, looks complicated.. I guess the taste are complicatedly delicious too! Nice blog u have here!

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  65. sakaigirl: Hi Sakaigirl, thanks for stopping by my blog, hope to see you around :)

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  66. Perfect! Tasty! She puts in a lot of work to make such a delicious, scrumptious dish. God bless her!

    Good post Selbi :)

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  67. laveena: Thanks :) Did you try this dish when you were in Jakarta?

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  68. I tried something else similar to Gado Gado, I dunno if it was this Lotek because it has shrimp paste in it. :)

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  69. laveena: Uhmm... if it's all veggie, then biggest chance it's lotek, but if it has cow's nose and fruits, then it's rujak cingur :D

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  70. robin: It's similiar to rujak but tasted completely different than rujak. The sauce of rujak is more to brown sugar and lotek/gado-gado is more to peanut paste.

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  71. This is so very colourful and looks DELICIOUS! I'd probably be at her shop every noon for a lunch of that gorgeous salad. And the bamboo pestle---lovely, and so right for its purpose.

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  72. racheld: Hi Racheld, thanks for stopping by my blog :) You are so right, lotek is DELICIOUS and beside, it's also healthy.

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