Special Cassava Gembus From Cilacap
What do you think of gembus? Gembus is a kind of food that can be found in Jawa Tengah or Jawa Timur. However, the interesting thing is there are two gembus; tempeh gembus and a snack named gembus.
Tempeh gembus is a kind of dish made from tofu extract. The other names are menjes and dages. Meanwhile, another gembus is a snack from Cilacap made from cassava with a round shape like donuts.
This kind of gembus can be found in every corner of Cilacap and its surroundings. Usually, you can find the sellers on the street from the evening to the night. Also, you can find them in the night market, traditional events, and shadow puppet shows. People of Cilacap often say that it feels incomplete to watch a shadow puppet show without gembus. Even they do not finish watching the show.
In the event of thanksgiving, wedding, or circumcision, gembus is often served by the host. When there is no gembus, there will be sellers of gembus in the parking lot.
The seller of gembus usually brings a stove, pan, a bamboo container that is covered with a winnowing tray to serve the cooked gembus, and a small plastic tent. The unique thing is the seller does not use a spatula to fry gembus but they use an iron stick with a wooden handler. Since gembus has a hole in the middle like donuts, the seller flips and lifts gembus by putting a stick in the hole.
The production place of gembus in Cilacap is in Kalisabuk Village, Kesugihan District. There are hundreds of gembus makers in that village, especially in Grumbul Brondong.
Making gembus is quite easy. The main ingredient is grated cassava. The cassava in Cilacap is easy to find. Pesanggrahan Village beside Kalisabuk Village is one of the cassava producers in Cilacap. Even, Pesanggrahan Village also has a cassava monument as the icon of the village producing cassava.
The grated cassava is then squeezed to dry the water and we get its extract. Then, the seasoning is added such as coriander, garlic, and salt. After that, just steam it until cooked.
To shape the dough of gembus like a donut, the cooked dough is kneaded with tapioca flour. When the dough is already smooth, you can make a hole like donuts. It is ready to be fried and served.
The cooked gembus has white color because it is not fried until brownish. It is delicious to serve warm with a cup of tea or coffee. Gembus is good for the evening snack. Although there are new dishes with many toppings, gembus is still popular until now.
