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Hello,
My name is Aline. I learned how to cook when I went to college and had to live away from my parents. I missed Indonesian food and thus, I was forced to learn how to make it myself. Over the years, I also learned many different cooking techniques and recipes by watching Food Network and learning from the internet. My mom also provided me with some of her or my grandmothers' recipes. So, you will find some of my family recipes here.
I started the website to get all my recipes in one place. In addition, I want to introduce people to Indonesian food that I enjoy. Most Americans know Thai cuisine because there are always Thai restaurants in almost every city in US. However, it is not easy to find Indonesian restaurants unless the city has a very high concentration of Indonesians. Thus, not many non-Indonesian people know about Indonesian cuisine. I am hoping this website will introduce you to Indonesian cuisine.
I try to stay true to the authentic Indonesian taste I was accustomed to when growing up. However, I sometimes have to modify the ingredients with what I can find in the grocery store or whatever is easier or faster to prepare. Nevertheless, I try not to compromise the taste.
In addition to Indonesian cuisine, the website also has recipes from other cuisine that I learned over time. I made a lot of these recipes for potluck parties and people liked them so much that they kept asking me for them. To save my time from sending the same recipes to different people, I decided to compile them on this website.
I hope you will enjoy the recipes. Happy cooking!
What is Indonesian cuisine?
Indonesia has more than 300 of ethnic groups spread over 6000 populated islands even though it consists of 17,508 islands. Because of that, the cuisine is very diverse depending on the region. In addition, it is also influenced by Indian, Chinese, and Dutch cuisine.
Rice is the main staple in Indonesia, except in Eastern Indonesian islands of Maluku and Papua where sago is the main staple. It is eaten with the main dishes. The main dishes can be chicken, beef, tofu, tempeh, or seafood accompanied by vegetables. Because the majority of Indonesians are muslim, pork is not normally consumed, except in some areas where Islam is not the religion. Many Chinese Indonesians consume pork products in some ways because most of them are not Muslim.
Indonesian cuisine combines many different flavors into one: salty, sweet, hot, sour, and spicy. Most Indonesians like hot and spicy food. However, some areas like it more than others. Padang cuisine from Sumatra island tends to use chili peppers as one of the ingredients. Central Java cuisine tends to be sweeter by adding palm sugar. The spices used in Indonesia are cumin, turmeric, galangal, coriander, bay leaf, ginger, chili peppers, shallot, garlics. Some recipes also call for cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and candlenuts. Coconut milk is also used a lot. Sweet soy sauce and soy sauce are also used a lot in cooking as well as a condiment.
There are many different preparation methods used: grilling, stir frying, frying, sauteeing, boiling, and steaming. The common preparation methods are frying, stir frying, and boiling.
Most popular Indonesian dishes are chicken satay, beef rendang, nasi goreng (fried rice), gado-gado (vegetables with peanut sauce dressing), and bakmi goreng (stir fried noodles). Some of the dishes (beef rendang) become popular in Malaysia and Singapore because of the migration of Indonesians to those 2 countries.
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