best foodsIndonesian cuisine

10 main dishes of Indonesian cuisine

Indonesian cuisine is very interesting and varied: connoisseurs of meat dishes, seafood, vegetarians and even sweet tooth will like it. We will tell you what dishes you should definitely try in Bali and in other regions of the country. Popular street food, unusual soups, skillfully cooked rice – we have compiled a list of the most delicious Indonesian food with photos and descriptions.

Sate

The most popular dish of Indonesian cuisine, the legendary must-try street food in Bali. Appetizing miniature kebabs on wooden skewers – for every taste. Most often, sate in Indonesia is made from meat, poultry or seafood (try shrimp – it’s incredibly tasty!) With the addition of spices. Vegetarians in Bali can eat vegetable sate with tofu or fruit sate.

Exotic connoisseurs should try skewers of cobra, turtle meat, lamb testicles or even veal skin in spices. Sate is one of the top 50 best dishes in the world according to CNN. Snack is the most popular street food in Indonesia, which is why locals and tourists buy it from markets or open-air eateries. Feel free to do the same.

Bakso

Another popular street food in Indonesia that every tourist should try. Bakso are meat, fish or seafood meatballs, sometimes made from tofu. They are served in broth or as part of a soup with noodles, rice or vegetables. If you decide to buy bakso from a mobile food cart, which is very popular in Bali, the dish will be “collected” according to your desire.

You choose the type of meatballs, broth and filler, and the seller prepares the food right in front of you, mixing products from different pots. Vegetarians in Indonesia are advised to try bakso based on fried tofu (bakso tahu goreng) without broth, but with vegetables and gravy.

Laksa

A very popular dish in Bali, which is a must try for connoisseurs of spicy food and seafood. If you have eaten and managed to fall in love with Thai Tom Yum, you will like it. Laksa soup is made from noodles with shrimp, fish, shellfish.

And most importantly – hot peppers. Sometimes chicken is used instead of seafood. Often greens, a little lime juice, a boiled egg are added to the soup. CNN included the Indonesian soup asam laksa (noodles with fish) in the top 50 best dishes in the world, ranking it at number 7.

In supermarkets all over Bali, you can buy a mixture of seasonings for making laksa soup. As well as instant noodles with the taste of a national dish.

Rendang

From meat in Bali, you must definitely eat the legendary rendang. Most often, the main ingredient of the dish is beef, but sometimes it is prepared from liver, chicken, eggs. Vegetarian rendang is also found in Indonesia.

Imagine mouth-watering chunks of beef or any other ingredient simmering in a spicy coconut milk sauce. The aroma is just incredible! Add to this some rice, fresh vegetables, an egg – you get a very satisfying dish, the taste of which will long be associated with your vacation in Bali.

Bring home a couple bottles of coke milk. This product in Indonesia is much cheaper than in Russia.

Nasi goreng

The legendary national dish nasi goreng (fried rice) has long been considered a culinary symbol of Indonesia. There are many variations of nasi goreng: with meat, chicken, shrimp, fish, tofu, eggs, vegetables. All are good in their own way.

Rice is fried in vegetable oil along with “stuffing” and a small amount of spices. Sometimes an egg is broken into it. It turns out a very simple, but incredibly tasty dish. It is especially good to try it in Bali in the company of scrambled eggs and sate, washed down with local beer. Feel free to take street food, it is even tastier.

Krupuk

The most popular Indonesian snack that every tourist should definitely try. These are delicious crispy chips that can be made from flour (rice, bean, corn or some other), as well as powdered dried seafood. Sometimes they are generously sprinkled with fragrant spices, but most often they are eaten in their pure form.

This snack in Indonesia can be bought in supermarkets, markets, food trucks, eateries. It is necessarily cooked in restaurants of national cuisine, even in the most expensive ones in Bali. Krupuk chips can simply be crunched, and they are also worth trying with one of the local sauces. Indonesians themselves use a snack instead of bread.

Buy a couple of bags of Indonesian chips as a present for your loved ones. They will make it home perfectly in a suitcase if you choose a larger snack (krupuk is cooked both the size of a walnut and about the size of a palm).

Siomay

A very popular street food in Indonesia, which is also worth trying at least once in a lifetime. The dish does not look very appetizing, but its taste is excellent. Siomay are Indonesian fish dumplings.

If you order this street food at a diner in Bali, they will usually serve it with a portion of potatoes, cabbage and eggs. Siomai is unthinkable without nut sauce – it makes the dish extraordinarily tasty. The best siomay is sold by cart rickshaw vendors. They can be seen from afar by the double boiler puffing with heat.

Nasi uduk

This legendary dish was invented on the island of Java and then spread throughout Indonesia. Today it is a favorite food of tourists and locals alike and is highly regarded in Europe (Asian restaurants often add nasi uduk to the menu).

Be sure to try this national dish during your holiday in Bali. Just imagine: the legendary long-grain Indonesian rice cooked in coconut milk with fragrant spices, lemongrass and pandan leaves. This already sounds delicious. Now add filler to it in the form of meat, seafood, anchovies with peanuts, scrambled eggs or vegetables. A real gastronomic delight!

Martabak

A fried pie made from the thinnest dough with an appetizing juicy filling. Most often, martabak is cooked in Indonesia in the form of a large flatbread that resembles a puff omelet. But street food stalls in Bali often have neat little envelopes.

The filling can be anything: eggs with onions, meat, vegetables. Sweet tooth in Indonesia should definitely try the sweet martabak. This is just a fantastic dessert with a huge amount of chocolate, fruits, nuts, condensed milk or something else. In a word, many people will like this street food, as the variety of toppings even in small mobile shops is really impressive.

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