Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands of the total 17,508 in the world's largest archipelago, with more than 300 ethnic groups calling Indonesia home. Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon indigenous culture with some foreign influences. Indonesia has around 5,350 traditional recipes, with 30 of them considered the most important. Indonesia's cuisine may include rice, noodle and soup dishes in modest local eateries to street-side snacks and top-dollar plates.
Sayur asem or sayur asam is an Indonesian vegetable soup. It is a popular Southeast Asian dish orginating from Sundanese cuisine, consisting of vegetables in tamarind soup.
Oncom is one of the traditional staple foods of West Java (Sundanese) cuisine of Indonesia. There are two kinds of oncom: red oncom and black oncom. Oncom is closely related to tempeh; both are foods fermented using mold.
Lontong is an Indonesian dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Rice is rolled inside a banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as a staple food replacement of steamed rice. The texture is similar to those of ketupat, with the difference being that the ketupat container is made from woven janur fronds, while lontong uses banana leaf instead.
Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java. Though the cuisine of Sumatra is known for its spiciness with notable Indian and Arabic influences, Javanese cuisine is more indigenously developed and noted for its simplicity. Some of Javanese dishes demonstrate foreign influences, most notably Chinese.
Pepes is an Indonesian cooking method using banana leaves as food wrappings. The banana-leaf package containing food is secured with lidi seumat, and then steamed or grilled on charcoal. This cooking technique allows the rich spice mixture to be compressed against the main ingredients inside the individual banana-leaf package while being cooked, and also adds a distinct aroma of cooked or burned banana leaf. Although being cooked simultaneously with food, the banana leaf is a non-edible material and is discarded after cooking.
Lemper is an Indonesian savoury snack made of glutinous rice filled with seasoned shredded chicken, fish or abon. The specific lemper filled with seasoned shredded chicken is called lemper ayam. 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, oil paper, plastic sheet or tinfoil to make a packet ready for serving. If banana leaf is not available, corn husk can be used. Lemper are most often seen as snacks, but may sometimes be served as appetizers as well. Lemper usually have an elongated shape, similar to lontong.
Sundanese cuisine is the cuisine of the Sundanese people of West Java, and Banten, Indonesia. It is one of the most popular foods in Indonesia. Sundanese food is characterised by its freshness; the famous lalab eaten with sambal and also karedok demonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables. Unlike the rich and spicy taste, infused with coconut milk and curry of Minangkabau cuisine, the Sundanese cuisine displays the simple and clear taste; ranged from savoury salty, fresh sourness, mild sweetness, to hot and spicy.
Sayur lodeh is an Indonesian vegetable soup prepared from vegetables in coconut milk popular in Indonesia, but most often associated with Javanese cuisine.
Nasi timbel is an Indonesian hot dish, consisting of steamed rice wrapped inside a banana leaf. It is a traditional Sundanese cuisine from West Java. The heat of the hot-cooked rice touches the banana leaf and produces a unique aroma. It is made in ways similar to making lontong; compressed, rolled, and wrapped in banana leaves; it then evolves into a complete dish served with various side dishes such as fried chicken, empal gepuk, jambal roti, tahu goreng, tempeh, salted duck egg, sayur asem, with lalab and sambal. Nasi timbel later evolved to nasi bakar.
Lontong cap go meh is a Chinese Indonesian take on traditional Indonesian dishes, more precisely Javanese cuisine. It is lontong rice cake served with richly-flavoured dishes which includes opor ayam chicken in coconut milk, sayur lodeh vegetables soup, hot and spicy liver, hard boiled pindang egg, koya powder made of soy and dried shrimp or beef floss, pickles, chili paste and prawn cracker. Lontong cap go meh usually consumed by Chinese Indonesian community during Cap go meh celebration.
Betawi cuisine is rich, diverse and eclectic, in part because the Betawi people that create them were composed from numbers of regional immigrants that came from various places in the archipelago, as well as Chinese, Indian, Arab, and European traders, visitors and immigrants that were attracted to the port city of Batavia since centuries ago.
Arem-arem is an Indonesian-Javanese snack made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, filled with diced vegetables, tempeh or oncom, sometimes also filled with minced meat or abon, and eaten as snack. Arem-arem is often described as a smaller size lontong snack with fillings, thus sometimes also called lontong isi.
Ketupat, kupat or tipat is a rice cake packed inside a diamond-shaped container of woven palm leaf pouch, originating in Indonesia. It is commonly found in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is commonly described as "packed rice", although there are other types of similar packed rice such as lontong and bakchang.
Nasi campur, also known as nasi rames in Java, refers to an Indonesian dish of a scoop of nasi putih accompanied by small portions of a number of other dishes, which includes meats, vegetables, peanuts, eggs, and fried-shrimp krupuk. Depending on origin, a nasi campur vendor might serve several side dishes, including vegetables, fish, and meats. It is a staple meal from Indonesia and popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and southern Thailand, and also the Netherlands through its colonial ties with Indonesia. A similar form called chanpurū exists in Okinawa.
Tauge goreng is an Indonesian savoury vegetarian dish made of stir-fried tauge with slices of tofu, ketupat or lontong rice cake and yellow noodles, served in a spicy oncom-based sauce. Tauge goreng is a specialty of Jakarta and Bogor city, West Java, Indonesia. It is usually sold as street food using pikulan or gerobak (cart) by street vendors. It is a popular street food in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta, and Greater Jakarta areas, including Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.
Brongkos is a Javanese spicy meat and beans stew, specialty of Yogyakarta and other cities in Central Java, Indonesia.
Nasi kari is Indonesian rice dish from Acehnese, Minangkabau and Malay cuisine as well as Javanese cuisine. This rice dish popular in Sumatra and Java, Indonesia.
Lontong balap is an Indonesian traditional rice dish, well known in Javanese cuisine, made of lontong, tauge, fried tofu, lentho, fried shallots, sambal petis and sweet soy sauce. East Javanese lontong and tofu recipes are known of their distinctive flavour, acquired from generous amount of petis. The origin of the dish is from Surabaya in East Java, Indonesia.
