Ingredients
Base
- 400 glontong or ketupat rice cake, cubed
- 200 grice vermicelli, soaked
- 300 gbean sprouts, blanched
- 300 gfirm tofu, cubed and fried
Peanut sauce
- 200 groasted peanuts
- 6 clovesgarlic
- 3red chillies
- 50 gpalm sugar
- 1 tspsalt
- 2 tbsptamarind water
- 200 mlhot water
- 1 tbspkecap manis
To finish
- fried shallots
- prawn crackers
- kecap manis
- 1lime
Directions
- Fry the garlic cloves whole in a little oil until golden, and fry the chillies alongside them.
- Fry the garlic rather than using it raw. Raw garlic in this quantity is harsh, and frying turns it sweet and mellow while keeping the pungency the sauce is known for.
- Pound the fried garlic, chillies and roasted peanuts together in a large stone mortar with the palm sugar and salt.
- Pound it rather than blending it. A mortar leaves the peanuts slightly coarse, which is the texture ketoprak should have, and a blender gives an even paste like peanut butter.
- Work in the tamarind water and enough hot water to make a thick, pourable sauce.
- Make the sauce to order, in the mortar, for each plate. That is how the vendors do it and it is why every plate is slightly different.
- Taste it: it should be sweet, salty, sour, hot and strongly garlicky all at once.
- Blanch the bean sprouts for 30 seconds only and refresh them in cold water.
- Thirty seconds and no more. Bean sprouts are there for the crunch and boiled soft they contribute nothing.
- Soak the rice vermicelli in hot water until soft, then drain it well.
- Arrange the lontong cubes, vermicelli, bean sprouts and fried tofu on a plate.
- Pour the peanut sauce generously over everything.
- Drizzle kecap manis over, scatter fried shallots, and add prawn crackers and a wedge of lime.
- Serve immediately and mix it thoroughly at the table before eating.
- It is Betawi street food from Jakarta, sold from handcarts, and the vendor makes the sauce in front of you in a wooden mortar.
Technique
- It contains no meat at all, which makes it one of the few naturally vegetarian Indonesian street dishes.
- It is distinguished from gado-gado by the garlic, the vermicelli and the absence of cooked vegetables.
- The name is said to come from the sound of the mortar and the ingredients hitting the plate.
Substitutions
- Plain steamed rice pressed and cooled, in place of lontong.
- Smooth peanut butter thinned with water, which is quicker and noticeably flatter.
Variations
- With a boiled egg added.
- Gado-gado, the related salad with cooked vegetables and no vermicelli.
- With extra chilli, ordered as pedas.
History
A Jakarta cart dish assembled to order, the peanut sauce ground in a clay mortar in front of you.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ketoprak?
Ketoprak is a street food from Indonesia: rice cake, tofu, vermicelli and bean sprouts under thick peanut and garlic sauce. A Jakarta cart dish assembled to order, the peanut sauce ground in a clay mortar in front of you.
How long does Ketoprak take to make?
Ketoprak takes 30 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Ketoprak?
Yes, within limits. Plain steamed rice pressed and cooled, in place of lontong. Smooth peanut butter thinned with water, which is quicker and noticeably flatter.
What is the most important thing to get right in Ketoprak?
Fry the garlic rather than using it raw. Raw garlic in this quantity is harsh, and frying turns it sweet and mellow while keeping the pungency the sauce is known for.
