Buleleng Northern Lights

Dodol Ketan, a Gift from Buleleng

Buleleng has many characteristic traditional cakes. However, the most popular one is dodol ketan of Tamblang village, Kubutambahan and Kendran sub village, Buleleng. This dodol is blackish colored, delicious tasting sticky inside, and with a strange shape; some are just like a bolster and flat like a ping-pong ball. It uses a wrapper made from dried-corn peel that is tied on both corners.

It is fairly easily to make. Luh Putu Merning, the dodol maker from Kendran, Buleleng, explains it briefly. The basic ingredients are sticky powder, sugar or palm sugar, coconut milk, and egg white. The first step; mixed sticky powder with coconut milk and stir it until hard. Then, heat up the sugar until it melts and mixes with the coconut milk. To make the dough become stickier, add the egg white onto the sugar and coconut milk mixture. The ingredients comprise of 6 kg sugar mixed with 3 eggs white. The mixtures of powder and sugar are then poured into one, and heated up for about 3 hours. During the heating process, stir up the dough, so the ripeness will spread evenly. After cooked, wrap the dough with dried-corn peel and its now ready to sell. It’s sold at a few traditional markets such as at Anyar Market, Banyuasri Market, Seririt Market, etc, and several cake stores in Singaraja and Denpasar.
Besides using as an offering complement in Buleleng, dodol is also popular with the traveler as a gift when leaving this northern Bali territory. Moreover, several tourists from Australia and Japan also order this characteristic snack of Tamblang village as a gift when they return to their country. (BTN/Bll/leo)