Terang bulan
Terang bulan with various toppings.
Alternative namesTerbul, Terang boelan (in Javindo), Martabak manis (in Betawi)
Typepancake
Coursedessert
Place of originJava (adopted from Pannenkoek of the Netherlands-origin)
Associated cuisineIndonesia and Dutch
Created byIndo people (Javanese-Dutch)
Serving temperaturehot and warm

Terang bulan (Javanese pronunciation: [traŋ.bʊlan], or colloquially also abbreviated as Terbul) is an Indonesian-type of thick pancake, commonly found in the central-eastern regions of Java (in Western Indonesia), as well as Bali, Lombok and Southern Sulawesi (in Central Indonesia), to the Nusa Tenggara and Western Papua (in Eastern Indonesia). Terang bulan is a food heritage of the Indo people (a Dutch of Indonesian-ancestry), adapted from the Pannenkoek, which is a type of similar-size pancake originated from the Netherlands. Similar to its proto-type, the Terang bulan also uses cheese as the fillings of the pancake, but the buttered Terang bulan with chocolate sprinkles (known as Hagelslag (in Dutch)) are the one that considered as 'original' which also adopted from the Indo-Dutch breakfast tradition. Additional crushed peanuts and natural-processed sugar also favored, which is a Javanese fusion to add their cultural peanuty Pecel taste to the pancake.

Nomenclature

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Terang Bulan Batik of Pekalongan-origin, source of inspiration for the Terang bulan nomenclature.

The nomenclature of these pancake is derived from the Pekalongan Javanese term, terang bulan (ꦠꦺꦫꦁ​ꦧꦸꦭꦤ꧀), which originally referring to one of the intricate Batik motifs that appeared to be similar to Terang bulan pancake shape.

History

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The Dutch people came to conquer Indonesia as early as 15th century, which later evolved as a colony called Netherlandsch Öost-Indies (lit.'the Indonesian Dutch colony'). Upon their arrival, much of the native Indonesians were enslaved and marginalized; some are forcefully arranged to pleasure the desires of the Dutch soldiers, which later resulted in the existence of the Indo-Dutch community. These Indo-Dutch people later started to develop their own kind of foods, which bears the characteristics of both Dutch and Indonesian (mainly Javanese)-origins. The Dutch pancake, or known natively as Pannenkoek (in Dutch) is one of the subjected foods that experienced cultural fusion between both entities, made of ingredients that are commonly associated to each respective cultures. Unlike another regular pancakes that are small in size, the Terang bulan are relatively huge adopting the original size of Pannenkoek. Not only large in size, the Terang bulan also thicker compared to most of pancakes, it was originally added due to the abundance of wasted flours that the enslaved Javanese had.

Nowadays, the Terang bulan is not only enjoyed by the Indo-Dutch community in Java, but has also been spread to another regions across Indonesia due to the Javanese expansions. The diasporic Javanese community outside of Indonesia also familiar to these Terang bulan pancake, especially in the South American country of Suriname, where the enslaved Javanese were sent there by the Dutch force during the colonial time. Many of native Indonesians (mainly of Javan-Bali descents) also enslaved and sent to Sri Lanka (Dutch Ceylon), where they later identified Terang bulan as Appam Bali (lit.'Balinese appam'), due to resemblance of Terang bulan pancake to their traditional South Asian Appam cake.

References

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See also

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