Vol. 46 — Bumbu, Sambal and the Archipelago Table
Indonesia
From Sumatra to Sulawesi
Standfirst
Shallot, garlic and chilli ground to a paste in a stone mortar. Coconut milk reducing until it darkens. A cart bell somewhere down the street at dusk. Indonesia cooks across seventeen thousand islands, and every one of them starts in the same place.
Chapter One
Everything begins with bumbu
Before an Indonesian dish has a name it has a paste. Shallot, garlic, candlenut, turmeric, galangal and chilli are ground together in a stone cobek and fried in hot oil until the raw sharpness burns away and the kitchen fills with something sweet and resinous. That is bumbu, and almost everything follows from it.
What comes after changes island by island. Sumatra reduces coconut milk for hours until rendang turns dark and almost dry. Java sweetens with palm sugar and kecap manis. Bali grinds whole spice pastes for slow-roasted betutu. The method travels; the accent never does.
Rice is the meal. Everything else is there to make each mouthful different.
— On the Indonesian table
Chapter Two
Warungs, carts and the sound of dinner
Daily eating happens at the warung — a family kitchen with a few plastic stools and a glass cabinet of the day's dishes. Nasi campur is built to order: a mound of rice ringed by fried tempeh, greens in peanut sauce, a piece of ayam goreng and a spoonful of something with chilli in it.
After dark the kaki lima carts move through the neighbourhood, each announcing itself by sound — a spoon on a bowl for bakso, a wooden knock for mie ayam. Martabak is folded on the griddle, pisang goreng lifted from the fryer, krupuk snapped over the top of everything.
The Indonesia blanket — nasi goreng, rendang, sate and es cendol drawn as one illustrated archipelago.
Chapter Three
Kitchen, wardrobe and wall
Pieces for people who grind their own bumbu, keep sambal within arm's reach, and take their kopi tubruk strong.
Poster — Jakarta
Poster — Yogyakarta
Onesie — Bandung
Vol. 46 — Bumbu, Sambal and the Archipelago Table — the pieces
Shop the Indonesia pieces
Everything photographed in this issue that is currently in the studio.
Indonesia · Apron
Indonesia Food Apron
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Indonesia · Baby onesie
Indonesia Food Baby Onesie
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Indonesia · Blanket
Indonesia Food Blanket
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Indonesia · Food poster
Indonesia Food Poster Black
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Indonesia · T-shirt
Indonesia Food T-Shirt
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Indonesia · Tote bag
Indonesia Food Tote Bag
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Indonesia · Apron
Indonesia Food Apron Black
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Indonesia · Food poster
Indonesia Food Poster Pink
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The Collection
The Indonesia Collection
Nasi goreng, rendang, sate ayam, gado-gado and es cendol — the spice-driven heart of the Indonesian table in one illustrated composition.
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