There are many varieties of rice in Indonesia. Some regions are known for their excellent varieties of rice. Surakarta in Central Java has its Beras Rojolele, west Sumatrans are very proud of Solok rice and northern Sumatrans recommend Beras Sipisang. Cianjur in West Java has its renowned Beras Cianjur and Bali has its famous rice from Ubud and eastern parts of the island.

Many people eat rice three times a day in Indonesia. Breakfast, lunch and dinner almost always include rice. Some regions actually have other staples, such as corn, sweet potatoes or sago. People who have migrated from other regions have influenced locals to eat rice. Thus, rice has become a staple food all over the archipelago.

Nasi dishes are numerous in Indonesia. The most popular dish is nasi goreng, or fried rice, but there are dozens of typical rice preparations, which are made for daily consumption or for special events.

Dishes such as nasi gurih, nasi kuning, nasi kebuli or nasi minyak are common local dishes where rice is rather coarsely cooked. Sometimes, rice is wrapped and then several products are made out of it, such as ketupat, lontong, buras or arem-arem, with its typical ground meat stuffing.

Cooking styles also differ, from moist to hard, from bubur to nasi tim to just plain nasi. Some of these preparations have become more and more connected with local culinary customs.

When visiting a place, one will be offered the rice specialty of the region, such as nasi uduk from Jakarta, nasi gudeg from Yogyakarta, nasi liwet from Surakarta and nasi jagung from Madura.

The most common rice preparation for daily meals is still nasi putih, or white rice, steamed or cooked over a low flame with water until tender.

Rice is also made into meal which is then used to make traditional sweets or kue-kue. Rice meal is also a traditional energy food when made into a porridge called bubur sumsum.

After strenuous preparations for a big wedding, the lady of the house will make a large pot of fine textured bubur sumsum for those who helped to make the wedding party a success. A thick sweet brown sugar will be scooped on the rich tasting rice meal porridge cooked aromatically with pandan leaves and coconut milk.

Kroket nasi: Courtesy of Suryatini N. Ganie

When buying rice meal or rice flour by the kilogram, check the texture because rough-textured meal will result in a lower quality end product when compared with fine textured rice flour or rice meal. One can check the texture by taking a pinch of rice flour and rubbing it between your fingers.

Poor quality rice flour could result from imperfect grinding and sieving at the factory. Fine and good quality rice meal must be ground and sieved several times. Bugs are also blamed for degrading the quality of rice meal.

Traditionally, rice has also medicinal properties such as the tajin or rice water that is obtained from boiling the mixture for 10 minutes until a milky substance is covering the rice. the liquid can be spooned into a deep bowl or plate and given to a patient suffering from gastric fever. Tajin is a cooling liquid and can be easily digested. Children who are allergic to cow milk can be given tajin instead.

To cure diarrhea, people in the villages used to make balls of cooked rice and grill them over charcoal until black. Then boiling water was poured over it and sieved. A much more potent diarrhea medicine is when the raw grains are charred and then ground and made into a potion.

Traditional foods have a long history. Evaluation and modifications in preparation over the course of time are common when those foods are served nowadays.

Reading old notes on food will sometimes result in confusing information about food prices or the types of plants or spices used. This is because we don’t have historians as they do in Europe, who took notes on the favorite foods of King Louis XIV or the delicious dinners Talleyrand’s served to foreign ambassadors.

Indonesia has almost no historical data on food. One source of information are candi, or Hindu temples where inscriptions are made on lontar leaves.

When we need information about food from the past, sometimes we have to interview people have received knowledge from their ancestors orally.

My late mother told me that the cone form given to rice dishes by people living in Java symbolize the solidity and might of the island’s mountains.

— Photo courtesy of Suryatini N. Gani

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