North Sumatra is famous for its lake, its Bataknese culture, and the people's love of singing. But do you know that the provinceis also a home to many delicious dishes? Here are some of them.
1. Sambal Tuktuk
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The typical traditional hot and spicy condiment served in Batak cuisine comes from Tapanuli region. This is not your regular sambal as it usesaso-aso fish (dried mackerel), making this sambal tuktuk more special than any other hot sauce.
2. Arsik
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Arsik is another dish from Tapanuli. It is also known as ikan mas bumbu kuning (carp with yellow spice). Carp as the main ingredient is left as it is without removing its scales. Some of the seasoning ingredients, such asandaliman (sichuan pepper) and kecombrang, areunique to North Sumatran highlands. The yellow sauce also includes lemongrass and galangal. To make the dish, the mashed seasoning is smeared on top of the fish and left for a moment. Then, the fish is cooked with a little oil on low heat to dry it up.
3. Napinadar Chicken
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Napinadar chicken is a typical Batak cuisine commonly served during a feast. It takes time and patience to make this food with all of itsrich and complicated ingredients.
To make this food, the pre-baked chicken is doused with a special sauce which is the blood of the chicken itself before being cooked with andaliman and finely ground garlic powder.
4. Ombus-Ombus Cake
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This Batak traditional snack is from Siborongborong, North Tapanuli. Wrapped in banana leaf, the cake is made from rice flour with sugar, so the filling is even tastier when eaten warm. Ombus-ombus name is derived from the sound made when you blow the cake before eating because it's still too hot. It remains unclear when this snack become an essential in every traditional Batak ceremonial.
The snack is often served with a glass of coffee or tea.
5. Dali Ni Horbo
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Dali ni Horbo is traditionally processed buffalo milk that comes from Tapanuli. It is said that the method of making this food has existed since the early days of the Batak society.
Dali is a main dish in every Batak traditional restaurant and it also can be found in traditional market around Tapanuli.