Rempeyek or peyek is a deep-fried savoury Indonesian-Javanese cuisine cracker made from flour (usually rice flour) with other ingredients, bound or coated by crispy flour batter. The most common type of rempeyek is peyek kacang ("peanut peyek"); However, other ingredients can be used instead, such as teri (dried anchovies), rebon (small shrimp), or ebi (dried shrimp). Today, rempeyek is commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as in countries with considerable Indonesian migrant populations, such as Netherlands and Suriname.
Coconut milk, salt, and spices such as ground candlenut and coriander are often mixed within the flour batter. Some recipes also add a chopped citrus leaf. The spiced batter, mixed or sprinkled with the granule ingredients, is deep-fried in hot coconut oil. The flour batter acts as a binding agent for the granules (peanuts, anchovy, shrimp, etc.). It hardens upon frying and turns into a golden brown and crispy cracker.
In Indonesia, rempeyek making is traditionally a small-scale home industry, yet today, some rempeyek producers have reached a larger production scale and distribute widely, with a rempeyek-brand trading value reaching 25 million Rupiah (around US$2,100) monthly. In Malaysia, rempeyek is now widely made using machines.
Rempeyek is often associated with Javanese cuisine, served to accompany pecel (vegetables in peanut sauce) or other meals or as a stand-alone snack. Today, it is common throughout Indonesia and is also popular in Malaysia following the migration of Javanese immigrants in the early 19th century.
The recent popularity of spicy food saw the use of sliced cabai rawit (bird's eye chili pepper) as rempeyek. There is also a regional specialty of rempeyek yutuk (mole crab), which can be found mostly in Central Java's southern coast towns, such as Cilacap. More niche variants with edible insects, such as crickets and termites, also exist.
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