Recipes from Indonesia

RECIPES from INDONESIA

Recipes from Bali

Sambal goreng telor

Spiced layer cake

Rudjak

Bapao

Ayam opor

Soto ayam

Peanut coconut sauce

Sambal oelek

Sambal trassi

Saté sauce
(the quick one)

Saté sauce
(the real one)

Ayam panggang

Indonesia has delicious food in many varieties. As coconut and banana trees are abundant, these ingredients make up a major part in the kitchen. Satay is a very popular dish, and can be made of chicken, pork, beef, prawns, fish or a mashed version of those (Satay Lilit). Even though we, tourists normally eat satay with peanut sauce, the Indonesians don't. The meat is already delicious by itself, as it is usually marinated, so the Indonesians serve it without sauce or just serve soy sauce with chili peppers. Coriander and cumin seeds are among the most popular spices. Fish is very often on the menu, but no meal comes without rice!
Influences are found from all over the world, from India, China (the use of noodles, tofu, bean sprouts and soy sauce), Middle East, Portugal, Spain (the use of chillies) and the Netherlands. Indonesia is spread out over many islands within a big area (the length is approximately 8,000 kilometers) and people with several religions and races live there, so the cuisine is very diverse, just as you will find in India and China for the same reason.
The soy sauce from the Chinese was sweetened and thickened into the now regular kecap manis. The Dutch, being colonials with loads of servants in those days, managed to expand the existing "rijsttafel" to a lengthy meal. We Dutch live in a small country and a small population, and therefore, the Dutch cuisine is limited in size. Some Dutch people even state, that there is no such thing as a Dutch cuisine, but of course I as worldcook must object to that though. But certainly, Indonesian cooking is extremely popular in the Netherlands and rijsttafel is still a lengthy and much enjoyed meal.

Click on the area inside the map to see
recipes from that part of Indonesia.

Obviously, it is impossible to exactly pinpoint the place where Indonesian recipes come from, but I have done an effor to trace the origins of the recipes on this page. Some of them are also popular in more than one place, others all over Indonesia.

BALI

In Bali, the food is just as delicious, but there are some differences. Half of the population is Hindu, whereas in the rest of Indonesia, the majority is Muslim. Therefore, eating pork is not a problem, even though Hindu priests are not supposed to eat either pork of beef. You see the signs everywhere, advertising the popular dish "Babi Guling" (roast suckling pig).
The goddess Dewi Sri , the partner of the Hindu god Vishnu, is the special goddess of rice in Bali. The food is generally seen as a blessing from the Gods and therefore, offerings are given all through the food chain, from the payers at the temple at rice field level, to the throwing of cooked food before eating. In Bali, the most famous dish is "nasi campur", mixed rice, which consists of rice with several side dishes and sambal, usually packed in banana leaves. The dish, which is called gado gado in the rest of Indonesia, is called Jukut Pecel in Bali. More famous Balinese recipes here are Satay Lilit and Bebek Betutu (duck in banana leaves).

Bebek menyanyat
Duck curry

Bebek betutu

Madura is a small island between Bali and Java. Here you will find many spices which were brought from India and the Middle East, like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Cumi cumi
smoor

Madura chicken

JAVA

Java - general

Sundanese (West-Java)

Ayam goreng
Yogya

Stuffed omelet
Java style

In Sumatra, you will find Indian and Arabic influences, and the food is more spicy. In Java, the food is subtle, using a combination of many flavors. On this island you will also find a lot of sweet dishes.

Sumatra - general

Padang (West-Sumatra)