Lunar New Year

It's another exciting celebration... New Year!

Yeah, we have some 'New Year' in one calendar year. Other than 'normal' New Year on 1st of January (Gregorian Calender / Anno Domini), this country also celebrates Imlek (Chinese New Year), Saka New Year (Hindhuism) and Hijriah (Islamic). Oh, one more, there is another New Year in Javanese Calendar.

Those days were marked as Public Holiday in our calendar (except the Javanese New Year).
We don't celebrate all of them personally, but for sure we always enjoy the public holiday.

I do love to see the colorful traditional celebrations and for the last couple of weeks I enjoyed seeing some parts of Jakarta turned to red! Chinese New Year Celebration become one of the festive celebration in our country since 2001, after our fourth president, the late Abdurrahman Wahid, sought religious and ethnics reconciliation. The Chinese language was no longer banned, and neither was celebrating the Lunar New Year.
Last week, two days before the big 'Chinese New Year' day, I managed to visit Glodok area, in the old part of Jakarta, which is home to many Chinese Indonesian residents as well as Jakarta’s most famous Chinatown area, Petak Sembilan. Located surrounding commercial area in North Jakarta, it's not hard to get to this place. I went by riding a 30minutes KRL (the city train) from our home in South Jakarta.

As I expected before, the red color adorned this area. From the flowers, merchandises, to the ornaments. Very beautiful.
The color, the smell, the food, the noise ...made me feel like I was entering a 'totally' different part of the world.

The Petak Sembilan Alley was my first part to explore.


Petak Sembilan Alley is welcoming Chinese New Year. I have visited Glodok area many times, but this was my very first time walking through this alley. It amazed me. All the chinese trinkets; from the clothes, flowers, souvenirs, to all kind of food (raw and cooked) were available on both sides of the alley. The lanterns were hang on strings connecting each side.
This place is a perfect destination in Jakarta if you want to experience the richness of Chinese culture. The alley was busy at that time, the visitors were excited welcoming the new year. It was a good fortune for most of the sellers.

Traditional Chinese bright red costumes for children, complete with the cap and fake long braids. Before more enjoying this crowded alley, I decided to stop by in the famous Dharma Bhakti Temple, the oldest "Buddhist" temple in one of the corners, dated back in 1650.
Even it was still 2 days to go to the New Year celebration, but here, lots of Indonesians of Chinese descent burned incense and prayed for good fortune in the coming year.
I couldn't tell too much story about this temple, since I don't have the capability to talk about it. Looked around the temple as a place of religious worship, watched the people praying, saw the colorful ornaments that rich of simbolism, and took some pictures were good enough for me.
Leaving the temple, I went back to the crowded alley.
Aha... so many things were gathered in the road. The sellers, the visitors, the vehicles and the colorful food (raw and cooked). Very crowded, very interesting, very unique! I like this place.

Ikan Bandeng a.k.a milkfish is one popular seafood that offered for the New Year celebration. This fish is served to symbolize abundance.Busy activities around the China Town kept going. More people came, more crowds at the road.
Candy Shop was the next one that caught my attention. Rows of candy buckets were sitting nicely in front of the shop. It's colorful, and... it's not like the candies that normally found in city supermarkets. Most of them came from China and Malaysia!

Candies with colorful and cute wrappers Exotic tropical fruits gave other hints for the festive season. Since 2 months ago, those fruits had been available in the markets. Some of them were local fruits but many were imported fruits. Actually, some days before I went to this China Town, I imagined that I would try lots of delicious food here. Unfortunately, since a night before and during the trip, I got stomach upset. So during this trip, I decided not to eat anything, only drank plenty of water. Not bad, at least only once I had to rush finding a toilet :D. *psst, I found out the new toilet in Dharma Bhakti Temple was very clean*. Anyway, I brought home some of the food.

Here, the pictures below probably can show how tempting the food that we found in the China Town.

Colorful Bakpao (Chinese Bun) - Kue Keranjang a.k.a Nian Gao
Not only for eating during the celebration, both of them were used for offering.


Bakso Goreng (fried meat / fish balls) - Otak-otak


Bektim (pork & pork organs stew) - Rujak Gloria


Teripang a.k.a Sea Cucumbers - Chinese Food Kiosk During the New Year day a.k.a Imlek as it is usually referred to in Indonesian, we had a good trip bringing our children to one Chinese temple in Bogor (yup, I have plenty of pictures again!). We didn't attend any special Imlek celebration. I tried to cook something connecting with 'chinese culinary' for my family, something that I'm sure they will like it. As we like dim sum, so I decided to prepare Chicken Shumai/Siew Mai/Siomai. The mouthwatering open-faced Chinese dumpling that is popular dim sum fare. Wishing You A Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year!
Gong Xi Fa Cai 2562! Siomai Ayam / Chicken Siew Mai
source : Primarasa, DimSum.
Bahan / Ingredients :
15 lembar kulit siomai/kulit pangsit bergaris tengah 8-10 cm / 15 wonton wrappers, diameter: 8-10cm
1 buah wortel, serut untuk taburan / 1 carrot, grated for topping

Isi / Filling:
150 gr daging ayam cincang / 150 gr minced chicken
150 gr udang kupas, cincang / 150 gr shrimp, peeled, chopped
50 gr rebung cincang / 50 gr chopped bamboo shoots
50 gr jamur hioko cincang / 50 gr chopped hioko mashroom
50 gr waterchestnut cincang / 50 gr chopped waterchestnut
2 siung bawang putih, cincang / 2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 batang daun bawang, cincang / 2 spring onions, chopped
2 sdm tepung kanji / 2 tbsp tapioka flour
1 putih telur / 1 white egg

Saus Bumbu / Seasoning Sauce
1 sdm kecap asin / 1 tbsp soy sauce
1 sdm minyak wijen / 1 tbsp sesame oil
1 sdt gula pasir / 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 sdt garam / 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 sdt merica bubuk / 1/4 tsp pepper
1 sdm angciu / 1 tbs angciu (Chinese wine)Resep dalam Bahasa Indonesia;
1. Campur semua bahan saus bumbu dalam mangkuk, aduk rata.
2. Taruh bahan isi dalam mangkuk yang lebih besar, campur saus bumbu, aduk sampai rata benar. Kemudian simpan dalam lemari es selama 1 jam. Pada waktu akan dikerjakan bagi adonan isi menjadi 15 bagian.
3. Ambil selembar kulit siomai/pangsit, taruh 1 bagian adonan isi di tengahnya. Tarik pinggirnya dengan menggunakan kelima jari, kemudian tekan bagian atasnya dengan jari yang dibasahi air terlebih dahulu.
4. Taburi pemukaannya dengan sedikit wortel parut. Lakukan hal yang sama hingga adonan habis.
5. Didihkan air dalam dandang, taruh siomai dalam loyang dengan jarak +/-2 cm satu dengan lainnya. Kukus siomai di atas api besar selama 10-15 menit sampai matang, angkat.
The Recipes in English;
1. Mix all seasoning sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir well.
2. Place the filling ingredients in a larger bowl, combine the sauce ingredients, stir until blended completely. Then store in a refrigerator for 1 hour. Divide the filling dough into 15 parts.
3. Take a piece of wonton skin, place 1 portion dough filling in the middle. Pull the edges by using the five fingers, then press the top with your fingers soaked in water first.
4. Sprinkle the top surface with a little grated carrot. Do the same thing until the dough runs out. 5. Boil water in a steamer, put the siomai + / -2 cm of one another. Steam the siomai over high heat for 10-15 minutes until cooked, remove from heat.
Have a nice weekend!