Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tukang Gorengan (Fried Man)

Who doesn't like fried food? Ok... I know that some people need to avoid fried food but mostly, everyone loves fried food, right? ;)

Here in Indonesia, we are spoiled with fried food that are being sold on the streets. Seriously, wherever you turn to, you can find easily a cart with fried food (Oops, am I exaggerating? Hehehe...)

Here is a sample of a cart with a lot of fried food. Yup, great stuff for snack time :)


Let's see what kind of fried food or we - Indonesian called them as "gorengan" that are being sold in the cart.


1. Fried soybean cake - tempe goreng
2. Fried tapioca/cassava - singkong goreng
3. Vegetable fritters - bakwan goreng: beansprouts, shredded carrots and shredded cabbage
4. Fried tofu - tahu goreng
5. Fried sweet potato - Ubi goreng (It's different than Fried Sweet Potato Chips, this fried sweet potato is cut in big slices and deep into batter)
6. Combro (ground tapioca with filling of brown sugar or Oncom - fermented soybean)
7. Fried banana - pisang goreng

Info:
Tempe and Oncom are both made from whole soybean and being fermented using molds. The difference between them is the kind of mold to make them.

Everything is deep into batter (except for the fried cassava) - mixed of plain flour, water, pepper and salt (but fyi, I learnt that to add crunchiness and tastiness, the vendors like to add a bit of tapioca flour or rice flour and also MSG) before being deep fried into hot oil.

We usually eat these fried food with chili padi or bird eyes chili (rawit) to add the hot flavor. Yup... we directly bite the chili together with the fried food :D

84 comments:

  1. We also have many many tukang goreng here near the vans beside the drains and the stalls on the parking lots frying pisang, potatos , tapioca and cempedak and also fish balls , chicken wings and legs , curry puffs & even sausages ! some of the young lady tukang goreng are quite cute too

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  2. this gorengen are like our "Lor Bak"- a lot of similarities.

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  3. BSG: Wow... a lot of fried stuff too in Malaysia? That's so great especially if the vendors are cute ladies, hehehe..

    foodbin: Lor bak? Sounds interesting.. What does it mean? fried stuff also?

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  4. I love fried thins, all fried foods, bad girl!

    Ive never had fried bananas though, are they delicious?

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  5. That fried food looks terrific. Your street food looks very inviting. Unfortunately we don't have much street food where I live in the states. Makes me miss France.
    Sam

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  6. donna_ffw: Oh.. Donna, you gotta try fried banana, they are soooo yummy!!! ;)

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  7. MCK: Sam, you can try to make the fried food (gorengan) at home, it's very easy to make it :)

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  8. Your photos give a great sense of place! I would love to order the fried banana. Looks great!

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  9. no chili sauce go with it? How to eat with cili padi ar?? o.o

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  10. I noticed that too when I went to bandung, everywhere fried food for snack.

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  11. shari: Hi Shari, thanks for dropping by my blog :) We have many kinds of bananas in Indonesia that are very nice to be fried.

    mimid3vils: Yup, when we eat this fried food, we usually don't eat it with chili sauce. The chili padi directly bitten together with the fried food ;)

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  12. precious pea: Hehehe... Yeah, I think all around Indonesia, there are a lot of fried food on streets :)

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  13. "Fried Man" - have you any idea how fried food came to have that name? It all looks delicious. I'm also struck by how clean the vendor's cart looks. That was rarely so in China and Southeast Asia. Your pictures have a wonderful quality of time and place about them.

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  14. mary: Fried man? Hahaha.. I just realized how funny it sounds. Thank you so much for your compliment, Mary :)

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  15. If I fly out there would you be willing to house a roommate for a week? I am sold when I see everything as fried goodness and cartable. How I love simple street food sold from a cart.

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  16. jeff: Hehehe.. sure, no problem! We'll go hunt fried food together, ya? ;)

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  17. Delicious! Sometimes there is nothing better than simplicity and food fried.

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  18. your street food vendor sure have a lot of strange and unique name......

    may be there is a street food vendor name "super man"

    XD

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  19. you BITE those cili padi with the fried foods?!!!

    wah ... sure sore throat like that. ahhah ...

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  20. I MISS street food! Growing up whenever my family planned a day at the beach we would buy a bunch of food from the tukang gorengan to eat while we were out. Not healthy, but delicious!
    PapuaGirl

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  21. I'll take one of everything....but don't tell my mummy! =P

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  22. What comforting fried goodies! I don't like getting out my fryer, because then the whole place smells like oil, so I would love to have a cart like this by our place! Probably a good thing we don't though... :)

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  23. Combro is new to me. The indians have this snack - Vadai, that they eat with green chili too. One bite Vadai, one bite chili, one bite Vadai, one bite chili.....

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  24. Wow, eating the fried food with chili? For me that is a bit too much if you eat it whole together with the food...guess I need to handle spicy food better!

    The fried tofu looks so round! Fresh frying maybe? Usually they are square in my area.

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  25. he's the fried man! what a cute name;D

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  26. sarah: Completely agreed with you, Sarah :)

    pisang goreng: Hahaha… not strange at all for us. Super man? Tell you something, Suparman is a common name in Java – Indonesia :D

    j2kfm: Yes! You are right! Eat – bite directly those chili padi! It’s so yummy! You gotta give it a try ;)

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  27. kacie: Hahaha… yeah, fried food are not healthy but so delicious, can’t resist the temptation!

    bangsar-babe: Hehehe… don’t worry, it's our secret ;)

    Kerstin: Yup, you are so right about the oil smell and don’t forget how messy the kitchen will be because of the oil :)

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  28. tigerfish: Hahaha… Exactly, that what we do… one bite fried food, one bite chili…

    ETE: We – Indonesian love hot and spicy food! Oh… the tofu is empty inside and got air that’s why it looks round.

    cumi & ciki: Hehehe… yup, the fried man :D

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  29. fried food is always tempting ya...we also have lots of goreng variety here...i particlarly love the pisang goreng

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  30. simple girl: Yummmm... pisang goreng is also my favorite gorengan :)

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  31. Hahaha, the "Fried man" sounds awesome! Mmmm, all those things look perversely delicious.

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  32. mica: Hehehe... I guess wrong translation?

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  33. Mmm, all this fried food looks super yummy!! I wish I could get some from the cart right this instant!

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  34. elyse: Hehehe... then you need to come to Jakarta ;)

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  35. Yep, i agree with foodbin, its very similar with Lor Bak, we've got fried tofu, fried crispy prawn pancake etc..minus the chili padi. We use chili sauce and 'lor', a type of thick soy sauce..

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  36. sakai girl: Ah... sounds that "Lor bak" is the same thing as our "Ambo-kueh", you can check here :)

    http://selbyfood.blogspot.com/2008/09/snack-in-bandung.html

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  37. Oh, wow, so many delicious fried foods! I would love to try a bite of each, especially the fried banana! yum!

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  38. Bite cilipadi when eating fried snacks? If I do that think my eating companions' eyes will pop! Here, most will just dip in watery chilli sauce.

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  39. tummythoz: Hahaha... give a try to eat chili padi together with fried food, so good! ;)

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  40. 5 star foodie: The fried banana is a good choice ;)

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  41. Whoa. damn. first time here. honoured that you visited my site!

    aih fried face teruk for my face, pimples >.<

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  42. pinzer: Hi there, welcome to my blog, hope to see you again here. Aiyaya... one or two fried food is ok, right? ;D

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  43. 'fried man' sounds like the man is being fried in the wok... :P

    fried food is yummy, but unhealthy... :(


    kyh@ http://soleilian.com

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  44. kyh: Hahaha.. yup, I should give it another name but it's directly translated to English.
    Eating it once a while, should be ok ;)

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  45. Bring me the tukang gorengan, gorengan as well as the cengek :))

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  46. I love fried food, but I don't eat it very often because it's so fattening! This looks like a great way to splurge though :)

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  47. Love goreng food a lot, especially pisang goreng! It's so delicious at all times, perhaps I should learn how to make it myself since my parents don't really allow me to buy them outside.

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  48. indonesia-eats: You need to come back home ;) So long that I've not heard the word "cengek" for rawit, hehehe...

    sara: I also try my best for not eating fried food too often, but once in a while would be OK ;)

    sugar bean: You can try to make the fried banana by yourself, it's easy, and even in the supermarket, you can find the special powder to make the batter for fried banana :)

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  49. Unfortunately, fried foods have been pretty much demonized here. I limit how much deep-fried treats I'll eat (very few) but I would love to try any of these (especially the sweet potato ones!)

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  50. yeah, i realise some gorengs are served with bird eye chillies, be it in malaysia or indonesia. it does give it a zing. better than chilli sauce, sometimes. i like! ;D

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  51. Wow - looks like fried food heaven in Indon! Hmmm...eat with chilli padi - that must be a very fiery experience!

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  52. we have something similar here just near my house lol!

    www.bigboysoven.com

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  53. tangled noodle: Fried food isn’t good but I think as long as we take it moderately then it will be OK ;)

    nic: *hi 5* I love bird eye chilies!

    pureglutton: Hehehe… you gotta try it ;)

    BBO: Woohooo… that’s great! :)

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  54. Oh god, friend sweet potato on every street corner? I'm booking my flight right now!

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  55. Bite the chili straight with that?? SUper hot hot!

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  56. My daughter in law is from Indonesia and she will go crazy when I show her your blog. That food all looks so good!!!

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  57. marta: Hahaha…. It would be so great if you can come to visit Indonesia ;)

    pigpigscorner: Yup, bite it directly, it’s fun eating them, hehehe…

    Debbie: Wow, your daughter in law is from Indonesia? Then you must have tried a lot of Indonesian food, ya? :)

    cate: Thank you, Cate :)

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  58. LOVE fried food! Even though I am always starting one health regimen or another, I can never go a few days without something fried. Not sure about biting into a cili padi raw like that though.. :-S

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  59. I love fried food. I've never had fried banana - I am sure it's amazing.

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  60. 550ml jar of faith: Hehehe… the temptation of fried food is so high! Try the chili pad, who knows you’ll like it ;)

    pam: Oh.. fried banana tasted wonderful, but you need to choose what type of banana because not all banana will tasted good to be fried :)

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  61. Fried food with cili padi? Wah, pasti Umphh!

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  62. Last time I used to eat a lot of fried stuff but now not anymore. ;)

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  63. little inbox: Hehehe, yes, we love eating fresh chili padi, even with our nasi goreng :)

    food for tots: Still can eat one or two, ya? ;)

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  64. i luvv fried potatoes/casava and bananas! eat them like every 2 days! even if i nd to diet or if i'm sick i wil stil eat them!

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  65. TNG: Wow! You must be a real fried food lover ;)

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  66. oh! thts the funny thing! its the only fried/oily stuff tht i will eat!

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  67. TNG: Huh? Oh... Hahaha... then you are a tukang gorengan lover! :) *j/k*

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  68. I am sure I will love these! Nothing like some crisply fried street food, especially when there is a green chilly to chomp along with it (grin).

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  69. shantanugosh: I believe that everyone will love these fried food coz' it's so yummy and yes, the green chili padi adds the spiciness :)

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  70. remind me not to subscribe to your comments Selba, didn't expect so many comments from one post haha. But now I know and it's awesome, anticipating your next post now :)

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  71. spinzer: Oops... too much comments? I guess coz' too much replies from me, hahaha... Sit and relax, the next post is coming soon ;)

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  72. ah...pisang goreng...they smell sooo lovely in the streets. I remember they also had deep-fried kueh.

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  73. burpandslurp: Yes.. Yes... you are so right! There're deep fried cake! I haven't eaten it for a long time... Ah, I guess it's time for hunting fried food again, hehehe...

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  74. Count me in as a fan of fried food! I avoid it when I can, but sometimes you just need to satisfy those fried food cravings. On paper, a lot of this sounds familiar to me, but the batter you describe, and the hot chilies you add, would really be a new experience!

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  75. sapuche: How do you usually make the batter for fried food, maybe you can share your recipe? ;)

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  76. Ah, I usually don't make batter...I'm better at eating it! But when I do, I use the Japanese version with panko, especially for veggie fritters!

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  77. sapuche: ah.. I guess it's the batter similar to make tempura :)

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  78. *sigh* I love fried bananas! I can't get enough of them at restaurants but I've been too lazy to ask anyone if there's a recipe for the breading.

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  79. ricediaries: Hi ricediaries, thanks for dropping by my blog :)
    Here in Indonesia, it's pretty easy to buy the instant powder in the supermarket to make the batter of the fried banana.

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  80. your blog is amazing, make me homesick now though :0

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  81. aggie: Hi Aggie, thanks a lot for your compliments :)

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  82. Hi, selby!! may i link your blog to my article? I wrote about Belgian Fried man! It's interesting to have a comparison!! ^o^

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  83. dwi: Hi Dwi, sure.. you can link my blog to your article, it's my pleasure :)

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