Javanese cuisine explained

Javanese cuisine originates from the island of Java. My wife Ika originates from there too, and it was from her I dug out some nuggets of info about the cuisine of Java.

•Common spice ingredients:
Common ingredients are nasi (rice), bawang putih (garlic),
bawang merah (red garlic), tumeric, merica (pepper), pala (black pepper).

Usually use coconut oil for cooking, which comes in a bottle.

•Vegetables:
Wortel (carrot), kacang panjang (long beans), buncis (green beans), jangung (corn), sawi kankung (green vegetables), kentang (potato), terong (sour vegetable), taro (root vegetable), cabbage, kacang (peanuts).

Meats:
Ayam (chicken), sapi (beef), kambing (goat), burung (bird)

Fish:
Udang (prawn), bandeng (boney white fish), cumi-cumi (squid), kepiting (crab), tuna, gurame (flat white fish), tongkol (barracuda).

Javanese food has a sweet taste, without many spices, so if they want ot cook one meal they use special spices, they don’t like to mix spices. for example Balinese food often contains a mixture of many hot and powerful spices, whereas Javanese cuisine often says ‘this dish should have onion, but no garlic, this other dish should have garlic but no onion’.

Sumatra has more spicy food, Javanese food is famous for sweet, west Java is famous for raw vegetables, Central Java very sweet.

Often items containing, fried fish, tofu, tempe etc, can be cooked and served cold, just as in a warung. The rice that accompanies it is usually served hot, whether it be plain rice, yellow
rice or rice with coconut milk. In Java it is popular to use a wajan (wok) for cooking, over a gas burner.

The most popular methods of cooking are goreng (deep frying) in the wajan, rebus (boiling) is used for eggs, noodles, tofu, tempe. Bakar (grilling) is used for fish.

Javanese love using coconut milk. This is applied to dishes, by cooking the meat and vegetables in a wajan with hot oil. After they ingredients are ready, they are transfered to another pan / wajan and the coconut milk is added with particular spices.

Javanese cuisine doesn’t really have the ‘starter-main course-dessert’ set up of western cuisines. Javaneese often prefer to get straight into the main meal with various dishes, accompanied by a sweet drink.

From C. Java the most fmaous meal is called Gudeg, made from Jackfruit, boiled in a pot with spices. People say the brown colored vegetable, actually tastes better a couple of days after
cooking, the difference in taste noticeable.

Restaurants serving Javanese food give a fork and spoon, but many Javanese people prefer to use hands. In my opinion many westerners would appreciate Javanese food, as it is not overly spicy, interesting, colorful and complex.