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Introduction

Chart a country's cuisine and you can chart its history.

Nowhere is this more true than in Indonesia, the fifth largest country in the world, an archipelago consisting of 18,000 islands, spanning one-eighth of the globe and occupied by 250 ethnic groups. Here tremendous ethnic diversity coupled with wave upon wave of cultural influence adds up to a world of pleasure for the culinary adventurer.

History

Indonesia's indigenous techniques and ingredients merge with influences from India, the Middle East, China and Europe. And then there are the New World products brought by Spanish and Portuguese traders long before the Dutch colonized the islands.

Aficionados can only skim the surface unless we travel Indonesia itself. Most restaurants abroad and English-language cookbooks focus on the foods of Java and Sumatra with tastes of tourist-haven Bali. But the cuisines on these islands alone provide us with plenty of opportunity to keep our taste buds happy and our tongues tingling.

Rice is Indonesia's main staple except in Maluku (the Moluccas) and Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) where sago palm flour, sweet potatoes and cassava reign supreme. As in the rest of Southeast Asia, other dishes are eaten in extremely small quantities. Meat, fish and vegetables are condiments designed to flavor the staple. Sauces such as fiery sambals lend added character. Westerners, accustomed to eating much larger portions of meat and fish, find much of Indonesian food scorchingly hot.

Natural resources include rich volcanic soils and endless coastlines as the islands arc through both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Although some coastal areas are fished out, fresh water possibilities include lakes, rivers, ponds and flooded rice paddies. Not surprisingly, fish and crustaceans, fresh and dried, play a major role in the Indonesian diet.

Flavorings indigenous to the islands establish strong family ties between Indonesian food and that of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Coconut milk, or santen, plays a critical role here as well as in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines. Indonesia shares the flavors of galangal, kaffir lime leaf and pandan with Thailand. Lemon grass and dried shrimp appear in the Philippines and Thailand both. Shrimp paste permeates the flavors of all three and Vietnam as well. Meanwhile delicious fruits and vegetables are common to the entire region.

But Indonesia's culinary ties are closest to those Southeast Asian countries strongly influenced by India. In fact, if there are ancient Buddhist or Hindu sites to be found on a country's soil, you can almost bet its cuisine will include ingredients such as cumin, coriander, ginger, and/or caraway. And you will find curries -- highly spiced sauces often diluted with coconut milk and served with bite-sized bits of meat, fish and vegetables to enliven the blandness of rice.

Arab traders ultimately converted Java from Hinduism to Islam and exercised their culinary influence as well. Kebabs, marinated meat cubes threaded on skewers, were reinterpreted to become satay. Dill and fennel entered the repertoire of spices. Today Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. Not surprisingly, goat and lamb are important meats, while pork is forbidden. It is eaten only in Hindu Bali and within the Chinese community.

Chinese merchants and traders meanwhile added their own indispensable contributions to the cookpot. Indonesian food would be unrecognizable without the wok, stir-frying, the soybean and noodles which thread their way throughout the cuisine in countless ways. Among their many vegetables, the Chinese brought mustard greens, mung beans, daikon radish and Chinese cabbage.

The Dutch, attracted by the nutmeg and cloves of Maluku, waged wars over the Spice Islands and ultimately colonized the entire archipelago. Colonization caused much suffering, but added the finishing touch when it came to flavors. Chili peppers from Mexico added their unmistakable sting. Peanuts from the Americas provided sauces for satay and gado-gado. Cassava from the Caribbean and sweet potatoes from South America furnished Maluku and Irian Jaya with their staples.

In this exotic world, Dutch colonizers sought the flavors of home. They imported cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, string beans, potatoes and corn, adding to the already vast array of vegetables. They also created an entertainment institution designed to present scores of different dishes at a single sitting. Rijsttafels might contain up to a hundred different dishes. Servants stood behind the chair of each guest ready to provide soothing morsels when necessary to cool a burning palate.

But a cuisine is more than the sum of its parts. Indonesian cooks adopted new tools, techniques and ingredients and indigenized them -- some of the nearly beyond recognition. Ingenious home cooks used new techniques and forged ingredients unique to Indonesia.

Today soybeans provide not just nutritious beans for cooking on their own, soy sauce, tofu and sprouts, but tempeh, toasted soybean cakes fashionable in Western health food circles. Chinese soy sauce plays a role similar to fish sauce in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. But Indonesians enrich it by the addition of sugar, star anise, salam leaf and galangal to become kecap manis or sweet soy sauce, a key ingredient and a dynamite addition to any cook's pantry. (Pronounce that "ketchup." It's the Indonesian origin of the English word.)

Not surprisingly, Indonesia has created a mix of flavors which exerts its own influence abroad. Satay has crept up the Malay Peninsula to become one of Bangkok's favorite street foods. Indonesian food plays a major role in the melange of cuisines found in Singapore. After years of colonial intimacy, the Dutch are avid fans and some of the best Indonesian restaurants abroad can be found in the Netherlands.

History can be dry as dust or it can be fresh and tasty. Eating our way through Indonesia allows us to appreciate the significance of this country as a cultural crossroads where the great art, religions, political powers and economic forces meet and interact -- and lets us ache for just another bite.

Mail Order Supplies

In cities like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver and the San Francisco Bay area, you should have no trouble finding ingredients for cooking Indonesian food in your local Asian markets. Certain ingredients unique to Indonesian cuisine such as kemiri, a thickening agent, and salam leaf may be marketed under English names as candlenut and Indian bay leaf. Pandan leaf is occasionally used in Thai cooking and may be found in stores catering to Thai customers.

But you surfers living in cities with small Asian populations can now sit back and order ingredients with a click of the mouse. Yup, Indonesian ingredients on-line. Check out www.lm.com/~bachris for a website run by Syamsul and Beverley Bachri, owners of Bachri's, an Indonesian restaurant in Pittsburgh. You'll find just about everything you need for a home-cooked Indonesian meal and then some.

Indonesian Restaurants

Web pals have recommended the following restaurants in their areas:

Bali Authentic Indonesian Cuisine
7660 Fay Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037-4843
(619) 454-4540

Gadja-mada Restaurant
16440 Norwalk Blvd.
Cerritos, CA 90703-1929
(310) 404-1732

Indo Cafe
10428 National Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90034-4664
(310) 815-1290

Ramayani Westwood
1777 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024-5607
(310) 477-3315

The Dutch East Indies Restaurant
30 Jack London Square, #201
Jack London Village
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 444-6555
Gamelan Performances every Thursday night

Borobudur
4403 Geary
San Francisco, CA 94118-3005
(415) 752-0504

Borobudur
700 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94109-6106
(415) 775-1512

Indonesia Cafe
3815 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94118-3210
(415) 387-0933

Indonesia Restaurant
678 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94109-8232
(415) 474-4026

Jakarta Indonesia Cuisine
615 Balboa
San Francisco, CA
(415) 387-5225

Straits Cafe
Geary Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 668-1783
(Singaporan food -- approximately one quarter of the menu is Indonesian)

Ivy's Place Restaurant
3520 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008-2463
(202) 363-7802
ivysplacethairestaurant.com

Melati
3506 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008-2401
(202) 537-1432
(Malaysian with some Indonesian)

Sabang Restaurant
2504 Ennals Ave.
Wheaton, MD 20902-4630
(301) 942-7859

Yono's
289 Hamilton St.
Albany, NY 12210-1707
(518) 436-7747

Bali Nusa Indah
651 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10036-3600
(212) 765-6500

Borobudur Cafe

128 East 4th Street
New York, New York 10003
(212) 641-9079

Java Indonesian Restaurant
455 7th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215-5512
(718) 832-4583

Bachri's
3821 Willow Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15234-1809
(412) 343-2213

Matahari Restaurant
10001 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77042-3151
(713) 977-4317

Java Restaurant
8929 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115-3029
(206) 522-5282

Indonesia Padang Restaurant
9019 Bayview Ave., Unit 14-15
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
(905) 889-8232

If you're traveling in London, try Melati, in Amsterdam, Tempo Dollo, and an Indonesian friend reports that his favorite restaurants in Jakarta are Satay House Senayan (authentic Indonesian food), Bakmi Gajah Mada, Bakmi Gang Kelinci (two Chinese Noodle Houses), Sari Kuring (West Javanese cuisine), and Ayam Goreng Ny Suharti (Javanese fried chicken).

Cookbooks

Relatively few cookbook authors devote themselves exclusively to Indonesian food and the results are mixed. However, the South-East Asian cookbooks available all have extensive sections on Indonesia, which increases your range of choice.

Because of extensive chopping and grinding, Indonesian cooking is labor-intensive and designed to be done by more than one set of hands. Contemporary cookbook authors fall into two camps. The purists favor grinding by mortar and pestle to retain the old textures and seek out original ingredients while abroad. The modernists update the equipment, using food processors and spice grinders, and substitute more accessible local ingredients. Choose what's best for you.

The Cooking of Singapore
by Chris Yeo and Joyce Jue
Emeryville, Harlow & Ratner, 1993
Singapore? Yes, Singapore, the great meeting place. Here four great cuisines merge and thrive: Chinese, Indian, Nonya and Indonesian. Find excellent Indonesian recipes in this book by Chris Yeo, owner of the San Francisco-based Straits Cafe.

Cuisines of Southeast Asia
by Gwenda L. Hyman
New York, Thomas Woll, 1993 Softbound, 197 pages, $14.95
This book devotes as many of its pages to history, geography and ethnology as it does to recipes. It covers all of Southeast Asia except Cambodia. As a result it provides much useful background about all of the other countries against which to place the recipes.

Indonesian Food and Cookery
by Sri Owen
London, Prospect Books, 1986, hardboard, 268 pages.
The best all of Indonesian cookbooks because of its extensive descriptions of ingredients and techniques and delightful memories of growing up in Sumatra and Java. Sri Owen is an expatriate of mixed Javanese and Minangkabau descent which gives her an unusual insight into more than one tradition. She is a fine writer to boot.
Anything published by Prospect is usually a winner, but not always easy to find in the US. Not to worry. If you're interested in the book, contact Johan or Kay Mathiesen at Food Words (800) 880-4314 or e-mail them at foodword@spiritone.com.

The Indonesian Kitchen
by Copeland Marks with Mintari Soeharjo
New York, Atheneum, 1981, softbound, 278 pages.
A perfectly serviceable book with brief descriptions of techniques and ingredients, but relatively little overview. Marks and Soeharjo tend toward the modernist camp, prescribing peanut butter instead of fresh ground peanuts for their satay sauce, something you'd never see in Sri Owen.

Southeast Asia Cookbook
by Ruth Law
New York, Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1990 Softbound, 452 pages, $16.95
This book surveys the cuisine of all of the accessible countries in Southeast Asia. Because it is based on repeated visits by a Chicago-based author, it leaves out Burma, Cambodia and Laos -- the more difficult sites. Law leans toward the modernist school -- she consistently uses macadamia nut instead of kemiri because it is easier to find -- but her book is extremely useful and a worthwhile investment.

Recipes

Satay Ayam (Chicken Satay)
Serves approximately six people, 10 to 12 as part of a rijsttafel

Satay, quick-grilled over a roadside fire, is popular street food today in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia, but its home is Indonesia. Tuti Taylor-Weber of Oakland, California's Dutch East Indies Restaurant provides us with her version.

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast or thigh meat
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. dark soy sauce
2 tsp. tamarind juice (see ingredients list)

Cut chicken into cubes of approximately 3/4" on a side. Mix together remaining ingredients and marinate chicken for two hours. Soak bamboo skewers in water for approximately 20 minutes.

Thread chicken onto skewers, four or five to a skewer, and grill over glowing coals or under preheated grill four minutes to a side or until chicken is brown on all sides.

Serve satay with peanut sauce and a fiery sambal to satisfy your need for heat.

Satay Sauce

8 Tb. crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups water
3 tsp. garlic salt
3 tsp. dark brown sugar
Tamarind juice to taste
Coconut milk (see ingredients list) or additional water

Put peanut butter and water in a saucepan and stir over gentle heat until mixed.

Remove from heat and add all other ingredients except coconut milk or additional water. Use coconut milk or water to make sauce thick yet pouring consistency. Check seasonings and add more salt and tamarind juice if needed.

Rendang
Serves eight to ten people, 12 to 15 is part of a rijsttafel

Sumatrans and Javanese have very different interpretations of this favorite beef dish. Sumatrans like it hot and dry, while Javanese like it sweeter with more gravy. While, a Javanese herself, Tuti leans toward the style of Padang in Sumatra, considered by most the source of the best food in the country. Out of sympathy for her guests, she cuts back on the hot pepper. But if you'd like to sample true Padang-style eating, load up on the sambal.

1 medium onion chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tb. fresh ginger, chopped
5 fresh red hot chillies chopped or 2 Tb. crushed dry chili
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground turmeric
2 tsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. galanga powder (see ingredients list)
4 tsp. paprika
6 kemiri (see ingredients list)
6 kaffir lime leaves (see ingredients list)
1 stalk of fresh lemon grass or 1 Tb. lemon grass powder (see ingredients list)
1/2 cup tamarind juice
1/2 cup water

3 lbs. round or chuck steak cut into strips approximately 1 1/2 wide and 2 1/2 long

Mix all ingredients but meat in a blender or food processor. Add to a large saucepan, add meat and bring quickly to a boil.

Reduce heat to moderate, stirring occasionally until sauce reduces by one-half. Turn heat to low and continue cooking until gravy is almost dry stirring frequently to ensure mixture does not stick to the pan.

Allow meat to fry in remaining oil until it is dark brown. Cooking time approximately two hours. Serve with white rice.

Kari Ikan (Fish Curry)
Serves 4 people, more for a rijsttafel

No sampling of Indonesian dishes would be complete without seafood or a curry. Syamsul and Beverley Bachri, owners of
Bachri's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania provide us with the perfect marriage, a fish curry, and a simple one at that.

1 Tb. oil
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
8 kemiri ground
1 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup water
4 fish fillets
2 scallions, chopped

Heat oil in a wok, add sliced onion, and stir-fry until tender. Add ginger, kemiri, and curry powder, and stir-fry over low
heat for 3 minutes.

Add kecap manis, lemon juice, and water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 minutes.

Add fish fillets in a single layer in the wok. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes on each side or until the fish is done. Place on a platter, sprinkle with chopped scallions, and serve with sambal and sliced cucumber salad along with white rice.

Semur Daging (Slices Of Beef In Soya Sauce)
Serves 3 or 4, more for a rijstaffel

On my first night in Jakarta, my hostess prepared semur. No doubt she felt it would be easy on my wimpy western palate, but I found its sweetness strange and exotic. Of course a palate trained in the Midwest during the fifties and sixties would have found anything exotic! Now that I have toughened up, I know to serve a dish like this with plenty of sambal for a balance between sweet and hot. This is Syamsul and Beverley Bachri's version.

1 lb. beef roast, thinly sliced
2 shallots, sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 Tb. kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 Tb. butter
2 hard-boiled eggs, halved
2 potatos, thinly sliced
2 tomatos, peeled and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
Thinly sliced fried onion

Fry shallots and garlic in butter until lightly browned. Add meat and potato slices, and saute briefly. Add the tomato, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mix well.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add eggs and cook for 5 minutes more. Add scallions just prior to serving and garnish with fried onions. Serve with white rice.

Sambal

And at last, the food that gives Indonesian cuisine its spark. There are sambals of all sorts to accompany different kinds of dishes. Some are used as an ingredient in dishes like sambal goreng ikan (fish fried in sambal). The heat can come from fresh red chillies for from bottled chilli paste. This is Syamsul and Beverley's basic recipe. Modify it to suit your needs.

2 large tomatoes
2 large Spanish onions
1 tsp. terasi (see ingredients list)
Several cloves of garlic
1/2 cup sambal oelek (raw chili paste) (see ingredients list)
1/4 cup oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend together in a food processor the tomatoes, onions, terasi, garlic and sambal oelek until slightly chunky. Do not
overblend.

Place mixture in a pot, preferable with a non stick surface with the oil, salt and pepper and lightly boil until no water surfaces. The sambal is done when the consistency is constant and it no longer seperates.

(For Sambal Manis - Sweet Sambal -- a very common variation on the theme, add 1/4 cup of Kecap Manis when the sambal is almost done.)

Staple Ingredients

Tamarind juice is made from block tamarind concentrate sold in Asian stores, some supermarkets and by mail order. To make tamarind juice, break off a piece of the block and soak in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze and loosen the remainder of the flesh from the seeds and strain. Use a ratio of approximately 1:4 tamarind concentrate to water.

Coconut milk can be found canned at Asian groceries, many supermarkets and by mail order. Mae Ploy from Thailand is the richest brand available.

Galanga (also known as laos) powder, the ground root of a rhizome related to ginger, can be found in Asian groceries, some supermarkets and by mail order.

Kemiri or candlenut is ground and used as a thickening agent in Indonesian food. It can be found at Asian groceries and by mail order. Macadamia nut will provide approximately the same texture, but not the same flavor. Don't eat kemiri raw! They contain a mildly toxic substance which is destroyed by cooking.

Kaffir lime leaves can be found frozen and dried at Asian food stores. The frozen ones are more flavorful.

Lemon grass/lemon grass powder are both found in Asian groceries. Fresh lemon grass, also found in farmer's markets in cities with large Asian populations, is far superior to the powder and easy to grow in mild climates. Try rooting some stalks in water and planting them outdoors.

Terasi or shrimp paste can be found in Asian groceries and by mail order. In a pinch, substitute Thai or Vietnamese shrimp paste or even Filipino bagoong, all of which may be more available.

Sambal Oelek or raw chili paste is available in Asian markets and by mail order. Like many of these ingredients, you can get them from Syamsul and Beverley by ordering on-line.

Nancy Freeman is a San Francisco-based freelance writer whose food stories have appeared in the San Francisco Magazine, The Contra Costa Times, Filipinas and Morsels, a publication of the American Institute of Wine and Food.

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