7x our favorite Indonesian snacks
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: 7x our favorite Indonesian snacks.
In Indonesia, they are not only good at rendang and satay, but they are also a star in snacks. Therefore: a small ode to our favorite savory snacks that can also be found at your local toko.
Earlier we paid tribute to our favorite sweet snacks, including cendol and dadar gulung. Not such a sweet tooth? Then go for these savory Indonesian delicacies.
Frikadel jagung
No, not frikandel, but a frikadel. Or more precisely: the frikadel jagung (also known as perkedel jagung). It is a crispy corn cake that is often eaten as a snack or side dish in Indonesia and is often part of the rice table in the Netherlands.
Bacang
These filled rice packets not only look cute but are also very tasty. Sticky rice with minced meat and dried shrimp, wrapped in bamboo or banana leaves.
Lemper
There's a good chance you know this one. Like bacang, lempers consist of sticky rice and a filling, but the filling in lempers is often chicken, minced meat, or tuna. In the Netherlands, they are kept warm in some aluminum foil or cling film, but in Indonesia, they use banana leaves for that – just like with bacang.
Martabak
Martabak comes in a sweet and savory form. Martabak telor is the savory variant and can be found everywhere in Indonesia. The dough is beaten on the ground, and once it is thin enough, they put it in the pan and fill the dough with beef, lamb, or chicken mince, onions, eggs, and sometimes potatoes.
Pangsit goreng
My personal favorite. Greedy (greedy = gulzig) is my Indonesian family when the pangsit goreng appears at birthdays or family gatherings. There are always trays of these fried pastry snacks going around. The combination of the crispy pastry with the soft meat filling is delicious.
Pastel goreng
These Indonesian pastries are a top snack. They are made with a filling of chicken, vegetables, or minced beef. Regardless of the filling, pastel goreng is not complete without a boiled egg as part of the filling. If you ever get a pastel goreng without egg, then it is not a pastel goreng.
Risolles
At first glance, they resemble a cheese soufflé, but these fried, breaded pancakes are filled with ragout, minced meat, or vegetables, although there are sometimes even cheese variants for cheese lovers.
You can get all these snacks at the toko. Our absolute favorite is Toko Makassar in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, an institution for Indonesian food since the seventies. Not only because they sell products that few other toko’s sell, but also because you can get delicious ikan pepesan there. Of course, the snacks are also very easy to make yourself, like pangsit goreng.
