I always desired to hang out with my friends since we had made it a point to stop by a local festival in Jakarta. One of the local festivals is Jakarta food festival, simply known as an annual food event, was being held to celebrate on every June 22th. In a few years, the Jakarta Food Festival is built to communicate inspiration and gastronomic knowledge about the Indonesian street food culture to visitors of all ages.
I always loved to eat my favourite food since I had come to the street food stalls in every corner of Pekan Raya Jakarta (PRJ) area. After watching music concert, I asked my friends to join me for dinner and they readily agreed. As I was about to dig into the food, a nice man sitting at the table next to me said: “It’s Kerak Telor”. Kerak Telor, simply known as egg crust, had become a must-have menu item for visitors at that event. Here I’m about to tell you about Kerak Telor and its history and philosophy.
Egg Crust
Kerak Telor is the most popular and authentic street foods for Jakartans. Kerak Telor is simply translated as Egg Crust or Rice Egg Snack. Kerak is mean crust and telor means eggs kerak, so that kerak telor is called ‘egg crust’. Egg Crust is a Betawi traditional spicy omelette dish in Indonesian cuisine. It is made from glutinous rice frittata (ketan putih) cooked with either duck or chicken egg, which can be fried in a pancake or an omelette shape. It is garnished with fried shredded or grated coconut (serundeng), fried shallots, dried salted shrimps (ebi) and some seasoning, like salt, spices, and pepper as topping. It is considered as a snack and not as a main dish. It is cooked over charcoal and placed in a pan as cooking appliance.
History and Philosophy of the Egg Crust
Years ago, Kerak Telor has been in existence since the days of the Dutch occupation. in the Colonial Era, Kerak telor or egg crust was a privileged food and was served in big parties for colonial government or the most opulent of Betawi folks. According to gastronomy expert Suryatini N. Ganie, kerak telor was created as a spicy omelette from glutinous rice with fried shredded coconut in order to make glutinous rice more scrumptious and satisfying. It was because of the abundance in coconut production that the locals would use it as an ingredient for various dishes.
It all began with an experiment, which started from the people of Betawi Menteng during who first created egg crust with different ingredients, such as glutinous rice, fried shredded coconut, spices, and egg. They then tested it out in their neighbourhood, and after gained a positive response, the combination was then offered to the public in the 1970s in the area around Monas. It unexpectedly became a rousing success.
Until now, egg crust vendors no longer dominated by native Jakartans, some of them come from Bandung, Padang, Tegal, Garut and Cimahi. Egg crust once again can be served on special occasions, such as Jakarta Birthday and Ramadhan.
Location of Famous Vendor
We were told that this egg crust is commonly found at some food courts in shopping center, some famous places in Jakarta and some special events. Especially at Jajan Betawi Village in La Piazza, Monas or National Monument, Ancol Beach, Spatodhea Park, Tebet Forest Park, Ragunan Zoo, Menteng Park, The Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park (TMII) and Angke Kapuk Nature Tourism. We can also try this egg crust at two most famous vendors in South Jakarta, such as Bang Sape’I Kerak Telor at Kebagusan — Pasar Minggu Road, and Kerak Telor Bang Aris at Pasaraya Grande Dapuraya Road.
Furthermore, the Kemayoran area is the best bet for us to search out KerakTelor. We would like to find Kerak Telor hawkers lining up by the side of the street here. For those who are after a rather heavier meal or looking to sample Betawi food whilst surrounded by historic buildings, then your destination of choice would be Fatahillah Square or Batavia Museum in the Old Town. Otherwise, the one sold in Kerak Telor Lenggang Jakarta near PRJ area at South Merdeka Square Road is the best taste one.
The Price of Egg Crust
If we want to go to Kerak Telor Lenggang Jakarta, we will order that egg crust, which costs only Rp 15.000 — Rp 18.000 per person. While ordering the egg crust, we were told that there were two version of the egg crust depending on our taste. One is chicken egg that costs around Rp 15.000 and other is duck egg that costs around Rp 18.000. The difference between two versions is that the duck eggs is more delicious and flavorful than chicken eggs. But personally, we prefer the chicken eggs because it is healthier than the duck egg.
Ingredients and how to make the Egg Crust
This egg crust is being cooked when ordered, so it’s always freshly served with very good food smell that made we feel hungry. Started watching the cooking process, we learnt by taking a note that there is any ingredient can be put on the egg crust. Their ingredients are 100 grams white glutinous rice, which is being washed and soaked in water for approximately 2 hours to make it soft, four chicken or duck eggs, four tablespoons of fried onions, 5 tablespoons of Serundeng (dried and wet), four pieces of chili pepper, thinly sliced, three tea spoons of salt, two and one half tea spoons of pepper powder, two and one half tea spoons of sugar and four tablespoons of dried shrimp powder.
We were told that the egg crust is usually being cooked at around 10 to 15 minutes. Firstly, the ‘chef’ put a small amount of water and ketan or sticky rice on a small wok pan and heated it on top of the charcoal fire until hot enough egg crust. Secondly, he sprinkled over some browned crisped shallots, adds a lot of eggs over the top (chicken or duck), mixed that eggs with some sauce ingredients, such as garlic powder, salt and pepper, the dried coconut and fried chopped onions.
To make it well cooked, he turned around the wok upside down to the charcoal flame for about 5 minutes, whisked eggs and yolks with his fork, and smeared it all over the rice. After a couple of minutes, he directly turned over the egg crust and transfer from the pan to a plate. Lastly, the spicy serundeng (sweet grated coconut granule) with ebi (dried shredded salted shrimps) and fried shallots are then sprinkled on the omelette as a finishing touch.
We learnt about how to make egg crust as a small pan is needed to cook it without using oil. Once the egg crust is being served, we quickly ate it and felt like its texture more smooth, more puffed, sweet and savory, substantial but light enough to go down well as a pre-dinner snack.
This is what I love about the egg crust, it seems so industrial with the way it’s produced, and then when the friendly vendors sprinkle the shallots on at the end it seems as though they have made the perfect street food of Jakarta! Now let’s keep filling our tummy with the egg crust 😊
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