Tapai is made byinoculating acarbohydrate source with the requiredmicroorganisms in astarter culture. This culture has different names in different regions, shown in the table below. The culture can be naturally captured from the wild, by mixing rice flour with ground spices (include garlic,pepper,chili,cinnamon),cane sugar orcoconut water, slices ofginger or ginger extract, and water to make adough.[2] The dough is pressed into round cakes, about 3 cm across and 1 cm thick, and left toincubate on trays with banana leaves under and over them for two to three days. They are then dried and stored, ready for their next use.
Traditionally, cooked white rice orglutinous rice are fermented intapayan jars. Depending on the length of time and various processes,tapai will result in a large number of end products. These include slightly fermented dough used forrice cakes (Filipinogalapong); dried fermented cakes (Indonesianbrem cakes); fermented cooked rice (Filipinoburo,tapay,inuruban,binubudan,binuboran; Indonesian/Malaysiantapai ortape); fermented rice with shrimp (Filipinoburo,balaobalao,balobalo,tag-ilo); fermented rice with fish (Filipinoburo); or various rice wines (Filipinotapuy,tapey,bubod,basi,pangasi; Indonesianbrem wine).[5]
In modern times, in addition to rice, different types ofcarbohydrates such ascassava orsweet potatoes can also be used. The general process is to wash and cook the target food, cool to about 30 °C, mix in some powdered starter culture, and rest in covered jars for one to two days. With cassava and sweet potato, thetubers are washed and peeled before cooking, then layered in baskets with starter culture sprinkled over each layer. The finished gruel will taste sweet with a hint ofalcohol, and can be consumed as is, or left for several days more to become moresour.
In Thailand,khao mak (Thai:ข้าวหมาก,pronounced[kʰâwmàːk]), also known as "Thai fermented sweet rice dessert", isfermented for several days, resulting in an alcohol content of just over one percent. It has a noticeable alcohol flavor with a sweet taste and is often packaged in banana leaves.[6]Look pang is the traditional fermentation starter used to makekhao mak.Look pang is a starch ball which containsmold (Aspergillus species,Rhizopus species, andMucor species) andyeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae andCandida species) inoculum in rice flour mixed with herbs such as pepper, garlic andgalangal as an antibacterial agent. Its shape is a semicircular with 3-4 cm diameter.[6] In theKhuan Don District,Satun Province it is calledtapai.[7]
Tapai and its variants are usually consumed as it is; as sweet mildly-alcoholic snacks, to accompany tea in the afternoon. The sweet fermentedtapai however, are often used as the ingredient in a recipe of certain dishes.Sundanese cassavapeuyeum is the main ingredient forcolenak; a roasted fermented cassavatapai served withkinca a sweet syrup made of grated coconut and liquid palm sugar.Colenak isSundaneseportmanteau ofdicocol enak which translates to "tasty dip".Tapai uli is a roasted block of bland-tastedketan orpulut (glutinous rice) served with sweettapai ketan ortapai pulut. Thepeuyeum goreng ortapai goreng, or known in Javanese asrondho royal is another example of Indonesiangorengan (assorted fritters), which isdeep friedbattered cassavatapai.
In beverages,tapai, both cassava or glutinous rice, might be added into sweet iced concoction desserts, such ases campur andes doger.
In the Philippines, there are varioustapay-derived dishes and drinks. They were originally referred to by the termtinapay (literally "done throughtapay), as recorded byAntonio Pigafetta. But the termtinapay is now restricted to "bread" in modern Filipino languages. The most common use of fermented rice is ingalapong, a traditional Filipino viscous rice dough made by soaking (and usually fermenting) uncookedglutinous rice overnight and then grinding it into a paste. It is used as a base for variouskakanin rice cakes (notablyputo andbibingka). Fermented gruel-typetapay are also common, with various ethnic groups having their own versions likeTagalog andKapampanganburo, theIfugaobinuburan, and theMaranao andMaguindanaotapay. These are usually traditionally fermented with or paired with fish or shrimp (similar to Japanesenarezushi), as inburong isda,balao-balao, ortinapayan. Rice wines derived fromtapay include thebasi ofIlocos and thetapuy ofBanaue andMountain Province.Tapuy is itself the end product ofbinuburan allowed to ferment fully.[5]
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