 Red snapper woku | |
| Course | Main course |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Indonesia |
| Region or state | North Sulawesi |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Chicken or seafood in hot and spicy spice mixture |
Woku is anIndonesian type ofbumbu (spice mixture) found inManado cuisine ofNorth Sulawesi,Indonesia, usually used to prepare animalprotein sources such as fish and chicken.[1]
Woku consists of a ground spice paste made primarily of redginger,turmeric,candlenut, and redchili pepper, mixed with choppedshallot,scallion, tomato, lemon or citrus leaf, and turmeric leaf,lemon basil leaf, and bruisedlemongrass. The dish uses either chicken or fish that is briefly marinated in salt and lime juice before the spice paste is cooked incoconut oil. Once aromatic, the chicken or fish is mixed into the spice paste with water and a pinch of salt until cooked.[1]
Woku is an authentic Manado sauce that gets its name fromdaun woka, a kind of young coconut leaf that is usually used as a rice wrapper.[2] Originally, the initial woku dishes were all wrapped in young coconut or banana leaves before being cooked, much like howpepes orketupat are cooked.
Almost any kind of meat, poultry and seafood can be made intowoku dish. The most common and popular areayam woku (chicken woku)[3] andkakap woku (red snapper woku).[4]Woku belanga is awoku variant cooked in abelanga (clay pot) or any kind of saucepan, whilewoku daun is awoku dish cooked and wrapped in banana or young coconut leaves.[2]
