Bubur ayam is the Indonesian version of chicken congee, a thick rice porridge topped with shredded chicken and various savory condiments. This breakfast staple probably originates from the Chinese rice porridge, but it employs regionally available ingredients and toppings to create an authentic Indonesian dish.

The process starts with boiling chicken (usually darker, on the bone pieces), and the same broth is typically used to cook the rice until it becomes dense in consistency. Besides rice porridge and shredded chicken, bubur ayam can employ a myriad of other ingredients. 

Bubur ketan hitam is a traditional sweet porridge originating from Indonesia. It’s usually made with a combination of coconut milk, palm or cane sugar, and black glutinous rice. Despite the name, once cooked, the rice turns dark purple, not black.

The dish can be enriched with pandan leaves and salt for extra aroma. In most parts of the country, bubur ketan hitam is served with mung beans and bread on the side, and the dish is then called bubur kacang hijau. In restaurants, this dessert might come served with cinnamon or fried banana slices on top. 

Papeda is a traditional dish, often said to be the local porridge variety. It is made with sago, the staple food of the native people of Maluku and Papua. Sago is the eastern Indonesian counterpart to rice, the preferred starch in central and western Indonesia.

Papeda is made with flour that is extracted from the plant, actually the trunk of the sago tree. The dried flour is then vigorously mixed with water, salt and sugar. The final texture of the dish is very unusual: it is thick, glutinous, and viscous, and similar to porridge or a pale pudding. 

Bubur kacang hijau is a traditional sweet porridge originating from Indonesia. It’s usually made with a combination of mung beans, sugar, palm sugar, coconut milk, pandan leaves, ginger, and salt. In order to prepare it, the mung beans should be soaked for a few hours, then cooked with pandan leaves and ginger.

The combination is sweetened with regular and palm sugar and seasoned with salt. The coconut milk is added after the beans have developed a soft consistency, and the porridge is then served, either warm or cold. Bubur kacang hijau is traditionally accompanied by a piece of white bread on the side.

Tinutuan is Indonesian rice porridge that originated in North Sulawesi in the city of Manado, but it's also often associated with Minahasa. The most common vegetables used in tinutuan include spinach, pumpkin, cassava, and corn, but other vegetables can be used as well.

Due to its liquid consistency, it is served in a bowl, together with salted fish and a spoonful of sambal on top. This savory porridge is originally vegetarian, but on special occasions, meat is sometimes added to the dish. It is commonly served for breakfast, and people usually flock to the stalls in the early morning to get this nutritious breakfast.