Cuisine of Indonesia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Indonesian cuisine is diverse, in part because Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands. Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon cultural

Culture of Indonesia

Indonesian culture has been shaped by long interaction between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences. Indonesia is central along ancient trading routes between the Far East and the Middle East, resulting in many cultural practices being strongly influenced by a multitude of...

and foreign influences. Indonesian cuisine varies greatly by region and has many different influences. For example, Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

n cuisine often has Middle Eastern and Indian influences, featuring curried meat and vegetables, while Javanese cuisine

Javanese cuisine

Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people. In wider sense, Javanese cuisine might also refer to the cuisine of the whole people of Java Island, Indonesia; which also include Sundanese in West Java, Betawi people in Jakarta and Madurese on Madura Island off East Java...

and Sundanese cuisine

Sundanese cuisine

Sundanese cuisine is the cuisine of Sundanese people of West Java, Indonesia. It is among one of the most popular food in Indonesia. The Sundanese food is characterize with its freshness; the famous lalab eaten with sambal and also karedok demonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables...

are more indigenous.

Throughout its history, Indonesia has been involved in trade due to its location and natural resources. Additionally, Indonesia’s indigenous techniques and ingredients were influenced by India, the Middle East, China, and finally Europe. Spanish and Portuguese traders brought New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

produce

Produce

Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...

even before the Dutch came to colonize most of the archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

. The Indonesian islands The Moluccas

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...

(Maluku), which are famed as "the Spice Islands", also contributed to the introduction of native spices, such as cloves and nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

, to Indonesian and global cuisine.

Some popular Indonesian dishes such as nasi goreng

Nasi goreng

Nasi goreng, literally meaning "fried rice" in Indonesian, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including stir fried rice in small amount of cooking oil or margarine, typically spiced with kecap manis , shallot, garlic, tamarind and chilli and accompanied with other ingredients,...

, gado-gado

Gado-gado

Gado-gado , also called Lotek for its cooked version - differed from lotek atah or karedok for its fresh and raw version of the vegetable covered with peanut sauce and pecel is an Indonesian dish comprising a vegetable salad served with a peanut sauce dressing...

, sate

Satay

Satay , or sate, is a dish of marinated, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. Satay may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, other meats, or tofu; the more authentic version uses skewers from the midrib of the coconut palm frond, although bamboo skewers are...

, and soto

Soto (food)

Soto, sroto, tauto or coto is a common dish, found in many regional variations of Indonesian cuisine. It is a traditional soup mainly composed of broth, meat and vegetables. There is no clear definition of what makes a soto, but normally many traditional soups are called soto, whereas foreign and...

are ubiquitous in the country and considered as Indonesian national dish

National dish

A national dish is a dish, food or a drink that is considered to represent a particular country, nation or region.A dish can become a national dish for a variety of reasons. It can be the national dish because it is a staple daily food for the majority of the population. It can also be the national...

es.

Sumatra

Sumatra

n cuisine, for example, often has Middle Eastern and Indian influences, featuring curried meat and vegetables such as gulai

Gulai

Gulai is a type of food contained rich, spicy and succulent curry-like sauce. The main ingredients might be chicken, beef, mutton, various kinds of offals, fish and seafoods, and also vegetables such as cassava leafs and young jackfruit. The gulai sauce commonly have thick consistency with...

and kari, while Javanese cuisine

Javanese cuisine

is more indigenous. The cuisines of Eastern Indonesia are similar to Polynesian and Melanesian cuisine. Elements of Chinese cuisine can be seen in Indonesian cuisine: items such as bakmi (noodles), bakso

Bakso

Bakso or baso is Indonesian meatball or meat paste made from beef surimi and is similar in texture to the Chinese beef ball, fish ball, or pork ball. Bakso is commonly made from beef with a small quantity of tapioca flour, however bakso can also be made from other ingredients, such as chicken,...

(meat or fish balls), and lumpia

Lumpia

Lumpia are pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia , which is an alternate term for popiah...

(spring rolls) have been completely assimilated.

Some popular dishes that originated in Indonesia are now common across much of Southeast Asia. Indonesian dishes such as satay

Satay

, beef rendang

Rendang

Rendang is a dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia, and is now commonly served across the country. One of the characteristic foods of Minangkabau culture, it is served at ceremonial occasions and to honour guests...

, and sambal

Sambal

Sambal is a chili based sauce which is normally used as a condiment. Sambals are popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as in the Netherlands and in Suriname through Javanese influence. It is typically made from a variety of chili peppers and is...

are also favoured in Malaysia and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. Soy-based dishes, such as variations of tofu

Tofu

is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...

(tahu) and tempe

Tempeh

Tempeh , or tempe , is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty...

, are also very popular. Tempe is regarded as a Javanese invention, a local adaptation of soy-based food fermentation and production. Another fermented food is oncom

Oncom

Oncom is one of the traditional staple foods of West Javan cuisine. There are two kinds of oncom: red oncom and black oncom...

, similar in some ways to tempe but using a variety of bases (not only soy), created by different fungi, and particularly popular in West Java

West Java

West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...

.

Indonesian meals are commonly eaten with the combination of a spoon

Spoon

A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery , especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for serving. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients...

in the right hand and fork

Fork

As a piece of cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The fork, as an eating utensil, has been a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent...

in the left hand (to push the food onto the spoon), although in many parts of the country, such as West Java

West Java

and West Sumatra

West Sumatra

West Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra. It borders the provinces of North Sumatra to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast...

, it is also common to eat with one's hands. In restaurants or households that commonly use bare hands to eat, like in seafood foodstalls, traditional Sundanese

Sundanese cuisine

and Minangkabau restaurants, or East Javanese pecel lele (fried catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

with sambal

Sambal

) and ayam goreng (fried chicken) food stalls, they usually serve kobokan, a bowl of tap water with a slice of lime in it to give a fresh scent. This bowl of water should not to be consumed, however; it is used to wash one's hand before and after eating. Eating with chopsticks

Chopsticks

Chopsticks are small, often tapered, sticks used in pairs of equal length as the traditional eating utensils of China and its diaspora, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Northern provinces of Laos, Thailand and Burma. Generally believed to have originated in ancient China, they can also be found in some...

is generally only found in food stalls or restaurants serving Indonesian adaptations of Chinese cuisine, such as bakmie or mie ayam (chicken noodle) with pangsit (wonton), mie goreng (fried noodles), and kwetiau goreng (fried flat rice noodles).

Rice

Rice is a staple for all classes in contemporary Indonesia

Indonesia

, and it holds the central place in Indonesian culture: it shapes the landscape; is sold at markets; and is served in most meals both as a savoury and a sweet food. The importance of rice in Indonesian culture is demonstrated through the reverence of Dewi Sri

Dewi Sri

Dewi Sri, or Dewi Shri , Nyai Pohaci Sanghyang Asri is the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese pre-Hindu and pre-Islam era goddess of rice and fertility, still widely worshipped on the islands of Bali and Java...

, the rice goddess of ancient Java and Bali. Traditionally the agricultural cycles linked to rice cultivations were celebrated through rituals, such as Seren Taun

Seren Taun

Seren Taun is an annual traditional Sundanese rice harvest festival and ceremony. This festivals originally held to mark the new agriculture year in Sundanese ancient calendar as well as thanks giving for the blessings of the abundance rice harvest, and also to pray for the next successful harvest...

rice harvest festival.

Rice is most often eaten as plain rice with just a few protein and vegetable dishes as side dishes. It is also served, however, as nasi uduk (rice cooked in coconut milk), nasi kuning

Nasi kuning

Nasi Kuning is an Indonesian rice dish cooked with coconut milk and turmeric, hence the name nasi kuning . Nasi kuning might come in the form of a cone called a tumpeng and is usually eaten during special events...

(rice cooked with coconut milk and turmeric), ketupat

Ketupat

Ketupat or packed rice is a type of dumpling from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines , and Singapore.-History:It is made from rice that has been wrapped in a woven palm leaf pouch and boiled...

(rice steamed in woven packets of coconut fronds), lontong

Lontong

Lontong is an Asian dish made of compressed rice wrapped inside banana leaf that is then cut into small cakes as staple food replacement of steamed rice...

(rice steamed in banana leaves), intip or rengginang (rice crackers), desserts, vermicelli

Vermicelli

Vermicelli is a traditional type of pasta round in section that is thicker than spaghetti.-Vermicelli thickness comparison:In USA, the National Pasta Association, founded in 1904, lists, together with various spelling mistakes, vermicelli as a thinner type of spaghetti.-History in Italy:In...

, noodles, arak beras (rice wine), and nasi goreng

Nasi goreng

(fried rice

Fried rice

Fried rice is a popular component of Asian cuisine, especially Chinese food. It is made from steamed rice stir-fried in a wok, often with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, and meat. It is sometimes served as the penultimate dish in Chinese banquets...

). Nasi goreng is omnipresent in Indonesia and considered as national dish

National dish

.

Rice was only incorporated into diets, however, as either the technology to grow it or the ability to buy it from elsewhere was gained. Evidence of wild rice on the island of Sulawesi

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...

dates from 3000 BCE. Evidence for the earliest cultivation, however, comes from eighth century stone inscriptions from the central island of Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

, which show kings levied taxes in rice. The images of rice cultivation, rice barn, and mouse pest investing a ricefield is evident in Karmawibhanga bas-reliefs of Borobudur

Borobudur

Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues...

. Divisions of labour between men, women, and animals that are still in place in Indonesian rice cultivation, were carved into relief friezes on the ninth century Prambanan temples

Prambanan

Prambanan is a ninth century Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator , the Sustainer and the Destroyer...

in Central Java

Central Java

Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...

: a water buffalo attached to a plough; women planting seedlings and pounding grain; and a man carrying sheaves of rice on each end of a pole across his shoulders (pikulan). In the sixteenth century, Europeans visiting the Indonesian islands saw rice as a new prestige food served to the aristocracy during ceremonies and feasts.

Rice production in Indonesian history is linked to the development of iron tools and the domestication of Wild Asian Water Buffalo

Wild Asian Water Buffalo

The wild water buffalo also called Asian buffalo and Asiatic buffalo is a large bovine native to Southeast Asia...

as water buffalo for cultivation of fields and manure

Manure

Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are trapped by bacteria in the soil...

for fertilizer. Rice production requires exposure to the sun. Once covered in dense forest, much of the Indonesian landscape has been gradually cleared for permanent fields and settlements as rice cultivation developed over the last fifteen hundred years.

Other staple carbohydrates

Other staple foods in Indonesia include a number of starchy tubers such as; yam

Yam (vegetable)

Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...

, sweet potato

Sweet potato

The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...

, potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

, taro

Taro

Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...

and cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

; also starchy fruit such as breadfruit

Breadfruit

Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...

and grains such as maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

and wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

. A sago

Sago

Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...

congee

Congee

Congee is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries. It can be eaten alone or served with a side dish. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation...

called Papeda

Papeda (food)

Papeda or bubur sagu, is sago congee, the staple food of native people in Maluku and Papua. It is commonly found in eastern Indonesia, as the counterpart of central and western Indonesian cuisines that favour rice as their staple food....

is a staple food especially in Maluku

Maluku Islands

and Papua. Sago is also often mixed with water and cooked as a simple pancake. Next to sago, people of eastern Indonesia also consume various kind of wild tubers as staple food.

Many types of tubers such as talas (a type of taro but larger and more bland) and breadfruit are native to Indonesia, while others are introduced from elsewhere. Wheat, the base ingredient for bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

and noodles were probably introduced from India or China; yam was introduced from Africa; while maize, potato, sweet potato, cassava and maize were introduced from Americas through Spanish influence and finally reached Java in 17th century. Cassava is usually boiled, steamed, fried or processed as popular snack kripik singkong (cassava crackers). Dried cassava, locally known as tiwul, is an alternate staple food in arid areas of Java such as Gunung Kidul and Wonogiri, while other roots and tubers are eaten especially in hard times. Maize is eaten in drier regions such as Madura

Madura

Madura is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately 4,250 km². Madura is administered as part of the East Java province. It is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura.-History:...

and islands east of the Wallace Line

Wallace Line

The Wallace Line separates the ecozones of Asia and Wallacea, a transitional zone between Asia and Australia. West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin is present...

, such as the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Meat and fish

Indonesian protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

intake is came from vegetables and beans produce such as soy products that processed into tofu

Tofu

and tempeh

Tempeh

, chicken eggs and also meats. The main meat source diet mostly are poultry and fish, however meats such as beef, waterbuffalo, goat and mutton is commonly found in Indonesian marketplaces. As a country with muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

majority population, Indonesian muslim follows Islamic halal

Halal

Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...

dietary law which forbid the consumption of pork

Pork

Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....

. However in other parts of Indonesia where significant numbers of non-muslim resides, boar and pork is commonly consumed. Dishes made of non-halal meats can be found in provinces such as Bali, North Sumatra, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Papua, Papua, and also in Chinatowns in major Indonesian cities. Today to cater for larger muslim market, most of restaurants or eating establishments in Indonesia put halal sign that signify they do not serve pork nor use lard

Lard

Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...

in their cooking.

The meat can be cooked in rich spices and coconut milk such as beef rendang

Rendang

, skewered, seasoned and grilled chicken or mutton as satay

Satay

, barbecued meats, or sliced and cooked in rich broth soup as soto

Soto (food)

. Muttons and various offal

Offal

Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than...

s can be use as ingredients for soto soup or gulai

Gulai

curry. In Hindu majority Bali, the babi guling pig roast is popular among local as well as non-muslim visitors, while the Batak people of North Sumatra have babi panggang that is a similar dish. The meat also can be processed in various ways; to be thinly sliced and dried as dendeng

Dendeng

Dendeng is thinly sliced dried meat in Indonesian cuisine. It is preserved through mixture of sugar and spices and drying through frying process...

(jerky), or made into abon (meat floss). Dendeng celeng is Indonesian "dried, jerked" boar meat.

As an archipelagic nation, seafood

Seafood

Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...

is abundant and commonly consumed especially by Indonesian resides in coastal area. Popular seafoods in Indonesian cuisine among other; mackerel, tuna, wahoo, milkfish, red snapper, anchovy, cuttlefish, shrimp, crab and mussel. Seafood is commonly consumed across Indonesia, but it is especially popular in Maluku islands and Minahasa (North Sulawesi) cuisine. Seafood are usually being bakar (grilled), rebus (boiled) or goreng (fried). However another method of cooking like stir fried in spices or in soup is also possible. Ikan asin (salted fish) is preserved seafood through cured in salt, it is also can be found in Indonesian market. Fresh water fisheries can be found in inland region or area with large rivers or lakes. Popular fresh water fish among others; carp, gourami, snakehead, tilapia, catfish and pangasius.

Spices and other flavorings

"Rempah" is Indonesian word for spice, while "bumbu" is the Indonesian word for spices mixture or seasoning, and it commonly appears in the names of certain spice mixtures, sauces and seasoning pastes. Known throughout the world as the "Spice Islands", the Indonesian islands of Maluku

Maluku Islands

contributed to the introduction of its native spices to world cuisine. Spices such as pala (nutmeg/mace

Nutmeg

), cengkeh (clove

Clove

Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...

), and laos (galangal

Galangal

Galangal is a rhizome of plants of the genus Alpinia or Kaempferia in the ginger family Zingiberaceae, with culinary and medicinal uses originated from Indonesia...

) are native to Indonesia. It is likely that lada hitam (black pepper

Black pepper

Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...

), kunyit (turmeric

Turmeric

Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...

), sereh (lemongrass), bawang merah (shallot

Shallot

The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...

), kayu manis (cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

), kemiri (candlenut

Candlenut

Aleurites moluccana, the Candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, Buah keras or Kukui nut tree....

), ketumbar (coriander

Coriander

Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...

), and asam jawa (tamarind

Tamarind

Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...

) were introduced from India, while jahe (ginger

Ginger

Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....

), daun bawang (green onions

Scallion

Scallions , are the edible plants of various Allium species, all of which are "onion-like", having hollow green leaves and lacking a fully developed root bulb.-Etymology:The words...

) and bawang putih (garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...

) were introduced from China. Those spices from mainland Asia were introduced early, in ancient times, thus they became integral ingredients in Indonesian cuisine.

In ancient times, the kingdom of Sunda and the later sultanate of Banten

Sultanate of Banten

The Sultanate of Banten was founded in the 16th century and centered in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English spelling of both was Bantam...

were well known as the world's major producers of black pepper. The maritime empires of Srivijaya

Srivijaya

Srivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...

and Majapahit also benefited from the lucrative spice trade between the spice islands with China and India. Later the Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

controlled the spice trade between Indonesia and the world. The Indonesian fondness for hot and spicy food was enriched when the Spanish introduced cabai chili pepper

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...

from the New World

New World

to the region in 16th century. After that hot and spicy sambal

Sambal

s have become an important part of Indonesian cuisine. Sambal evolved into many variants across Indonesia, ones of the most popular is sambal terasi (sambal belacan) and sambal mangga muda (young mango sambal). Dabu-dabu is North Sulawesi style of sambal with chopped fresh tomato, chili, and lime juice. Traditionally prepared laboriously ground upon stone mortar

Mortar and pestle

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances . The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone...

, today sambals is also available as industrial processed products in bottles or jars.

Soy sauce is also an important flavorings in Indonesian cuisine. Kecap asin (salty or common soy sauce) was adopted from Chinese cuisine, however Indonesian developed their own kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) with generous addition of palm sugar

Palm sugar

Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm, the date palm or sugar date palm . Now it is also made from the sap of the sago, arenga pinnata and coconut palms, and may be sold as "arenga sugar" or "coconut sugar".-Description:It is quickly gaining popularity in the...

into soy sauce. Sweet soy sauce is an important marinade for barbecued meat and fish, such as satay and grilled fishes. Sweet soy sauce is also an important ingredient for semur

Semur (Indonesian stew)

Semur is a type of meat stew that is processed in thick brown gravy commonly found in Indonesian cuisine. The main material used in semur gravy is shallots, onions, garlic, kecap manis , nutmeg and cloves...

, Indonesian stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...

Peanut sauce

One of the main characteristics of Indonesian cuisine is the wide application of peanut

Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...

s in many Indonesian signature dishes, such as satay

Satay

, gado-gado

Gado-gado

, karedok

Karedok

Karedok is a raw vegetable salad in peanut sauce from West Java, Indonesia. It is one of the Sundanese signature dish. It is made from cucumbers, bean sprouts, cabbage, legumes, Thai basil, and small green eggplant, covered in peanut sauce dressing...

, ketoprak

Ketoprak

Ketoprak may refer to:* Ketoprak, a traditional theater genre of Java, similar to wayang wong* Ketoprak , a salty West Javanese version of Gado-gado with tahu, bihun, cucumber and sprouting....

, and pecel

Pecel

Pecel is an Indonesian sauce based on chillies, peanuts, tamarind and coconut sugar. It is commonly served over boiled vegetables. It is similar to the sauce used in Gado-gado.-External links:*...

. Gado-gado

Gado-gado

and Sate

Satay

for example have been considered as Indonesian national dishes.
Introduced from Mexico by Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

and Spanish

Spanish people

The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

merchants in 16th century, peanuts assumed a place within Indonesian cuisine as a key ingredient. Peanuts thrived in the tropical environment of Southeast Asia, and today they can be found, roasted and chopped finely, in many recipes. Whole, halved, or crushed peanuts are used to garnish a variety of dishes, and used in marinades and dipping sauces such as sambal kacang (a mixture of ground chilies and fried peanuts) for otak-otak

Otak-otak

Otak-otak is a cake made of fish meat and spices. It is widely known across Southeast Asia, where it is traditionally served fresh, wrapped inside a banana leaf, as well as in many Asian stores internationally - being sold as frozen food and even canned food.-Distribution:Otak-otak is found in...

or ketan. Peanut oil

Peanut oil

Peanut oil is an organic material oil derived from peanuts, noted to have the aroma and taste of its parent legume....

, extracted from peanuts, is one of the most commonly used cooking oils in Indonesia.

Bumbu kacang or peanut sauce

Peanut sauce

Peanut sauce, satay sauce, bumbu kacang, or sambal kacang is a sauce widely used in the cuisines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Africa. It is also used, to a lesser extent, in European and Middle Eastern cuisine.-Ingredients:The main ingredient is ground roasted peanuts, for...

represents a sophisticated, earthy seasoning rather than a sweet, gloppy sauce. It should have a delicate balance of savoury, sweet, sour, and spicy flavours, acquired from various ingredients, such as fried peanuts, gula jawa (coconut sugar), garlic, shallots, ginger, tamarind, lemon juice, lemongrass, salt, chilli, peppercorns, sweet soy sauce, ground together and mixed with water to form the right consistency. The secret to good peanut sauce is “not too thick and not too watery.” Indonesian peanut sauce tends to be less sweet than the Thai version, which is a hybrid adaptation. Gado-gado is a popular dish particularly associated with bumbu kacang, and is eaten across Indonesia.

Coconut milk

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

s are abundant in tropical Indonesia, and since ancient times Indonesians developed many and various uses for this plant. The broad use of coconut milk

Coconut milk

Coconut milk is the water that comes from the grated meat of a coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content. In many parts of the world, the term coconut milk is also used to refer to coconut water, the naturally occurring liquid found inside the hollow...

in dishes throughout the archipelago is another common characteristic of Indonesian cuisine. It is used in recipes ranging from savoury dishes - such as rendang

Rendang

, soto

Soto (food)

, sayur lodeh

Sayur lodeh

Sayur lodeh is a popular vegetable in coconut milk soup in Indonesian cuisine. Common ingredients are young jackfruit, eggplant, chayote, melinjo, long beans, tofu, tempeh all cooked in coconut milk soups and sometimes enrichen with chicken or beef stock....

, gudeg, and opor ayam - to desserts - such as es cendol

Cendol

Cendol is a traditional dessert originating from South East Asia which is still popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar , Singapore, Vietnam, and Southern Thailand where it is called lortchorng singapore ลอดช่องสิงคโปร์).-Etymology:There is popular belief in Indonesia that the name "cendol" is...

and es doger. Soto

Soto (food)

is ubiquitous in Indonesia and considered as one of Indonesia's national dish

National dish

es.

The use of coconut milk is not exclusive to Indonesian cuisine. It can also be found in Indian, Samoan, Thai, Malaysian, Filipino, and Brazilian cuisines. Nonetheless, the use of coconut milk is quite extensive in Indonesia, especially in Minangkabau cuisine, although in Minahasan (North Sulawesi

North Sulawesi

North Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia. It is on the island of Sulawesi, and borders the province of Gorontalo to the west . The islands of Sangihe and Talaud form the northern part of the province, which border Davao del Sur in the Philippines.The capital and largest city in North Sulawesi is...

) cuisine, coconut milk is generally absent, except in Minahasan cakes and desserts such as klappertart.

In Indonesian cuisine, two types of coconut milk are found, thin coconut milk and thick coconut milk. The difference depends on the water and oil content. Thin coconut milk is usually used for soups such as sayur lodeh and soto, while the thicker variety is used for rendang and desserts. It can be made from freshly shredded coconut meat in traditional markets, or can be found processed in cartons at the supermarket.

After the milk has been extracted from the shredded coconut flesh to make coconut milk, the ampas kelapa (leftover coconut flesh) can still be used in urap, seasoned and spiced shredded coconut meat mixed together with vegetables. Leftover shredded coconut can also be cooked, sauteed and seasoned to make serundeng, almost powdery sweet and spicy finely shredded coconut. Kerisik

Kerisik

Kerisik is used in Malaysian and Indonesian cooking. Coconut is grated, toasted, then ground to a paste. It is sometimes referred to as coconut butter. It can be made at home or bought ready made...

paste, added to thicken rendang

Rendang

, is another use of coconut flesh. To acquire a rich taste, some households insist on using freshly shredded coconut, instead of leftover, for urap and serundeng. Serundeng can be mixed with meat in dishes such as serundeng daging (beef serundeng) or sprinkled on top of other dishes such as soto or ketan (sticky rice). An example of the heavy use of coconut is Buras from Makassar

Makassar

Makassar, is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was named Ujung Pandang, after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably...

, rice wrapped in banana leaf cooked with coconut milk and sprinkled with powdered coconut similar to serundeng.

Regional dishes

West Java

A textural specialty of Sunda

Sundanese cuisine

(West Java

West Java

) is karedok

Karedok

, a fresh salad made with long beans, bean sprouts, and cucumber with a spicy sauce. Other Sundanese dishes include mie kocok which is a beef and egg noodle soup, and soto Bandung, a beef and vegetable soup with daikon and lemon grass. A hawker favourite is kupat tahu (pressed rice, bean sprouts, and tofu with soy and peanut sauce). Colenak (roasted cassava with sweet coconut sauce) and ulen (roasted brick of sticky rice with peanut sauce) are dishes usually eaten warm.

Central Java

The food of Central Java

Central Java

is renowned for its sweetness, and the dish of gudeg

Gudeg

Gudeg is a traditional food from Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia which is made from young Nangka boiled for several hours with palm sugar, and coconut milk . Additional spices include garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves, and teak leaves, the latter giving a...

, a curry made from jackfruit

Jackfruit

The jackfruit is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family . It is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh, . The jackfruit tree is believed to be indigenous to the southwestern rain forests of India...

, is a particularly sweet. The city of Yogyakarta is renowned for its ayam goreng (fried chicken) and kelepon (green rice-flour balls with palm sugar filling). Surakarta's (Solo) specialities include Nasi liwet

Nasi liwet

Nasi liwet is a kind of food from Solo, Central Java. As we know, rice is usually cooked in water, but nasi liwet is rice cooked in coconut milk. This is a traditional Javanese way of cooking, from the past until now. In the past, the pan used for cooking was made of clay...

(rice with coconut milk, unripe papaya, garlic and shallots, served with chicken or egg) and serabi

Serabi

Serabi, surabi or called srabi is an Indonesian pancake that is made from rice flour with coconut milk or just plain shredded coconut as an emulsifier. Each province in Indonesia has various serabi recipes corresponding to local tastes....

(coconut milk pancakes topped with chocolate, banana or jackfruit). Other Central Javanese specialities pecel

Pecel

Pecel is an Indonesian sauce based on chillies, peanuts, tamarind and coconut sugar. It is commonly served over boiled vegetables. It is similar to the sauce used in Gado-gado.-External links:*...

(peanut sauce with spinach and bean sprouts), lotek (peanut sauce with vegetable and pressed rice), opor ayam

Opor Ayam

Opor ayam is a chicken cooked in coconut milk from Indonesia, especially from Central Java. Opor ayam is also a popular dish for lebaran or Eid ul-Fitr, usually eaten with ketupat and sambal goreng ati ....

(braised chicken in coconut sauce), and rawon

Rawon

Rawon or Nasi Rawon/Rawon Rice is a strong rich tasting traditional Indonesian beef black soup. Originally from Surabaya in Indonesian province of East Java...

(dark beef stew).

East Java
The food of East Java

East Java

East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...

is similar to that of Central Java. East Java foods tend to be less sweet and spicier compare to the Central Java ones. Fish and fish/seafood products are quite extensive to be used such as terasi (dried shrimp paste) and petis udang (shrimp paste). Some of the popular foods are Lontong Kupang (Tiny Clams Soup with Rice Cakes), Lontong Balap (Bean Sprouts and Tofu with Rice Cakes), Sate Klopo (Coconut Beef Satay), Semanggi Surabaya (Marsilea Leaves with Spicy Sweet Potato Sauce), 'Pecel Lele (deep fried catfish served with rice and sambal). Food from Malang

Malang

Malang is the second largest city in East Java province, Indonesia. It has an ancient history dating back to the Mataram Kingdom. The city population at the 2010 Census was 819,708. During the period of Dutch colonization, it was a popular destination for European residents. The city is famous for...

includes bakwan Malang (meatball soup with won ton and noodles) and arem aream (pressed rice, tempe, sprouts, soy sauce, coconut, and peanuts.

Madura
Madura is an island on the northeastern coast of Java and administered as part of the East Java province. Like the East Java foods which use petis udang, Madura foods add petis ikan which is made from fish instead of shrimp. The Madura style satay

Satay

is probably the most popular satay variants in Indonesia. Some of its popular dishes areSate Ayam Madura (Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce), Soto Madura (Beef Soup). Madura dishes are often saltier than other East Java foods.

Bali
Balinese dishes include lawar (chopped coconut, garlic, chilli, with pork or chicken meat and blood). Bebek betutu is duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and coconut husks cooked in a pit of embers. Balinese sate, known as sate lilit, is made from spiced mince pressed onto skewers which are often lemon grass sticks. Babi guling is a spit-roasted pig stuffed with chilli, tumeric, garlic and ginger.

North Sumatra
Arab, Persian, and Indian traders influenced food in Aceh although flavours have changed to be little like their original form. Amongst these are curry dishes known as kare or gulai, which are rich, coconut-based dishes traditionally made with beef, goat, fish or poultry, but are now also made with tofu, vegetables, and jackfruit. The popular Aceh food such as roti cane and mie aceh

Mie aceh

Mie Aceh is a spicy noodle dish, specialty of Acehnese people in Indonesia. The thick yellow noodle with slices of beef, goat meat or seafood is served in rich and spicy curry-like soup. Mie Aceh is available in two variations; Mie Aceh Goreng and Mie Aceh Kuah...

. Batak people

Batak (Indonesia)

Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing, each of which are distinct but related groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and...

use either pork or even dog to make sangsang. Another Batak pork specialty is babi panggang in which the meat is boiled in vinegar and pig blood before being roasted. Another batak dish, Ayam namargota, is chicken cooked in spices and blood. Another notable Batak dish is arsik, the carp

Carp

Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

fish cooked with spices and herbs. Lada rimba is strong pepper used by Bataks.

West Sumatra

Buffaloes are a symbol of West Sumatra and are used in rendang

Rendang

, a rich and spicy buffalo meat or beef dish. Padang food comes from West Sumatra. The Padang food restaurant chains can be found throughout Indonesia and neighboring countries, thus render it as probably the most popular regional dish in Indonesia. Dishes from the region include nasi kapau which is similar to Padang food but uses more vegetables. Ampiang dadiah (buffalo yogurt with palm sugar syrup, coconut flesh and rice) and bubur kampiun (Mung bean porridge with banana and rice yogurt) are other west Sumatran specialties.

South Sumatra
The city of Palembang

Palembang

Palembang is the capital city of the South Sumatra province in Indonesia. Palembang is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, and has a history of being a capital of a maritime empire. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400.61 square...

is the culinary centre of South Sumatra and is renowned for its pempek

Pempek

Pempek, mpek-mpek or empek-empek is a savoury fishcake delicacy from Palembang, Indonesia, made of fish and tapioca. Pempek is served with yellow noodles and a dark, rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko .-Origin:Pempek is the best-known of Palembang's dishes...

, a deep fried fish and sago dumpling that is also known as empek-empek. Also pempek derivatives dishes such as tekwan soup of pempek dumpling, mushroom, vegetables, and shrimp; lenggang, pempek slices in ommelette. Mie celor is a noodle dish with egg in coconut milk and dried shrimp is also Palembang specialties. South Sumatra is also home to pindang, a spicy fish soup with soy and tamarind. Ikan brengkes is fish in a spicy durian-based sauce. Tempoyak is a sauce of shrimp paste, lime juice, chilli and fermented durian, and sambal buah is a chilli sauce made from fruit.

North Sulawesi
Minahasa

Minahasa

The Minahasa are an ethnic group located in the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, formerly known as North Celebes...

n cuisine from North Sulawesi

North Sulawesi

features heavy use of meat such as pork, fowl, and seafood. "Woku" is a type of seafood dish with generous use of spices, often making up half the dish. Ingredients of woku include lemongrass, lime leaves, chili peppers, spring onion, shallots, either sautéed with meat, or wrapped around fish and grilled covered in banana leaves. Other ingredients such as turmeric and ginger are often added to create a version of woku.

Foreign colonial influence also played a role in shaping Minahasan cuisine. Brenebon (from Dutch "Bruin" (brown) and "Boon" (bean)) is a pork shank bean stew spiced with nutmeg and clove. Roast pork similar to lechon

Lechon

Lechón is a pork dish in several regions of the world, most specifically Spain and its former colonial possessions throughout the world. The word lechón originated from the Spanish term leche ; thus lechón refers to a suckling pig that is roasted...

in the Philippines or pig roast in Hawaii are served in special occasions, especially weddings. Other unusual and exotic meats such as dog, bat, and forest rat are also regularly served in North Sulawesi region. Paniki

Paniki

Paniki is an exotic dish of Minahasan from North Sulawesi made from bat . Before being cooked in spices, usually the bats are burned to remove its soft hairs, then cooked in coconut milk, herbs and spices....

is the bat dish of Minahasa.

South Sulawesi
Makassar

Makassar

is one the culinary center in Indonesia. Home of some Bugis and Makassar delicacies such as Coto

Coto Makassar

Coto Makassar or Coto Mangkasara , is an Indonesian culinary food originating from Makassar, South Sulawesi. It is a soup with seasoning broth made from starch. The main content of this soup is beef and it can be mixed with innards such as intestine, liver, lungs, heart, tripe, or cow brain.Coto...

, Konro

Konro

Konro is an Indonesian ribs soup originated from Buginese and Makassarese of South Sulawesi. Usually this soup was made with ribs or beef as main ingredient. The soup is brown-black in color and eaten either with burasa or ketupat cut in bite size or rice...

, Pallubasa and Mie Kering

Mie Kering

Mie Kering or Makassar Dried Noodle is an Indonesian Chinese cuisine, a type of dried noodle served with thick gravy and sliced chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, liver, and squid. It's somewhat similar to Chinese I Fu Mie, only the noodle is thinner....

. As a big fish market center, Makassar is also famous for its seafood

Seafood

.
Sop Sodara from Pangkep and Kapurung from Palopo

Palopo

Palopo or Kota Palopo is the capital of regency Luwu and the third-largest city in the province of South Sulawesi in Indonesia. The population of the city is 129,273.- History :...

are also famous dishes of South Sulawesi.

Nusa Tenggara
With a drier climate, there is less rice a more sago, corn, cassava, and taro compared to central and western Indonesia. Fish is popular including sepat, which is shredded fish in coconut and young-mango sauce. Lombok

Lombok

Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east...

's sasak people enjoy spicy food such as ayam taliwang

Ayam Taliwang

-History:Although Ayam Taliwang is said to be a dish favoured by Sasak nobility, Abdul Hamid claims to have invented the dish in 1970. It is named after Karang Taliwang in Mataram, the capital of Lombok.-Preparation:...

which is roasted chicken served with peanut, tomato chilli and lime dip. Pelecing is a spicy sauce used in many dishes made with chilli, shrimp paste, and tomato. Sares is made from chilli, coconut juice and banana palm pith and is sometimes mixed with meat. Non meat dishes include kelor (hot soup with vegetables), serebuk (vegetables mixed with coconut), and timun urap (cucumber with coconut, onion and garlic).

Maluku and Papua
The Maluku

Maluku Islands

islands cuisine is rich with seafoods, while the native Papuan food usually consist of boar

Boar

Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...

with tuber

Tuber

Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...

s such as sweet potato

Sweet potato

. The staple food of Maluku and Papua is Papeda

Papeda (food)

, usually eaten with yellow soup made from tuna

Tuna

Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...

, red snapper

Red snapper (fish)

The red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is a fish found in the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States and, much less commonly, northward as far as Massachusetts. In Latin American Spanish it is known as huachinango or pargo...

or other fishes spiced with turmeric, lime, and other spices.

Foreign influences

Indian influenced
Indian

Indian cuisine

Indian cuisine consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterised by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society...

influences is observable in Indonesia as early as 4th century. Even later after the adoption of Islam by majority Indonesian, muslim Indian influences as well as Arab influences has made their way into Indonesian cuisine. The example is Indian kari (curry

Curry

Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...

) that influenced Sumatran cuisines of Aceh, Minangkabau, and Malay; and also Betawi and coastal Javanese. Some of Aceh and Minangkabau dishes such as roti cane

Roti canai

Roti canai or roti cane is a type of Indian-influenced flatbread found in Malaysia and Indonesia. It is often sold in Mamak stalls in Malaysia; also in Malay, Minangkabau and Aceh restaurants in Indonesia...

, nasi biryani

Biryani

Biryani, biriani, or beriani is a set of rice-based foods made with spices, rice and meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. The name is derived from the Persian word beryā which means "fried" or "roasted"....

, nasi kebuli

Nasi kebuli

Nasi kebuli is an Indonesian style spicy steamed rice dish cooked in goat broth, milk and ghee and popular among Arab community in Indonesia and Betawi people in Jakarta. Nasi kebuli was influenced by Arab culture and its origin can be traced to Middle eastern cuisine, especially Yemeni Arabian...

, and gulai

Gulai

kambing can trace its origin to Indian influences.

Chinese influenced

Chinese has arrived in Indonesia since 7th century and probably earlier. The migration accelerated during colonial times, thus creating the fusion of Chinese cuisine with indigenous Indonesian style. The similar Chinese-native fusion cuisine phenomena is also observable in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore as peranakan cuisine. Some of popular Indonesian dishes can trace its origin to Chinese influences such as; bakmi

Bakmi

Bakmi consists of two Hokkien Chinese words literally translated to English as "meat noodles" . Bakmi is a wheat based noodle which was brought to Southeast Asia by Chinese merchants, and is today a common noodle dish, especially in Indonesia and in Thailand. The dish has also been further...

, bakso

Bakso

, bakpau, mi goreng, tahu goreng, siomay

Siomay

Siomay , is an Indonesian steamed fish dumpling with vegetables served in peanut sauce. It is derived from Chinese Shumai. It is considered a light meal that is similar to the Chinese Dim Sum, but is cone shaped. It is traditionally made from tenggiri fish meat...

, lumpia

Lumpia

Lumpia are pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia , which is an alternate term for popiah...

, nasi tim

Nasi tim

Nasi tim is a Chinese Indonesian steamed chicken rice. In Indonesian language nasi literally means rice and tim means steam. The ingredients are chicken and mushroom and hard boiled egg were seasoned in soy sauce and garlic, and later those ingredients were put in the bottom of the tin bowl. The...

, cap cai

Cap cai

Cap cai sometimes spelled Cap cay is Hokkien-derived term of a popular Chinese Indonesian stir fried vegetable dish that originates from Fujian cuisine....

, fu yung hai

Egg foo young

Egg foo young is an omelette dish found in Chinese Indonesian, British and Chinese American Cuisine.The name comes from the Cantonese language. Egg foo young is derived from Fu Yung Egg Slices, an authentic Chinese recipe from Shanghai.- Preparation :...

and swikee

Swikee

Swikee or Swike is a Chinese Indonesian frog leg dish. The dish can be served as soup, deep fried or stir fried frog legs. Originally a Chinese dish, this dish is popular in Indonesia. "Swikee" is originated from Hokkian dialect sui and ke , which probably an euphemism to refer frogs as "water...

.

Dutch influenced
Through colonialism the European introduced bread

Bread

, cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

, barbecued steak

Steak

A steak is a cut of meat . Most are cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers, improving the perceived tenderness of the meat. In North America, steaks are typically served grilled, pan-fried, or broiled. The more tender cuts from the loin and rib are cooked quickly, using dry heat, and served whole...

and pancake

Pancake

A pancake is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter, and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Most pancakes are quick breads; some use a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Most pancakes are cooked one side on a griddle and flipped partway through to cook the other side...

. Bread, butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

and margarine

Margarine

Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...

, sandwiches filled with ham, cheese or fruit jam, poffertjes

Poffertjes

Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch batter treat. Resembling small, fluffy pancakes, they are made with yeast and buckwheat flour. Unlike American pancakes, they have a light, spongey texture...

, pannekoek and Dutch cheeses are commonly consumed by colonial Dutch and Indos during colonial era. Some of native upperclass ningrat (nobles) and few educated native were exposed to European cuisine, and it was held with high esteem as the cuisine of upperclass elite of Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

society. This lead to adoption and fusion of European cuisine into Indonesian cuisine. Some dishes which are created during the colonial era are Dutch influenced; they include roti bakar (grilled bread), roti buaya

Roti buaya

Roti buaya is a Betawi two piece sweetened bread in the shape of crocodile. Roti buaya is always present in traditional Betawi wedding ceremonies.-History:Before the arrival of the Europeans who introduced bread, the crocodile made from cassava....

, selat solo (solo salad), bistik jawa (Javanese beef steak), semur

Semur (Indonesian stew)

(from dutch smoor), sayur kacang merah (brenebon) and sop buntut

Oxtail soup

Oxtail soup is made with beef tails. The use of the word "ox" in this context is a legacy of nomenclature; no specialized stock of beef animals are used...

. Pastry, cakes and cookies also can trace its origin to Dutch influences; such as kue bolu (tart), lapis legit (spekkoek

Spekkoek

Spekkoek or more popularly called lapis legit in Indonesia is a Dutch-Indonesian layered cake...

), spiku (lapis Surabaya) and kaastangel (cheese cookies). Some recipes can be considered as Dutch Indies fusion cuisine, using native ingredients and employing European pastry baking techniques; such as pandan cake and klappertaart (coconut tart). Kue cubit

Kue cubit

Kue cubit is a common snack food in many Indonesian cities. It is a cake, around in diameter. It can be found around the school by street sellers. Kue cubit uses flour, baking powder, sugar and milk as their primary ingredients...

commonly found in front of schools and marketplaces are believed to be derived from poffertjes.

Vice versa, the Indonesian cuisine also had influenced colonial Dutch and Indo people that brought Indonesian dishes back to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

during repatriation after the independence of Indonesia. Rijsttafel invented during colonial era are the example of Indonesian feast that still popular in the Netherlands and its colonies.

Meal Times

In western and central Indonesia, the main meal is usually cooked in the late morning, and consumed around midday. In many families there is no set meal time when all members are expected to attend. For this reason, most of the dishes are made so that they can remain edible even if left on the table at room temperature

Room temperature

-Comfort levels:The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers has listings for suggested temperatures and air flow rates in different types of buildings and different environmental circumstances. For example, a single office in a building has an occupancy ratio per...

for many hours. The same dishes are then re-heated for the final meal in the evening. Most meals are built around a cone-shaped pile of long-grain, highly polished rice. A meal may include a soup, salad (or more commonly vegetables sautéed with garlic), and another main dish. Whatever the meal, it is accompanied by at least one, and often several, relishes called sambals. Especially for Javanese family, on the table, it is also common to always have chips, that can be kerupuk, rempeyek

Rempeyek

Rempeyek or peyek is a deep-fried savoury Indonesian peanut cracker made from flour , peanuts, dried anchovies or shrimp, coconut milk, salt and spices. Some people also add a chopped citrus leaf to add the "fresh" taste to it....

, or any other chips to accompany the meal.

In eastern Indonesia, such as on the islands of Papua and Timor

Timor

Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...

, where the climate is often much drier, the meals can be centered around other sources of carbohydrates such as sago

Sago

and/or root vegetables and starchy tubers. Being east of the Wallace line

Wallace Line

, the ecozone

Ecozone

An ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.Ecozones delineate large areas of the Earth's surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated from...

, and hence the flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

and fauna

Fauna

Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

, are quite different from those of the islands to the west, and so the food stuffs are, as well.

Feasts: Tumpeng and Rijsttafel

Many Indonesian traditional customs and ceremonies incorporate food and feast. One of the best examples is tumpeng

Tumpeng

Tumpeng is a cone-shaped rice dish like mountain with its side dishes . Traditionally featured in the slamatan ceremony, the cone shape of rice is made by using cone-shaped weaved bamboo container...

. Originally from Java

Java

, tumpeng is a cone shaped mound of rice surrounded by an assortment of other dishes. Traditionally featured in selamatan ceremonies, the cone of rice is made by using bamboo leaves woven into a cone-shaped container. The rice itself can be plain white steamed rice, uduk (rice cooked with coconut milk), or yellow rice (rice coloured with kunyit, i.e., turmeric

Turmeric

). After it is shaped, the rice cone is surrounded by assorted dishes, such as urap vegetables, fried chicken, semur (beef in sweet soy sauce), teri kacang (little dried fish fried with peanuts), fried prawns, telur pindang (marblized boiled eggs), shredded omelette, tempe orek (sweet, dry fried tempeh), perkedel kentang (mashed potato fritters), perkedel jagung (corn fritters), sambal goreng ati (liver in chilli sauce), and many other dishes. Nasi tumpeng probably comes from an ancient Indonesian tradition that revers mountains as the abode of the ancestors and the gods. Rice cone is meant to symbolize the holy mountain. The feast served as some kind of thanksgiving for the abundance of harvest or any other blessings. Because of its festivities and celebratory value, even now tumpeng is sometimes used as an Indonesian counterpart to birthday cake

Birthday cake

The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday celebrations in Western cultures since the middle of the 19th century. Certain rituals and traditions, such as singing of birthday songs, associated with birthday cakes are common to many Western cultures. The Western tradition of adding...

.

Another Indonesian feast, the Rijsttafel

Indonesian rice table

The Indonesian rijsttafel , a Dutch word that literally translates to "rice table", is an elaborate meal adapted by the Dutch from the Indonesian feast called nasi padang. It consists of many side dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways...

(from Dutch, meaning 'rice table'), demonstrates both colonial opulence and the diversity of Indonesian cuisine at the same time. The classic style rijsttafel involved serving of up to 40 different dishes by 40 male waiters, bare foot but dressed in formal white uniforms with blangkon (traditional Javanese caps) on their heads and batik

Batik

Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Batik or fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Singapore.Javanese traditional batik, especially from...

cloth around their waists. In contemporary Indonesian cuisine, it has been adapted into a western style buffet

Buffet

A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events...

. It employs a long table with a wide range of dishes, both savory and sweet, served on it. It can usually be found in wedding ceremonies or any other festivities. The layout for an Indonesian wedding ceremony buffet is usually: plates, eating utensils (spoon and fork), and paper napkins placed on one end, followed by rice (plain or fried), a series of Indonesian (and sometimes international) dishes, sambal

Sambal

and krupuk (shrimp crackers), and ending with glasses of water on the other end of the table.

Beverages

The most common and popular Indonesian drinks and beverages are teh (tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

) and kopi (coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

). Indonesian households commonly serve teh manis (sweet tea) or kopi tubruk (coffee mixed with sugar and hot water and poured straight in the glass without separating out the coffee residue) to guests. Since the colonial era of Netherlands East Indies, plantations, especially in Java, were major producers of coffee

Coffee

, tea

Tea

and sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

. Since then hot and sweet coffee and tea beverages have been enjoyed by Indonesians. Jasmine tea

Jasmine tea

Jasmine tea is tea with added jasmine flowers. It originates from the time of the Song Dynasty . Normally, jasmine tea is based on green tea or white tea. The resulting flavor of jasmine tea is subtly sweet. It is the most famous scented tea in China.Tea scented with jasmine flowers has been a...

is the most popular tea variety drunk in Indonesia, however recent health awareness promotions have made green tea

Green tea

Green tea is made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. It has recently become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally...

a popular choice. Usually coffee and tea are served hot, but cold iced sweet tea is also frequently drunk. Kopi Luwak

Kopi Luwak

Kopi luwak , or civet coffee, is one of the world's most expensive and low-production varieties of coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their...

is Indonesian exotic and expensive coffee beverage made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets. Teh botol

Teh botol

Teh botol is a popular Indonesian drink produced by the company Sosro and is sold worldwide. Teh botol literally means bottled tea in Indonesian. It is a sweetened jasmine tea and it is usually served cold...

, bottled sweet jasmine tea, is now quite popular and locally competes favorably with international bottled soda beverages such as Coca Cola and Fanta

Fanta

Fanta is a global brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks from the Coca-Cola Company. There are over 90 flavors worldwide. The drink debuted in Germany in 1941 and originally sold only in Europe.-History:...

. Kopi susu (coffee with sweetened condensed milk

Condensed milk

Condensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if unopened. The two terms, condensed milk and sweetened...

) is an Indonesian version of Café au lait

Café au lait

Café au lait is a French coffee drink. The meaning of the term differs between Europe and the United States; in both cases it means some kind of coffee with hot milk added, in contrast to white coffee, which is coffee with room temperature milk or other whitener added.- Europe :In Europe, "café au...

.
Fruit juices (jus) are very popular. Varieties include orange (jus jeruk), guava (jus jambu), mango (jus mangga), soursop (jus sirsak) and avocado (jus alpokat), the last of these being commonly served with condensed milk and chocolate syrup as a dessert-like treat. Durian

Durian

The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family . Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk...

can be made into ice cream called es durian.

Many popular drinks are based on ice (es) and can also be classified as desserts. Typical examples include young coconut (es kelapa muda), grass jelly

Grass jelly

Grass jelly, or Leaf jelly, is a jelly-like dessert found in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. It is sold in cans or packets in Asian supermarkets.-Preparation:...

(es cincau), cendol

Cendol

(es cendol or es dawet), avocado, jackfruit and coconut with shreded ice and condensed milk (es teler

Es teler

Es teler is a fruit cocktail in Indonesia. Avocado, young coconut, cincau, jackfruit and other fruits are served with coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, Pandanus amaryllifolius leaf , sugar and a tiny amount of salt.This concoction, created by Murniati Widjaja, won a competition in 1982 to...

), mixed ice (es campur), red kidney beans (es kacang merah), musk melon (es blewah) and seaweed (es rumput laut).

Hot sweet beverages can also be found, such as bajigur and bandrek which are particularly popular in West Java. Both are coconut milk or coconut sugar (gula jawa) based hot drinks, mixed with other spices. Sekoteng, a ginger based hot drink which includes peanuts, diced bread, and pacar cina, can be found in Jakarta and West Java. Wedang jahe

Wedang Jahe

Wedang Jahe is Indonesian for ginger tea. Although devoid of any caffeine content, it's often served and enjoyed like tea.It is made from ginger and palm sugar/rock sugar. Indonesians also use ground ginger root, called jahe, as a common ingredient in local recipes....

(hot ginger drink) and wedang ronde (a hot drink with sweet potato

Sweet potato

balls) are particularly popular in Yogyakarta, Central Java, and East Java.

As a Muslim

Muslim

majority country, Indonesian Muslims also share Islamic dietary laws

Islamic dietary laws

Islamic dietary laws provide direction on what is to be considered clean and unclean regarding diet and related issues.-Overview:Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are ' and which are '...

that prohibit alcoholic beverages. However since ancient times, native alcoholic beverages were already developed in archipelago. According to a Chinese source, people of ancient Java drank wine made from palm sap called tuak

Tuak

Tuak is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented rice, yeast and sugar and drank in parts of Indonesia such as Sumatra, Sulawesi, Penang Islands, Borneo and East Malaysia. In these areas it is often referred to as rice wine...

(palm wine

Palm wine

Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...

). Today tuak continues to be popular in the Batak

Batak (Indonesia)

region, North Sumatra

North Sumatra

North Sumatra is a province of Indonesia on the Sumatra island. Its capital is Medan. It is the most populous Indonesian province outside of Java. It is slightly larger than Sri Lanka in area.- Geography and population :...

where a majority of the people are Christian. A traditional Batak bar serving tuak is called lapo tuak. In Solo, Central Java, ciu (a local adaptation of Chinese wine) is also known. Bottled brem bali (Balinese rice wine) is popular in Bali. Indonesians also developed local brands of beer, such as Bintang Beer

Bintang Beer

Bintang Beer is the best selling brand of beer in Indonesia and is produced by Multi Bintang, an Indonesian subsidiary of Heineken.The 4.7 per cent Pilsner has a malt and hop flavour. Its taste is often compared to Heineken, and the Bintang bottle is reminiscent of a Heineken bottle...

and Anker Beer.

Snacks and street food

In most cities, it is common to see Chinese dishes such as bakpao (steamed buns with various sweet and savoury fillings), bakmie (noodles), and bakso

Bakso

(meatballs) sold by street vendors and restaurants alike, often adapted to become Indonesian-Chinese cuisine. One common adaptation is that pork is rarely used since the majority of Indonesians are Muslims. Other popular Indonesian street food and snacks are siomay

Siomay

and batagor

Batagor

Batagor is Sundanese Indonesian fried fish dumplings served with peanut sauce. It is traditionally made from tenggiri fish meat. Sometimes other types of seafood such as tuna, mackerel, and prawn also can be used to make batagor...

(abbreviated from Bakso Tahu Goreng), deep fried fish cake pempek

Pempek

, bubur ayam (chicken congee

Congee

Congee is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries. It can be eaten alone or served with a side dish. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation...

), bubur kacang hijau (mung beans porridge

Porridge

Porridge is a dish made by boiling oats or other cereal meals in water, milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish...

), satay

Satay

, nasi goreng

Nasi goreng

(English: fried rice) and mie goreng (English: fried noodle), taoge goreng (mung bean sprouts and noodle salad), asinan

Asinan

Asinan is a pickled vegetables or fruits dish, commonly found in Indonesia. The term asin is Indonesian word for "salty", which explain the process of preserving the ingredients through soaking it in the solution of salt water. Asinan is quite similar to rujak, the difference is rujak usually...

(preserved vegetables or fruits salad), laksa

Laksa

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from the Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore, and to a lesser extent Indonesia.- Origin :The origin of the name "laksa" is unclear...

, kerak telor

Kerak Telor

Kerak telor is a Betawi traditional spicy omelette dish in Indonesian cuisine. It is made from glutinous rice cooked with egg and served with serundeng , fried shallots and dried shrimp topping. It is considered as a snack and not as a main dish...

(spicy omelette), gorengan (Indonesian assorted fritters) and Bakwan

Bakwan

Bakwan is an Indonesian fried meal consisting of vegetables and batter. Bakwan usually refer to vegetable fritter snack, commonly sold by gorengan traveling street vendors. The ingredients is vegetables; usually beansprouts, shredded cabbages and carrots, battered and deep fried in cooking oil. In...

(fried dish of beansprouts and batter).
Various traditional crackers is called krupuk, and usually consumed as snack or to accompany main meals. There are wide variations of krupuk available across Indonesia. The most popular ones would be krupuk udang (prawn cracker) and krupuk kampung or krupuk putih (cassava cracker). Another popular types include krupuk kulit (skin cracker), emping melinjo (gnetum gnemon

Gnetum gnemon

Gnetum gnemon is a species of Gnetum native to southeast Asia and the western Pacific Ocean islands, from Assam south and east through Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippines and Fiji...

cracker), an also various of kripik (chips or crisps), such as kripik pisang (banana chips

Banana chips

Banana chips are deep-fried and/or dried slices of bananas . They can be covered with sugar or honey and have a sweet taste, or they can be fried in oil and spices and have a salty and/or spicy taste. Variants of banana chips may be covered with chocolate instead...

) and keripik singkong (Cassava

Cassava

chips).

Indonesian street snacks also include iced and sweet beverages, such as es cendol

Cendol

or es dawet, es teler

Es teler

, es cincau, es doger, es campur, es potong, and es puter. Indonesian cakes and cookies are often called as jajanan pasar (market munchies). Indonesia has a rich collection of snacks called kue (cakes and pastry), both savory and sweet. Popular ones include risoles, pastel, lumpia

Lumpia

Lumpia are pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia , which is an alternate term for popiah...

, lemper

Lemper

Lemper is an Indonesian dish made of sticky rice filled with chicken, fish or abon . The meat filling is rolled inside the rice, in a fashion similar to an egg roll; this is in turn rolled and wrapped inside a banana leaf or tinfoil to make a packet ready for serving...

, lontong

Lontong

Lontong is an Asian dish made of compressed rice wrapped inside banana leaf that is then cut into small cakes as staple food replacement of steamed rice...

, tahu isi, getuk

Getuk

thumb|right|Getuk from [[Magelang]]Getuk is a simple Javanese dish made from cassava. The cassava is peeled, boiled and mashed. Then it is mixed with grated coconut, sugar and small amounts of salt. Sugar can also be substituted with palm sugar to give it brownish color and more distinctive...

, bakpia

Bakpia Pathok

Bakpia Pathok（Chinese:肉饼）are small round-shaped Indonesian pastries, usually stuffed with mung beans , but have recently come in other fillings as well...

, Bika Ambon

Bika Ambon

Bika Ambon is a kind of cake from Indonesia. Made from ingredients such as eggs, sugar and coconut milk, Bika Ambon generally sold in pandan flavour, although now available also other flavors like banana, durian, cheese, chocolate....

, kue pandan, lupis

Lupis (food)

Lupis is a traditional food from Indonesia. It is a sweet cake made of glutinous rice. It can be sweetened further with shredded coconut topped with a thick palm sugar syrup....

, lemang

Lemang

Lemang is a traditional Malay food made of glutinous rice and coconut milk and cooked in a hollowed bamboo stick lined with banana leaves in order to prevent the rice from sticking to the bamboo. The cooking method using bamboo container is popular in Iban Dayak tribe of Borneo...

, kue pisang, kue cubit

Kue cubit

, klepon

Klepon

Klepon is a traditional rice cake, popular in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is a boiled rice cake, stuffed with liquid gula jawa , and rolled in grated coconut. Klepon is green because it is flavored with a paste made from the pandan or dracaena plant whose leaves are used widely in South East Asian...

, onde-onde, nagasari

Nagasari

Nagasari is a steamed cake made from flour, coconut milk and sugar, filled with bananas. It is usually wrapped in banana leaves before being steamed, or prepared with pandan that gives it aroma. It is commonly eaten as a snack in Indonesia....

, lapis legit

Spekkoek

Spekkoek or more popularly called lapis legit in Indonesia is a Dutch-Indonesian layered cake...

, soes, poffertjes

Poffertjes

Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch batter treat. Resembling small, fluffy pancakes, they are made with yeast and buckwheat flour. Unlike American pancakes, they have a light, spongey texture...

and bolu kukus.

Street and street-side vendors are common, in addition to hawkers peddling their goods on bicycles or carts. These carts are known as pedagang kaki lima - (named after the 5 feet (1.5 m) wide footpaths in Indonesia, however some people say they are named 'five feet' after the three feet of the cart and two feet of the vendor!). These food hawkers on cart or bicycle might be travelling on streets; approaching potential buyers through residential areas while announcing their presence, or stationed themselves on a strategic and busy street side; setting simple seatings under small tent, and waiting for customers to come. Many of these have their own distinctive call or songs to announce their wares. For example, the bakso seller will hit the side of a soup bowl, whereas mie ayam is announced by hitting a wood block.

Fruits

Indonesian markets abound with many types of tropical fruit. These are an important part of the Indonesian diet, either eaten freshly, or made into juices (such as jus alpukat), desserts (such as es buah and es teler

Es teler

), processed in savoury and spicy dishes like rujak, fried like pisang goreng (fried banana), cooked into cakes (such as kue pisang or bika ambon), sweetened and preserved such as sale pisang and manisan buah, or processed into kripik (crispy chips) as snacks like jackfruit or banana chips.

Many of these fruits such as mangosteen

Mangosteen

The purple mangosteen , colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m tall...

, rambutan

Rambutan

The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the fruit of this tree. It is native to Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several...

, jackfruit

Jackfruit

, durian

Durian

, and banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

, are indigenous to Indonesian archipelago; while others have been imported from other tropical countries, although the origin of many of these fruits might be disputed. Today, Indonesian markets is also enrichen with selections of home-grown non-tropical fruits that is not native to Indonesia. Strawberry

Strawberry

Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...

, melon

Melon

thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...

, apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

and dragonfruit are introduced and grown in cooler Indonesian highlands such as Malang and Lembang near Bandung, to mimic their native subtropics

Subtropics

The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...

habitat.

In the last few years, fruit chips has been more and more various. In the old times, banana and jackfruit chips is the most common, but now Indonesian fruit chips also made from strawberry, apple, dragon fruit, pepino, watermelon, melon, and a lot more. Malang, a city in East Java is the center of fruit chips production aside from tempe chips.
Banana and Coconut are particularly important, not only to Indonesian cuisine, but also in other uses, such as timber, bedding, roofing, oil, plates and packaging, etc.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Rice

Other staple carbohydrates

Meat and fish

Spices and other flavorings

Peanut sauce

Coconut milk

Regional dishes

Foreign influences

Meal Times

Feasts: Tumpeng and Rijsttafel

Beverages

Snacks and street food

Fruits

See also

External links