Hellow guy!!!
Bakwan is a fried food made from vegetables and wheat flour commonly found in Indonesia. [1] Bakwan usually refers to the fried snacks of vegetables commonly sold by vendors traveling around gorengan. The ingredients consist of bean sprouts, cabbage slices or carrot slices, mixed in flour dough and fried in a large amount of cooking oil. In West Java bakwan is called 'bala-bala'. Bakwan is similar to Japanese cuisine yasai tenpura (tempura vegetable).
Bakwan actually comes from China that is clearly visible on the word Bak (肉) which means Meat. This is similar to other foods that have the same origin as Bakpao (Meat Loaf), Meatball (Meatball), Bakmi (Meat Noodle), Bakpia (Bacon Meat), Bacang (Meat Meat).
At the time of trade and cultural exchange in Indonesia, the recipes of food were mixed together so that affect the traditional cuisine at that time. the use of the word Bak itself until now still digunkan even though Bakwan no longer contains meat / shrimp.
There is also an opinion that Bakwan is another name of Bakso, if understood the meaning of the word "tub" is meat while "wan" means round so Bakwan means round meat. while the meaning of the word Bakso on "tub" is meat and "so" is made round. So Meatball means meat being made round. For example the use of bakwan word for meatballs is Bakwan Malang. They argue that the mention of Bakwan on fried bala bala tsb is misguided long used by the community.