Introduction:
The food of the people of this land, reflects their way
of living. Fiery, colourful, funloving people to whom
dancing comes as naturally as walking. Dancing is
taught at a very early age, and the Balinese dancing is
popular for their thumping rhythm and liveliness.
Indonesians, in the above tradition dress very
colourfully too.
In sarongs, long flowing wrap arounds,
shirts:full-sleeved and half-sleeved, scarves, turbans,
and even their homedrapes, tablecloths, lines, etc.
they exude a fantastic range of loud and vibrant
colours. Their clothes are made of cotton and silk, and
a wonderful fabric that is woven with a combination of
both. Rich embroideries, motifs, batik designs and
wonderful woven borders to fabrics, all display fine
artistry and workmanship which comes from the heart.
Indonesian cookery holds similarities of ingredients
with many of the other Asian countries, especially
China, Indian, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. Though
vegetarian dishes are originally few, many adaptations
have made the vegetarian variety too quite large.
Indonesian kitchens have cooking equipment similar to
many asian courntries, like woks,bamboo steamers,
wooden spatulas, granite stone grinders with pestles
(most spice pastes are ground in this as a daily
routine), large forks (garpu)for tossing, and spoons
(sendok). A large wooden board and cleaver knife are a
must in every kitchen, and do chopping of a clove or
garlic to a large as life pumpkin with ease.
Seasoning of food is mainly done with prior prepared
spice pastes, sauces, etc. Methods of cooking are
common to those of most asian countries, fry in woks,
steaming, and particularly many dishes, desserts and
others are wrapped in banana leaves for steaming.
