Indonesian Dishes

Nasi Campur

Indonesian mixed rice plate featuring steamed rice accompanied by small portions of various dishes including meats, vegetables, egg, and condiments. Variations are found across the archipelago, with Balinese nasi campur being particularly renowned.

Nasi Goreng

Indonesia's iconic fried rice, considered a national dish. Wok-fried rice is seasoned with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), shallots, garlic, and chili, typically served with a fried egg on top and prawn crackers on the side.

Nasi Kucing

Small portions of rice wrapped in banana leaf with simple toppings, sold at angkringan street food carts, especially in Yogyakarta. Toppings vary — sambal, dried anchovies, tempeh, or shredded chicken — and multiple packets are typically ordered.

Nasi Kuning

Festive Indonesian yellow rice associated with Java. Rice is cooked in coconut milk with turmeric, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves, giving it a vibrant color and fragrant aroma. Served with an assortment of side dishes.

Nasi Liwet

Rice cooked in coconut milk from Solo, Central Java. The rice is simmered with coconut milk, chicken broth, and aromatics. Served with shredded chicken, opor (coconut milk curry), egg, and sambal goreng. A communal dish often served on banana leaf.

Nasi Padang

A Minangkabau-style rice meal from Padang, West Sumatra. Rice is served with an assortment of curries, grilled meats, vegetables, and sambals. Restaurants typically bring dozens of small dishes to the table, and you pay for what you eat.

Nasi Timbel

A Sundanese rice dish where steamed rice is wrapped in banana leaf, giving it a distinctive aroma. Served as a set meal with fried chicken, sambal, tempeh, tofu, lalapan (raw vegetables), and sayur asem. A complete West Javanese meal.

Nasi Uduk

Fragrant coconut milk rice from Jakarta's Betawi community. Rice is steamed with coconut milk, pandan leaves, and lemongrass. Typically served with fried chicken, sliced omelet, fried tempeh, sambal, and prawn crackers.

Odading

A sweet fried dough snack from Bandung, West Java. Simple dough is shaped, rested to develop air pockets, and fried until puffed and golden. Sometimes brushed with sugar syrup. A popular breakfast item sold by street vendors.

Onde-Onde

Indonesian glutinous rice balls filled with liquid palm sugar, coated in grated coconut. The dough is colored green with pandan juice. When bitten, the warm palm sugar filling bursts out. A beloved traditional snack across Java.

Opor Ayam

A mild, creamy Javanese chicken dish cooked in coconut milk with a gentle spice blend. Often served during Lebaran (Eid) celebrations alongside lontong and sambal goreng. The white coconut curry is fragrant but not spicy.

Otak-Otak

A Southeast Asian fish cake made from ground fish mixed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves, and grilled until fragrant. The fish paste is seasoned with galangal, lemongrass, turmeric, and chili. Popular as a snack across Indonesia.

Pecel

A Javanese vegetable dish with a fragrant peanut sauce. Blanched vegetables such as water spinach, long beans, and bean sprouts are dressed in a sauce made from roasted peanuts, chili, palm sugar, tamarind, and kencur aromatic ginger.

Pempek

Traditional fish cakes from Palembang, South Sumatra. Ground fish is mixed with tapioca flour, shaped into various forms, steamed then fried. Served with cuko, a distinctive sweet-sour vinegar dipping sauce with chili and garlic.

Pepes Ikan

Indonesian fish steamed or grilled in banana leaf parcels with an aromatic spice blend. The fish is marinated in a paste of shallots, garlic, chili, turmeric, lemongrass, and basil, then wrapped and cooked, infusing it with herbaceous flavor.

Perkedel

Indonesian fried potato patties influenced by Dutch frikadel. Mashed potato is mixed with scallions and pepper, dipped in beaten egg, and deep-fried. Commonly served as a side dish with soto ayam or as part of nasi kuning.

Pisang Goreng

Indonesia's ubiquitous fried banana snack, part of the gorengan family of deep-fried treats. Banana slices are coated in batter and fried until golden. Found at street stalls everywhere, sometimes served with cheese, chocolate, or powdered sugar.

Rawon

A distinctive black beef soup from East Java, particularly Surabaya. Its unique dark color and earthy flavor come from keluak (black nut). Slow-braised beef is served in the aromatic broth with bean sprouts, salted egg, and sambal.

Rendang

A slow-cooked dry beef curry from West Sumatra, originating among the Minangkabau people. Beef is braised for hours in coconut milk and a complex spice paste until the sauce is fully absorbed and the meat becomes tender and deeply caramelized.

Rica-Rica

A fiery spice preparation from Manado, North Sulawesi. Chili-heavy sauce made with shallots, garlic, ginger, lime leaves, and lemongrass is stir-fried and served with chicken, pork, or fish. Known for its intense heat.

Rujak

An Indonesian fruit salad dressed in a tangy, spicy sauce. A mix of tropical fruits and sometimes raw vegetables is tossed in a dressing made from shrimp paste, palm sugar, tamarind, chili, and sometimes peanuts. Refreshing and boldly flavored.

Sambal

Indonesia's iconic chili condiment, traditionally made by grinding chili peppers and salt in a mortar. Hundreds of regional varieties exist, from raw sambal matah to cooked sambal terasi (with shrimp paste). Served alongside virtually every meal.

Satay

Sate

Indonesia's iconic skewered grilled meat, considered a national dish originating from Java. Pieces of marinated meat are threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over charcoal, served with peanut sauce, lontong rice cakes, and pickled shallots.

Sate Babi

Pork satay popular in Bali and Chinese-Indonesian communities. Marinated pork pieces are grilled on skewers and served with a sweet soy or peanut sauce. Unlike most Indonesian satay, this version uses pork and is not halal.