Hello everyone, this is Helena!
This article is the continuation of the previous article titled “Overseas flavor that Indonesian Loves”, this time focusing on what kind of seasoning do Indonesian likes!
Previously, I introduced about foreign country restaurant that are popular in Indonesia. In this volume I will talk about the seasonings that Indonesian have in their home!
Overseas Seasonings
I did a research about what kind of seasonings do Indonesian have in their home!
Graph: Foreign Country Seasonings that are Available in Indonesian Household
Among 500 persons, majority of them answered Japanese seasonings. The second one are those of them who don’t know about the seasonings origin but know that it is actually a foreign country seasonings. Based on that answers, I assume that Indonesian doesn’t use the seasonings based on where it’s from but whether it’s tasty enough or not. In Indonesia, the convenient store, supermarket, and market sell foreign country seasonings.
Since majority of Indonesian are Muslim, mostly of them can’t use seasonings that have sake or pork base. There are sake or pork based seasonings available in the market, but it must have “Non-Halal” label written on the item. Also, non-halal seasonings are often sold on store that only sell non halal items.
Picture : Fish sauce from Thailand
In Indonesian supermarket, they usually have a special shelf for foreign country seasonings. Most of the seasonings is more expensive compared to local seasonings. In the market they also sell South East Asia and Chinese seasonings but they usually don’t sell other country seasonings. But they always have certain type of foreign country seasonings such as fish sauce. There is local made fish sauce which called kecap ikan but they also sell fish sauce imported from Vietnam, Thailand or others. By the way, fish sauce is one of the seasoning to make Indonesian classic cuisine, Nasi Goreng.
Picture: Foreign Country Seasonings in Indonesian Household part 1
Picture: Foreign Country Seasonings in Indonesian Household part 2
Picture: Ayam Masak Kecap
There are Japanese seasonings that Indonesian frequently use : shouyu (soy sauce) and teriyaki sauce. You can easily find shouyu and teriyaki sauce in Indonesian convenient store and supermarket. There are also mirin and miso, but you have to go to supermarket to find them. Shouyu and teriyaki sauce are used when making local dish called Ayam masak kecap. Indonesian use both local and international seasonings in order to make foods that have rich flavor.
In my home in Indonesia, we use many kinds of foreign country seasonings. We use shouyu, tom yum, gochujang, etc. Of course there are seasonings that I haven’t tried yet and I will try to research about them!
So what do you think?
For those of you who want to know more about Indonesia, please leave your comment below!
No comments yet.