Ambon is not only famous for its attractive natural attractions, but also for its unique traditional food. There are various typical Ambonese foods that you can try while traveling there, ranging from papeda which is the main food substitute for rice to snacks. For more details, here IamIndonesia will discuss the typical Ambonese food that you must taste!
Papeda
If you visit Eastern Indonesia, you will often find this food. This Ambonese food is made from sago and processed into porridge. The texture of papeda is similar to paper glue and the taste tends to be bland. Papeda is usually eaten with a savory yellow fish sauce. The way to eat is also quite unique, to take it, you can't use a fork and spoon but use a wooden stick which is then twirled around to be poured onto a plate.
Colo-Colo Sauce
Colo-Colo Sauce has become a mandatory food that is often served by Ambonese people. The main ingredients to make Colo-Colo Sauce are red onion, cayenne pepper, celery leaves, and celery leaves. After everything is mixed, then add a little salt and lime juice. Sometimes the colo-colo sauce is also added with sliced raw walnuts, sweet soy sauce, and basil leaves. Unlike other chili sauces, colo-colo chili is not pulverized at all, so it has a unique taste like a mixture of spicy and sour.
Lapola Rice
The next typical Ambonese food that you should try is lapola rice. This Ambonese food is one of the Ambonese people's favorite culinary delights. Lapola rice is a mixture of processed tolo beans mixed with rice. Then, to add flavor, the lapola rice is added with salt then stirred well, and steamed until cooked.
Kohu-Kohu
In West Java, this food may be similar to Urap, which is a mixture of various vegetables added with grated coconut. The thing that distinguishes the two is the mixture of vegetables used, namely, bean sprouts, long beans, basil leaves, and cucumber which are then processed with garlic, shallots, lime juice, chilies to shredded skipjack, and grated coconut. Skipjack tuna used here can sometimes be replaced with tuna or wet anchovies. Usually, the people of Ambon eat kohu-kohu using cassava, sweet potatoes, boiled bananas, and taro.
Bamboo Rice
Next is bamboo rice. Made from sticky rice, bamboo rice is often used as the main menu by the people of Ambon. To make this dish is not easy and requires patience. Usually, the process starts in the morning, namely the process of washing the rice until it is clean. Then the other ingredients needed besides rice are coconut milk squeezed from grated coconut. Coconut milk is added a little salt. As for the mold, bamboo rice uses medium-sized bamboo. To prevent the rice from sticking to the bamboo, banana leaves are also used as a coating for rice. Then the rice and coconut milk that has been squeezed are mixed to be cooked in the bamboo. It takes about 6 hours for this bamboo rice to cook by baking it.
Nutmeg Fish Sauce
This Ambonese food is special because it is often served to entertain Dutch officials who used to visit Banda Island. The spices mixed in the nutmeg fish sauce are also very diverse, so the taste is very savory as well as sour and a little spicy. Usually, the nutmeg fish sauce is served with other menus such as grilled red snapper to papaya leaf ointment.
Nestapa Salad
It is named Nestapa because this salad is from the Nestapa Beach area. As for the fruit itself, Nestapa Salad consists of several ingredients ranging from pineapple, papaya, guava, yam, star fruit, and nutmeg. All of these fruit mixtures give a fresh taste of their own, plus the nutmeg. All these fruits are mixed with palm sugar which was previously mixed with tamarind and fried peanuts. For the level of spiciness itself, you can adjust the amount of chili that you will mix. It will be very delicious to eat Nestapa Salad while looking at the beauty of Nestapa Beach.
Sibu-Sibu Coffee
For those of you who like coffee, in Ambon, there is a unique coffee dish called Sibu-Sibu Coffee. In the Ambonese language, sibu-sibu means a gentle breeze or in Malay, it is said to be hail dump lansyik, which means a place to unwind. The coffee used in the processing of Sibu-Sibu coffee itself is robusta coffee mixed with fine cloves and walnuts to create a distinctive aroma. You can find Sibu-Sibu Coffee in coffee shops around Ambon Island.
Banana Asar
This one snack is very suitable for you to eat with hot coffee or tea. Unlike fried bananas, Asar bananas are roasted. You can use various types of bananas to make this Asar banana. But the most appropriate and often used as an ingredient to make this Asar Banana is the plantain. Asar Bananas are widely sold in food stalls or you can make your own at home with a special recipe.
That's some information about Ambonese specialties that are interesting for you to try. Which one do you like the most yourself?
