''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 charcoal. This cooking technique allows the rich spice mixture to be compressed against the main ingredients inside the individual banana-leaf package while being cooked and also adds a distinct aroma of cooked or burned banana leaves. Although being cooked simultaneously with food, the banana leaf is a non-edible material and is discarded after consuming the food.

Etymology

The cooking technique employing banana leaf as the wrapper is widely distributed throughout Indonesia and it is known by many names in several

regional language * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority La ...

s: ''pais'' in Sundanese, ''brengkesan'' in Javanese, ''brengkes'' in Palembang, ''pelasan'' in Javanese-Osing, ''palai'' in Minangkabau, and ''payeh'' in Acehnese. The common Indonesian name ''pepes'' was derived from the Sundanese word ''papais''; the plural form of ''pais'' in Sundanese language. Because its popularity was first contributed through the Sundanese cuisine, today pepes is often associated with Sundanese cuisine.

Variations

This technique is most commonly used to prepare

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

. In West Java, ''ikan mas'' ('' Cyprinus carpio'') is the most popular fish to be cooked as pepes. In Palembang, ''patin'' ('' Pangasius sutchi'') and ''lais'' ('' Kryptopterus cryptopterus'') are the most common fish to be used, while in West Sumatra, people use ''bilih'' fish ('' Mystacoleucus padangensis''). However, fish is not the only ingredient to be made for pepes. Seafood, meat, chicken,

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, oncom, mushroom, or vegetables are also available to be prepared in this method. There are many variations of pepes recipes. Other kinds of seafood, such as shrimp and

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

, although less common, can be used in pepes. Non-fish meat, such as

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

and minced beef mixed with egg can also be used. In Palembang, the dish pepes tempoyak is well known, which is a steamed fermented durian paste in a banana leaf container. Rather exotic and unusual meat might also be cooked as pepes; for example, swikee variations, frog legs, and frog eggs might be prepared as pepes. The method is used in several Indonesian dishes, and also become the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example: #''Pepes ikan mas'' (

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

pepes) #''Pepes daging'' ( minced beef pepes) #''Pepes ayam'' (

pepes) #''Pepes tahu'' (

pepes) #''Pepes oncom'' ( oncom pepes) #''Pepes teri'' ( anchovy pepes) #''Pepes jamur'' (

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 ...

pepes) #''Pepes kodok'' (boneless frog legs pepes) #''Pepes telur kodok'' (frog eggs pepes) #''Pepes tempoyak'' (fermented durian paste pepes) Pepes products are typically consumed with steamed

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 ...

. Otak-otak is similar to pepes, it is a mixture of fish and tapioca flour with spices wrapped in banana leaf. The vegetables with shredded coconut pepes are called '' Botok''. '' Buntil'' is prepared similarly, but uses papaya or

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. A similar Malaysian dish employing banana leaves is called Sata.

Preparation

Pepes is made by mixing descaled and gutted fish or any type of food with a mixture of spices including

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, chilli, shallots, garlic, turmeric,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

, lemongrass, curry leaf, candlenut, tamarind,

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

, and lemon basil all wrapped in a banana leaf. Sundanese cuisine recognizes two types of pepes: the regular or “plain” variety and yellow pepes, which are cooked with turmeric. The leaf is wrapped tight and secured with a stick at each ends, then steamed or grilled. To make soft-boned fish pepes, the method using pressure cooker or prolonged cooking time is employed.

Gallery

File:Palai bada.jpg, ''Palai bada'', a Minang version of fish pepes File:Pepes Daging.jpg, Minced beef pepes File:Pepes Oncom.jpg, Pepes oncom File:Pepes jamur Pusat Kuliner Jepara.JPG, Mushroom pepes File:Pepes telur kodok and pepes kodok.jpg, Frog eggs and frog legs pepes

References

{{Indonesian cuisine Sundanese cuisine Banana leaf

Etymology

Variations

Preparation

Gallery

See also

References