#727: Meet The Manufacturer – Indomie Mi Instan Rasa Empal Gentong Khas Jawa Barat

Today I continue reviews for Meet The Manufacturer: Indomie week! This is another one, sent to me from Jakarta, Indonesia by Indomie – thanks again! So what does Empal Gentong consist of? What does it mean? Here’s what I found on Wikipedia:

Empal gentong is a spicy curry-like beef soup originated from Cirebon, West Java. This soup is similar to gulai that usually cooked with firewood stove in gentong (Indonesian for: clay pot). The ingredients are parts of beef meat, intestine, tripes, lungs, etc. cooked in curry-like spices in coconut milk, kucai (Chlorella sorokiniana) and sambal in the form of chilli powder. Empal gentong can be eaten with steamed rice, ketupat or lontong. Empal gentong originated from Battembat village, kecamatan Tengah Tani, Cirebon regency.

Sounds interesting. I plan on adding a couple of things to it and make this a sumptuous meal! Please join me! Read the interview I did with Indomie here!

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge). Note that this is a soup – no picture of draining.

The noodle block, ready for action!

So for packets, we start with the standard powder seasoning and chili powder combo. Again, I ask if anyone knows what the little guy on the chili powder side is all about!

Here’s the seasoning powder. I used a little bit of the chili powder – seen on top.

Now for the wet ingredient and topping: seasoned oil on the left and fried onion on the right.

The oil has a meaty and slightly sweet aroma.

These are great – adds a nice little crunch on top of everything.

Finally, the solid ingredients packet.

The back of the packet simply calls this sayuran kering which I translated to dried vegetables.

Finished (click image to enlarge). I added some of the awesome fresh vegetable mix we made from shopping at Country Farms yesterday, along with some beef lunch meat, a little Fresno pepper, a hard boiled egg, some lime, a little Huy Fong Sriracha chili sauce and some Krazy Mixed Up Salt. The noodles are characteristic Indomie; good to chew but not tough and abundant. They’re pleasant and enjoyable. The broth has an interesting flavor to it – kind of beefy and also a little sweet. It’s an interesting mix; kind of reminds me of the light flavor the special Laksa had – not the flavor so much but the lightness of it. I really liked this one. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 089686910308 .

Here’s a video of a street vendor selling Empal Gentong.

Here’s some Indonesian music played on the Gamelan. Here’s a Wikipedia article about this amazing instrument and its history. This article is about the Gong Ageng – check it out.