Cats on the Menu?: Surakarta, Central Java

I have to admit, I have tried just about every manner of delicacy on my travels, including dog!. Somehow, I also have this sneaky feeling I have eaten cat but in the kitten form being that the younger flesh is far more tender and sweet. That was in Java about 18 years ago!.

The Javanese are somewhat adventurous in their cooking and to this point, if it flies, crawls, jumps [or meow’s] then it is fair game for the pot. Snake is delicious and there are many restorans [particularly in Central Java] that specialise in this delicacy. Sate Rat is another and that I have eaten in Semarang – a place where the rats are bigger than the cats!.

Surakarta along with Yogyakarta would undoubtedly be the gourmet cities in Java, my opinion only!. But, it is in the city of Surakarta (Solo) where the cats are the gourmets of the city having tried most culinary delights as epicurean and gastronome el supremo Suryatini N. Ganie explains:

Surakarta where cats are gourmets too

Renowned a hub of Central Javanese culture, the sprawling city of Solo, seat of the Central Javanese aristocracy, is also known as a city that never sleeps, offering 24 hours a day a variety of regional and popular foods to cater to its seemingly always hungry inhabitants.

Restaurants, cafes and street vendors stay open all night, and not just during Ramadhan, when Muslims eat only at night. My cook, who is from Solo, told me that the food on offer varies depending on the time of day.

“At about six,” she said, “the bubur koyor” vendor is passing.” Bubur koyor is the Solo version of neighboring Yogyakarta’s gudeg or there might be ketan juruh, a portion of glutinous rice with a sauce of super sweet palm sugar,” she added.

Then afternoons at 12, for lunch there will be rice with soto or tahu or the Solo goat curry named tengkleng.

After a nap they then are waiting for more savory things, like baso or the ever popular mi or noodles.

At about 4 p.m., tempting sweets are on offer. Getuk is a sweet, finely mashed steamed cassava available in various colors and flavors. Gatot is chunks of sweetened cassava with a topping of grated young coconut, while tiwul is cassava meal sweetened with palm sugar. And when dinnertime nears, they have pre-evening meal snacks like pisang goreng, tempe goreng and the drink asle.

Nearing midnight the cats are waiting to get their share of the city’s culinary delights. Solo’s street cats must be the only strays in the world to have had a dish specially made for them.

The story goes that some itinerant vendor who liked cats made some mini portions of rice, added some shredded ikan peda (a kind of salted fish) and a pinch of sambal. The cats seemed to be happy with the meal and when the vendor tried one he liked it too.

He started to sell the snack to people under the name sego kucing, or “rice for cats”. Although now that the snack is so popular, the cats have to wait for leftovers again!

In the past, Solo’s aristocracy developed a cosmopolitan way of life, focusing on clothing, food, ambiance and social life. This is seen today in old traditional dishes that were examples of “fusion” cuisine long before that term became fashionable in the world’s restaurants.

Fried potatoes, a beef stew spiced with sweet soy sauce, green salads, cooked carrots, French beans and a mayonnaise-like sauce were popular amongst Solo’s upper class a century ago.
The aristocracy embraced the “Western” menu and serving style, seating guests in rows and eating in courses, usually a soup, followed by the main course and then dessert.

This is still scene today. At a society wedding I recently attended in Solo, guests were first served a deep plate of soup. The main course was a solo salad on a flat plate and dessert was a sweet chocolate pudding featuring vla, a Dutch pudding sauce.

Of course, the Solonese still cook their traditional food. My favorite is abon. Cooked spiced beef is finely shredded and stir-fried, with as little oil as possible, until crisp and dry. Beef abon is a handy food and is delicious with sego wuduk, rice cooked in coconut milk, toast or as a filling for lemper.

In other words, go to Solo if you are hungry.

Suryatini N. Ganie