Pepes

Etymology

The cooking technique employing banana leaf as the wrapper is widely distributed throughout Indonesia and it is known in many names in several dialects; pais in Sundanese, brengkesan in Javanese, brengkes in Palembang, pelasan in Javanese-Osing, palai in Minangkabau, and payeh in Acehnese. The common Indonesian name pepes was derived from Sundanese word papais; the plural form of pais in Sundanese language. Because its popularity was first contributed through the Sundanese cuisine, today pepes is often associated with Sundanese cuisine.

Variations

This technique is most commonly used to prepare fish. In West Java, ikan mas (Cyprinus carpio) is the most popular fish to be cooked as pepes. In Palembang, patin (Pangasius sutchi) and lais (Kryptopterus cryptopterus) are the most common fish to be used, while in West Sumatra, people use bilih fish (Mystacoleucus padangensis).

However, fish is not the only ingredient to be made for pepes. Seafood, meat, chicken, tofu, tempeh, oncom, mushroom or vegetables are also available to be prepared in this method. There are many variations of pepes recipes. Other seafoods such as shrimp and squid, although less common, can be used in pepes. Non-fish meat such as chicken and minced beef mixed with egg can also be used. In Palembang, the dish pepes tempoyak is well known, which is a steamed fermented durian paste in banana leaf container. A rather exotic and unusual meat might also be cooked as pepes, for example as swikee variations, frog legs and frog eggs might be prepared as pepes. The method is used in several Indonesian dishes, and also become the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example:

1. Pepes ikan mas (carp pepes)
2. Pepes daging (minced beef pepes)
3. Pepes ayam (chicken pepes)
4. Pepes tahu (tofu pepes)
5. Pepes oncom (oncom pepes)
6. Pepes teri (anchovy pepes)
7. Pepes jamur (mushroom pepes)
8. Pepes kodok (boneless frog legs pepes)
9. Pepes telur kodok (frog eggs pepes)
10. Pepes tempoyak (fermented durian paste pepes)

Pepes products are typically consumed with steamed rice. Otak-otak is similar to pepes, it is a mixture of fish and tapioca flour with spices wrapped in banana leaf. The vegetables with shredded coconut pepes is called Botok. Buntil is prepared in a similar way, but used papaya or cassava leaves instead of banana leaves, making the wrapping edible as part of the dish. A similar Malaysia dish employing banana leaf is called Sata.

Preparation

Pepes is made by mixing descaled and gutted fish or any type of food with a mixture of spices including salt, chilli, shallots, garlic, turmeric, ginger, lemongrass, curry leaf, candlenut, tamarind, tomato, and lemon basil all wrapped in a banana leaf. Sundanese cuisine recognizes two types of pepes: the regular or “plain” variety and yellow pepes, which is cooked with turmeric. The leaf is wrapped tight and secured with a stick at each ends, then steamed or grilled. To make a soft-boned fish pepes, the method using pressure-cooker or prolonged cooking time is employed.