History
Indonesian cuisine has a long history and the practices of cooking usually are inherited in a family or spread by mouth to mouth. The diversity of the cultures and separated by islands, makes every region in Indonesia have unique flavors in their dishes. The merchants from various origins give additional flavors into the diversity of Indonesian Cuisine. Mainly three foreign influences impact Indonesian Cuisine.
First, Indian influences started in the early 4th century, where Hindu started to become the main religion in Indonesia, this can be seen until today, where Sumatran or Minangkabau, which one of the biggest islands in Indonesia, has similarity food of Indian cuisine, like gulai or kari (which is yellow curry dishes), rendang, martabak.
Chinese immigrants to Indonesia started in the 7th century and accelerated during Duch colonial times, this blends Chinese cuisine into indigenous Indonesian food. This also impacts neighborhood regions like Malaysia and Singapore known as peranakan cuisine. Some popular Indonesian dishes that are originated from Chinese influences such as bakmi (noodle), bakso (meatball), bakpau (bun), nasi goreng (fried rice), mie goreng (fried noodle), tahu goreng (fried tofu, siomay (siumei), pempek (fish cake), lumpia (such of spring roll), nasi tim (steam rice with chicken), cap cai (various stir fry vegetables with gravy), fu yung hai (fried egg with sweet and sour sauce).
Although, Portuguese were the first Europeans that arrived in Indonesia, and took sweet potatoes and cassava back to Europeans. However, Dutch takes control of trade routes in Indonesia in the 16th century in search of spices, and introduce cauliflower, cabbage, and turnips, and bring European style into Indonesian cuisine. Dutch introduce bread, cheese, steak, and pancake. Indonesian adopt the style of European food such as roti bakar (grilled bread), roti buaya (bread in the shape of crocodile), pastel tutup (Shepherd's pie), bistik (beef steak), semur (Dutch Smoor). Dutch also introduce pastries and Indonesian bakes kue bole (tart), lagis legit (spekkoek), lapis surabaya (spiku), pandan cake and klappertaart (coconut tart), kue cubit (dutch pancake, Poffertjes).
Popular Cuisine in Indonesia
North Sumatra or Batak, is famous for its exotic food. They like to prepare either pork or dog. They also use pig blood when cooking their dishes. Their characteristic food is spicy and you can taste the pepper quite strong in their food. Another part of North Sumatra is Aceh which is the most west of Indonesia, their food is strongly influenced by Indian and middle-east traders. Their food tends to be curry known as kare or gulai in Indonesian. They serve beef, goat, fishes, or poultry in coconut-based curry.
West Sumatra or Minangkabau has a famous Rendang, which is spicy beef or buffalo meat. Rendang is a signature dish of Minangkabau. Their characteristic is similar to Aceh food, which is a coconut-based curry type of dish.
East of Sumatra or Medan, they have similarities with Minangkabau cuisine. But East Sumatra food got influences by Chinese immigrants, or in Malaysia and Singapore are known as Peranakan cuisine. Their famous cuisine is laksa spicy noodles and Nasi Medan (Medanese Rice).
South of Sumatra ethnic Malay of Indonesian, one of their famous food is Pempek, which is fish cake serve with cuko (a sweet, sour and spicy sauce made from palm sugar, chili, tamarind, and vinegar). Palembang is a center of South Sumatra, the cuisine is influenced by Malay, Chinese, and Javanese.
West Java or Sunda food characteristic is freshness. They usually prepare fresh vegetables as salad and serve with sambal (chili sauce) as a dipping sauce. They have a little bit of mild sweet, sour, and savory salty. Sambal terasi is a favorite condiment in Sundanese Cuisine.
Jakarta is located in the west of Java, where Betawi people living in, they have Betawi cuisine that got influences from various domestic and foreign ethnicities. Because during the colonization of the Dutch, Jakarta, which previously known as Batavia and Sunda Kelapa, was the center of Dutch trading administration. European, Chinese, Malay, Arab, and also Indian influence into Betawi Cuisine. Betawi cuisines have their famous Gado-Gado (medley salad with peanut sauce), ketoprak (bean sprout, Tofu, rice vermicelli, and rice cake, serves with peanut sauce and also onion cracker), Sayur Asem (sour vegetable soup), kerak telor (spiced omelet with dry shredded coconut)
Central Java dishes are influenced by two ancient kingdoms (Yogyakarta and Surakarta), they are particularly sweet, and they have famous Gudeg, a jackfruit curry, usually served with fried chicken or braised chicken in coconut sauce.
East Java dishes are similar to Central Java, but they are usually less sweet and spicier. Seafood is their specialty. East Java cuisine is mainly influenced by Madurese cuisine. Because Madura is the main producer of salt in Indonesia, their food is usually savory and salty. Their famous food is Madurese Satay, which is chicken satay served with peanut sauces.
Balinese Cuisine dishes are known for their hot and spicy food. Their famous food is Bebek Betutu (duck stuffed with spiced, wrapped in banana leaves), Balinese satay, roasted pork that is stuffed with hot and spicy herbs.
North Sulawesi or Minahasan or Manadonese Cuisine is famous for its meat and seafood variations with abundant spices and hot condiments. Chinese and European influences Manado cuisine, this can be seen on their cake and pastries. They are also famous for exotic meat like dogs, rats, monkeys, bat, and some other animals.
Makasar where Buginese living in the South of Sulawesi island are the people that are famous for exploring the seas. They are fishermen experts and known as people of the seas. Similar to their neighborhood Manadonese, they are also famous for their seafood.
