SURABAYA SNAX

One of the great advantages of local living here is the food. It is plentiful, fresh, and very inexpensive by Western standards. Indonesian food has influences from Chinese, Portuguese and of course indigenous traditions. Meals and flavors are fairly simple. The flavors are not as complex or multi-dimensional as, say, Thai food, but as a trade-off the ingredients --- coriander, chilli, coconut, peanuts, soy sauce, palm sugar, and lemongrass --- retain their identifiable flavors. Tastes are a bit bolder, and more direct.

Your basic bowl of noodles

One of the staples is nasi goreng, which is essentially fried rice with bits of vegetable, meat, slice of lime and a hard boiled egg cut up on top. It is served with a small crock of sambal – a thick, fiery red chilli sauce. You can buy nasi goreng in almost any restaurant, at a warung (food stall), or from a cart on the street. The version appearing below came from a local restaurant and cost about $1.50. Note the "avocado juice" with chocolate syrup ( I don't know why, but all the restaurants serve it this way).

Nasi goreng

Two other staples must be mentioned. Gado-gado is tasty and fun to say. This is basically par-boiled vegetables with a heavy dollop of peanut sauce. More familiar to Westerners is sate (or satay), which is skewered meat, usually chicken or goat, cooked on a grill, served with a savory sauce, and lime, minced chillis, and maybe red onions on the side as condiments. Tasty! The dish of sate below came from my favorite local restaurant, and again, the price is very reasonable. Maybe $1.80.

Chicken sate, tofu puffs, greens with chilies

Vegetarians will be happy to know that tofu is very popular, and tempeh --- fermented soy beans pressed into blocks and sliced up --- apparently originated in Indonesia. Both are often fried or sautéed and provide non-meat protein alternatives. Those puffy fried cubes in the picture above are airy tofu that taste like baked bread. Great for sopping up that sate sauce!

I’ve saved the best for last. Most of the teachers where I work eat meals from warung, the local food stalls. Some have a seating area, others are just a stand. There may a makeshift kitchen in the back, or a day’s worth of food is brought from the cook’s home. My favorite warung has a three-tiered glass cabinet where the day’s offerings are displayed --- fish coconut curry with large pieces of white fish, corn fritters, fried chicken, roast chicken in barbeque sauce, fried tempeh squares, duck eggs, steamed spinach with tiny flecks of chillies, bean sprouts, tiny sauteed green beans, etc., etc. The owner uses some stiff waterproof brown paper I haven't seen before, gives me a scoop of coco rice as a bed, and then puts whatever I point to on top. Since I am taking my food "to go," she folds it neatly origami-style into a box shape and puts it in a plastic bag. It costs about $1.20, and it's very, very tasty.

Next door is the Juice Babe. Usually I have mango. Yesterday mango, carrot and pineapple. Sugar or no sugar? A little of the condensed milk. $.50. for plain, $.60 for a combo. It's a lot-- about 2 cups' worth, and she puts it in a plastic bag tied with a straw. 

$1.80 and I'm eating an incredible feast. Indo OK!

My favorite Warung. The third plate --- potato balls ---were great.

The Juice Babe

Recently I had dinner in one of my usual haunts. When the meal came, I noticed an extra plate I had not ordered.

“What’s this?” I asked the young server.

“Free,” she said.

Finally, some appreciation for my continued patronage. A dish of fried chicken feet! (Of course I tried them).