The best way to learn about a country’s cuisine is to fly there and eat everything. That’s exactly how I learned about Indonesian cuisine! Thanks to The Ministry of Tourism Republic of Indonesia, I had a two-week lesson on the country’s food and culture. When most people think of Indonesian food, the usual suspects come to mind; nasi goreng, satay, gado-gado and prawn crackers. Yes, those dishes are all tasty AF, but there is so much more to Indonesian cuisine.
Indonesian cuisine is actually quite diverse. The country is split up into various regions, each known for having its own cuisine. Our #WonderfulIndonesia trip started from the country’s capital, Jakarta, where we then traveled across Java to Bali. Along the way, we tasted a variety of different foods in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bromo, Komodo Island and Bali.
We spent a lot of time EATING on the trip. I was also surrounded by a wealth of knowledge, local writers, TV hosts, bloggers, and authors who taught me a ton about Indonesian food. Since I have a major sweet tooth, I’ll start off with a guide to Indonesian desserts!
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Bakpia
Bakpia is a pastry that originates from Yogyakarta. It’s a small round flaky Indonesian pastry filled with a variety of flavored bean fillings including chocolate, green tea, milk, durian and my favorite, CHEESE. It’s similar to a Filipino snack called Hopia and a Chinese pastry called “Wife Cafe.”
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Bika
Bika was one of the first Indonesian desserts I encountered and continued to see throughout the trip. Bika is a traditional cake made from tapioca flour, eggs, sugar, yeast and coconut milk. The yeast creates bubbles, which gives it a unique spongy texture when it is baked. It reminded me of a Chinese dessert that my grandma would buy me called Bak Tong Gou 白糖糕, which literally translates to white sugar cake. It has a similar texture and is also made with yeast, but with rice flour instead of tapioca flour.
Bubur Kacang Hijau / Bubur Ketan Hitam
It’s pretty common to find dessert porridges in most parts of Asia. These porridges are typically made from red bean, green bean, coconut milk, ground nuts or seeds, rice, tofu and more. Bubur Kacang Hijau is made from green bean whereas Bubur Ketan Hitam uses black glutinous rice, both sweetened with sugar and served with coconut milk.
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Cendol
Cendol is a popular Southeast Asian dessert found in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. It’s a simple dessert with just a few ingredients and is usually sold on the streets from cart vendors. Cendol consists of a green rice flour jelly that kinda looks like a worm. The jelly itself doesn’t have much flavor, but has a nice chewy texture which is served with creamy coconut milk, shaved ice and palm sugar syrup.
Cendil
In Java, I kept seeing brightly colored mochi-like cakes everywhere. Known as Cendil, these colorful glutinous cakes are made of rice flour, sweetened with sugar and served with freshly grated coconut.
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Es Campur
Es Campur literally translates to “ice mix.” It is an Indonesian dessert usually consisting of coconut, nata de coco, jackfruit, avocado, grass jelly, condensed milk, syrup and more. It’s similar to Halo-halo (a Filipino dessert) and cendol but with more ingredients. This stuff is also usually considered street food and sold in bags! Yes, plastic bags!
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Getuk
This is another popular dish from the Java region. Similar to Cendil, Getuk is made with cassava paste and sugar, molded into different shapes, then finished with freshly grated coconut. I personally prefer Getuk over Cendil. The Getuk had a natural sweetness and soft texture, whereas the cendil was a bit chewier with too much artificial coloring for my liking. The best Getuk we had on the trip was homemade from Rumah Dessa Cooking Studio in Bali.
Klepon / Onde-onde
Klepon can be found all over Indonesia, made by boiling glutinous rice balls colored and flavored with pandan leaves. These green colored balls are filled with coconut sugar and dusted with grated coconut.
Lapis Legit / Spekkoek
Lapis Legit is an Indonesian layer cake consisting of egg yolks, butter, sugar, cinnamon, clove, mace and anise. It was actually developed during colonial times and is considered a Dutch-Indonesian version of the European multi-layered spit cake. This cake comes in a variety of flavors including almond, cashew nut, cheese, chocolate, and pandan.
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Lupis
Another one that left a special place in my stomach was the Lupis we had an Amanjiwo, a glutinous rice cake wrapped and cooked in banana leaves served with grated coconut and a drizzle of thick coconut syrup. The lupis was surprisingly not too sweet, had a nice texture and reminded me of mango sticky rice minus the mango of course!
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Martabak
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DESSERT ON THIS ENTIRE LIST! Martabak was by far the best thing that entered my mouth in Indonesia. It is essentially a spongy pancake stuffed with chocolate and nuts smothered in melted butter !!! The CHEESE version is also TASTY AF! Martabak comes in a variety of flavors including beef, egg, TOBLERONE, RED VELVET, OREO and more! We lucked out and had some of the BEST MARTABAK in BANDUNG from San Francisco Bakery!
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Mung Bean Ice Cream / Popsicles
I have no idea what the Bahasa term for mung bean ice cream would be, but this was simple yet so delicious. We had it at Bebek Tepi Sawah, a restaurant in Ubud, Bali, known for serving Balinese style duck. The mung bean ice cream was light, refreshing and the perfect end to this meal.
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Putu or Puttu
Another one of my favorites was Puttu, pronounced “poo-to,” that we had at the Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta. Puttu is a bamboo steamed coconut dessert is made of rice flour layered with ground coconut and palm sugar. The puttu is stuffed and steamed in bamboo pipes which gives the dessert its cylinder shape, then served with shaved coconut. The puttu was one of my desserts. I love the way it’s made and I just so happen to be obsessed with coconut.
For more travel information on Indonesia, please visit #WonderfulIndonesia’s official website.