Walk around just about any U.S. city or anywhere around Europe, and chances are you’ll come across a decent number of Asian restaurants slinging variations of dishes from the continent’s many countries and vast array of influences.
And it’s no longer just the inauthentic, Americanized takes on these cuisines — large chunks of sticky General Tso’s chicken and imitation crab-stuffed California rolls — that people have come to embrace.
Sure, we’ll order in sweet and sour pork every now and then, but we’ve come a long way toward understanding the efforts that have been put into replicating some of these countries’ traditional dishes in our homeland.
Then there’s the curious case of Indonesia, a sovereign state in Southeast Asia that comprises close to 20,000 islands and boasts an estimated population of more than 250 million people, making it the world’s fourth-most-populous country.
A recent CNN International online poll of 35,000 individuals found one of the country’s trademark dishes, Rendang, to be the World’s Most Delicious Food;
Beef slowly simmered with coconut milk and a mixture of lemongrass, galangal, garlic, turmeric, ginger and chilies, then left to stew for a few hours to create this dish of tender, flavorful bovine goodness. The Indonesian dish is often served at ceremonial occasions and to honored guests. It's not only delicious but also comes with a complex recipe.
And yet pose the question “What is Indonesian food?”, or better yet "What is Indonesia?" to the majority of the very same people described in the above paragraph, and you’re likely to be met with a blank stare or a shrug of the shoulders.
Let me make it simple to you! Remember the movie Eat, Pray, Love where Julia Roberts' character was looking for love? That's it! Indonesia is where Bali is!
But still, good luck searching for a nearby establishment serving any of the island’s regional dishes. But why?
To simplify, let me break down three of Indonesia’s most iconic dishes, hypothesizes why the islands’ cooking has yet to truly carry over to the West and what it might take for the country’s food to eventually become a full-blown trend here in the U.S.
Of course, we will start with Rendang!
The essentially a caramelized beef stew, it is a source of great pride for Indonesian cooks. Its variations are endless. Rendang originated in West Sumatra. If you strip away everything, it’s a caramelized beef stew with lots and lots of spices. It’s almost like a coconut curry meeting a beef stew.
Everyone has his or her own recipe, and it can be anything from lamb to any other protein. In the recipes that I’ve come across, there are always around ten key ingredients. I think this is the dish that Indonesian people are most proud of — it’s the quintessential dish. It seems like meat isn’t traditionally consumed that much, so when it is, people go all out.
Next .. is Nasi Goreng!
And yes, this dish was Runner-up, earned the second place as 'The Most Delicious Food' in the World!
Though it translates to “fried rice”, Nasi goreng has a smoky, fermented flavor not found in more familiar versions. The wonder of combining rice with egg, chicken and prawns strikes again. This Indonesian delight received more than 10 times the vote of its Thai counterpart. (CNN, 2017)
Another cool thing about nasi goreng versus Chinese fried rice is the amount of bumbu spices that hit the wok. Bumbu spices are aromatic — think galangal, turmeric and ginger. We have about ten different aromatics that hit the wok. You can find tons of versions of it cooked in restaurants, prepared on the streets and made at home.
Another is .. Sate!
I’ve had a lot of different types of sate (or satay) in Southeast Asia, but there’s nothing that compares to real Indonesian sate; In my opinion you’ll find some of the absolute best sate in Asia within Indonesia.
One of the common recipes includes the meat marinated in kecap manis or sweet soy sauce, before being skewered. I think is the main reason why Indonesian sate is so good, is because the skewers of meat are typically grilled on an extremely hot charcoal fire, so the meat cooks quickly, while leaving it smoky and juicy.
And for those of you salad eaters? Indonesia has got your back too - with Gado-gado!
It is basically Indonesia's most popular salad - made with peanut sauce (or cashew nut sauce) dressing, it is one of the most common Indonesian street foods available. Although technically a salad or mix, gado gado, especially when it contains compressed rice cakes, is actually quite filling and can be eaten as a main dish, or a snack.
Vendors will first mix up the peanut sauce on a flat slightly rounded stone mortar. Once the sauce is ready, a mixture of steamed vegetables like bean sprouts, water morning glory, and long beans, along with tofu, soybean cakes, and sometimes lontong (compressed rice cakes). The nut sauce makes the salad rich hearty, while the vegetables contribute a mix of different textures.
This next one is more like a sauce, but it is certainly what most Indonesians eat everything with! Sambal!
They’re usually made up of quintessential Indonesian cornerstone spices, which are called bumbu spices. You usually unlock those flavors when you sauté vegetables with spices like turmeric, galangal, shallots, garlic and chilies. When you unlock those flavors, you start mounting in the chili and either coconut milk or tomato or tamarind to balance it all out. So you have tamarind sambal, tomato sambal, et cetera.
Sambals, in my opinion, are sort of like what salsas are to Mexican food. Whereas salsas are more like condiments, though, sambals can be so complex that they are often a side dish themselves. Sambals are usually part of a family meal setting, where you have a whole myriad of them.
So why haven’t these dishes really caught on in the U.S.?
I think the reason why some trends like pad thai and noodle dishes have caught on is because people in America have a general palate for things like pasta. So it makes sense that they can easily switch from pasta to a Southeast Asian noodle dish. It’s a similar thing with sandwiches and bánh mì and steamed buns. Just like my mom would say, “This is Chinese spaghetti. Try it.”
I feel like Americans don’t eat a lot of beef stew with rice. There’s not a similar comfort dish that you go out and eat at a restaurant or line up at a stand for. Rendang almost has that satisfaction of Southern barbecue. It’s rich, meaty, sticky, tender and slow-cooked. When it becomes more accessible to people, they’ll make that connection naturally.
I also feel like the reason that sambal is not being served more in American restaurants is because it’s pretty cumbersome just to have your pantry stocked with the ingredients, especially in a city like New York, where it can run $20 per pound for galangal root. But I feel like it’s a matter of not being exposed to it.
Will these dishes ever become more popular in the U.S.?
Absolutely. So far, it’s just recognized mostly by Indonesians, people who have traveled to Indonesia or those who have stayed in Amsterdam, where they have a really huge Indonesian palate.
It’s going to take a little exposure and popularity. It’s going to take perspective from chefs and restaurants to draw that mass appeal…someone is going to figure out that these things are tasty as fuck and make a killing slinging it. They just need the audience for it.