The Four-Star Pentul Satay

Pentul satay from East Java is a unique dish made from starch mixed with fresh mackerel and various spices. 

The dough is made into small balls, put into skewers, wrapped by banana leaves and then roasted.

Its taste is similar to otak-otak (cake made of fish meat and spices). The difference is that otak-otak is served with peanut sauce, while pentul satay is served with red cayenne pepper sauce. The taste is a combination of hot and savory.

It is called pentul satay because of the shape that looks like a pin needle.

"The East Java's traditional dish is usually found in coastal areas," Dani Kurniawan, Garden Permata Hotel's executive chef told Tempo.

In addition to pentul satay, food booths in the hotel served other dishes like rawon (strong rich tasting Indonesian beef black soup), tahu campur (fried tofu mixed with beef, cassava frikadeller, fresh bean sprouts, water lettuce and prawn crackers), rujak cingur (A kind of 

salad with meaty taste, containing slices of cooked buffalo or cow lips, jicama, young raw mango, pineapple, cucumber, rice cake, tofu and tempe, served in a black sauce made from black fermented shrimp paste), and others. Garden Permata Hotel, one of the four star hotels in Bandung, was hosting East Java Food Festival.

Dani said East Java people have a similar taste to the people in Bandung. They both like hot and savory tastes, although people in Bandung prefer less hot taste.

What made East Java's food distinctive is the pecel petis sauce (sauce made basically from peanuts) that can be found in almost food, sich as lontong balap (rice cake with bean sprouts, fried tofu), rujak cingur and tahu gunting (fried tofu cut using scissors with rice cake, angel hairs).

To prepare the East Java Food Festival, Dani visited several towns in East Java two months before the event. He visited traditional food stalls and learned to cook East Java food from a chef in Surabaya.

"We're hosting East Java Food Festival because there are many people from East Java living in Bandung," Emalia, Garden Permata Hotel's public relation officer, said.

According to Emalia, the food festival was aimed at introducing Indonesian traditional food to local and foreign guests.

Source : Tempo