Mandai

Banjar fermented cempedak rind: the thick inner peel salted and fermented for a week in brine, then fried with shallots, garlic, and chilli into a sour, savoury, meat-like side dish

Origin: Banjarmasin & South Kalimantan, Indonesia

From the journey of Jackfruit.

Mandai, also called dami, is the Banjar people's answer to the cempedak's waste. The fruit's thick inner rind, the pale pith between the thin outer skin and the bulbs, is usually thrown away; in South Kalimantan it is cut up, salted, and fermented in brine for anything from three days to a month, until it turns soft, yellowish, sour, and savoury. The fermentation is lactic, and the mandai keeps for months, which carries the value of the cempedak through the seasons when the tree bears no fruit. It is then cooked as a savoury: fried until golden and eaten with rice, pounded with chilli into sambal mandai, or stewed in coconut milk as mandai batanak. The texture is springy and meat-like, and the dish has been called the steak of the Banjar. It is a speciality of Banjarmasin, sold in the markets and eating houses of South, Central, and East Kalimantan, and it has lately been studied as a probiotic food. The cempedak, Artocarpus integer, is native to Borneo, where the cultivated tree grows wild, and to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra; in this atlas it shares the jackfruit's entry, and its origin point stands in Borneo.

Ingredients

Fermentation

500 g inner pith of the rind of 1 large ripe cempedak, outer skin pared away
1 litre water
50 g salt

To Cook

3 tbsp vegetable oil
6 shallots, sliced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
3 red chillies, sliced
0.5 tsp sugar (optional)

Method

After the bulbs have been eaten, cut the cempedak rind into strips. With a sharp knife pare away the thin, hard, green outer skin, keeping the thick white pith, and cut the pith into 3 to 4 cm pieces.
Boil the water, dissolve the salt in it, and leave the brine to cool completely.
Wash the pieces of pith, pack them into a clean glass jar, and pour over enough brine to cover them. Weigh them down with a small plate or a bag of brine so that nothing floats, and cover the jar loosely.
Leave at room temperature for 5 to 7 days, checking daily that everything stays submerged, until the pieces are soft, yellowish, and pleasantly sour.
To cook, drain the mandai, rinse it, squeeze it dry, and tear it into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the oil and fry the mandai for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. Add the shallots, garlic, and chillies and fry until fragrant, seasoning with the sugar if you like.
Serve hot with rice.

Notes

Jackfruit rind can be fermented in the same way, though the result is milder. Fermented mandai keeps for several weeks in its brine in the refrigerator; longer fermentation gives a stronger, sourer flavour.

The Gastrographer

Name: Mandai
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Indonesia
Ingredients: 500 g inner pith of the rind of 1 large ripe cempedak, outer skin pared away; 1 litre water; 50 g salt; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 6 shallots, sliced; 3 garlic cloves, sliced; 3 red chillies, sliced; 0.5 tsp sugar (optional)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control