Sundanese cuisine

Sundanese cuisine(Indonesian:Hidangan Sunda;Sundanese:ᮃᮞᮊᮔ᮪ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ,romanized:Asakan Sunda) is the cuisine of theSundanese peopleofWestern Java, andBanten,Indonesia. It is one of the most popular foods in Indonesia. Sundanese food is characterised by its freshness; the famouslalabeaten withsambaland alsokaredokdemonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables. Unlike the rich and spicy taste, infused with coconut milk and curry ofMinangkabau cuisine, the Sundanese cuisine displays the simple and clear taste; ranged from savoury salty, fresh sourness, mild sweetness, to hot and spicy.
Sambalterasiis the most important and the most commoncondimentin Sundanese cuisine, and eaten together with lalab or friedtofuandtempeh.Sayur Asemvegetabletamarindsoup is probably the most popular vegetable soup dish in Sundanese cuisine. Another popular soup isSoto Bandung, a soup of beef and daikon radish, andmie kocoknoodle soup with beef meat andkikil.
Fresh water fishes such ascarp,gourami,tilapiaandcatfishare usually either beingbakar(grilled) orgoreng(deep fried) and usually served with sambal or sweetsoy sauce. Sundanese people has developed fondness forsaltedseafoods. Various fried salted fishes,anchovy, and saltedcuttlefishis popular in Sundanese daily diet. Thepaisorpepescooking method that employsbanana leafas the wrapper of food is also common in Sundanese cuisine. Among other,pais lauk emasor carp fish pepes is among the favourite pepes dishes.
Chickenare usually either fried or grilled, also served with sambal or sweet soy sauce.Bakakak hayamis Sundanese styleayam bakar(grilled chicken). Sometimes chicken also can be made as pepes or soup. Meats such asbeef,water buffalo,lamb,mutton, orgoatcan be marinated with the mixture of spices andcoconut sugarand fried to make theempal gepuksweet fried meat, sprinkled with friedshallots. Beef andpotatosometimes are stewed in sweet soy sauce and spices assemur daging. Cowliverandjengkolstinky bean also can be made assemuras well. Goat, mutton, and lamb meat also can be made assatayin Sundanese style, such assate maranggi.Gulai kambing(lamb curry), andempal gentonggoat meat andoffalcurryis also popular soup.
IfJavanesehas developed their fondness fortempeh, Sundanese has developed the fondness foroncominstead, both are fermented products but with different kind offungiandbeans; tempeh is fromsoybeans while oncom is frompeanuts. Sundanese has developed the fermentation method to create distinct foodstuffs. Fermentation was employed either for making fermented food such as oncom, making sauce such astauco(adopted fromChinese Indonesian cuisine), or sweet snack foods such aspeuyeumwhich aretapaimade fromriceorcassava.
In Sundanese cuisine establishments, it is common to eat with one's hands. They usually servekobokan, a bowl of tap water with a slice of lime in it to give a fresh scent. This bowl are used to wash one's hands before and after eating.
Sundanese traditional restaurants may feature a traditional dining style calledlesehan; where one eats on the floor, sitting on a straw or bamboo mat. The dishes may be served on a short legged table or served on the mat. This dining style is quite similar with the Japanese traditionaltatamistyle. The Sundanese traditional restaurants in rural villages may also feature asaungstyle restaurant. Which features several small eating pavilions that might be built near or over fresh water fish ponds. The fish ponds typically contain live fresh water fish such as carp and gourami, that can be selected and ordered by customers to be freshly cooked.
In popular Indonesian culture, Sundanese restaurants can often be easily distinguished by containing the name"Kuring", thus led to the terms "Kuring"-food or "Kuring"-restaurant. However this name is rather misleading, since in theSundanese languagethe wordKuringis a common and colloquial, yet rather coarse form which refers to the first-person singular personal pronoun ("I" or "me"), and as the possessive adjective ("my"). This naming trend was led by restaurants that tried to imitate the famous Sundanese restaurantLembur Kuring(Sundanese: "My Home Village"). Some examples of famous Sundanese restaurants are Ampera, Boboko, Bumbu Desa, Ciganea, Dapur Sunda, Laksana, Lembur Kuring, Mang Engking, Mang Kabayan, Ma' Uneh, Ponyo, Sari Kuring, Saung Kuring, Sindang Reret and Talaga Sampireun.