There’s a very specific sound that describes my childhood afternoons.

The sharp sound of a metal spoon clanking on the bottom of a plastic jar. That sound in an Indonesian household is like the stash of Kentang Mustofa.

It’s the thinnest, most delicate potato matchsticks you have ever seen. Now picture them fried to a glass-like shattering and crusted in a sticky, spicy, sweet, and savory glaze that’s sticky and crunchy for weeks. It’s not just a snack, it’s a regular. We use it for warm rice, we eat it to go well with soup, we eat it at the bottom of the pantry on the run and more often than not, we eat it by the handful.

So Pattygurlz did a video which sent all of those cravings rushing right back to my mind. And then it came to my attention that while this snack’s a regional favorite in Indonesia, people are afraid they’re not going to do the work at home. And we’re thinking,

How do they get that crunchy so well?

So I rolled up my sleeves, braved the stinging aroma of frying chilies, and got in touch. If you are looking for that perfect Indonesian crispy potato your heart skipping a beat you are in the neighborhood.

The Soul of Snack: Why This Isn’t Just Your Average Fry. In the West, people enjoy French fries that are fluffy on the inside. But in Indonesia it’s a different story. When it comes to Kentang Mustofa, every tiny “fluff” is an indictment. We want structural integrity. Some are saying, they want our crunch loud enough that we come out of our thoughts.

What makes this snack so addictive is the way that the flavors spicy-sweet-savory balance. It’s a triple shot when we think of spicy, sweet and savory foods. Each time we eat my hands, I get a feeling why Indonesian cuisine is really that great. It’s never just one note. It’s a whole symphony at once.

Before we even get to a stovetop however, let us talk about the preparation and because, at truth, there’s magic before even the heat even touches the pan.

It All Starts with the Humble Spud. They used to think a potato is just a potato. I was wrong. If you want that legendary crunch you need to be a little picky. In Indonesia the older potatoes are generally less water heavy. Here’s a good deal from the grocery store to buy Russets at around $1/kg and Russets have the starch requirement if you want that shattering-crinkly texture.

The Art of the Matchstick. The most therapeutic (or tedious, depending on your mood in any one instance) part of this process is to slice the potatoes. You aren’t looking for wedges or rounds. You want little, elegant matchsticks.

As a matter of fact, first time I tried this I knew my ones were chunky logs. I felt good enough that they tasted okay but they just never hit that airy crispness. If you’re buying a mandoline slicer then now is the time to use it. And if not I have a favorite knife I can sharpen with my own sharpness of your hand and lean on it and let things come together well. It takes work to get there because of the texture but I promise that’s worth that.

The Secret is in the Soak. If you don’t go through this step, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. Once you’ve sliced potatoes into sweet little slivers, they all need a bath. And not just a bath; a bath, cold one will help.

I like to soak mine in water with a little bit of salt and sometimes a tablespoon of whiting lime water (air kapur sirih) if you can locate it with ease at an Asian grocer. If you aren’t in luck, don’t panic! You’re washing all that excess starch away into cold water. Starch is the enemy of long-lasting crunch. Starch is what makes potatoes turn brown and soft. We are hoping that we have pale and clean and ready to take oil.

The Frying Game

A Test of Patience. Frying Kentang Mustofa isn’t like to “set it and forget it”.

It’s more like a meditation. You’re going to need a big wok and oil.

What most frequently I see is crowding through the pan with others. I know, I know you want to be finished before you start eating. But if you dump too many potato sticks in at once the temperature wanes, the potatoes start steaming, rather than oiling, and you get a greasy clump.

Do it in batches. And watch the bubbles. When potatoes first hit oil they’ll bubble furiously. And though there’s moisture in the potato, it needs to slow down. You want to know, a color of gold to it and not just dark brown but a glimmering bronze.

Pro Tip

Once they are out, let them drain on a wire rack or lots of paper towels. They have to be bone-dry and cool before they even take thoughts of meeting the sauce.

The Sauce where the magic happens. This is what your crispy potato snack’s personality is built upon.

Every family has a “secret” ratio and the recipe of what it is really like isn’t the same:

Chilies: Long red chilies for the color and flavor of color or spice and bird’s eye chilies if you like to live dangerously.

Garlic: Because not living with garlic as we know it is not a life worth living.

Sugar: Usually palm sugar or white sugar. This is what makes to give a “glaze”.

Acid: One or the other a little tamarind water or a bit of vinegar. It cuts through the sweetness and keeps the flavors bright.

And this is the real trick — and we have to emphasize this deeply that when the sauce is “heavy” and the potatoes are already watery and the sauce is still fresh so that sambal and sauce go well in it will start to turn to water. You have to cook those sambals down until they’re big enough and slow then they will split and the oil gets to go away. It has to look like a thick, glossy syrup.

The Grand Integration

Turning the heat off prior to the potatoes are things that saved my cooking life. When the heat runs up and the sauce is mixed in it, sugar might burn in it while making the sauce.

I’d like two spatulas and sort of dump the potatoes in the sauce like we’re tossing away a salad. You want every single tiny matchstick to be kissed by that spicy red glaze. It’s a perfect sight, really. The red chili settles down against the golden potatoes, and then it’s edible art.

My Greatest Mistakes (Because I’ve Made Them All). The Soggy Tomorrow Syndrome: If your potatoes are crispy today but soft tomorrow, you likely did not cook the sauce long enough. Any water left in the sauce will be absorbed by the potato.

The bitter burn if your garlic or chilies get burned when you lay them out to sauce and just have to clean them up. That bitterness will ruin the whole batch and after the slicing you should be able to do better.

The salt overload

Just remember that the sauce will be off. Try taste it as you go; make sure to take it slow, with care.

How we get back to That. There’s an extremely comforting quality to a snack that’s an arduous task. By contrast, in a post-millennium world where instant gratification and pre-packaged chips are ubiquitous for one’s meal, it’s pretty rebellion to try and make one batch of Indonesian crispy potatoes. For you that’s also a way in which you tell your family (or yourself), “I care enough to spend two hours slicing vegetables for you.”

The smell fills the house whenever I cook it: toasted garlic and caramelized chili. It’s like my grandmother’s kitchen. It smells like holiday gatherings where adults gathered with one another around a dinner table for hours talking over the sounds of that deep crunch, crunch, crunch.

And it’s more than a recipe. It’s something of culture that you can store in a jar on your counter.

A Final Word Of Advice. If you are going to have this made make a double batch (I mean really). You believe it will last a week because when the people in your house first notice there’s that fresh jar of ‘Mustofa’ in the kitchen, it’s all gone quicker than you could finish saying enjoy your meal.

Don’t worry if your first batch isn’t ‘perfect.’ But cooking is about dialogue with your stuff, in order to bring about some harmony between you and food. So maybe you add more lime leaf for fragrance in the next, or a little chili for heat. And that’s the beauty of it all.

So take a bag of potatoes and turn on your favorite podcast and start slicing. Your future snacking self will thank you. That crunch has a lot of flavor right there and because by itself you’ve earned every bite.

Happy cooking and even more so happy snacking!