Day 2 — So I Heard You Like Spicy Food…
If that’s so, well, good for you. I really, really want to like spicy food, too. Unfortunately, my body can’t handle the burning sensation after eating something hot and spicy. Whenever I brave myself to do it, I get watery eyes, an itchy scalp, a runny nose, and a blazing burning feeling in my mouth. I also have this urge to run 200 meters and punch something at the end of the sprint. I wonder why.
I assume there’s something with the fact that I’m the firstborn in my family. Growing up, my parents didn’t really make me try spicy food at home. Until one day, my mom served me some papaya slices. I know that she knows I like papayas. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that the plate she used to plate the fruits was the wrong one. The night before, my dad was using that plate for his herbal massage oil — therefore, the papayas I had were spicy. Spicy papaya. Like, bruh. That was a downright traumatic childhood event. I heard mangoes go well with tajin, but papayas? With a hint of herbal massage oil? That’s bananas.
Indonesian cuisine is a mishmash of different cultures and influences. But one thing in you’d find in common wherever you go is the traditional dishes that will make your tongues twirl in flaming delight. Our spicy food, just like other South East Asian cuisine, will turn eating into a sweat fest. There’s no greater love than the one shared between Indonesians and their many different sambal, or Indonesian chili sauce.
Although I didn’t get ‘conditioned’ into eating spicy food by my parents, I finally had many chances to try some of them when I was a bit older. The result? Still really bad at it. If you are into this daring culinary adventure, I compiled a very biased, totally inaccurate ranking of the top 5 spiciest dishes in Indonesia, according to someone who couldn’t handle them (me).
By the way, this ranking is based purely on my personal experience. Of course, as someone who’s not fond of spicy food, everything tastes spicy to me. But hey, let me describe the religious experience I went through when I had these meals back in Indonesia. Let’s go:
5. Rendang
(/ˈrəndɑːŋ/ REN-DUNG)
Usually, you’ll find that Indonesians won’t stop talking about this dish.
This food originates from the Minangkabau region in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Rendang is most commonly made of beef that has been slow-cooked and braised in coconut milk, seasoned with herb and spice mixture until the liquids evaporate. The meat turns dark brown and tender, becoming caramelized and infused with rich flavors (gulp).
When I say slow, I mean really slow. Like, 4–6 hours long of cooking minimum. That’s where the rich flavor came from! The rendang dishes I have tasted in Japan are mostly toned down, so they are not too spicy — exactly how I like it.
Spicy rating: 2/5
4. Seblak (Sə-blak)
The first time I tried this dish in my life, I had tears coming down my face.
Seblak is a street snack specialty of Bandung city, West Java, made of wet krupuk (traditional Indonesian crackers) cooked with protein sources (egg, chicken, seafood, or beef) in a spicy broth. Read that again. Spicy broth. I learned my lesson the hard way.
This spicy sauce is made of a mix of garlic, shallot, aromatic ginger, sweet soy sauce, and the holy spirit that inhabit this dish, a chili sauce called sambal. I heard many of my friends love to snack on this meal in the middle of the night, which makes the idea very brave and daring. Spicy food before bed sounds like a recipe for mayhem for someone with a weak stomach like me.
Spicy rating: 3/5
3. Penyetan
This would be if the phrase ‘beautiful chaos’ was edible. When I had a bite of this dish, it was a wild celebration of flavors; the crunchy texture of the chicken met with the soothing warm Jasmine rice, followed by the taste of the spices…Yum. And then the spicy flavor kicked in and created a mini explosion in my mouth. And then I cursed myself for thinking I’d be strong enough to eat this intimidating dish.
Technically, to penyet means to smash food with a pestle against the mortar to make it softer. The most popular one is ayam penyet. Usually, the chicken would be crushed together with the sambal (the chili sauce), infusing the spicy flavor to the juicy chicken meat. Then it is served with slices of cucumbers, fried tofu, and tempeh. Originating in Eastern Java, this food is now famous all across Indonesia.
Spicy rating: 4/5
2. Mie Aceh
Mie Aceh literally means Acehnese noodles, a province in the far west side of Indonesia. The spices and chillies of this dish conspire to make a distinctive and delicious curry-like, unforgettable taste. You know that there is this kind of burning flavor where it sets your tongue on fire, makes you sweat, and all that stuff? Well, the spicy taste of this dish lasted for hours for me.
Mie Aceh usually uses thick yellow noodles, similar to Japanese udon noodles. The spices and chili mixture I mentioned above consists of black pepper, red chili pepper, shallot, garlic, cardamom, caraway, cumin, and star anise.
Spicy rating: 5/5
1. Bebek Madura
Now listen. This dish I had back when I was in uni sent me on a short religious trip. I kept chanting prayers and yelling gibberish words, hoping it would soothe the burning sensation in my mouth. It is common knowledge for Indonesians that the redder the food, the spicier it is. Or at least, that’s how it used to be before this dish came along. So, the worst part was I didn’t expect this food to be spicy.
Bebek Madura is a fried duck with darkened chili sauce. The dark color of the dish comes from the cooking process, where the sambal is cooked for hours with vegetable oil. This method results in an especially greasy yet spicy and flavorful sambal that will simultaneously have you reach for seconds and a glass of water. I would stop after the first bite because I’d be too busy crying and imploding due to the intense spicy flavor.
Spicy rating: 100000/5
Indonesians are so used to how spicy our food is (not me). If you visit my home country for traveling, asking a local for food recommendations is a good case practice so you wouldn’t eat something too spicy. However, you’d want to take our advice with an asterisk, as our spice tolerance level is way beyond that of mere mortals (again, not me).
