Indonesian cooking, made simple enough to cook tonight
Citarasa Nusantara is a recipe collection for anyone who loves the deep, layered flavours of Indonesian and Southeast Asian food but wants instructions that actually work in a normal kitchen.
Every recipe here was tested in a home kitchen, not a restaurant. That means ingredients you can buy at an Asian grocer or online, pan sizes that fit a normal stove, and timings written for a cook who is doing three things at once. There are now seventeen recipes and a growing set of pantry guides.
Popular classics
Beef Rendang
The slow-cooked Sumatran classic. Patience, coconut milk, and a spice paste that does the heavy lifting.
Chicken Satay
Charred skewers with a peanut sauce that is savoury first, sweet second.
Nasi Goreng
Indonesia's fried rice, built around day-old rice and a spoon of shrimp paste.
Soto Ayam
A turmeric-gold chicken soup with vermicelli, egg and fried shallots.
Gado-Gado
Blanched vegetables and tofu under a warm peanut dressing.
Nasi Lemak
Coconut rice with sambal, crisp anchovies and peanuts, the way a breakfast stall does it.
More from the kitchen
Char Kway Teow
Smoky flat noodles from the wok, with prawns, Chinese sausage and a breath of high heat.
Bakso
Springy beef meatballs in a clear broth, with noodles, greens and fried shallots.
Ayam Kecap
Chicken braised in sweet soy sauce with ginger and star anise until glossy.
Mie Goreng
Fried noodles with cabbage and egg, the late-night warung standard.
Curry Laksa
Coconut curry noodle soup with a chilli paste base and a hit of lime.
Pisang Goreng
Crisp banana fritters, best eaten straight from the pan.
Ikan Bakar
Grilled fish basted in a sweet-spicy sambal, cooked over coals or under the grill.
Sambal Oelek
The raw chilli paste at the base of everything: four ingredients, five minutes.
Sayur Asem
A tamarind vegetable soup, sour and clean, the counterweight to rich dishes.
Kaya Toast
Coconut jam on toasted bread with soft eggs, the Southeast Asian breakfast.
Klepon
Pandan rice balls filled with palm sugar that bursts when you bite them.
All recipes →
See the full collection in one place.
Learn the pantry
Pantry: 15 ingredients to start
The fifteen things that make Indonesian cooking possible, and what to buy first.
Kecap Manis
What sweet soy sauce is, how it differs from light and dark soy, and how to use it.
Bumbu: the spice paste
Why almost every dish starts with a paste, and how to build one properly.
Regional cooking
How Padang, Javanese, Balinese and Peranakan kitchens differ, and where to start.
How these recipes are written
Indonesian home cooking is forgiving. Recipes vary from island to island and from one family to the next, so treat every quantity here as a starting point. What matters is the technique: when the spice paste is ready, how far the coconut milk is reduced, and when to stop cooking.
Where a shortcut is genuinely harmless, it is noted. Where it is not, it is flagged. Substituting something and getting a different dish is fine; being surprised by it is not. If a recipe has a gap or a step that does not work in your kitchen, the contact page is open.