Indonesian Spicy Foods By: Unknown 15 comments

Who doesn’t know about spicy food? Everybody does know. Indonesia is one of big country in Southeast Asia which has so many spicy foods in every island. Indeed. Before getting to know about what kind of foods do you want to try…. Let us know about map of Indonesia.  

 

Yup. First Island we are going to travel to find the foods is Sumatera. 

         

      The most popular spicy food in West Sumatera is Rendang. Not only in Indonesia, but Rendang is popular in other country as spicy food. Rendang is spicy meat dish cooked in coconut milk and many spices such as chili, ginger, garlic, turmeric, galangal, shallots, and lemongrass. Sometimes, the spices can’t be found in western country. Don’t worry, nowadays you can buy for online or you can get easily by buying spices powder in large mart which sells Asian product. Meat can be beef, chicken, lamb or duck. As the main dish, you can eat Rendang with rice or lontong  (rice cake).

 

     The second island is Java. Not many spicy foods are served originally from here. Most of foods in Java Island are sweet and not too spicy. Some foods like gado-gado (salad with peanut sauce), soto ayam (chicken soup), ayam betutu (roasted chicken), and so on. The spicy becomes from the sauce that it is added in foods. The sauce is different from every region. There are sambal goreng (fried sambal/fried spicy sauce), sweet soy dipping sauce, and raw sambal.

 

Sambal goreng (fried sambal) is mixed from chili, garlic, shallots, sugar, and salt blend into one. Before it is served, sambal goreng is usually fried first until quite strong smell.

 

Then, sweet soy dipping sauce is usually found in East Java foods. Not like sambal goreng, sweet soy dipping sauce is easy to make – chop chili, shallots and tomatoes into a bowl which full of soy sauce. 

 

The last is raw sambal or known as Balinese chili made from chopped-chili, shallots, garlic clove, lime leaves, roasted shrimp paste, vegetable oil, salt and pepper are mixed into one bowl.  Three kind of sambal are ready to serve. 

     Kalimantan Island has special spicy porridge from West Kalimantan. Spicy porridge is not as very spicy as its name. The name of spicy is given because it is made from many spices (include chili) and vegetables. The spices are garlic, shallots, chili, galangal, pepper, lemongrass, shrimp paste, coriander and turmeric leaves. Then, about the vegetables are about carrot, potatoes, long bean, sprout, corn, beef, peanut, rice and grated coconut. This food is usually main cuisine for breakfast and sometimes for a special event.

 

 Spicy Porridge

      Sulawesi Island is one of island that has so many spicy various foods. The most popular is chicken rica-rica from North Sulawesi. The rica-rica comes from red chili, bird eye’s chili, garlic, ginger, shallot, lemongrass and lime leaves. Sometimes you can use corn, eggplant or another vegetable if you are vegetarian as meat substitute. 

 rica-rica

      Last island we have to look for is Papua. Not really many spicy foods can be found in this island. The people here usually like less spicy food. But, Papua has sambal colo-colo which almost same with sambal matah (Balinese Raw Sambal) in Bali. The difference between both are sambal colo-colo add lime to reduce the spicy. The taste of sambal colo-colo is more sour than sambal in Java.

sambal colo-colo


There are five spicy foods from each island in Indonesia. Delicious, easy to cook and hot!