A Tulisan Woman: Putri Miranti Indra
“I was hooked by the enjoyment and appreciation of seeing the expression people had over my cooking” – Putri Miranti Indra
A hazy yellowish tone accompanied by a classic French chanson and the mysterious arms pouring sugar over a steel pot. Discreet and unknown, this anonymous body adorning a Tulisan Admiral Kasarung Apron then gently fuses the ingredients together to form a delicately sticky form of caramel as our view is later shifted to the face of the taster and cook as she quietly moves away from the focal shoot. This was my first memory of Putri Miranti in a cooking video before finally having met her a year later.
Two things that immediately attracted my attention to Putri Miranti upon our first encounter were her brightly lit red lipstick and her bulging eyes. All of which speaks volume to her vibrant personality. With her straight-cut bangs that gave ample attention to her eyes, Putri embraces a wonder to whatever comes across her. She radiantly throws her confident smile as we shook hands and moved on to our meeting.
Any cook I have encountered would always mention the love of cooking to start from the home. As for Putri, whose family owns a catering business, the exposure to the cooking world was natural for her. Her favorite pastime as a child would be playing cook, “I have always been an ambitious cook,” explaining her process in a cooking set-up where she favored creating a make-believe ‘Gado-Gado’ (Indonesian mix vegetable dish) with leaves or Chocolate Chip Cookies with mud and stones. “I always dreamed of having a Doraemon pouch filled with cooking utensils.”
Even during high-school years, she knew where she was headed, she forgo the Science Major by requesting the school Principal the course would not be convenient for her future interest to pursue cooking wholeheartedly.
What she does today in becoming a cooking host for an independent cooking YouTube Channel, KokikuTV, and mastering the balance of teaching cooking lessons and becoming a private dining chef may be perceived to happen by instant in this self-made generation. But Putri has actually gone through a series of exploration before finally setting foot on a path she confidently feels arranges her love for cuisine. She has worked 12 hours straight in a day in the hospitality business in Singapore which resulted in a serious case of backpain for the tedious routinity of carrying 12 or 15 kilograms of mixers and repeatedly doing the same form of recipes.
It was as if she was guided by her two TV food personalities, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson, who became the benchmark to express her true artistic vision. After the pain of overworking, she decided to take a break from the culinary world to take on an offer which answers her love for traveling. She became a TV host for a traveling program, in hopes she could shift gear back into her main love of making food.
Early on, before having her own cooking show, I asked – rather awkwardly afraid of using the wrong words – of her love of being in the spotlight, to which my reserved question she dismissed confidently, “You mean whether I love appearing in the spotlight? Of course! I prefer talking for hours than writing” (The exact words she used in Indonesian was “Banci Tampil” which is roughly translated as being a “Spotlight Hogger”) as she laughed her giddy laugh.
It was the priorities of a married life which pushed her to review her frequent travels. “Maybe it was meant to bring me back to creating.” Putri realised the initial discipline behind the kitchen combined with the curious tastebuds from traveling made her want to influence and share her knowledge to a wider audience. The more viral it is through media, either print or online, the more she feels of it as a learning experience to upgrade her skills.
Today, her recipes are a merge of techniques and recipes of international and local. Especially after having two people, her mom and the much-respected father of Indonesian culinary, William Wongso comment on using the variety and abundant resources found in Indonesia. For the Tulisan team, she made the Banana Profiterole which was inspired by the classic Indonesian Banana Fritters.
She continues to innovate with much perseverance and a stimulated motivation, “I like to have fun in the kitchen, once you are rigid, it shows in your food.” As Putri’s voice animates from lines of squeaking sentences to glaringly laugh without reservation, she embodies the fun and excitement ready to fire blaze and lit the room with her persona and visual treats.
Text by Athina Ibrahim
Photography by Michal Gorzynski
Styling by Alexander Zulfikar Lalisang