Live and learn: a thread about bakwan

[Puspawarna]

As many of you know, I live on the island of Hawai'i now, teaching a Javanese gamelan class. One of the students is Indonesian, and she enjoys cooking delicious Indonesian gorengan for us. Needless to say, we are all very happy about this.

The other day, she brought us bakwan. I took some home and served it to a friend who is a chef. He loved it, and wanted to know what was in it.

With the confidence of a totally ignorant person, I informed him that it was made with rice flour. Hey - it TASTES (and more importantly has the texture) of a rice-flour treat, don't you think?

Anyway, when I saw the student again, I told her how much the chef loved it, and what I'd told him about the ingredients.

She politely corrected me: nope, not rice flour - just regular wheat flour.

Sure enough, if you Google "resep bakwan" it seems that tepung terigu (wheat flour) is the starchy binder.

I am properly humbled by this. I think of myself as a pretty good cook, and I hope that's not wrong, but obviously I don't know everything I thought I knew.

 

[Jaime C]

My wife makes a pretty mean bakwan. Normally she uses 3-4 tablespoons of all purpose flour. If she wants it extra crispy, she adds one tablespoon of rice flour.

 

[Puspawarna]

Hah! Now I feel somewhat vindicated. Thank you.

 

[Wisnu]

And you can mix with various ingredient, for vegan friendly, you can add kale or other veggie.
Since I'm meat lover, I like bakwan udang or bakwan beef 'salami"

 

[dafluff]

For an authentic taste, don't forget a drop of formaldehyde...

 

[harryopal1]

And that speciality sometimes sold here of rice mixed with plastic. I think the Chinese have also found that a good way of adding profit. But Pupswarna is not concerned with profit but taste. I haven't actually tried the rice mixed with plastic? Anyone happened to have come across it? While you are mixing ingredients I do recall some years ago an Indian company mixing ground glass in sugar but again not for taste but profit.

And how does formaldehyde taste?

 

[macvert]

& .... the added rice flour keeps it crisp once it is cold, as is much Indo cuisine, pass the sambal.