While many people think that salad is western food, Indonesia actually has many delicious vegetable and fruit salads. Have you tried these salads a la Indonesia?
Gado-gado
Gado-gado is one of the favorite Indonesian foods. It consists of various boiled and fresh vegetables such as spinach, bean sprouts, cucumber, chayote, carrots, corn, and other vegetables. Slices of fried tofu and tempe are also usually added to the salad. It is served with creamy peanut sauce and sprinkles of shrimp crackers.
Pecel
It is safe to say that Pecel is one of the Gado-gado’s sisters. It is quite similar; Pecel also consists of vegetables and creamy sauce. However, the Pecel peanut-based sauce is quite different from Gado-gado. Pecel sauce has galingale and lime leaves on it, so it has a very unique taste and aroma. Usually Pecel is served with rice and rempeyek (peanut brittle). Click here for the recipe of Sambal Pecel.
Karedok
Just like Pecel and Gado-gado, Karedok also uses peanut sauce as dressing. However, Karedok uses raw vegetables as its main ingredients. Usually, long beans, sweet basils, bean sprouts, and eggplant are the main ingredients in Karedok. The peanut sauce is also usually has grainier texture than Pecel or Gado-gado.
Rujak Buah
The fresh fruit salad usually consists of fruits like papaya, pineapple, raw mango, kedondong, guava and raw banana. Different provinces in Indonesia usually have different Rujak Buah. For example, Rujak Buah from Central Java has fried tofu in it, and the dressing is made from peanut and palm sugar. In Kalimantan, the fruit is quite similar but the dressing is made of palm sugar and shrimp paste. There are two ways to enjoy Rujak Buah: 1. mix all the fruits with the dressing sauce or 2. dip the fruit on the dressing sauce. Both ways are delicious!
Urap
Urap is a dish made of boiled vegetables and seasoned shredded coconut. You can find this dish in all around Indonesia. Usually, Urap is a complimentary dish that served with nasi tumpeng (cone-shaped rice).
Plecing
Plecing is one of the traditional dishes from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. It is made of boiled kangkung (water spinach) and bean sprout that is served with sauce made of chilies, tomato, shrimp paste, shallots and garlic. Sometimes a dash of lime juice is also added to the sauce. It tastes fresh and spicy, perfect to be served with steamy rice. Yum!
Asinan Bogor
Asinan Bogor is a product of acculturation between Chinese and Sundanese cuisines. It is made of salted tropical fruits such as raw mangoes, jambu air (rose apple), papaya, kedondong, and pineapple and served in fresh sweet, sour and spicy sauce.
Sop Buah
This salad is perfect for a hot and sunny day. Sop Buah (literally translated as ‘fruit soup’) is not practically a fruit soup. It is actually a kind of dessert consisting of various fruits such as apple, strawberries, pear, grapes, cantaloupe and dragon fruit in sugar syrup, condensed milk and ice cube.
