Botok or ꦧꦺꦴꦛꦺꦴꦏ꧀ (Bothok) (sometimes called Bobotok in its plural form or Botok-botok) is a traditional Javanese dish made from grated coconut flesh which has been squeezed of its coconut milk, often mixed with other ingredients such as vegetables or fish, and wrapped in banana leaf and steamed. It is commonly found in the Javanese people area of Java Island (Yogyakarta Special Region, Central, and East Java.[2] It has a soft texture like the mozzarella cheese and is usually colored white.
Botok seems to be a byproduct of coconut milk production, to save and reuse the grated coconut flesh that might be otherwise discarded. Commonly, the grated coconut flesh flakes are discarded after squeezing them to acquire the coconut milk. However, by cooking them in banana leaves with an additional mixture and spices, they can also be eaten as an additional dish. Another way to save the grated coconut residue is to saute them as serundeng. Today, however, to acquire tastier and richer taste, many recipes insist on using only freshly grated coconut flesh that still contains coconut milk. Botok is typically consumed with rice.[3]
Preparation and serving
The grated coconut flesh is mixed with chili, salt, pepper, lemon basil, and salam (Indonesian bay leaf) and additional ingredients. This mixture is placed upon a piece of banana leaf, and then the leaf is wrapped tight and secured with a stick, then placed on a steamer. The most basic botok usually uses simple and cheaper ingredients, such as minced tempeh, tofu, or anchovy.[2] After the botok is cooked, the banana leaf package is opened and served with steamed rice. After perfectly cooked, the grated coconut and sometimes the egg addition, act as the binding agent of the whole botok ingredients.[4]
Variations
Botok tawon, botok made from bee larvae.
To add flavor and nutrients, many botok recipes and variants might use additional ingredients as a protein source, such as petai cina, belimbing wuluh, ares (the core of a banana trunk), mushroom, tofu, tempeh, anchovy, wahoo, catfish, salted fish, egg, salted egg, shrimp, minced beef or even beelarvae.[5] The botok method is used in several variant ingredients, and also becomes the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example:
Buntil is prepared similarly, but uses papaya or cassava leaves instead of banana leaves, making the wrapping edible as part of the dish. Botok is often considered as the variations of pepes, the cooking method using banana leaf. However, botok is identified more specifically by using shredded coconut flesh, while pepes usually contain no coconut at all.
The South African dish of bobotie is thought to be the derivative of Indonesian bobotok.[13] It is, however, quite different as it uses minced beef and eggs, with the absence of grated coconut and banana leaf packages. The role of grated coconut and eggs as binding agents in bobotok seems to be replaced by beaten eggs, milk, and shredded bread in bobotie.
