RIJSTTAFEL -- YOUR INTRODUCTION TO FLAVOUR

Most Indonesians and Americans cannot grasp the concept. Forty or more dishes at one meal? Surely that's horrifically excessive? What IS it with you degenerate cheese-heads?!? Yet the Dutch feast known as a rijsttafel ("rice table") is actually not about excess. It's about moderation and texture. And nowadays, unless you have a whole bunch of people coming over, eight or ten dishes is more than enough.

Rice is essential, so is chilipaste. Gin (genever) or beer are quite optional. Cigars and coffee afterwards are up to you.


LIKELY DISHES:

Asinan timun: Lightly pickled cucumber.
Atjar pedes tjampur: Chilis and other vegetables, pickled.
Babi ketjap: Pork belly in a soy based sauce.
Bami: noodles.
Bami goreng: Fried noodles.
Empek-empek: Fried stuffed fish cakes.
Emping: Pounded gnemon seed crackers.
Gapok (empal): Spicy seethed meat sliced and slow-fried till crisp.
Gudeg: Yokyakarta-style green jackfruit curry.
Gule ayam: Chicken in a mild coconut curry broth.
Ikan bakar: Charcoal grilled fish with a sambal.
Ikan goreng: fried fish.
Ikan tumis: Steamed fish with sliced chili and ginger.
Ketoprak: Vegetable salad with a spicy dressing.
Kolak ubi: Yam chunks cooked in coconut milk and palm sugar.
Korma kambing: Goat (or lamb) cooked in a rich coconut and candlenut sauce with chilies and ground coriander seed.
Krupuk: Shrimp chips.
Laksa: Nyonya style noodle curry soup.
Lemperan: Rice batter crepes with a crunchy vegetable filling.
Lumpia: Springrolls, mostly beansprout and shredded carrot.
Nasi: cooked rice.
Nasi goreng: fried rice dishes.
Onde-onde: Glutinous rice balls with a sweet filling, deepfried.
Opor: Fowl in a rich coconut broth.
Perkedel: Spicy potato croquettes.
Pindang telur; Pindang: hard-boiled eggs in a savoury spicy sauce.
Soto Ayam: chicken soup with fried crunchies and beansprouts.
Rawon: Meat stewed black with keluak nuts to colour.
Rendang: Buffalo chunks seethed in coconut milk with turmeric, galangal, lemon grass, and enough chili to floor a battalion.
Rudjak: Unripe fruits with a sour-spicy-savoury dip.
Sambal goreng ikan: Fish stirfried with chili paste.
Sambal goreng buntjis: Haricots vert stirfried with garlic and chili.
Saté: Small barbecue skewers and peanut sauce.
Sayur asem: Sour tamarind vegetable soup.
Sayur lodeh: Vegetables cooked pulpy with coconut milk.
Sayur tjampur: Mixed vegetables with curry spices.
Semur: Meat braised in dark sauce with onions.
Serundeng: Spicy crunchy toasted coconut shreds.
Singgang: Tamarind and seafood flavoured broth.
Tahu goreng: Fried tofu with a tangy-spicy peanutty sauce.
Tjendol: Groene glibbertjes drank.

En zo veel nog voorts.


Contrary to popular belief, fried battered bananas ('pisang goreng') are absolutely not an important part of this.


The key is coupling variety with restraint. Do not eat until you pop, but just sample a little bit of this and that. Augment your food with a little hot sauce (sambal), and alternate textures.


Kindly ignore any and all sneering comments from Indonesian nationalists and PC American puritans. Why did you invite either of those silly people anyhow? They don't have anything interesting to say, and they disapprove of everything.

The best Dutch Indonesian restaurants are in the Hague, but many fine establishments can also be found in Amsterdam. Ask local people for a recommendation. Yes, most native Dutch are heavy beer drinkers, but a rijst tafel eatery is usually a table cloth kind of place, so they'll behave.
Can't say as much for the visiting English and Germans.

There are no good places to enjoy a rijst tafel in the San Francisco area.
But there is indeed some excellent Indonesian food to be had.
Different audience, with different tastes.
Few Indos, also few Dutch.
It's not Batavia.



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