Indonesian Cuisine

Indonesian cuisine, like other aspects of Indonesian culture exhibits tremendous ethnic diversity, which adds to a world of pleasure for the gourmands on a culinary sojourn through the archipelago. Rice is the staple food of most of Indonesia along with corn, sago, cassava and sweet potatoes.

Seafood is also an innate part of the daily diet of people in Indonesia, who like digging in a great variety of sea produce such as lobsters, oysters, prawns and shrimps, squid, crab, etc.
Popular Cookbooks on Indonesian Cuisine
For those who want to learn more about Indonesian Cuisine can refer to the following South-East Asian cookbooks available in the market, all have extensive sections on Indonesian culinary tradition.
Southeast Asia Cookbook
by Ruth Law
New York, Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1990 Softbound, 452 pages

Cuisines of Southeast Asia
by Gwenda L. Hyman
New York, Thomas Woll, 1993 Softbound, 197 pages, $14.95

The Indonesian Kitchen
by Copeland Marks with Mintari Soeharjo
New York, Atheneum, 1981, softbound, 278 pages

The Cooking of Singapore
by Chris Yeo and Joyce Jue
Emeryville, Harlow & Ratner, 1993

Indonesian Food and Cookery
by Sri Owen
London, Prospect Books, 1986, hardboard, 268 pages

Some Popular Indonesian Delicacies:

Satay Ayam (Chicken Satay)
Satay Sauce
Rendang
Kari Ikan (Fish Curry)
Semur Daging (Slices Of Beef In Soya Sauce)
Sambal – This is essentially the one Indonesian food that sparks the cuisine. There are sambals of all sorts to accompany different kinds of dishes.
Staple Ingredients used in Indonesian Cuisine
Tamarind juice
Coconut milk
Kaffir lime leaves
Lemon grass/lemon grass powder
Terasi or shrimp paste
Sambal Oelek or raw chili paste
Galanga (also known as laos) powder, it is the ground root of a rhizome related to ginger
Kemiri or candlenut is ground and used in Indonesian food as a thickening agent