Bubur Ayam

Bubur ayam (Indonesian for "chicken congee") is an Indonesian chicken congee
It is rice congee with shredded chicken meat served with some condiments, such as chopped scallion, crispy fried shallot, celery, tongcay (preserved salted vegetables), fried soybean, Chinese crullers (youtiao, known as cakwe in Indonesia), both salty and sweet soy sauce, and sometimes it is topped with yellow chicken broth and kerupuk (Indonesian style crackers). Unlike many other Indonesian dishes, it is not spicy; sambal or chili paste is served separately. It is a favourite breakfast food, served from humble travelling vendors, warung (small local shops), and fastfood establishments to fancy five star hotel restaurants. The travelling bubur ayam vendors usually pass through the streets of residential areas in the morning selling their wares.

The origin of bubur ayam was probably derived from Chinese chicken congee. The traces of Chinese cuisine influences are the use of cakwe (youtiao), tongcay and soy sauce. Bubur ayam employs a wide range of poultry products, such as shredded chicken meat for the main dish and different dishes made with chicken offal as side delicacies. Bubur ayam is often eaten with the addition of boiled chicken egg, chicken liver, gizzard, intestines and uritan (premature chicken eggs acquired from butchered hens), served as satay. There are some variants of bubur ayam, such as bubur ayam Bandung and bubur ayam Sukabumi, both from West Java.[ The later variant uses raw telur ayam kampung (lit. "village chicken egg", i.e. free-range eggs) which is buried under the hot rice congee to allow the egg to be half-cooked, with the other ingredients on top of the rice congee. The recipe and condiments of bubur ayam served by humble travelling vendors and warung are also slightly different with those served in fastfood establishments or hotel restaurants.

Because this food is always served hot and having soft texture — just like soto ayam and nasi tim — bubur ayam is known as comfort food in Indonesian culture. The soft texture of the rice congee and boneless chicken also makes this dish suitable for young children or adults in convalescence. Because of its popularity, bubur ayam has become one of the Asia-inspired fastfood menu items at McDonald's Indonesia and Malaysia,and also at Kentucky Fried Chicken Indonesia. Although almost all recipes of bubur ayam use rice, a new variation, called bubur ayam havermut, replaces rice with oats. In grocery stores, bubur ayam is also available as instant food, only needing to add in hot water.

Nasi Kuning (yellow rice)

Nasi Kuning (or sometimes Nasi Kunyit) is an Indonesian rice dish cooked with coconut milk and turmeric, hence the name nasi kuning (yellow rice). 


Nasi kuning might come in the form of a cone called a tumpeng and is usually eaten during special events. The rice looks like a pile of gold, so it is often served at parties and opening ceremonies as a symbol of 

The top of the tumpeng is customarily given to the most senior person in attendance.good fortune, wealth and dignity.

It is usually served with a variety of side dishes such as shredded omelette, serundeng (relish of grated coconut and spices), urap (vegetable in shredded coconut dressing), teri kacang (fried anchovy and peanuts), sambal goreng (fried tempeh and potato caramelized in spicy sauce), ayam goreng (Javanese-style fried chicken), balado udang (shrimp in chilli), or perkedel (potato fritters). More elaborate nasi kuning might include fried cow's brain, fried cow's lung, beef and seafood. It is common to serve nasi kuning with kerupuk udang (shrimp cracker) and a decoratively cut cucumber.

Batagor

Batagor (abbreviation from: Bakso Tahu Goreng, Sundanese and Indonesian: "fried bakso and tofu") is Sundanese Indonesian fried fish dumplings served with peanut sauce. It is traditionally made from tenggiri (wahoo) fish meat. Sometimes other types of seafood such as tuna, mackerel, and prawn also can be used to make batagor. Just like siomay, other complements to batagor are steamed cabbage, potatoes, bitter gourd and tofu. 

Batagor is cut into bite size pieces and topped with peanut sauce, sweet soy sauce, chili sauce and a dash of lime juice. Because being fried, batagor have crispy and crunchy texture. Since the serving method is identical, today batagor and siomay often sold under one vendor, with batagor offered as variation or addition to siomay.

Batagor is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities. It can be found in street-side foodstalls, travelling carts, bicycle vendors, and restaurants. The dish is influenced by Chinese Indonesian cuisine and derived from siomay, with the difference instead of being steamed, batagor is consider as fried type of siomay. Batagor was invented in 1980s in Bandung, and the most famous variety is Batagor Bandung. It has been adapted into local Sundanese cuisine. Today, most of Batagor sellers are Sundanese.

Nasi Pecel

Nasi pecel  is a Javanese rice dish served with pecel (cooked vegetables and peanut sauce). 


The vegetables are usually kangkung or water spinach, long beans, cassava leaves, papaya leaves, and in East Java often used kembang turi. It tastes best when eaten with fried tempeh and traditional cracker called peyek. It is popular in East and Central Java

Nasi campur

Nasi campur, (Indonesian: "mixed rice", also called nasi rames), referring to a dish of rice topped with various meats, vegetables, peanuts, eggs and fried-shrimp krupuk. Depending on which areas it originate, a nasi campur vendor can several different side dishes, including vegetables, fish and meats.It is a staple meal of the Southeast Asian countries, and popular especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Netherlands. A form of it called chanpurū also exists in Okinawa.

Origin and variations       

There is no exact rule, recipe or definition of what makes a nasi campur, since Indonesians and by large Southeast Asians commonly consume steamed rice surrounded with several side dishes consists of various kinds of vegetables and meat. As the result either the question of origin or recipe is obscure. Yet nasi campur is commonly perceived as steamed rice surrounded with various dishes that might consists of vegetables and meats, served in personal portion, in contrast of tumpeng that served in larger collective portion or Rijsttafel that setted in lavish colonial banquet. There are several local variations emerges throughout Indonesia; from Bali, Java and Indo colonial to Chinese Indonesian versions of nasi campur.

In Bali the tastes are often distinctly local, punctuated by basa genep, the typical Balinese spice mix used as the base for many curry and vegetable dishes. The Balinese version of mixed rice may have grilled tuna, fried tofu, cucumber, spinach, tempe, beef cubes, vegetable curry, corn, chili sauce on the bed of rice. Mixed rice is often sold by street vendors, wrapped in a banana leaf. In Java, nasi campur is often called nasi rames, and wide variations available across the island. One dish that always found in a Javanese nasi campur is fried noodle. A similar Minangkabau counterpart is called nasi padang.

The combination known as Nasi Rames is a dish created in West Java during WWII by the Indo (Eurasian) cook Truus van der Capellen, who ran the Bandung soup kitchens during (and after) the Japanese occupation. Later she opened a restaurant in the Netherlands and made the dish equally popular there.

Furthermore, some people who reside in Jakarta area use the term nasi campur loosely to refer to Nasi Campur Tionghoa[3] (i.e. Chinese Style Nasi Campur), a dish of rice with an assortment of barbecued meats, such as char siew, crispy roast pork, sweet pork sausage and pork satay. This dish is usually served with simple Chinese chicken soup or sayur asin, an Indonesian clear broth of pork bones with fermented mustard greens. However, such name for similar dish does not exist in Mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, or even most other areas of Indonesia outside of Jakarta.

In reality the usage of the name Nasi Campur here is only for marketing and convenience purposes for the locals and should not be included in the category of Nasi Campur. The categorization of Nasi Campur in this manner makes as much sense as categorizing all buffets with rice in them as Rijsttafel (or worse, nasi campur buffet) just because of the presence of any rice and assortment of dishes. The name Nasi Campur Tionghoa is only a shortened version of "nasi dengan daging campur cara Tionghoa" (i.e. "rice with assortment of Chinese style meats").

Furthermore, most Chinese vendors and food-court stalls in the region serve only one kind of meat with rice and a bowl of broth; patrons have to order different meats as separate dishes or add-ons. Hence, in most cases, those Chinese vendors' menu refers to the specific meat accompanying plain rice, for example, Char Siew Rice, or Roast Pork Rice.

In most cases, Nasi Campur refers specifically to the Indonesian and Malaysian versions of rice with assortments of side dishes.

Gudeg

Gudeg is a traditional food from Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia which is made from young Nangka (jack fruit) boiled for several hours with palm sugar, and coconut milk Additional spices include garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves, and teak leaves, the latter giving a reddish brown color to the dish. It is also called Green Jack Fruit Sweet Stew.

Gudeg is served with white rice, chicken, hard-boiled egg, tofu and/or tempeh, and a stew made of crisp beef skins (sambal goreng krecek)

There are several types of gudeg; dry, wet, Yogyakarta style, Solo style and East-Javanese style. Dry gudeg has only a bit of coconut milk and thus has little sauce. Wet gudeg includes more coconut milk. The most common gudeg came from Yogyakarta, and usually sweeter, more dry and reddish in color because the addition of teak leaves. The Solo gudeg from the city of Surakarta is more watery and soupy with lots of coconut milk and whitish in color because teak leaves is absent. The East-Javanese style gudeg employs a spicier and hotter taste, compared to the Yogyakarta-style gudeg, which is sweeter. Gudeg is traditionally associated with Yogyakarta, and Yogyakarta often nicknamed as "Kota Gudeg" (city of gudeg). The center of Yogyakarta gudeg restaurants are in Wijilan area, east side of Yogyakarta Kraton (Sultans' palace).

Nasi goreng

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Nasi goreng, literally meaning "fried rice" in Indonesian, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including stir fried rice in small amount of cooking oil or margarine, typically spiced with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), shallot, garlic, tamarind and chilli and accompanied with other ingredients, particularly egg, chicken and prawns. There is also another kind of nasi goreng which is made with ikan asin (salted dried fish) which is also popular across Indonesia.

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Nasi goreng has been called the national dish of Indonesia,[ though there are many other contenders. There are many Indonesian cuisines but few national dishes. Indonesia's national dish knows no social barriers. It can be enjoyed in its simplest manifestation from a tin plate at a roadside warung, travelling night hawker's cart; eaten on porcelain in restaurants, or constructed at the buffet tables of Jakarta dinner parties.

In 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Nasi Goreng as the number two of their 'World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods' list after rendang

Gulai

Gulai is a type of food contained rich, spicy and succulent curry-like sauce. The main ingredients might be chicken, beef, mutton, various kinds of offals, fish and seafoods, and also vegetables such as cassava leafs and young jackfruit. The gulai sauce commonly have thick consistency with yellowish color because of the addition of ground turmeric. Gulai ingredients consists of rich spices such as turmeric, coriander, black pepper, galangal, ginger, chilli pepper, shallot, garlic, fennel, lemongrass, cinnamon and caraway, all these spices is ground into paste and cooked in coconut milk with main ingredient. Gulai is often described as an Indonesian type of curry, although Indonesian cuisine also recognize kari or kare (curry).

Gulai is one of the popular and widely distribute dish in Indonesian archipelago, especially in Sumatra, Java and also Malay peninsula. The dish was originated from Sumatra, and thought to be the local adaptation of Indian curry, developed and derived from Indian cuisine influence on Indonesian cuisine. The thick and yellowish gulai sauce is one of the most common sauce in Minangkabau cuisine to gave rich and spicy taste for meats, fishes or vegetables. The gulai sauce found in Minangkabau, Aceh, and Malay cuisine is usually have thick consistency, while the gulai in Java is thinner served in soup-like dish contains pieces of mutton, beef or offal.

Gulai usually served with steamed rice, however some recipe such as goat or mutton gulai might be served with roti canai.

Rendang

Rendang is a spicy meat dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia,and is now commonly served across the country. One of the characteristic foods of Minangkabau culture, it is served at ceremonial occasions and to honour guests. Also popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the southern Philippines and southern Thailand, rendang is traditionally prepared by the Indonesian community during festive occasions.

Culinary expert often describe rendang as: 'West Sumatra caramelized beef curry'. Though rendang is sometimes described as being like a curry, and the name is sometimes applied to curried meat dishes in Malaysia, authentic rendang is nothing like a curry.In 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Rendang as the number one dish of their 'World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods' list.

Rawon or Nasi Rawon/Rawon Rice

Rawon or Nasi Rawon/Rawon Rice (when served with rice) is a strong rich tasting traditional Indonesian beef black soup. Originally from Surabaya in Indonesian province of East Java. It uses black nuts/keluak (Pangeum edule, fruits of kepayang tree) as the main spice which gives the strong nutty flavor and dark color to the soup.

The soup is made of ground mix­ture of garlic, shallot, keluak, ginger, candlenut, turmeric, red chili and salt sauteed with oil until it gets aromatic. The sauteed mixture is then poured into boiled beef stock with diced beef. Lemongrass, galangal, bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves and sugar are then added as seasonings.[ The spe­cial dark/black color of rawon comes from the keluak as the main spice.


The soup is usually garnished with green onion and fried shallot, and served with rice, hence the name Rawon Rice or Nasi Rawon in Indonesian language, together with baby bean sprouts, salted preserved egg, shrimp crackers and sambal chili sauce on the side.

Karedok

Karedok is a raw vegetable salad in peanut sauce from West Java, Indonesia.It is one of the Sundanese signature dish. It is made from cucumbers, bean sprouts, cabbage, legumes, Thai basil, and small green eggplant, covered in peanut sauce dressing. It is very similar to gado-gado, except all the vegetables are raw, while most of gado-gado vegetables are boiled, and it uses kencur,Thai basil and eggplant. 

Karedok is also known as lotek atah (raw lotek or raw gado-gado) for its fresh and raw version of the vegetable covered with peanut sauce. Karedok is widely served as daily food in the Sundanese family, usually eaten with hot rice, tofu, tempeh and krupuk. Nowadays karedok can be found in many variation from hawkers carts, stalls (warung) as well as in restaurants and hotels both in Indonesia and worldwide.

Karedok is part of a wide range of Indonesian dressing and salad combinations, along with lotek, pecel and gado-gado. In many places, to retain authenticity in both the production and flavor, the peanut sauce is made in individual batches, in front of the customers. However, since the dish has gained popularity (because of the increase of Asian-themed restaurants) Karedok sauce is now mostly made ahead of time and cooked in bulk, although this is probably more common in Western restaurants rather than in Indonesia. Nowadays in supermarket and stores, many peanut seasoning for karedok are made and sold.

Gado-gado

Gado-gado (in Indonesian or Betawi language), also known as Lotek (in Sundanese and Javanese) is an Indonesian dish consisting of boiled vegetable salad served with a peanut sauce dressing.It is differed from lotek atah or karedok for its fresh and raw version of the vegetable covered with peanut sauce.

Another similar dish is Javanese pecel. It is thought to have originally been a Sundanese dish. It is widely served from hawkers carts, stalls (warung) as well as in restaurants and hotels both in Indonesia and worldwide.

Gado-gado is part of a wide range of Indonesian dressing and salad combinations, along with lotek, pecel and karedok. In many places, to retain authenticity in both the production and flavor, the peanut sauce is made in individual batches per order, in front of the customers to suit customers' personal preference on the degree of spiciness (the amount of chili pepper).

However, since the dish has gained popularity (because of the increase of Asian-themed restaurants) Gado-gado sauce is now mostly made ahead of time and cooked in bulk, although this is probably more common in Western restaurants rather than in Indonesia. Compared to Western and Indonesian salads, Gado-gado has much more sauce in it. Instead of being used as a light dressing, the vegetables should be well coated in the sauce.

Many stores now offer Gado-Gado dressing in dried blocks to which simply require to add hot water, making it easier and cheaper to cook at home.

Satay or sate

Satay or sate, is a dish of marinated, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce.

[1] Satay may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, other meats, or tofu; the more authentic version uses skewers from the midrib of the coconut palm frond, although bamboo skewers are often used. These are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings.

Satay originated in Java, Indonesia.

[2] Satay is available almost anywhere in Indonesia, where it has become a national dish.

[3] It is also popular in many other Southeast Asian countries, such as: Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand as well as in the Netherlands, as Indonesia is a former Dutch colony.

Satay is a very popular delicacy in Indonesia; Indonesia's diverse ethnic groups' culinary arts (see Indonesian cuisine) have produced a wide variety of satays. In Indonesia, satay can be obtained from a travelling satay vendor, from a street-side tent-restaurant, in an upper-class restaurant, or during traditional celebration feasts. In Malaysia, satay is a popular dish—especially during celebrations—and can be found throughout the country.

Close analogues are yakitori from Japan, shish kebab from Turkey, shashlik from Caucasus, chuanr from China, and sosatie from South Africa. satay is listed at number 14 on World's 50 most delicious foods readers' poll complied by CNN Go in

Satay has achieved wide popularity in other parts of the world, which adds interest to the question of its origin:

The word "satay" is derived from Indonesian: sate.From Java, the satay spread across the archipelago and as the result wide variants of satay recipes has been developed. By late 19th century, satay has crossed the straits into neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In the 19th century the term migrated, presumably with Malay immigrants from Dutch East Indies, to South Africa, where it appears as sosatie. The Dutch brought this dish — and many other Indonesian specialties — to the Netherlands which has influenced Holland’s cuisine to this day