Javanese Cuisine - Common Javanese Dishes

Common Javanese Dishes

These are the common Javanese dishes, which can be found throughout Java regardless of the location.

• Sate: skewered meat is a common dish in Java. The Javanese variants are Sate Tegal, Sate Ambal, Sate Solo, Sate Buntel, Sate Madura, Sate Ponorogo, etc.
• Soto: this Indonesian soup dish is also a common dish in Java. The Javanese variants are common Soto ayam and Soto babat, Soto Kudus, Soto Madura, Soto Lamongan etc.
• Tumpeng: a rice served in the shape of a conical volcano, usually with rice colored yellow using turmeric. It is an important part of ceremony in Java. Tumpeng served in important events such as birthday, moving house, or other ceremonies. Traditionally, Tumpeng is served alongside fried chicken, boiled egg, vegetables, goat meat on a round plate made from bamboo called besek.
• Tempeh: a meat substitute made from soy bean fermented with mold. It is a staple source of protein in Java and popular in the world as an excellent meat substitute for vegetarians.
• Kripik tempe: tempeh chips, made from thinly sliced, lightly battered, then deep fried tempeh (soybean cake).
• Gorengan: assorted fritters such as tempeh, tofu, yam, sweet potato, cassava, and chopped vegetables.
• Pecel: a type of peanut sauce with chili is a common ingredients in Javanese cuisine. It is used in various type of Rujak and Gado-gado. It can also be used as stand alone sauce with rice and prawn, egg and vegetables as Nasi Pecel (Pecel rice).
• Urap sayur: Vegetables in spiced grated coconut dressing.
• Lotek: Almost identical with Gado-gado with sweeter taste. It is similar to pecel, but includes different vegetables as well as boiled egg slices and a garnish of fish or shrimp crackers and emping (Gnetum gnemon L. nut, flattened, dried, and fried into small thin crackers).
• Sayur Lodeh: assorted vegetable, stewed in coconut milk.
• Buntil: a traditional Javanese dish of scraped coconut meat mixed with teri (anchovies) and spices, wrapped in a papaya leaf, then boiled in coconut milk.
• Botok: a dish made from shredded coconut flesh which has been squeezed of its coconut milk, often mixed with other ingredients such as vegetable or fish, and wrapped in banana leaf and steamed.
• Nasi rames: Rice with accompaniments, usually some curried vegetable stew (sayur lodeh), a selection of cooked fish or chicken or meat and offal pieces, and a dollop of spicy sambal. (See similar dish Rijstaffel)
• Nasi kuning is similar to nasi rames or nasi campur, but the rice is cooked in coconut milk and colored bright yellow using turmeric and scented with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves
• Gule kambing: mutton cooked in a curry-like coconut milk soup.
• Sop Buntut: Oxtail soup.
• Tumis sayuran: Stir-fried vegetables, usually mixed with chili and a spice paste.
• Klepon: A glutinous rice ball stuffed with palm sugar, colored green using pandanus leaf, and rolled in fresh grated coconut.
• Jajan pasar: Several types of shaped and colored flour, rice flour, and glutinous rice flour cakes, sprinkled with desiccated coconut and drizzled with melted palm sugar. Jajan literally means snack, and pasar means market, as this snack is usually only found in traditional markets.