'Kwetiau' is an Indonesian counterpart of Char kway teow, which originated from China and later adapted in Malaysia and Singapore. They both derive from the Chinese dish, shahe fen.
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Kwetiau goreng (Indonesian for 'fried flat noodle') is an Indonesian [1] style of stir fried flat rice noodle dish. [2] It is made from noodles, locally known as kwetiau , which are stir-fried in cooking oil with garlic, onion or shallots, beef, chicken, fried prawn, crab or sliced bakso (meatballs), chili, Chinese cabbage, cabbages, tomatoes, egg, and other vegetables with an ample amount of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce). [1] In Asia, kwetiau is available in two forms, dried and fresh. [3] Its recipe is quite similar to another Chinese Indonesian favourite, mie goreng , with the exception of replacing yellow wheat noodles for flat rice noodles. [3]
Ubiquitous in Indonesia, kwetiau is sold by many food vendors, from traveling street hawkers in their carts ( warungs ) to high-end restaurants. It is a favourite one-dish meal amongst Indonesians, although street food hawkers commonly sell it together with mie goreng and nasi goreng (fried rice). Kwetiau goreng is also served in Indonesian franchise restaurants. [4]
Indonesian kwetiau goreng usually tastes mildly sweet with a generous addition of sweet soy sauce, spicier with the addition of sambal chili sauce as condiment, and mostly using halal chicken and beef instead of pork and lard to cater to the Muslim majority population. The most common protein sources for kwetiau goreng are beef, chicken, prawns, or crab. [1]
Chinese influence is evident in Indonesian food, such as bakmi , mie ayam , pangsit, mie goreng and kwetiau goreng. [5] The dish is derived from Chinese stir-fried shahe fen and believed to have been introduced by Chinese immigrants in Indonesia over several centuries. The Chinese first made contact with Indonesia in the 7th century, and by the 1600s Chinese settlements had sprung up along the coasts of Java and Sumatra. [2] Centuries of interactions between the two cultures resulted in the blending of Chinese and local cuisine. Kwetiau goreng may be served with sweet soy sauce that adds mild sweetness, or a sprinkle of bawang goreng fried shallots, or sambal to add spiciness. Kwetiau goreng may have a krupuk topping to add a crispy texture, and not contain pork or lard to cater for Muslims.
Just like mie goreng, kwetiau goreng recipes might vary according to its ingredients. The popular variants are kwetiau goreng sapi (beef), [6] kwetiau goreng ayam (chicken), kwetiau goreng seafood (including cuttlefish, prawn and fish) and kwetiau goreng kepiting (crab). The kwetiau goreng pedas (hot and spicy) uses a lot of chili pepper, while kwetiau goreng sayuran mainly uses vegetables. [3]
Another popular kwetiau recipe is called kwetiau kuah (kwetiau with soup), kwetiau ayam (chicken kwetiau with soup) and kwetiau siram (poured kwetiau), in which the flat rice noodles are boiled or poured with thick soup or sauce instead of being stir-fried. Another variant called kwetiau bun is similar to kwetiau goreng but moister and softer with the addition of more water. [7]
There is a variation called kwetiau goreng lenjer, which is made by slicing the pempek and mixing it with chicken, prawns, eggs, bean sprouts and soy sauce. [8]
Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed in 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 1,300 ethnic groups.
Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Singaporean cuisine is derived from several ethnic groups in Singapore and has developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes in the cosmopolitan city-state.
Chinese Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Chinese with local Indonesian style. Chinese Indonesians, mostly descendant of Han ethnic Hokkien and Hakka speakers, 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, known as Nyonya cuisine by the Peranakan.
Nasi goreng is a Southeast Asian fried rice dish, usually cooked with pieces of meat and vegetables. One of Indonesia's national dishes, it is also eaten in Malay-speaking communities in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and has gained popularity in Sri Lanka through migrations from the Indonesian Archipelago, in countries like Suriname via Indonesian immigrant communities, and in the Netherlands through its colonial ties with Indonesia. Nasi goreng is distinguished from other Asian fried rice preparations by its distinct smoky aroma, and caramelised yet savoury undertones of flavour. There is no single defined recipe for nasi goreng, and its composition and preparation varies greatly from household to household.
Fried noodles are common throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Many varieties, cooking styles, and ingredients exist.
Shahe fen (沙河粉), or simply he fen (河粉), is a type of wide Chinese noodle made from rice. Its Minnan Chinese name 粿條, is adapted into alternate names which are widely encountered in Southeast Asia, such as kway teow, kwetiau, and kuetiau. Shahe fen is often stir-fried with meat and/or vegetables in a dish called chao fen. While chao fen is a transliteration of Mandarin, chow fun from Cantonese is the name most often given to the dish in Chinese restaurants in North America.
Rice noodles, or simply rice noodle, are noodles made with rice flour and water as the principal ingredients. Sometimes ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and chewy texture of the noodles. Rice noodles are most common in the cuisines of China, India and Southeast Asia. They are available fresh, frozen, or dried, in various shapes, thicknesses and textures. Fresh noodles are also highly perishable; their shelf life may be just several days.
Bakmi or bami is a type of wheat based noodles derived from Chinese cooking tradition. It was brought to Indonesia by Chinese immigrants from Southern Chinese provinces like Fujian. It is typically prepared seasoned in soy sauce and topped with pork products, which is often substituted for other protein sources in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. Chinese-style wheat noodles has become one of the most common noodle dishes, especially in Southeast Asian countries which have significant Chinese populations and known by various names.
Mie goreng, also known as bakmi goreng, is an Indonesian stir-fried noodle dish. It is made with thin yellow noodles stir-fried in cooking oil with garlic, onion or shallots, fried prawn, chicken, beef, or sliced bakso (meatballs), chili, Chinese cabbage, cabbages, tomatoes, egg, and other vegetables. Ubiquitous in Indonesia, it is sold by food vendors from street hawkers (warungs) to high-end restaurants.
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.
Mie ayam, mi ayam, or bakmi ayam is a common Indonesian dish of seasoned yellow wheat noodles topped with diced chicken meat. It is derived from culinary techniques employed in Chinese cuisine. In Indonesia, the dish is recognized as a popular Chinese Indonesian dish, served from simple travelling vendor carts frequenting residential areas, humble street-side warung to restaurants.
Soto is a traditional Indonesian soup mainly composed of broth, meat, and vegetables. Many traditional soups are called soto, whereas foreign and Western influenced soups are called sop.
Beef kway teow or beef kwetiau is a Maritime Southeast Asian dish of flat rice noodles stir-fried and topped with slices of beef or sometimes beef offal, served either dry or with soup. The dish is commonly found in Southeast Asian countries, especially Singapore and Indonesia, and can trace its origin to Chinese tradition. It is a popular dish in Singaporean cuisine and among Chinese Indonesians, where it locally known in Indonesian as kwetiau sapi.
Seblak is an Sundanese savoury and spicy dish, originating from the Sundanese region in West Java, Indonesia. Made of wet krupuk cooked with protein sources in spicy sauce. Seblak is a specialty of Bandung city, West Java, Indonesia. Seblak can be acquired from restaurants, warungs or gerobak (cart) street vendors. It is one of the most popular street foods in Indonesia, especially in Bandung and Jakarta.
Kwetiau ayam, kuetiau ayam or sometimes kwetiau ayam kuah is a common Chinese Indonesian dish of seasoned flat rice noodles topped with diced chicken meat. It is often described as a kwetiau version of the popular mie ayam, and especially common in Indonesia, and can trace its origin to Chinese cuisine.
Indonesian noodles are a significant aspect of Indonesian cuisine which is itself very diverse. Indonesian cuisine recognizes many types of noodles, with each region of the country often developing its own distinct recipes.
Bihun goreng, bee hoon goreng or mee hoon goreng refers to a dish of fried noodles cooked with rice vermicelli in both the Indonesian and Malay languages. In certain countries, such as Singapore, the term goreng is occasionally substituted with its English equivalent for the name of the dish.