As we know, the holy month of Ramadan is identical with the variety of foods for breaking the fast. To get those foods, you and family better visit the event of 4th Arabian Night Foodfest in La Piazza Kelapagading, North Jakarta, which opened from July 27-August 12. In this place, you can easily find various foods with Middle East style, like nasi kebuli (Arab steamed rice with spices) which is the favorite food for breaking the fast.
One of the booths that serves nasi kebuli is Nasi Kebuli Putra Sriwijaya belongs to Leni Herawati. She guarantees that her nasi kebuli has a distinctive flavor, savory, and delicious, as well as soft taste of the goat meat. Besides serving nasi kebuli, Herawati’s restaurant actually also offers different kinds of foods, like pindang ikan patin (Jambi spicy fish soup) and sop iga sapi (beef-rip soup). Especially for pindang ikan patin, the fish is directly supplied from Palembang once every two days. But the most favorite food in her restaurant is nasi kebuli.
Herawati explained this family business has been pioneered since 1982 that originated from a restaurant in one of Palembang area, South Sumatera. Then she decided to move to other places on Jl. Proklamasi No. 91, Menteng, Central Jakarta, until now. Since moving to Jakarta, her business continues to grow by serving nasi kebuli as one of the favorite foods in the restaurant.
“Nasi kebuli is different with fried rice. It is not fried, but steamed. In Palembang, there are many ethnics of Malay and Arab, thus this Middle East food has become daily food in Palembang,” she told beritajakarta.com, Sunday (7/29).
Herawati said there are two types of nasi kebuli in her restaurant, namely kebuli kambing (steamed rice mixed with goat meat) and nasi kebuli ayam (stamed rice mixed with chicken meat). To increase visitor’s appetite, these foods are usually served with a side dish of salt fish, chili sauce, and chips.
The way to cook nasi kebuli is first of all by heating butter into the skillet while stirring it until sweet-scented comes out. After that, put cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and other spices, then stir them again until the aroma smelled. Next, put the meat and water into the skillet and cook them until soft and the spices absorbed.
As for the rice, steam it for 30 minutes until half cooked. After that, put the rice into a pot then mix it with milk or coconut milk and then stirr. Next is mix the meat with rice and stirr them again until the milk or coconut milk seeped into the meat.
Then, steam again the nasi kebuli for 30 minutes. After that, the nasi kebuli is ready to be served in hot condition. “The presentation depends on the visitor’s taste, whether goat or chicken meat. But, the favorite food in the restaurant is nasi kebuli kambing. It is very good for breaking fast time,” uttered Herawati.
Herawati also stated has been a few times participated in the event of Arabian Night in La Piazza. In a day, she could gain income up to Rp 12.5 million and increase to Rp 25 million on the weekend. “One portion costs Rp 25 thousand. In a day, nasi kebuli is always almost sold out,” she told.
Interested to taste the tasty nasi kebuli?