''Botok'' or ꦧꦺꦴꦛꦺꦴꦏ꧀ ''(Bothok)'' (sometimes called ''Bobotok'' in its plural form or ''Botok-botok'') is a traditional Javanese dish made from grated coconut flesh which has been squeezed of its

coconut milk Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...

, often mixed with other ingredients such as vegetables or fish, and wrapped in banana leaf and steamed. It is commonly found in the Javanese people area of Java Island ( Yogyakarta Special Region, Central, and

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

. It has a soft texture like the

mozzarella Mozzarella is a Types of cheese#Semi-soft cheese, semi-soft non-aged cheese prepared using the ('stretched-curd') method with origins from southern Italy. It is prepared with cow's milk or buffalo milk, taking the following names: * or mozz ...

cheese and is usually colored white. Botok seems to be a byproduct of coconut milk production, to save and reuse the grated coconut flesh that might be otherwise discarded. Commonly, the grated coconut flesh flakes are discarded after squeezing them to acquire the coconut milk. However, by cooking them in banana leaves with an additional mixture and spices, they can also be eaten as an additional dish. Another way to save the grated coconut residue is to saute them as '' serundeng''. Today, however, to acquire tastier and richer taste, many recipes insist on using only freshly grated coconut flesh that still contains coconut milk. Botok is typically consumed with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

Preparation and serving

The grated coconut flesh is mixed with chili, salt, pepper,

lemon basil Lemon basil, hoary basil, Thai lemon basil, or Lao basil,Dorothy Culloty (''Ocimum'' × ''africanum'') is a hybrid between basil (''Ocimum basilicum'') and American basil ('' Ocimum americanum''). The herb is grown primarily in northeastern ...

, and ''salam'' (Indonesian bay leaf) and additional ingredients. This mixture is placed upon a piece of banana leaf, and then the leaf is wrapped tight and secured with a stick, then placed on a steamer. The most basic ''botok'' usually uses simple and cheaper ingredients, such as minced tempeh, tofu, or anchovy. After the ''botok'' is cooked, the banana leaf package is opened and served with steamed rice. After perfectly cooked, the grated coconut and sometimes the egg addition, act as the binding agent of the whole ''botok'' ingredients.

Variations

To add flavor and nutrients, many botok recipes and variants might use additional ingredients as a protein source, such as '' petai cina'', '' belimbing wuluh'', ''ares'' (the core of a banana trunk),

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

tofu or bean curd is a food prepared by Coagulation (milk), coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', and ''extra (or super) firm''. It originated in Chin ...

tempeh Tempe or tempeh (; , ) is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, '' Rhizopus oligosporus'' or '' Rhizopu ...

anchovy An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the Family (biology), family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 speci ...

wahoo The wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. In Hawaii, the wahoo is known as ono. The species is sometimes called hoo in the United States. It is best known to sports fishermen, a ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, salted fish,

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

, salted egg,

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

, minced

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

or even bee

larvae A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect developmental biology, development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typical ...

. The ''botok'' method is used in several variant ingredients, and also becomes the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example: #''Botok ares'' (the core of a banana trunk botok) #''Botok belimbing wuluh'' ( Averrhoa bilimbi botok) #''Botok beluntas'' ( Pluchea indica leaf botok) #''Botok cepokak'' ( pea eggplant botok) #''Botok daging'' (minced

botok) #''Botok jamur'' (

botok) #''Botok keong'' (

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks that live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs t ...

botok) #''Botok kutuk'' ( snakehead botok) #''Botok lele'' (

botok) #''Botok mlanding'' ('' petai cina'' or ''lamtoro'' botok) #''Botok ontong'' (''jantung pisang''/

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

flower bud botok) #''Botok peda'' (

Rastrelliger ''Rastrelliger'' is a mackerel genus in the family Scombridae. The three species of ''Rastrelliger'' together with the four species of ''Scomber'' comprise the tribe (biology), tribe Scombrini, known as the "true mackerels". Species The three s ...

botok) #''Botok sembukan'' ( Paederia foetida leaf botok) #''Botok tahu'' (

botok) #''Botok tawon'' ( bee

for

honeybee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the c ...

botok) #''Botok telur'' (

botok) #''Botok telur asin'' ( salted egg botok) #''Botok tempe'' (

botok) #''Botok tempe tahu teri'' (tofu, tempeh, anchovy combo botok) #''Botok tengiri'' (

botok) #''Botok teri'' (

botok) #''Botok udang'' (

botok) #''Botok ungker'' ( Hyblaea puera

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

botok) #''Botok wader'' ( Silver rasbora botok) #''Botok yuyu'' (

freshwater crab Around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight family (biology), families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine c ...

botok)

Similar dishes

'' Buntil'' is prepared similarly, but uses

papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae, and also the name of its fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

leaves instead of banana leaves, making the wrapping edible as part of the dish. Botok is often considered as the variations of ''

pepes ''Pepes'' is an Indonesian cooking method using banana leaves as food wrappings. The banana-leaf package containing food is secured with ''lidi seumat'' (a small nail made from the central ribs of coconut leaves) and then steamed or grilled on ...

'', the cooking method using banana leaf. However, botok is identified more specifically by using shredded coconut flesh, while pepes usually contain no coconut at all. The

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n dish of '' bobotie'' is thought to be the derivative of Indonesian ''bobotok''. It is, however, quite different as it uses minced beef and eggs, with the absence of grated coconut and banana leaf packages. The role of grated coconut and eggs as binding agents in ''bobotok'' seems to be replaced by beaten eggs, milk, and shredded bread in ''bobotie''.

References

External links

Botok tofu tempeh and anchovy recipe

{{Indonesian cuisine Javanese cuisine Banana leaf Foods containing coconut Anchovy dishes

Preparation and serving

Variations

Similar dishes

See also

References

External links