Anyone that know's me, know's I like my food. Yes I can be picky at times and at others downright confusing (I love cheese but I can't stand anything with cooked or melted cheese) but I'm always up for trying new and unusual things.
Back in the days in Thailand, before travelling to Jakarta, I went hill trekking and managed to try both rat and water buffalo. I also tried deep fried crickets too which, after a few beers, are not overly dissimilar to pork scratchings if you take the legs and general cricket shape into account.
The food I've tried here in Indonesia has been of tremendous variety. Simple dishes with complex flavours made by carefully combining herbs and spices and other ingredients to combine into what can only be described as a taste sensation. And I'm not talking about 5 Star restaurants. You get this same attention to detail even from the street vendors and roadside waroengs. The biggest complaint I hear levelled against Indonesian food is "everything is fried" and whilst this is not entirely true, alot of the food can be fried..........let me introduce you;
From top to bottom of these pictures we have:-
1. Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice)
This is a staple part of the Indonesian diet and possibly the most versatile meal on the list. This meal can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner or just as a snack. I've seen this dish prepared in a matter of seconds as long as the ingredients are ready to go. Here's the recipe and method from my local lunchtime waroeng, Wong Solo.
Basically you add some oil, garlic and salt to a hot wok and lightly stir in an egg. Next is added a little chicken stock and some thick soy sauce called kecap (pronounced ketchup but not to be confused with the tomato sauce variety) and to this is added a portion of steamed rice. This is stir fried and has pieces of cooked chicken and, depending on your taste, chopped birds eye chillies* are added. Now it's just about combining the ingredients. If this is served as a take-away then it is scooped onto a piece of banana leaf and topped with fried shallots, chopped pickled vegetables and, as is my preference, shredded cabbage. Finally garnished with prawn crackers called krupuk, the cost of this lunch is RP12,000 or about 80p in English money or $1.20 US.
The picture show's the more traditional "eat-in" service of the dish straight out of a bowl mould and topped with a fried egg and garnished with cucumber and tomato but, in my opinion, the dish I've described from Waroeng Wong Solo's is the best Nasi Goreng I've had since I've been here.
* The chillies are usually optional although in some dishes are already present. Indonesian preference is usually towards spicy. If you require your meal "spicy free" then the expression tidak pedas should immediately be in your vocabulary. Asking for something pedas usually ends up in vindaloo++ proportions of spicy heat! It should be born in mind that very little food here is ever entirely without being a little spicy.
2. Mie Goreng (Fried Noodles)
It's difficult to tell just which is more popular here, Rice or Noodles. I'd have to say that on reflection it would be noodles. Indonesians eat noodles in so many ways from the amazing variety of pot noodles and dried noodles found in supermarkets that with a little hot water, reconstitute themselves into great snacks (or in the case of cash strapped teachers, possibly a staple diet) to angel hair noodles or udon noodles.
This picture show's the most traditional way to eat them. Stir-fried with some vegetables and some stock and of course, the prerequisite chillies!
3. Gado-Gado (Vegetable Salad)
Possibly the least appetising dish from the pictures, I agree, but don't let that fool you. Gado-Gado can be translated into English as "jumble" and basically that's what this is. A jumble of steamed vegetables coated in peanut sauce (and chillies) and usually served with plain steamed rice or Lontong, a compacted rice cake.
4. Soto Betawi Ayam (Chicken Soup)
The fourth picture down is a great soup made with coconut milk, chicken and vegetables. It also has these weird egg crackers which don't taste particularly nice on their own, but once soaked in the soup give it another texture altogether.
5. Sate Kambing (Barbecued Goat Skewers)
There are many types of sate, quite possibly the more popular one is chicken, but this goat sate is more complex. The chicken version is barbecued then coated in a spicy peanut sauce and served on rice. The goat version is barbecued but then served with a sauce of sweet soy, chopped chillies, shredded cabbage, tomato, sliced shallots and lime juice.
6. Iga Bakar (Grilled Beef Ribs)
Pork isn't entirely off the menu in Indonesia but with the majority of the population being Muslim there are only select places that you find it. This dish does away with the need for pork ribs. The ribs you get in the waroengs and restaurants are usually huge and often served with something called Sambal*. Don't oder if you don't like fat. whilst there is alot of meat on the ribs, there is also some fat too. I'm a big fan of the taste of flame grilled beef fat but I understand it's not to everyone's taste.
* Sambal - Initially there are two types of sambal, matang (cooked) or mentah (raw). but the varieties don't stop there......
Sambal terasi
Possibly the most common style of sambal with a strong flavour coming from red and green chillies, shrimp paste, sugar, salt, and lime juice
Sambal asam
This is similar to sambal terasi but with the addition of a tamarind concentrate.
Sambal kacang
A mixture of chillies with garlic, shallots, sugar, salt, crushed fried peanuts and water.
Sambal bajak
Chilies fried with oil, garlic, candlenuts, this is a darker and richer sambal.
Sambal pencit
Take some sambal terasi and add shredded young mango. Pencit means young mango in Indonesian.
Sambal lado ijo
This is a Padang speciality- the sambal is green, not red and is made from green tomatoes, green chilies, shallots and spices and then stir fried.
The list goes on and is seemingly endless!
7. Bebek Goreng (Fried Duck) above
There are many Chinese restaurants here that serve great duck but this dish, found in waroengs and roadside restaurants is simple. Fried bits of duck served with a salad of raw cabbage leaves, mint leaves, tomato cucumber and a hot and spicy green chilli sambal.
No list of Indonesian food, no matter how short or how long, should miss the local delicacy(?) that is Durian. New York is called the Big Apple because everyone wants to take a bite out of it. Jakarta has earned the international moniker of "The Big Durian". Let me tell you durians stink. A ripe open durian smells like the inside of a 3 year old running shoe that's been left to go damp and moldy in some outhouse. Even Indonesians themselves are divided with a significant percentage not liking it either.
This does not stop shopkeepers and supermarkets from placing the display right at the front of the store where you can smell it from a considerable distance (aprox 2 miles). How this attracts customers rather than repels them is beyond me. It would have the same invitational appeal as a rotting warthog carcase displayed in the window.
The list of things made from this disgusting fruit includes iced smoothies, ice cream and even a sambal! Whilst durian flavoured candy is also available.
All i can say is........you've been warned!
Back in the days in Thailand, before travelling to Jakarta, I went hill trekking and managed to try both rat and water buffalo. I also tried deep fried crickets too which, after a few beers, are not overly dissimilar to pork scratchings if you take the legs and general cricket shape into account.
The food I've tried here in Indonesia has been of tremendous variety. Simple dishes with complex flavours made by carefully combining herbs and spices and other ingredients to combine into what can only be described as a taste sensation. And I'm not talking about 5 Star restaurants. You get this same attention to detail even from the street vendors and roadside waroengs. The biggest complaint I hear levelled against Indonesian food is "everything is fried" and whilst this is not entirely true, alot of the food can be fried..........let me introduce you;
\
1. Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice)
This is a staple part of the Indonesian diet and possibly the most versatile meal on the list. This meal can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner or just as a snack. I've seen this dish prepared in a matter of seconds as long as the ingredients are ready to go. Here's the recipe and method from my local lunchtime waroeng, Wong Solo.
Basically you add some oil, garlic and salt to a hot wok and lightly stir in an egg. Next is added a little chicken stock and some thick soy sauce called kecap (pronounced ketchup but not to be confused with the tomato sauce variety) and to this is added a portion of steamed rice. This is stir fried and has pieces of cooked chicken and, depending on your taste, chopped birds eye chillies* are added. Now it's just about combining the ingredients. If this is served as a take-away then it is scooped onto a piece of banana leaf and topped with fried shallots, chopped pickled vegetables and, as is my preference, shredded cabbage. Finally garnished with prawn crackers called krupuk, the cost of this lunch is RP12,000 or about 80p in English money or $1.20 US.
The picture show's the more traditional "eat-in" service of the dish straight out of a bowl mould and topped with a fried egg and garnished with cucumber and tomato but, in my opinion, the dish I've described from Waroeng Wong Solo's is the best Nasi Goreng I've had since I've been here.
* The chillies are usually optional although in some dishes are already present. Indonesian preference is usually towards spicy. If you require your meal "spicy free" then the expression tidak pedas should immediately be in your vocabulary. Asking for something pedas usually ends up in vindaloo++ proportions of spicy heat! It should be born in mind that very little food here is ever entirely without being a little spicy.
2. Mie Goreng (Fried Noodles)
It's difficult to tell just which is more popular here, Rice or Noodles. I'd have to say that on reflection it would be noodles. Indonesians eat noodles in so many ways from the amazing variety of pot noodles and dried noodles found in supermarkets that with a little hot water, reconstitute themselves into great snacks (or in the case of cash strapped teachers, possibly a staple diet) to angel hair noodles or udon noodles.
This picture show's the most traditional way to eat them. Stir-fried with some vegetables and some stock and of course, the prerequisite chillies!
3. Gado-Gado (Vegetable Salad)
Possibly the least appetising dish from the pictures, I agree, but don't let that fool you. Gado-Gado can be translated into English as "jumble" and basically that's what this is. A jumble of steamed vegetables coated in peanut sauce (and chillies) and usually served with plain steamed rice or Lontong, a compacted rice cake.
4. Soto Betawi Ayam (Chicken Soup)
The fourth picture down is a great soup made with coconut milk, chicken and vegetables. It also has these weird egg crackers which don't taste particularly nice on their own, but once soaked in the soup give it another texture altogether.
5. Sate Kambing (Barbecued Goat Skewers)
There are many types of sate, quite possibly the more popular one is chicken, but this goat sate is more complex. The chicken version is barbecued then coated in a spicy peanut sauce and served on rice. The goat version is barbecued but then served with a sauce of sweet soy, chopped chillies, shredded cabbage, tomato, sliced shallots and lime juice.
6. Iga Bakar (Grilled Beef Ribs)
Pork isn't entirely off the menu in Indonesia but with the majority of the population being Muslim there are only select places that you find it. This dish does away with the need for pork ribs. The ribs you get in the waroengs and restaurants are usually huge and often served with something called Sambal*. Don't oder if you don't like fat. whilst there is alot of meat on the ribs, there is also some fat too. I'm a big fan of the taste of flame grilled beef fat but I understand it's not to everyone's taste.
* Sambal - Initially there are two types of sambal, matang (cooked) or mentah (raw). but the varieties don't stop there......
Sambal terasi
Possibly the most common style of sambal with a strong flavour coming from red and green chillies, shrimp paste, sugar, salt, and lime juice
Sambal asam
This is similar to sambal terasi but with the addition of a tamarind concentrate.
Sambal kacang
A mixture of chillies with garlic, shallots, sugar, salt, crushed fried peanuts and water.
Sambal bajak
Chilies fried with oil, garlic, candlenuts, this is a darker and richer sambal.
Sambal pencit
Take some sambal terasi and add shredded young mango. Pencit means young mango in Indonesian.
Sambal lado ijo
This is a Padang speciality- the sambal is green, not red and is made from green tomatoes, green chilies, shallots and spices and then stir fried.
The list goes on and is seemingly endless!
There are many Chinese restaurants here that serve great duck but this dish, found in waroengs and roadside restaurants is simple. Fried bits of duck served with a salad of raw cabbage leaves, mint leaves, tomato cucumber and a hot and spicy green chilli sambal.
No list of Indonesian food, no matter how short or how long, should miss the local delicacy(?) that is Durian. New York is called the Big Apple because everyone wants to take a bite out of it. Jakarta has earned the international moniker of "The Big Durian". Let me tell you durians stink. A ripe open durian smells like the inside of a 3 year old running shoe that's been left to go damp and moldy in some outhouse. Even Indonesians themselves are divided with a significant percentage not liking it either.
This does not stop shopkeepers and supermarkets from placing the display right at the front of the store where you can smell it from a considerable distance (aprox 2 miles). How this attracts customers rather than repels them is beyond me. It would have the same invitational appeal as a rotting warthog carcase displayed in the window.
The list of things made from this disgusting fruit includes iced smoothies, ice cream and even a sambal! Whilst durian flavoured candy is also available.
All i can say is........you've been warned!
Nice attention to details sir, I can see that you are truly a food lover by the way you described those dishes :)
ReplyDelete