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.
Laksa is a spicy noodle soup popular in the Peranakan cuisine of Southeast Asia. Laksa consists of thick wheat noodles or rice vermicelli with chicken, prawn or fish, served in spicy soup based on either rich and spicy curry coconut milk or on sour asam. Laksa is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern Thailand.
Malay cuisine is the cooking tradition of ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as in Cocos Islands, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Different Malay regions are all known for their unique or signature dishes—Pattani, Terengganu and Kelantan for their nasi dagang, nasi kerabu and keropok lekor; Pahang and Perak for its durian-based cuisine, gulai tempoyak; Kedah and Penang for their northern-style asam laksa and rojak; Satun and Perlis for its bunga kuda dessert; Negeri Sembilan for its lemak-based dishes; Malacca for their spicy cincalok; Singapore for their rojak bandung and roti prata; Riau for its ikan patin dishes, gulai ikan patin and asam pedas ikan patin; the Riau Islands for their sup ikan; West Sumatra for its rendang and lemang; Deli Malays of North Sumatra for their nasi goreng teri medan and gulai ketam; Jambi for its ikan mas panggang and tempoyak; Palembangese Malays of South Sumatra for their pempek, mi celor and nasi minyak; Bangka Belitung for its siput gonggong and terang bulan; West Kalimantan and Sarawak for its bubur pedas and ayam pansuh; Brunei for their nasi katok and unique ambuyat dish; Sri Lankan Malays of Sri Lanka for its kalu dodol; and Cape Malays of South Africa for their bobotie, boeber and koe'sister.
Tahu goreng or Tauhu goreng is an Indonesian dish of fried tofu commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Chinese Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Chinese with local Indonesian style. Chinese Indonesians, mostly descendant from Hokkien, brought their legacy of Chinese cuisine, and modified some of the dishes with the addition of Indonesian ingredients, such as kecap manis, palm sugar, peanut sauce, chili, santan and local spices to form a hybrid Chinese-Indonesian cuisine. Some of the dishes and cakes share the same style as in Malaysia and Singapore which are known as the Nonya cuisine by the Peranakan.
Pempek, mpek-mpek or empek-empek is a savoury Indonesian fishcake delicacy, made of fish and tapioca, from Palembang, South Sumatera, Indonesia. Pempek is served with rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko, or just "cuko". Sometimes local people also eat the dish with yellow noodles and diced up cucumber to balance out the vinegar's sourness.
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.
Ketoprak is a vegetarian dish from Jakarta, Indonesia, consisting of tofu, vegetables, rice cake, and rice vermicelli served in peanut sauce.
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.
Soto mie, Soto mi, or Mee soto is a spicy Indonesian noodle soup dish commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Mie means noodle made of flour, salt and egg, while soto refers to Indonesian soup. In Indonesia it is called soto mie and is considered as one variant of soto, while in Malaysia and Singapore it is called mee soto.
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.
Ketupat, kupat or tipat is a type of dumpling made from rice 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.
Rojak or Rujak is an Indonesian — Javanese traditional fruit and vegetable salad dish, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Other than referring to this fruit salad dish, the term rojak also means "mixture" or "eclectic mix" in colloquial Malay.
Gado-gado is an Indonesian salad of slightly boiled, blanched or steamed vegetables and hard-boiled eggs, boiled potato, fried tofu and tempeh, and lontong, served with a peanut sauce dressing.
Tahu campur, literally meaning "mixed tofu" in Javanese language and broader Indonesian language, is an East Javanese tofu dish. The dish consists of sliced tahu goreng, lontong, lentho or sometimes replaced by perkedel, fresh bean sprouts, fresh lettuce, yellow noodles, and krupuk crackers, served in savoury beef stew, garnished with fried onions, and sambal chili sauce. The beef stew soup is seasoned with spices and petis, a type of shrimp paste commonly used in East Javanese cuisine.
Nasi tutug oncom or sometimes simply called tutug oncom, is an Indonesian style rice dish, made of rice mixed with oncom fermented beans, originally from Tasikmalaya, West Java. It is usually wrapped in banana leaves and served with various side dishes.
Indonesian noodles are a significant aspect of Indonesian cuisine which is very diverse. Indonesian cuisine recognised many types of noodles, with each regions often developed their distinct recipes.
