The Javanese cassava sweet, the steamed root mashed with palm sugar and a little salt, pressed into pastel ribbons and buried in a drift of fresh grated coconut
Origin: Central Java, Indonesia
From the journey of Cassava.
The Dutch introduced cassava to Java at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and they knew exactly what they had: they had held Pernambuco in Brazil for a quarter of a century and had watched the crop feed a colony. Through the nineteenth century the colonial administration promoted it hard as insurance against the rice failures that periodically emptied the villages, and it took root in the dry limestone country of the south coast and the eastern salient where rice will not grow. Javanese has its own words for it, singkong and ubi kayu, the latter meaning wood tuber, and the association with hardship has never entirely lifted. Cassava was what people ate when the rice ran out, and within living memory tiwul, made from dried and re-milled cassava, was the staple of the poorest districts of Gunungkidul. That memory sits oddly beside the affection these same foods now command. Getuk is the best loved of them. Steamed cassava is mashed while still hot with palm sugar and salt until it is smooth and dense, then either rolled and cut into squares or, as getuk lindri, pressed through a hand grinder into ribbons and stacked in pastel stripes. It is finished with fresh grated coconut steamed with a little salt, which cuts the sweetness and stops the pieces sticking. It is sold from carts and market stalls across central Java, most famously in Magelang, and eaten at any hour with tea or coffee. The tinted colours are modern and cheerful and nobody pretends otherwise.
Gula jawa, Javanese palm sugar, is sold in dark solid discs by Asian grocers. Its smoky caramel is the flavour of the dish and ordinary brown sugar is a noticeably flatter substitute. Frozen grated cassava can be used and needs about twenty minutes of steaming; frozen grated coconut is entirely standard and much better than desiccated. Desiccated coconut is a poor substitute for the coating. If it is all you have, moisten it with a tablespoon of coconut milk and a pinch of salt before steaming. Tiwul, from dried and re-milled cassava, and tapai singkong, fermented with a yeast starter until soft and faintly alcoholic, are the two other great Javanese cassava preparations.
Mapping Culinary History
To explore — select an ingredient below.
To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.
Journey Point Map Key