How to Make Tape Ketan

Tape Ketan or Fermentated Rice

Tape Ketan is a fermented sticky [glutinous] rice prepared in Indonesia [ketan means glutinous rice]. Tape has a sweet taste with amounts of alcohol, somewhat resembling Japanese sake in essence. The amount of alcohol in tape is mostly dependent on the fermentation process or duration, but alcohol may range between 7% - 10%. The sweet taste with amounts of spirit of alcohol of tape is the main features in tape's taste sensation and aroma.

How Tape Ketan is Made

Tape Ketan is prepared by cooking glutinous rice with water, cooling and inoculating the cooled rice with crushed ragi yeast cake. The amount of ragi is added. The ragi powder is stirred in the cooled rice-mix, and then the ingredients are placed in a covered bowl and fermented at room temperature [about 85°F] for 1 - 3 days. Traditionally, the rice is usually colored green with green pandang plant extract, but today, artificial food coloring has taken the place of natural plant extracts. Although there is a non-coloured variety of tape made from white glutinous rice. There is also Tape Ketan-Hitam, prepared with black glutinous rice. The preparation is the same as for Tape Ketan, substituting white glutinous-rice with black glutinous rice, Ketan-Hitam [Hitam means black in Indonesian].

Tape telor [tah-phe te-lor] is similar to tape ketan, although, peuyeum is prepared with Cassava root instead of glutinous rice. The term telor actually means egg or white, and for some reason the term is also used for tape in certain parts of Indonesia. This is possibly in the sense that the tape is white in reference to good quality of the fermented cassava. In Bandung, West Java, tape cultured with cassava root is known as Peuyeum Peuyeum [pe'-er ye'oom], sometimes referred to asnda or Sundanese]. In west Java, Peuyeum Bandung is a popular term used for this particular culture-product.

Peuyeum is prepared with fresh young Cassava roots, which are initially cooked by boiling in water until tender. The roots are cooled then inoculated by sprinkling ragi sprinkled evenly over the surface of the cooked vegetable root. The inoculated roots are placed in wooden vats and arranged in a crisscross fashion, filling the vat about 3/4 full. The vat is covered with a wooden lid and the contents are left for a few days to ferment at room temp [about 30°C]. This produces a very delicate textured sweet tasting product, which explodes in the mouth with each bite, releasing essence of a sweet delicate taste with spirit of alcohol [produced during fermentation]. The original creamy-starchy texture typical of cassava root, is transformed into a very interesting texture, which melts in the mouth. Once eaten one cannot seem to get enough. Portions of undigested fiber of cassava root not affected by the fermentation process, is what gives peuyeum a delicate-spongy texture and consistency [a unique mouth feel]. The best quality peuyeum is prepared with tender young cassava root.

Our starter kit can be used for all the products mentioned above: Tape Ketan, Tape Ketan Hitam and Tape Telor.

Detailed instructions for all Tape products are included in the the tape starter kits.

Ketan Hijau - Kitan Hitam - Tape Telor

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