Banjar Fermentation Tradition · Fried Cempedak Rind
Mandai
Photo: Ezagren (bicara / talk) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
It's made from what most cooks would throw away — the thick inner rind of the cempedak, a jackfruit relative — and once fermented and fried it turns chewy and savory enough to be compared to meat.
Cempedak or jackfruit rind is packed in salted brine and left to ferment for several days until sour and tender, then sliced and deep-fried until crisp at the edges, or stewed into a spicy sambal. Banjarmasin market stalls sell it by the jar as a pantry staple as much as a ready-to-eat side.
Why it's made this way: Mandai is a Banjar ethnic specialty of South Kalimantan born from a resourceful habit of fermenting fruit waste rather than discarding it, and it remains a distinctive marker of Dayak- and Banjar-influenced Kalimantan cuisine that has no real equivalent on Java or Sumatra.
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