Local Dishes

1. Sega goreng

   Fried rice

   Usage

   The Javanese name for what Indonesian calls nasi goreng. The most common plate at any warung: rice fried with sweet soy sauce, topped to taste with chicken, salted fish, a fried egg and crackers

   Grammar Note

   "Sega" is the ngoko word for cooked rice; the krama form is "sekul". "Goreng" means fried

2. Sega gurih

   Rice cooked in coconut milk

   Usage

   Rice cooked with coconut milk so it turns rich and savoury; also called "sega wuduk". The Javanese equivalent of Indonesian nasi uduk, eaten at breakfast with fried chicken, tempe and sambal

   Grammar Note

   "Gurih" describes a rich, savoury taste — one of the basic taste words beside "legi" (sweet) and "pedhes" (hot)

3. Sega liwet

   Rice simmered in a pot, served as a set

   Usage

   Rice simmered until the liquid is absorbed — the Solo style uses coconut milk — served with chicken, egg and vegetables stewed in coconut. The Solo version is the famous one; it used to be carried around the villages by women selling it door to door

   Grammar Note

   "Liwet" is to simmer rice until the water is absorbed; "ngliwet" is the verb form

4. Sega kucing

   A small parcel of rice with a little topping

   Usage

   A small parcel of rice wrapped in banana leaf or paper — named for how little it holds, like a cat's portion. Sold at the street stalls called "angkringan" in Yogyakarta, "hik" in Solo and "warung kucingan" in Semarang, where you take several along with grilled skewers

   Grammar Note

   "Kucing" is cat, the same word as in jv/the Animals category

5. Gudheg

   Young jackfruit stewed sweet

   Usage

   The signature dish of Yogyakarta: young green jackfruit ("gori") stewed for hours with teak leaves, which give it its brown colour. It is sweet, so ask for "krecek" alongside if you want heat

   Grammar Note

   Javanese spells it with "dh" (a retroflex d): Gudheg. Written in Indonesian it becomes "gudeg"

6. Krecek

   Spicy stewed cattle skin

   Usage

   Cattle or buffalo hide rehydrated and stewed with chilli, also called "sambel goreng krecek". It is the standard hot counterweight to sweet gudheg. The same hide fried thin becomes the cracker called "rambak"

   Grammar Note

   Spelled both "krecek" and "krechek". The raw hide itself is "rambak"

7. Rawon

   Black beef soup

   Usage

   The signature beef soup of East Java (Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto, Malang). Its black colour comes from the "kluwek" nut, not from chilli, so it is dark but not hot. Served with bean sprouts, salted egg and sambal

   Grammar Note

   Spelled the same in Indonesian. It comes from East Java but is also served around Surakarta in Central Java

8. Pecel

   Boiled vegetables with peanut sauce

   Usage

   Boiled vegetables — long beans, cassava leaf, winged bean, spinach, turi flowers, mustard greens, cabbage, carrot and bean sprouts — dressed with a peanut sambal. Eaten as a side with rice; the Madiun version is the best known

   Grammar Note

   A Javanese word that has passed into Indonesian unchanged

9. Lothek

   Mixed boiled vegetable salad with peanut sauce

   Usage

   Several kinds of boiled vegetables mixed and dressed with ground peanut seasoning and sambal. In Central Java this is the name used for what Indonesian calls gado-gado; the difference is that gado-gado is usually topped with egg and tempe

   Grammar Note

   The "th" is a retroflex t. Written in Indonesian it becomes "lotek"

10. Brongkos

    Beef and black-eyed pea stew

    Usage

    Beef and black-eyed peas stewed in coconut milk, a home dish of Yogyakarta and Central Java. Like rawon it uses "kluwek", so the broth is dark. Do not confuse it with "brengkes", the similarly named banana-leaf steamed dish

    Grammar Note

    Often listed as "jangan brongkos", where "jangan" means a soupy dish

11. Garang asem

    Chicken steamed in banana leaf

    Usage

    Chicken wrapped in banana leaf with its coconut-milk broth and steamed. Rich and mildly hot, eaten with plain rice. Found in ordinary warung

    Grammar Note

    "Asem" means sour, from the tamarind or green tomato that sharpens the broth

12. Timlo

    Clear soup with many toppings

    Usage

    A Solo (Surakarta) dish: a clear soup, but crowded with toppings. Also called "kimlo". Usually sold in the same shops that serve selat, sop, soto and lothek, and brought to the table steaming in a bowl

13. Sate klathak

    Goat satay grilled with salt only

    Usage

    Goat satay from Pleret in Bantul, Yogyakarta, with the stalls clustered along the eastern Imogiri road. Unlike other satay it is seasoned with salt alone, and it is skewered on bicycle spokes

    Grammar Note

    "Klathak" imitates the sound of the meat on the fire; the "th" is a retroflex t

14. Bakmi Jawa

    Javanese noodles cooked over charcoal

    Usage

    A noodle dish of the Yogyakarta Special Region and Central Java. It uses fresh wet noodles ("mi teles") and is cooked one plate at a time over charcoal, which gives it its smoky aroma. Most stalls let you choose the soupy "godhog" or the dry "goreng" version

15. Soto

    Meat and vegetable broth

    Usage

    A broth of meat stock and vegetables. Every region has its own, and in Java the best known are soto Kudus (chicken or buffalo) and soto Lamongan (finished with "koya", crushed crackers). Also called "sroto" or "coto" depending on the area

    Grammar Note

    To order, name the meat after "soto" — for example "soto pitik" for chicken, "pitik" being the Javanese word listed in jv/the Animals category

16. Tahu campur

    Mixed soup with fried tofu

    Usage

    An East Javanese tofu dish whose name simply means "mixed tofu": fried tofu, lontong (pressed rice) and "lentho" (fried black-eyed pea fritters, sometimes replaced by potato or sweet-potato perkedel). The Lamongan version is the famous one

17. Tahu gimbal

    Tofu and prawn fritter with peanut sauce

    Usage

    A Semarang speciality: prawn fritter ("bakwan urang"), fried tofu, thin omelette, cabbage, bean sprouts and pressed rice, all cut up, doused in peanut sambal and scattered with celery leaf

18. Tahu petis

    Fried tofu filled with shrimp paste

    Usage

    A Semarang snack: plain white tofu fried unseasoned until brown, then spread or filled with "petis", a thick black shrimp paste. Similar to "tahu pong" but not as salty

19. Thiwul

    Cassava-flour staple

    Usage

    A staple made from the flour of dried cassava ("gaplek"), eaten in place of rice with salt, grated coconut or sugar. In Wonogiri, Gunungkidul and Pacitan it was once the everyday staple

    Grammar Note

    The "th" is a retroflex t; Indonesian spells it "tiwul"

20. Urap

    Steamed vegetables with seasoned grated coconut

    Usage

    Steamed vegetables tossed with seasoned grated coconut; also called "urab" or "urap-urap". It works on its own as a vegetarian plate or as a side to rice

    Grammar Note

    In some areas the same thing is called "kluban", sometimes with peanut sambal added

21. Trancam

    Raw vegetables with grated coconut

    Usage

    Popular in Central Java. It looks like urap, but the vegetables are left raw: long beans, cucumber, bean sprouts, jicama, carrot, coconut, tempe and lemon basil leaf, dressed with sambal

22. Bothok

    Spiced grated coconut steamed in banana leaf

    Usage

    Young coconut grated and ground in a stone mortar with red chilli, candlenut, shallot, garlic, coriander, salt, kencur, salam leaf and kaffir lime leaf, then wrapped in banana leaf and steamed

23. Pecel lele

    Fried catfish with sambal

    Usage

    Also called "pecek lele": catfish deep-fried crisp and served with tomato sambal and raw vegetables (lemon basil, cabbage, cucumber, long beans). A fixture of the evening street stalls. Despite the name it comes with no peanut sauce

24. Tempe bacem

    Tempe braised sweet then grilled

    Usage

    Tempe simmered with palm sugar, shallot, garlic, coriander and salam leaf, then grilled or fried. Sweet with a slight bitterness. Cheap and easy, so it is standard both at home and at stalls

25. Lunpia Semarang

    Semarang spring roll

    Usage

    A roll filled with bamboo shoot, egg and chicken or prawn, created in the late 19th century by a Chinese-Semarang man married to a Javanese woman, so it carries both tastes. Sold fried or unfried, and stacked in the souvenir shops on Jalan Pandanaran

    Grammar Note

    Semarang spells it "lunpia"; "lumpia" and "lumpiya" are also written

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