#28 Indonesia

Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands, with over 900 being permanently inhabited. I can’t stop thinking about the logistics of rolling out vaccines for a population of 270 million, living on 900 different pieces of land! Maybe my map below will help.

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The varied nature of Indonesian food is due to there being hundreds of indigenous ethnic groups, as well as Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese influences sneaking their way in.

Rice is the staple and is eaten with most meals. Tumpeng is what Indonesians serve for feasts and celebrations. The tumpeng is a large pile of rice shaped into a cone, which is the star component of the meal, and any number of side dishes are served with it. The whole meal is put together to symbolise the harmony of life and nature.

Many different ingredients from the land and sea are available. Below are a few examples:

Vegetables: shallots, garlic, cabbage, aubergine, potato, cassava, carrot, tomato, cucumber.

Meat: chicken, duck, beef, goat.

Fish: tuna, mackerel, red snapper, shark, quid, crab, mussels.

Another ingredient worth noting is peanuts, which appear in many dishes, including two of the dishes I describe later.

Indonesian cooking is typical of south-east Asia generally in that dishes will usually perfectly balance salty, sweet, hot and sour. Indonesians love their food to be hot and spicy. Sambal is Indonesian chilli sauce made from chilli peppers, shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallots, palm sugar and lime. I had it a few times in Malaysia and it is HOT…but also sweet, tangy and super-delicious.

Another Indonesian sauce we need to talk about is kecap manis. This is soy sauce mixed with palm sugar. It’s like what would happen nine months later if soy sauce and treacle had a hot, steamy night together. It’s so good, and easy to find in UK supermarkets.

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5 national dishes

The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy named tumpeng the official national dish in 2014. Whoever was in charge four years later decided that one dish alone was insufficient to promote the country’s diverse culinary traditions and replaced the official national dish with five official national dishes.

Not being one to do things by halves, I made all five!

1. Soto ayam/chicken soup

There are many variations of soto/soup throughout Indonesia. Soto ayam/chicken soup is the most popular version, elevating it to the status of official national dish. The dish consists of a clear herbal both, made yellow by the inclusion of turmeric, with chicken and rice noodles. It couldn’t be simpler to make:

- Boil chicken in salted water with lemongrass and lime leaves to create the broth (discard the herbs after cooking).

- Blitz peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, ginger, shallots and garlic to make a spice paste and cook for a few minutes in hot oil.

- Add cooked spice paste and shredded chicken to the broth.

- Add rice noodles.

- Serve with coriander, crispy fried shallots, chilli sauce (preferably sambal) and a boiled egg.

This was hearty and spicy yet light and refreshing and jam-packed with flavour. It’s simple, honest cooking and perfectly suited to roadside stalls for a quick slurp. I wonder if Indonesians can eat it without splashing it everywhere?

2. Gado gado / mix mix.

This is a salad of raw or cooked vegetables, with rice and fried tofu/potato/boiled eggs and dressed in a wonderful peanut sauce. My version is as follows:

- Mix crunchy peanut butter with kecap manis, lime juice, chilli sauce and enough water to make it drizzle-able.

- Drizzle the peanut sauce over cooked brown rice, baked sweet potato slices, green beans, carrots and peppers.

- Serve with a boiled egg for protein and roasted peanuts for crunch.

You can basically have any combo of ingredients you like but I strongly recommend sweet potato to be included and use the best quality crunchy PB you can find. Nutritious and delicious!

3.Sate (ayam)/(chicken) satay.

A common misconception is that “satay” refers to the peanut sauce. The “satay”, or sate, actually refers to the grilled skewered meat and can be served with any sauce, although the scrummy peanut sauce we thought was called “satay” accompanies the meat more often than not. Satay is common to Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, China, Singapore and Sri Lanka but it is originally Indonesian. It’s hugely popular in the Netherlands due to Indonesia historically being a Dutch colony. It’s also hugely popular here in the UK because, well, it’s just great. To make perfect peanut sauce:

- Sautee onion, garlic and chilli. Add peanut butter, coconut milk, kecap manis, soy sauce and simmer for 10mins. Squeeze in lime juice and blend into a smooth-ish paste.

- Serve with skewered and grilled chicken thighs (or any other meat you fancy) that have been marinated in kecap manis and butter.

- Make enough peanut sauce so you have some leftover. It even makes broccoli taste nice.

4. Rendang daging/beef rendang

This is a dry beef curry. There are quite a lot of ingredients, but the method is simple:

- Whizz chilli, garlic, shallot, lemongrass, ginger, galangal and peanut oil into a paste.

- Brown chunks of beef suitable for slow cooking.

- Cook the spice paste for a couple of minutes, throw the beef back in along with cardamon, clove, cinnamon, lemongrass, tamarind paste, coconut milk, desiccated coconut, brown sugar and seasoning. Cover and leave to slowly similar away for an hour, maybe a bit longer.

- Uncover, turn up the heat and let the sauce evaporate away to become a wonderful, rich paste caramelising around the meat.

- Serve with Jasmine rice.

Beef rendang is heaven. It has such a myriad of flavours, with every bite making time stand still. The tender meat is coated in a beautiful harmony of spice and sweet, creamy nuttiness. Big claim: I think this is my new favourite curry.

5. Nasi goreng/fried rice.

It’s as simple as this: fried rice. It’s cheap and quick and is therefore ideal street food. You can throw in anything you find lying around: sambal, kecap manis, veg, chicken, fried eggs, whatever you fancy. I had this with leftover chicken satay and a fried egg the morning after a very boozy Zoom and I was hungover no more.

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Indonesia has been so delicious it’s hard to leave, but we must continue to…HONDURAS!

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#jencookstheworld