Peanuts in the Indonesian Archipelago

I am a nut freak!. Any kind of nuts and I devour them and especially Cashew nuts. We should all be thankful that peanuts did not remain an obscure South American delight but became popular in the Indonesian kitchen.

According to gastronome and epicurean el supremo, Suryatini N. Ganie, the delights of peanuts are enjoyed by all throughout the archipelago:

The nuts traveled with adventurers and traders from their South American habitat to India, now one of the greatest producers of the small nut.

From India, they were transported eastward to our islands, enhancing the local cooking ingredients in various dishes. For example, what would our most popular salad gado-gado be without its peanut sauce?

Today, from Aceh to Papua, peanuts are there to enjoy — factory-packed or sold at street-side stalls.

The centers of industrial peanut production are among others Cirebon and Semarang in Java and Sulawesi in the eastern islands.

The importance of peanuts in Indonesia can be seen in the many varieties of regional snacks. For example, starting in East Indonesia, the Manadonese have dodol kacang. Wrapped in corn leaves the snack is really aromatic. Still in North Sulawesi there is halua kacang — brown sugar is caramelized and roasted peanuts are added and flattened. Manado’s most colorful peanut snack is kacang goyang, literally shaken peanuts.

The preparation method is unique. Roasted peanuts are put onto a bamboo tray and shaken with food colorings like red, green and pink.

In Central Java, near the cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, ampyang is a much liked snack. Made from brown sugar and peanuts with a slight ginger or limau (lime leaf) flavor it is a very delectable snack accompanied by a cup of hot kopi tubruk, a strong coffee of the region. There is also a sweet with Chinese overtones called bakpia and the filling is mashed peanuts.

Peanuts are also used in the making of pecel sauce, Central Java’s version of gado-gado. Even at ceremonial commemorations, chopped roasted peanuts are present, put into small banana leaf plates and given as a item in the array of traditional dishes.

In Jakarta in the 50s a snack called dodol lipet was a favorite among schoolchildren. Brown sugar was boiled to make toffee on a wooden satay skewer, which was then rolled in chopped roasted peanuts. I remember, one could lick the sweet brown sugar until the very bottom of the skewer!

Sometimes, peanut snacks have very strange names. For example, kacang Bukares or peanuts from Bucharest or kacang Shanghai or kacang Sukro from the Arab language.

Other kacang snacks have purely descriptive names like karang kacang (peanut rocks), kacang pindang (cooked spiced peanuts), Kacang rebus, boiled peanuts, kacang goreng, (fried peanuts). In many regions the peanut is called kacang tanah — or nuts that have to be taken from the soil because there are many varieties of nuts in Indonesia that can be picked from the stem.

Peanuts are also used in some expressions like “Barang itu laku seperti kacang goreng“, meaning a product is selling very well.

Next to the kedelai, soybean, there is perhaps no other nut as popular as the peanut. But its popularity has a dark side though.

Many nutritionists are of the opinion that peanuts are actually a risky foodstuff and are prone to becoming moldy by the Asperergillus Flavus. The mold can be dangerous if consumed regularly in large quantities. So not all peanuts are dangerous and only moldy peanuts have to be avoided. Signs of a moldy peanut are uneven skin, many green and black spots and a bitter taste.

Enjoy your kacang goreng!

Suryatini N. Ganie