Gudeg (gudheg) Jogjakarta

Gudeg is labour of love dish and an embodiment of the Javanese philosophy of calmness, patience and meticulousness.

To make a dish of Gudeg you may need several hours of your day to cook this delicious jackfruit based dish.

A young jackfruit or known in Indonesia as Gori  is shredded to be boiled with coconut milk and palm sugar. Adding into the stew are garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves, then teak leaves are added to the mix which gives the reddish brown colour. The traditional way of cooking is in an earthen pot over a wooden or charcoal fire.

The technic is similar to making a stew but Gudeg requires precision to balance the sweetness of the jackfruit and the flavours of the accompanying spices. A fry cry from preparing “fast food”. The coconut milk must be boiled up to a certain temperature in order to preserve the dish and to avoid the dish going stale. If cooked in the correct method Gudeg can be eaten for several days.

When you have the chance to visit the birth place of Gudeg, Jogjakarta. You will find an array of shops selling this dish. Eaten with rice and the side dishes that are usually served with Gudeg include: sambel goreng krecek (crisp beef skins fried with chilli and peanuts), opor ayam (a sort of chicken curry drenched in coconut milk), Telur Pindang (seasoned boiled egg), and tahu or tempe bacem (sweet steamed tofu or soybean cake).

This Iconic dish will be made available for you to taste at the ” Indonesian Iconic Dishes and Folktales” on the 7th of May 2016 at the Trinity Center, Trinity Road, BS2 0NW, Bristol from 11 am to 5 pm. So please do come and enjoy the labour of love dish, Gudeg.