When visiting some new places, typical and authentic dishes will be one of the targets. West Papua is also one of the provinces that have a particular dish. No wonder people and tourists enjoy their holiday.
1. Papeda and Yellow Fish Gravy
One of this West Papua cuisine is sago porridge. It usually served with “mubara” or turmeric-spiced tuna.
Besides that, this dish is a staple food for most Papuans and Moluccans, made by bending the Sago Tree or Tassel.
After processing, Papeda will shape like glue and slightly sticky with a bland taste. However, it contains enough fibre, low cholesterol, and high nutritional content.
Papeda is processed from sago flour and made into a thick porridge. Tuna and mubara use as condiment and seasoned with turmeric.
The color is white, has a sticky texture like glue, and bland taste.
2. Mashed Keladi (Taro)
“Keladi Tumbuk” or mashed taro is a speciality made Papuan culinary. It serve with grilled fish after boiling taro until cooked, then pounding until smooth.
Taro is high in carbohydrates but low in sugar, making it perfect for those on a diet program.
Furthermore, mix the smooth taro with grated coconut, salt, and sugar.
This is usually an additional menu at the dinner table for family events, thanksgiving, traditional parties, or other celebrations.
3. Asar Skipjack Fish West Papua
Asar Skipjack Fish is the same as Smoked Skipjack Fish. The difference lies in the smoking process if smoking is done by placing the fish on the coals horizontally.
While marketing is done by placing the fish diagonally on the side of the coals that produce smoke. This method dehydrates the fish and cooks it into the meat.
Ikan Cakalang Asar has an authentic taste with the taste of smoked fish and savoury fish that is felt on every side of the fish meat.
4. Lontar Cake West Papua
At first glance, lontar cake resembles the milk pie in other regions. Unrelated to the lontar plant, the name lontar comes from the Dutch word “londtart”, which means round cake.
The inside of the lontar cake has a very soft texture, while the outside is crispy.
Several cities in Papua sell lontar cake as a specialty and souvenir. Especially for travelers who come to West Papua.
5. Sago Martabak West Papua
Martabak Sagu is an excellent culinary dish from West Papua, with a delicious sweet and savoury taste.
This culinary is made from sago mashed and added with palm sugar. Papuans usually serve this cuisine as a snack to welcome guests.
6. West Papua‘s Typical Wrapped Fish
Typical West Papua Wrap Fish is a culinary dish in the form of sea fish. It cook with the wrapped taro leaves.
Previously, the sea fish was seasoned with various spices to make it taste savoury and delicious.
In this case, salt is significant because it functions as a salty flavour for the fish and neutralizes the sap from taro leaves.
The process starts with cleaning the fish and then dressing it with various spices. Next, wrapp the fish in taro leaves and grilled over low heat.
7. Candied Nutmeg Fak Fak
Candied nutmeg is a special culinary from Fak Fak Regency. As its name suggests, the main ingredient is nutmeg.
As we know, nutmeg is the primary commodity of Fak Fak Regency. We can find it in all corners of the West Papua city.
These sweets are traditionally made by drying to dry or soaking in a sugar solution. Besides to eat, we can buy Candied nutmeg as a souvenir when visiting West Papua.
Those are the authentic dishes from West Papua that are very distinctive. Anyone who visits this province can taste special dishes from this unique eastern tip of Indonesia Island.