“What is your favorite Indonesian food?”
Matt: If I have to choose just one: Ayam Sambal or Ayam Gebrek. It’s basically fried chicken with sambal and rice. But I have some favorites that I’ve only ever had at restaurants. One favorite is called Sate Andaliman. It’s grilled chicken skewers with a very spicy sambal sauce made with andaliman peppers.
Kali: There is a dish made up of shrimp and tempe covered in sambal (chili sauce) served with yellow rice that has become my favorite. It is simple but delicious. I have come to crave the sambal here. While you can find jars of it in the States, homemade sambal is the best!
Laurel’s favorite non-sweet dish is a simple chicken soup. It has celery leaves in it instead of actual celery pieces and is a little peppery tasting. While Indonesians eat it with rice, she likes to dunk bread in it.
Eleanor’s favorite food is Soto Ayam which is a chicken soup in a coconut broth. She calls it the “green chicken” because it’s often made with pandan leaves boiled in the broth which gives it a green tinge. This may also be Kermit’s favorite food. He eats more than one helping when we have this for lunch.
Caroline’s favorite Indonesian food is simple fried chicken. Often fried chicken here is served with sambal sauce and rice, but Caroline is happy with just the chicken, rice and some ketchup.
All of the girls favorite dessert is one called Bolu Kemojo from the Riau province. If you’re interested here is a recipe for it, but you’ll have to use Google Translate since I couldn’t find a faithful recipe in English.