According to Wikipedia 2012, Indonesia produced 66.4 million metric tons of rice in the year 2010; that's third world wide in rice production, after China and India.
In case you managed to be unawares, Indonesians are obsessed with rice; it's the basis of every meal: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. People often repeat an ancient proverb to me when I abstain from white rice; they point their finger and they say "Kalau belum makan nasi, belum makan!" This translates to : if you've not yet eaten rice, you've not yet eaten (rough translation).
Unfortunately, of all the kinds of rice and grains, white rice is said to be the least nutritious. Oh Lord, the white rice! It's a staple component: porridge, lonton (rice packed together by wrapping it in banana leaves), sweets, pudding, you name it, they've probably discovered a way to make it out of rice.
I've yet to see a working oven--most Indonesian food is fried; I've only seen little toaster ovens and inconvenient, whopping metal convection box ovens that must be placed on a stove top--pain in the buuutt... Neither are generally used to cook anything other than sugary breads and cakes. That means a TON of oil from frying.
Indonesians aren't afraid of ANY part of an animal. They eat animal brains, feet, booty, eyes, intestines, heart, liver, stomach, bone marrow.
One thing that I do know from first hand experience is that an Indonesian's diet and his or her ethnicity (Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, Dayak) are pretty tightly woven. The Javanese are notorious for making everything sweet; I've seen them add at least a tablespoon of sugar to fried rice and fish fries. On the otherhand, the Sundanese are known to prefer vegetables and spicy dishes. Dayak eat a lot of meat. People from Padang, Sumatera use coconut milk to add flavor to the majority of their dishes.
The Sundanese seem to be the most vegetarian-friendly.
As a vegetarian, it's not been impossible to find nourishment at Indonesian tables. There usually manages to be something I can eat--even if it's just fried tempe. Meat is seen as a status-determinant; when a special guest is being entertained, the likelihood of all-meat dishes is increased ten-fold. Vegetables, tofu, and Tempe are inexpensive, and therefore seen as the diet of a poor person or villager.
Fortunately for me, there are several mainstream Indonesian dishes that are vegetarian, they just all have the same exact spices/flavoring. Gado-gado is the Indonesian version of a salad; its basically just raw cabbage, green beans, bean sprouts, and cassava leaves that are mixed together with a sauce made from roasted peanuts, coconut milk, red chilli pepper and brown sugar. Vegan!
•Pecel is the exact same thing minus the coconut milk. Also vegan!
•Ketoprak is those same spices--minus the coconut milk--but with tofu and compressed rice chunks (lonton) instead of vegetables.. Veegan!
•Krek telur: kind of like an unfolded omlette whose base is shredded potato. Then, sugar, egg, salt, fried onions bits, sweet coconut crumblies, and two other spices added in. Cooked over a smoking fire. Finally topped with more sweet coconut crumblies and fried garlic bits. Not vegan.
•Rujak: various combination of melon, mango, pineapple, sirksop, watermelon. Cut up pieces. Spicy-sweet sauce. Vegan!
•Kue mollen mini: little pieces of banana cut up and wrapped in sweet pastry dough. Then fried until golden brown. Best when fresh, warm, and crispy. Could probably easily be made vegan.
Here's a recipe for my favorite Indonesian dish, it's kind of got a soup-vibe going on, but it's mostly veggies. It's also vegan!
•Sundanese Tamarind-Spiced Vegetables (the attached picture)
Ingredients:
•**Garlic
•**Onion
•Javanese Tamarind (broth only) or 1/2 sliced tomato
•Corn (cut into 1 inch sections)
•Jackfruit (cut into chunks)
•Squash (cut into chunks)
•Tangkil leaves
•Green beans
•**Salt (to taste)
•**Candlenut (2 atau 3 biji lah)
•Red pepper
•Bay leaves
•Galangal ("Lengkuas")
•Beans
Guidelines/"Directions":
1. Grind together the starred ingredients.
2. Bring water to a boil in a pot.
3. Add in the galangal, bay leaves, corn, beans & tangkil leaves.
4. After 5 minutes, add the squash and jackfruit. Boil for two minutes.
5. Add the green beans. Add the spices that were ground together. If using tomato, add it now. Add salt to taste. Add the Tangkil leaves.
6. Taste test. If there's not enough of something, just throw in more of it. The consistency should be watery, not full to the brim with vegetables.
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