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25 Foods to Try in Indonesia

Bandung’s cuisines are largely associated with the strong influence of Sundanese gastronomy so Sundanese food is the most authentic in Bandung. However, other Indonesian foods exist as Bandung is a heterogeneous community. A wide variety of dishes, from snack, main course, and dessert, is available in the city, as follows:

Main Course and Snack

1

Seblak

A savory and spicy cuisine originating from Parahyangan region. A mouth-watering dish comprises wet krupuk (Indonesian crackers), cooked with proteins such as egg, chicken, seafood, or beef sausages, into a mixture of chilli sauce, sweet soy sauce, garlic, shallot, and galangal.

2

Nasi Padang

 

Minangkabau-style steamed rice, served alongside with different choices of condiments: beef rendang, fried beef lung, curried beef liver, tripe, intestines or foot tendons, fried chicken, curried fish, stewed vegetables, chilli eggplant, and sambal. Commonly eaten with bare hands, but spoon and fork are also available. The waiter will serve a buffet at the customer's table and they only have to pay for foods they have consumed.

3

Nasi Goreng

 

Indonesian Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice) is mainly consumed for breakfast. In Indonesia, fried rice is usually served with sunny-side up, prawn crackers, and pickles. Other proteins such as chicken, beef, or seafood are sometimes incorporated in it. It’s flavorful and the taste is adjustable, it can be either spicy or not.

4

Nasi Liwet

 

Commonly found in traditional Sundanese and Javanese cuisine, Nasi Liwet, aromatic rice cooked in coconut milk, chicken broth, salam leaves, lemongrass, and other spices, exist across Indonesia. In Sundanese style, the rice served with fried tempeh, fried tofu, and fried anchovy while the Javanese served it with shredded chicken, telur pindang (Javanese style marinated egg), chayote soup, and opor ayam (chicken soaked in coconut milk, limes leaves, and galangal based sauce)

5

Nasi Tutug Oncom

 

Nasi Tutug Oncom, widely known as Tutug Oncom, is a Sundanese cuisine popular in Bandung and Tasikmalaya. It is made from fragrant rice assorted with roasted oncom fermented beans, usually wrapped with banana leaves and served with various side dishes, such as sunny-side up, fried chicken, grilled chicken, fried anchovy, fried tofu and tempeh, Indonesian crackers, sambal, and stewed vegetables as well.

6

Soto Bandung

 

Originally from Bandung, it is an Indonesian-style meat light soup. Soto Bandung is cooked by boiling water and subsequently incorporating cubed beef (meat used in Soto Bandung) and other ingredients and spices: oil, salt, sugar, white pepper, garlic, ginger, sliced daikon radish, scallions, bay leaves, and lemongrass.

7

Nasi Timbel

 

Nasi Timbel is a fragrant steamed rice cooked inside the wrap of banana leaves and usually served with side dishes such as fried chicken, fried beef, salted duck egg, fried anchovy, fried tofu and tempeh, sambal, stewed vegetables, and Indonesian-style tamarind-infused vegetables soup.

8

Mie Kocok


Literally means “shaken noodle”, this beef soup noodle is the icon of Bandung. This food's main element is noodles poured into a rich beef consommé soup, along with beef meatballs, beef tendons, bean sprouts, kaffir lime juice, then garnished with fried shallots as well as sliced scallion and fresh celery.
9

Karedok

 

Karedok is an Indonesian-style salad, originally from the Sundanese region. This salad is made up of a combination of raw vegetables covered with peanut sauce dressings. The vegetables commonly used are cabbage, long beans, bean sprouts, legumes, Thai basil, small green eggplants, cucumbers, and chayote. In daily life of Sundanese, this dish is often served with steamed rice, tempeh, tofu, and krupuk (Indonesian crackers).

10

Kupat Tahu

 

As of its name, Kupat Tahu, a Sundanese and Javanese cuisine consists of two main ingredients: ketupat (rice cake wrapped in diamond-shaped container of woven palm leaf pouch) and fried tofu, combined with bean sprouts and peanut sauce dressing, and topped with krupuk (Indonesian crackers).

11

Batagor

 

Batagor, comes from the word Bakso Tahu Goreng (fried tofu and meatball), is an Indonesian fried fish dumpling, consisting of minced Spanish mackerel, tuna, or prawn filled into tofu or wonton skins, and served with peanut sauce dressing.

12

Lumpia Basah


Lumpia Basah is considered a snack originally from Bandung in which its spiciness is adjustable. Lumpia Basah is made up of spring roll skin smeared with starch dough and brown sugar, which is stuffed with various ingredients such as sautéed egg, bean sprouts, and jícama, and also seasoned with galangal, garlic, and sambal.
13

Ubi Cilembu

 

Ubi Cilembu is a local variety of sweet potato from Cilembu Village, Sumedang. It contains high amounts of glucose so people mostly roast it to eat it. When Ubi Cilembu is roasted, it releases a sweet glaze and aroma which tastes like honey.

14

Comro

 

Comro, the abbreviation of “oncom di jero'' or literally meaning “oncom inside”, is a typical Sundanese fried food. The outer part of Combro is made from grated cassava, which is then consolidated by hand into a round or oval shape and stuffed with oncom (fermented beans) sauce and chillies.

15

Cilok, Cimol, Cireng, and Cilor

 

It is a group of Sundanese snacks which is commonly found in the street food vendors. Cilok are stuffed with chicken or beef, steamed and served with peanut dipping sauce or tomato dipping sauce while Cimol, Cireng, and Cilor are fried. Cimol is served with seasoning powder (chili, cheese, barbeque etc.), Cireng is served with rujak dipping sauce (sweet, sour, and spicy sauce), and Cilor is Cimol dipped in egg mixture, fried, and served with dipping from tomato sauce, peanut sauce, or spicy-sweet soy sauce.

Sweet and Beverages

1

Serabi

Serabi is an Indonesian-style pancake-like dessert, popular in Balinese and Javanese community. It is made up of rice-flour based dough, added with coconut milk or coconut cream, and emulsified with shredded coconut. It is sweet and delicate, and in a certain culture, like Sundanese, they often served Serabi with a golden-brown coconut syrup called kinca.



 
2

Es Doger


Es Doger has always been associated with Bandung. This dessert has a sweet pinkish base, resulting from coconut milk-based shaved ice beverage which is colored by pink syrup (rose or cocopandan), and served with stratified topping from red tapioca pearls, sliced avocado, cassava tapai (fermented starch products), black glutinous rice, sliced jackfruit, diced bread, and condensed milk (can be chocolate or plain taste).
3

Kue Bandros


Kue Bandros is a rectangular basin-shaped baked sweet coconut cake from rice-flour and coconut-based dough mixed with grated ripe coconut, pandan leaves, salt, water, topped with granulated crystal sugar.
4

Roti Bolen

 

Roti Bolen is a banana and cheese-stuffed, margarine or butter-glazed baked bread pastry from Bandung.

5

Bandrek

 

Bandrek, a native beverage to Sundanese, is mainly consumed by people living in the mountainous region in West Java. It is a hot and spicy drink, created by a mixture of ginger water, cinnamon, and palm sugar, sometimes added with other herbs and spices such as lemongrass, a small portion of black pepper, coriander seeds, cloves, cardamom pods, and star anise. The locals sometimes also put milk inside in the form of coconut milk or sweetened condensed milk.

6

Misro


Gaining its name from the Sundanese phrase “amis di jero'' or sweet inside in literal meaning, this sweet Sundanese snack is an oval deep-fried brown sugar-stuffed consolidated grated cassava and coconut, which is usually served with warm tea.
7

Colenak


Known as grilled peuyeum tapai (fermented cassava), Colenak has a sweet taste with a smoky aroma. This snack is commonly served with brown sugar dipping sauce and grated coconut.
8

Gemblong

 

Different from Getas which is made of black glutinous rice flour, Gemblong preparation uses the white one. Coconut milk, salt, margarine, grated coconut, and starch flour are added during the dough preparation. This fried street sweet treat is served with brown sugar, palm sugar, or granulated sugar as coating.

9

Piscok

 

Piscok, abbreviation of Pisang Cokelat (Chocolate Banana), is an Indonesian deep fried dessert, made of sliced banana and chocolate condensed milk which are wrapped with crepe skin.

10

Dodol

 

Dodol is a sweet treat coming from western part of Indonesia, prepared from the mixture of glutinous rice flour with sweeteners (cane sugar or palm sugar), coconut milk, and salt as well as fruit seasoning, cooked until it is coagulated,and packed into cylindrical candy-like wrap.

 

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