Javanese Cuisine

Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of the Javanese people of central Java, Indonesia.

The Javanese people live primarily in central to eastern Java island, Indonesia. They have their own language, Javanese, and maintain many unique cultural elements such as batik cloth-dying, gamelan orchestra, and traditional dance. Islam is predominant among the Javanese, though Javanese culture has been influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism historically.

Surakarta, commonly known as Solo, is a cultural center.

Javanese cuisine tends to be sweet and spicy.

The cuisine of eastern Java and Madura tends to be more salty and spicy, less sweet than Javanese cuisine; yet they have a lot of similarities. Javanese cuisine is also similar to Sundanese cuisine.

Various types of curry paste(bumbu) feature in many Javanese dishes. Common ingredients include garlic, shallot, galangal, kencur, and candlenut(kemiri).

Nasi ambeng is rice with accompaniments. Tumpeng is a conical mound of rice typically colored yellow with turmeric; it is usually only made for celebrations.

Traditional Javanese snacks and sweets are called jajan pasar, normally sold at local markets(pasar) in central Java. They often use palm sugar, coconut, and sticky rice. Sometimes they are colored green with pandan leaf. Common jajan pasar include klepon, nagasari, and arem-arem.

Ingredients

Rice

Tempe is a unique food originating from Javanese cuisine. It is believed that tempe was discovered when soybeans were left outside and a certain bacteria grew on the beans. It was found to be edible, with a slight sour fragrance like yeast.

coconut, coconut cream, serundeng

turmeric

chili

palm sugar(gula jawa)

peanut

Jackfruit is used both unripe and ripe.

Dishes

• yellow rice(nasi kuning): coconut rice with turmeric and spices
• kupat: rice wrapped in woven leaves
• chili sambal(sambel ulek): chili sauce
• urap: seasoned steamed vegetables and toasted grated coconut
• lotek(lothèk): mixed salad with sweet peanut sambal
• pecel: cooked vegetables with peanut sambal
• tempe orek: crispy tempe strips in sweet and spicy sauce
• tempe bacem: sweet and spicy marinated tempe
• sayur lodeh: vegetable coconut curry
• opor: meat or other ingredient braised in coconut milk
• gule: curry, usually with goat or chicken meat
• gudeg: unripe jackfruit curry
• soto: soup, often with chicken or other meat
• buntil: curry of grated coconut mixture wrapped in leaves
• botok(bothok): shredded coconut mixture wrapped in banana leaf
• bubur ketan ireng: sweet coconut black rice porridge
• arem-arem: small parcel of coconut rice with sauce filling such as meat or tempe
• lemper: parcel of coconut rice with shredded filling such as meat or serundeng
• sate kere: poor man satay, uses tempe gembus
• rujak: sweet and spicy fruit and vegetable salad
• lepet: sweet sticky rice dumpling with coconut milk and peanut
• klepon: rice cake with palm sugar filling topped with coconut flakes
• nagasari: steamed sweet coconut rice cake filled with banana and wrapped in banana leaf, often colored with pandan leaf
• klepon: sweet rice balls with palm sugar and grated coconut
• kue putu: sweet steamed rice cake with palm sugar, colored with pandan leaf