Jakarta Street Food
Fried Banana with Chili
Pisang Goreng is a deep fried batter fritter and in Indonesia, is accompanied with Sambal chili. The banana used in Jakarta is not overly ripe and sweet unlike Singapore, still retaining a starchy firm body. The sambal roa is made with fish and adds extreme spicy kick.
Brain-Brain Fish Cake
Otak-Otak is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore but of course with their variations. I find the Indonesian version to differ the most from the other regions, being mostly pale whitish in color with only little or no chili within the fish paste mix itself. The Jakarta otak fish paste is mostly made with ikan tenggiri (wahoo fish), coconut milk, lemongrass and spices, and is grilled or steamed in banana leaf like other variations of otak otak for added fragrance
Fried Duck
Bebek Goreng can be found in many street stalls as well as fancier restaurants and is usually sold with rice. Because of this, Bebek Goreng is sometimes also sold as ‘Nasi bebek’. This dish is traditionally eaten with the hands only to really reach every nook and cranny of the duck.
