What is your favorite Indonesian food?
Indonesia is well-known for its various foods. From Sabang to Merauke, from Miangas to Rote Island, each area has its own traditional cuisine. For the tenth challenge of English Friday, I had to choose my favorite Indonesian foods. It is hard for me to choose only one food because it would not be fair for the others.
So, what are they?
Minangese cuisine
Born and raised in West Sumatera, I got accustomed to Minangese cuisine which have certain criteria in general: rich in herbs and spices, contains chilies, and cooked in coconut milk. As Minangkabau people live in darek (the land) and pasisia (the coast), there are general differences in what they cook and eat, too. The first difference is main ingredients that they use to cook. The land people usually eat beef, chicken, and sometimes, buffalo meat. They do not often consume fishes, except those which are obtained from fresh water, such as lakes or pools. Yet, for the people who live near to coastal line of West Sumatera, fishes are the main ingredients of their foods. They usually are not fond of fishes from the pool because of their earthy taste. As far as I can remember, the other difference is culinaries from pasisia is not as rich in spices (such as cloves,coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin, etc.) as those from darek.
Thus, here are my favorite foods which represent those two kind of Minangese traditional dishes : gulai lauak karang and katupek pical kapau.
- Gulai lauak karang (Reef fish curry)
This dish uses lauak karang (fishes which live near the reef, such as snapper and grouper fishes) as its main ingredient. The fish then cooked in the mixture of various seasoning (shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, galangal, lemongrass , bay leaves, and kaffir lime leaves) and coconut milk. People add chili padi and dried garcinia fruits to give spicy and sour taste.
2. Katupek pical kapau
Here, in Eastern part of Agam and Bukittinggi, it’s so easy to find katupek pical kapau. Kapau is actually a region in Agam regency, which is famous for its traditional cuisines. Basically, this dish is consisted of rhombus-shaped rice cake (katupek/ketupat), vegetables curry (contains unripe jackfruit, bamboo sprout, and taro stem), and pical. Pical is the mixture of shredded cabbage, yellow noodles, and peanut sauce. The dish is topped with red crackers from tapioca starch, which turned pink after fried. To make it more complete and tastier, whole boiled eggs in curry and spicy cassava chips are also available to be added into the katupek pical.
I am sorry for not providing photograph of this food because I do not have it by my own. I am still waiting for the permission from the owner of the photograph. If you wish to know how does it look like, just click here.
Indonesian cuisine in general
My favorite Indonesian cuisine is nasi goreng (fried rice). Nasi goreng is not only can be found in Indonesia, yet this dish is very well-known as one of the most delicious Indonesian food based on CNN International polling. What makes this dish special is that it can be modified and suited with our taste. Just add any leftover dish to enrich your nasi goreng and you have succeeded in creating your own style nasi goreng.
I also have my own style in making nasi goreng. Usually, it contained garlic, egg, leek, pepper, salt, grounded chilies, oyster sauce, soy sauce (both sweet and salty), celery, and sometimes anchovies. Yet, this morning, I made a different type of nasi goreng, which is richer in aroma and taste. The ingredients were similar, but without oyster sauce, egg, and anchovies. I added shallots, bay leaf, and turmeric leaf to enrich the aroma. My mom and dad usually add a tomato into the dish, but I did not use any because it makes the nasi goreng slightly wet.
As for the topping, I added a slice of omelet, two slices of tomato, shredded cabbage, chopped celery, and a shrimp cracker. Hmm, yummy!
So, what are your favorite Indonesian food? Please let me know.
saya suka nasi goreng. kadang kalau ibu saya yang masak dan makannya selagi hangat, bisa nambah 😀
saya suka masakan yang berbumbu kacang, misal gado-gado, sate, dan rujak cingur seperti yang saya posting untuk EF310
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Betul sekali, Bang. Masakan ibu memang juara. Nasi goreng memang makin lezat kalau dimakan selagi hangat 🙂
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Minangnese is the best! ⭐ I would love to be locked in Rumah Makan Sederhana hahaha
For Fried rice, I like Nasi Goreng Teri the most 🙂
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..and do not have to pay for any food that you have eaten :D. I would love it, too, Mbak Nad! Can I join in your adventure?
Nasi Goreng Teri is surely delicious! 🙂
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yaya you can accompany me 🙂 haha
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Yay! 😀
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..and do not have to pay for any food that you have eaten :D. I would love it, too, Mbak Nad! Can I join your adventure?
Nasi Goreng Teri is sure delicious! 🙂
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I eat nasi goreng, but not too much, except nasi goreng magelang. That is delicious.
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I want to try it someday 🙂
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You have to.
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What is the different between nasi goreng Magelang with other, Umami?
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minang cuisine
*ngiler*
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what I get here is only nasi rendang, and most of them with javanese taste.. sweet.. 😀
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You should try the original taste, then 😀
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yup, I will….
#donlotkolestrol 😀
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I love fried rice and love to cook it also. Yes, you can use any leftover to cook it.
Is Ketuplek looks like ketupat sayur?
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Yup, Katupek pical looks like ketupat sayur+pical/pecel 🙂
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I see.
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katupek pical!! duh kangen gini makan makanan Padang langsung di tempatnya 😀
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Hayuk, Mbak Ira 🙂
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Although I am a Javanese, I like Minangese cuisine too, especially Dendeng Batokok and Ikan Patin Sampadeh 🙂
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I am glad that many people like Minangese cuisine. Those food are truly delicious, Pak Iwan, makes me want to add another portion of rice 🙂
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Most people said: “tambo ciek” 🙂
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Indeed, Pak Iwan :).
Actually, it’s “tambuah ciek” but it’s a bit difficult to pronounce ‘tambuah’ like the native speakers do. Thus, it’s often spoken (or misheared?) as ‘tambo’. Tambo itself is a kind of Minangese legend 🙂
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Pempek, Sate, Siomay, Rujak, Nasi Goreng, Aneka Soto, Mie Goreng, Bakso, Gado-gado and co, Padangnese, Javanese, Manadonese, Sundanese, Betawian food and many more. It is too many to mention here Ami. Thank you for your info.
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You are welcome, Mbak Yo 🙂
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I never get bored of fried rice! It’s the easiest dish to make yet always satisfying!!
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Indeed, Mbak Mikan! Nasi goreng has its own charm 😀
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Most definetely Mi!
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Duh, aku baru dua hari di Padang aja udah jatuh cinta ama makanannya Mi..henak tenan sih!
👍👍👍
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Apalagi kalau stay lebih lama, ya, Mbak 🙂
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West Sumatra is rich in tasteful dishes and curries. Seeing the fish curry already make me drooling :hihi, and since the herbs used in making the curry are a lot, I don’t think that someone will be unsatisfied when eating the dish :hehe.
Oooh, fried rice is indeed, a savior for leftovers. It’s kind of magical, seeing a very simple way could turn mere leftovers to delicious food to all family.
Great post, Ami!
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