Can you close the flavors, aromas, colors and textures of Indonesia specialties in a few words? This is a difficult task, because it is impossible to describe in a few sentences a country where the influence of many nations mix, which is full of cultural nuances. So what are the flavors of Indonesia? We will try to bring them to you a little bit …
Indonesia flavors: combining traditions
It’s easier to say what it’s not like, what’s the Indonesian cuisine. It is certainly not homogeneous, but combines many culinary traditions from different regions. It all depends on what region of this island state we are in and under what influence it is. So you can talk more about Indonesian cuisines than about one kitchen. There you will find flavors of Arabic , European , Indian , Chinese and island . Despite many differences, they have several common elements. The basic ingredient in them is rice , and in every form, meat is quite often used (because of Islam’s dominance it is most often poultry ) and fruit sea . It is hard to imagine that the local specialties would not include mango , bananas or even coconut milk , and certainly they could not miss all of them a range of oriental spices, in particular chili , referred to as the national treasure. Due to the popularity of vegetarian dishes, tofu and tempe h are used prepared in the soy fermentation process and wrapped in banana leaves. In dishes, they are usually sprinkles in the form of small cubes roasted to crunchy. If you want to taste really spicy dishes, go to Bali , and the inhabitants of Java enjoy cooking sweet.
Indonesia flavors: some examples
Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng these two dishes will be prepared in the same way, they differ only in the main ingredient. Ned is rice, mie is noodles, and goreng in Indonesian means fried . Fried rice is the most popular and classic Indonesian dish, the pride of the whole nation. These are dishes that everyone likes and every housewife serves them for dinner at least once a week. Rice is fried in wok with a broken egg, kecap manis , which is a sweet soy sauce, spicy sambal sauce and vegetables – usually carrots, Chinese cabbage and onions. The dish is always served with shrimp prunes, a fried egg on top, a few slices of fresh cucumber, and pieces of meat are also often added.
Satay is a Malay-Indonesian dish consisting of pieces or slices of meat – chicken, lamb, beef or fish stuffed with bamboo sticks, which are later grilled over a fire of wood or special stacks of coal. Skewers prepared this way are usually served with hot sauces. The dish probably comes from the Java or Sumatra islands, but is also very popular in other regions of Southeast Asia .
Otak-otak is a type of spicy fish meatballs, flavored with coconut milk and various additives, wrapped in baking or grilling in banana leaves. As a ready-to-bake product, otak-otak is sold in Asian stores as frozen or canned.
Pempek is a large fist-sized dumpling made of dough based on ground fish meat and tapioca (a type of flour). Inside there is a filling, usually a hard-boiled egg, of course without a shell. Without knowing what the pempek is made of, it would be difficult to guess – you can’t feel fish motifs at all. It is always served in a large amount of a dark sauce based on soy sauce, which combines the taste of salty, sweet, spicy and sour. The crunchy fresh cucumber also tastes interesting, the small pieces of which float in the sauce.
Nasz Pecel is a popular dish served for breakfast. Basically it is hot white rice served with cooked and cooled green vegetables. Most often they are sprouts, water spinach, string beans, cabbage, chives. Everything is accompanied by fried tofu and tempeh. Such a pyramid is generously poured with a spicy peanut sauce that tastes like peanut butter. The dish will take you to the land of new flavors. In addition, it occurs in several variations. Gado-gado is a version without rice, but with lots of vegetables. Served as a salad, always with shrimps. Ketoprak is the same salad with thin threads of transparent soy or rice noodles, and P ecel L ele is a dinner dish where fried catfish sauce is poured with peanut sauce.
I don’t know about you, but I am already hungry … Fortunately, if you do not plan to travel to Indonesia in the near future, you can make these and other dishes come to your homes. Polish stores in this matter are already really well stocked. It is worth taking a moment to search, and then enjoy the real feast, which undoubtedly are the flavors of Indonesia 🙂
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