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Pepes tahu is a traditional dish hailing from West Java. It consists of spiced and steamed tofu that’s cooked in banana leaves. The ingredients usually include tofu, banana leaves, bell peppers, green onions, and a spice paste consisting of shallots, garlic, sugar, salt, and hot chili peppers.
The tofu is drained and mashed, then combined with the spice paste, bell peppers, and green onions. The combination is wrapped in banana leaves, steamed, then served while still warm with rice on the side. Alternatively, pepes tahu can be grilled instead of steamed, if desired.
Kupat tahu is a traditional dish consisting of ketupat (a type of rice cake) and tofu in peanut sauce. The ingredients usually include rice cakes, tofu, bean sprouts, chili peppers, peanuts, garlic, brown sugar, water, and kecap manis soy sauce.
The tofu is fried until golden brown, the bean sprouts are blanched, and the peanuts are fried, then combined with garlic, chili peppers, and water in order to create the peanut sauce, which is additionally mixed with brown sugar. The rice cakes, fried tofu, and bean sprouts are topped with the peanut sauce, and the dish is then drizzled with sweet soy sauce.
If desired, kupat tahu can be enriched with lime juice and garnished with shrimp crackers. This dish is traditionally served for breakfast.
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Lalap or lalab is a traditional salad originating from West Java. Although there is no set recipe for the salad, it's often made with raw vegetables such as tomatoes, lemon basil, green eggplants, cucumbers, cabbage, and long beans, along with blanched or boiled chayote, spinach, papaya leaves, water spinach, and cassava leaves.
The salad is served cold or at room temperature, and it's always accompanied by sambal terasi dipping sauce. Lalap can also be served as a side dish with pepes, fried fish, and fried chicken.
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Karedok is the traditional Indonesian version of a vegetable salad. This simple and healthy dish calls for fresh and raw ingredients which are sliced and served with a traditional peanut sauce. The most common vegetables in karedok include cucumbers, cabbage, green beans, Thai basil, bean sprouts, and eggplant, however, other vegetables can be used as well.
The sauce is made by grinding fried peanuts together with salt, palm sugar, and chili. The flavor of the sauce can be adjusted with other ingredients such as shrimp paste or garlic. Due to the usage of peanut sauce, karedok is often compared with another Indonesian specialty, gado-gado, but it is still distinguished by the usage of only raw ingredients.
MOST ICONIC Karedok
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This West Javanese specialty consists of chewy balls prepared with a base of tapioca flour and various additions that may include dried shrimp, garlic, scallions, or chives. Whether boiled or fried, cilok balls are typically accompanied by a sweet peanut sauce or spicy sauces based on ketchup and kecap manis.
Cilok is sold by street vendors and it is usually served on sticks or skewers.
MOST ICONIC Cilok
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Soto Bandung is a traditional dish and a type of soto soup originating from Bandung. The soup is usually made with a combination of cubed beef, ginger, garlic, scallions, thinly sliced daikon, bay leaves, lemongrass, oil, sugar, salt, and white pepper.
The ingredients are cooked in water until the beef becomes tender. The soup is then seasoned with salt, pepper, and sugar, and daikon is added to the pot near the end of cooking. Once prepared, soto Bandung is garnished with many ingredients such as soy beans, scallions, shallot flakes, and often a squeeze of kaffir lime.
OTHER VARIATIONS OF Soto
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Sayur asem is a sweet and sour vegetable soup. Often referred to as tamarind soup, it is one of the favorite vegetable dishes in Indonesia. The entire dish is based on tamarind, an unusual plant commonly grown in Southeast Asia, which gives the dish a distinctive sour taste.
Other traditional Indonesian ingredients in sayur asem include jackfruit, melinjo, long beans, bilimbi, pumpkin, corn, and chayote. Sayur asem originated among the Sundanese people residing in West Java. However, their original recipe for this traditional soup has been adapted across Indonesia.
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Cireng is a popular Indonesian street food snack made from fried tapioca flour dough, known for its crispy exterior and chewy, elastic interior. The name cireng is a shortened form of aci digoreng in Sundanese, which literally means “fried tapioca starch.” Originating from West Java, especially among Sundanese communities, cireng has become widely loved across Indonesia for its addictive texture and versatility.
The dough is typically made from tapioca flour mixed with water, garlic, scallions, salt, and sometimes ground coriander or chicken stock powder, then shaped into small discs or irregular chunks before being deep-fried until golden. While the outside turns crispy, the inside remains springy and chewy, a texture that Indonesians refer to as kenyal.
MOST ICONIC Cireng
View moreHailing from Bandung, mie kocok is an aromatic soup that combines sliced beef, beef offal, or meatballs with flat yellow noodles and other accompaniments such as crackers, bean sprouts, sliced scallions, and fried shallots. All ingredients are served in a clear beef broth, while spicy sambal paste and soy sauce may be served as condiments.
The name mie kocok roughly translates as shaken noodles, presumably because the noodles are shaken in a strainer before they are added to the soup.
MOST ICONIC Mie kocok
View moreMAIN INGREDIENTS
Nasi timbel is a traditional Sundanese dish from West Java that features steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves and served with a variety of savory accompaniments. The name "timbel" refers to the method of rolling hot rice tightly inside banana leaves, a practice that not only keeps the rice warm but also infuses it with a subtle, earthy aroma.
The rice, typically white or sometimes red, is the central element and is usually paired with a variety of side dishes such as fried or grilled chicken, fried tofu and tempeh, salted fish, or occasionally fried duck. These proteins are often accompanied by a generous helping of sambal terasi, a spicy chili sauce made with shrimp paste, and lalapan — a raw vegetable assortment that may include cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage, long beans, and fresh basil leaves.
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