Indonesian cuisine

Indonesia is a vast country with a wide variety of cultures, so a wide variety of food.
Spicy food is very common here, and a delight for those of us inclined to its charms.
Noodles are second only to rice as the main staple.
I'm in the process of making some food prep videos, the first just needs a little editing and narrating before I upload it.
I'll link here as well as on the usual thread.

Hi! I am from ethnic Batak, North Sumatra although I was born n grow up in Jakarta.  My favorite Batak dishes are Saksang, Arsik, Daun Singkong Tumbuk and Sambal Tuk tuk.

Saksang is made from pig and the pig blood that cooked with special spicy Sumatra ingredients. For the meat you could change to chicken and chicken blood. The taste of this dishes hot spicy.

Arsik is made from goldfish that cooked with Sumatra ingredient.  Interesting that inside the body full with vegetables like cassava leaves and long beans. The taste is hot and sour.

Daun singkong tumbuk is mashed cassava leaves cooked with coconut milk. The taste is savory.

Sambal Tuk tuk is dried anchovy that mashed with chili then mixed with lime juice. The taste hot n sour.

Wish my dishes will add the variety of dishes you might want to try.

As Desy's post suggests, within Indonesia and its 33 Provinces, the variety of foods are endless, each Province having its own specialty, and within each Province, its own special recipes to be found within each district or regency. 

In Bali, the most popular dish, and the own which defines Bali best, is without doubt, babi guling (roast suckling pig), and the regency which is credited with the best babi guling is Gianyar. 

Food is just one aspect of the delightful myriad of cultural diversity to be found here in this endlessly rich country.

A favourite in Indonesia is fried noodles.
As we see in this film, western standards of hygiene don't apply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atX3ro6 … e=youtu.be

isn't saksang made from dog !

henkrubus wrote:

isn't saksang made from dog !

I understand it can be made from lots of meat, including dog, but I'm unsure how popular the dog version is in Indonesia.
It'd be interesting to find out.

well because my wife is Batak, I know most of the time when they talk about this, its only real when its dog

I have never eaten dog meat, at least not intentionally. I love Padang food the most. And Sundanese food, Ayam Bakar, and Sate Ayam.

I tried it, you have to try everthing before you can judge, it tasted terrible, its a kind of wishfull thinking under certain groups, like Chinese or bataks, or manado ( they eat rats) so I do not judge it by that, only by culinairy taste, well it simply doesn't taste good. Same as a lot of game I do not like, like rabbits, dear, there is that game smell, sweet , which I realy don't like simple. Bataks used to eat people also, so...
I myself know how to cook very well, do European, India, Indonesian, etc.. Chinese ( but the real stuff, not Hong Kong S*** ) have even my own wok station outside build with a burner of 200.000 btu , well that's what you need for wokking, heat !  Preptime 1 hour or less, cooking time 3 minutes it seals the meat and veggie so quickly that all juices and taste stay inside and not outside the products, that's the key goal of wokking. currently trying to make sushis, have all the stuff at home, so need some time off first, too many hobbies , then start baking couple of breads, because the bread here stinks, its terrible, there is nothing better then some good old fashion bread form Europe, German or others, the bread inhere is typical Asian, white, sweet soft, and with sweet tooth filling, terrible, you press one loaf in your hand, it gets the size of a golf bal, so we have to be creative, or go to certain special places and pay 100 K for a good bread also not my way of shopping.

Also it was along time ago, I think more then 25 years, there was that place in Mampang, just before going to the left to Kemang, it  was called either " 666" or " 999 " forgot it, that was a magical place, just 5 big wok stations, a fantastic menu, cheap, and mostly Indonesian style, mixed with some Chinese dishes, they had a big tent where you could sit and order or eat, the food was great, and cheap, they ofcourse disappeared, either changed names, or where " eating " by the big guys now all over in Kemang, don't find places like that anymore I guess, nostalgia..

Right some Bataknese enjoy eating dog meat.  But, dog meat not something common to eat actually.  Myself don't eat in fact as well as my family.  Commonly Saksang cooked from pig and very rarely from dog meat.  Usually dog meat you can find cooked as Rica dishes which is taste hot. However not every 'Lapo' (name for Batak restaurant) sell dog dishes. 

It is great knowing Henk's wife Bataknese. So I think she knows there are many ethnics in Batak itself, like Batak Simalungun, Toraja, Toba, Mandailing n there others I forgot because I born n grow up in Jakarta. Then for each ethnics they have difference n common dishes.

Indonesia has many ethnics and its of them are unique.  Menado for example has hot n spicy dishes.  But, they also have uncommon dishes which is rat and bat.  Not really knowing about this but since my neighbor Menado so rat in here not just any rat they said. But, difference rat that can only find in Menado.  Then again this kind of meat not something common to eat even for Menado ethnics itself.

Just additional info if you like to try Batak dishes then came to Lapo Siagian next to MPR building in Senayan.  In fact there are 3 Lapos there, guarantee they don't sell dog for Saksang dishes.  Then in the same place you also can find Menado restaurant which is sometimes they have dog dishes cooked as Rica. The term that either Batak n Menado use to  identify this two difference meat are B1 for dog and B2 for pig.  Another info there is a great and halal Menado restaurant named Beautica next to Moestopo University. I am sorry forget the street name but that not too far from Senayan Plaza.  The food in this place mostly hot n spicy.  But they cooked very nice ( note: price little bit expensive here).

Hopefully this sharing could broad our view about many varieties and/or unique or uncommon dishes in Indonesia or even some part of this world.

yes great story, my wife is from marga Pane ) mandailing, not much left of them, the Bataks have a " list " of family names, some are in the " top " some " below " its interesting to know but the other marga's know exactly what to expect entering a home of a higher " marga " then theirs yes I know about the b1 b2, I think there is also a B3 , forgot have to ask
manadonese eat rat, well I don't care really what kind of a rat, white, wild or whatever, I have been told they life in the ricefields or something, but to me a rat is a rat The rica2 dishes are commonly very  very spices, OMG people from Manado love cabai, I mean I love spicy food can have a lot but those folk are too much for me, they make sambal from pure cabai rawit, 30 pcs or so , just mesh them up that's it, even a guy like me who can handle a lot, can handle it, but my face will get red and pale its terrible.. mm if my wife talks about sangsak she always ment dog, maybe in the Mandailing area dog is more common for this, don't know, I never know there where some lapo resto in here, mm interesting, but then again if we meet Batak people its gonabe a long long night, too long for me... but then again Batak people are not that compact as Manado people don't know why, must be the individual character they have, tdk cocok most of the time.
the thing is if she goes home to her kampong, we will go bankrupt, she is rather in the top of the list, and if someone request financial help, she " has " to help accordantly to the " adat " so no good. adat still very strong with Bataks.
the only thing I still remember from Manado is the spicy sambal and the Ikan roja, kind of smoked dry fish only you can find in there, that's what they say.... most at the time if eating in Batak resto, its not halal but anyway I do not care much about that one, I mean food is universal and does not have a limit, its exciting, sexy, and creative, seeing at the German Bistro in Menteng which serves 90 percent pig, all the Moslim with Hiljab having their diner, most of them with non " B " plates, probably scared to get caught, and enjoying it very much, is sometimes keeps wondering about this place....

so after asking around with my Batak family sakang is always DOG meat, so if they say " you can get it with beef, or pig or whatever " its just an excuse for commercial use, so original its always dog. that's one.

An interesting story is also the B1, B2 and B3, which I did not know...
B1 is dog, B2 is pig , why its called B2, because Babi which means pig, has 2 B it in, you got it
the B3 is a funny joke, its the " baboe " you if y don't know what I mean, don't ask

What a delicious topic! As others have rightly pointed out, the sheer diversity in Indonesia makes for an endless variety of dishes. This also makes it very hard to select a favourite. In terms of the different cuisines, I think I lean a little bit towards Javanese cuisine as my favourite - though I might be slightly biased since my wife is half-Javanese. Some of my favourite dishes include:

Javanese:
- Tongseng, a goat stew with cabbage from Central Java
- Rawon, a black coloured beef soup from East Java
- Nasi gudeg, a plate of rice with small amounts of different dishes, named after its main component, gudeg (i.e. young jackfruit stew). Can be quite sweet though. A Yogyakarta specialty.
- Sate kambing - goat satay (preferably with plenty of fat!) and a sweet kecap manis based sauce.

Sundanese:
- Sayur asem, a sour vegetable soup with tamarind

Padangnese (is that even a word? lol):
- Gule otak, goat brain in a rich coconut milk curry
- Rendang sapi, beef rendang

Balinese:
- Sate lilit ikan, minced fish sate. I don't eat pork so I've never tried babi guling, but Balinese seafood is very good. I especially like it with sambal matah, a raw sambal (chilli sauce) unique to Bali.

Banjarese:
- Soto banjar, a chicken broth soup, similar to the Javanese soto ayam but with some additional spices like nutmeg and cloves. Great comfort food.

As far as sweets go, the thick pancake known as martabak manis/terang bulan (depending which part of the country you're in) can be really delightful if made well. I ALWAYS choose one made with butter and not margarine (though it will be quite a bit more expensive)! My favourite topping is half-keju (cheese) half-campur (which is a mix of chocolate sprinkles with crushed peanuts). I found the Indonesian obsession with adding yellow processed cheddar (the aforementioned cheese) to sweets a bit weird at first but it has grown on me.

The thing about Indonesian cuisine that I really love, though, is that it's full of surprises! I'm forever discovering new and interesting dishes. Just yesterday I went to a Medan restaurant and had a type of pigeon (burung punai) which was delicious!

Street food is the best. I was hesitant but once I tried it became my favorite. I love watching the way it is made. If you are in Jakarta try Kerak telor. How Kerak telor is made - Jakarta

I dont recommend street food for those who just arrived. Most people need a month or so for the stomach to get adjusted to the local conditions. Your stomach is likely to get revolted and could have a serious diarrhea. Or even worse...

In other method of ordering food, I can recommend Gojek version of GoFood. You can directly order food from the smartphone app. The price of food including delivery cost is posted. And you have the flexibility of the features where the location and menu of your favorite dishes.

I went for street food from the first day, and my stomach told me what to look out for.
I would NEVER have street food delivered as my choice of place depends on the look of the stand.

I basically agree about not eating street food, but in Bandung a lot of the regular street sellers are excellent. For example, behind Gedung Sate is a sate seller who has been there for ages and the food is delicious and safe. Many of the staff from nearby government offices eat there. We often get a Gojek to pick up of drop off things, and more and more use them to bring back food from the many excellent food places in Bandung. I mean Rp10,000 is a small fee to pay for that service (I think it is Rp15,000 in Jakarta).

Nasi Padang is my favourite food, with it's rendang, terong, perkedel, ayam bakar and other amazing dishes. We have found two or three exceellent restaurants for padang food and frequent them regularly, although be noted that even though nasi padang is indonesia's favourite food, the people who die youngest from high cholestrol related diseases are the padangnese. My mother-in-law is from Padang and she cooks rendang the correct way, for at least 7 hours.

Apart from Nasi Padang I love Sundanese food which is one of the big reasons why so many Jakarta people come to Bandung.

Street food needs time to be acquainted with and its best to start slowly and go with people who know what to eat. Mut advice to new people in Indonesia is to visit food stalls where there is a queue, stay away from the fruit for a while and no ice.
Go easy on the spice to start with and then enjoy.

Absolutely no ice.
Most is made from tap water, some worse.

NEVER take ice from street stalls