Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago with over 17,000 islands of which Bali is only being the best known. Its centuries old history with many cross cultural currents has has produced a rich and vibrant culture that includes over 600 laguages and dialects and a diverse cuisine with extensive regional variations.
Celebrity chef and culinary ambassador William W. Wongso learned Indonesian cooking as a child from his grandmother but broadened his scope with extensive global travel. His mission now is to introduce Indonesian flavors to the world, and he feels there is no better place to introduce the complexity and boldness of Indonesian spices than the melting pot of the mega city of Los Angeles.
He comes to LA armed with his 2017 Gourmand’s World Best Cookbook Award winning ‘Flavors of Indonesia, William Wongso’s Culinary Wonders’; his strategy is a series of book signings at pop up dinners Friday February 9 through Tuesday February 13. Two of the dished featured in the dinner menu are among the three Indonesian dishes included among the top 50 in the world. You can order the book book and purchase dinner tickets at Pop Up dinners. www.PopUpDinnerLA.com.
Meanwhile, Chef Wongso graciously gave us an advance intro to the cuisine.
Q: I love Indonesian food, and have never been able to figure out why we don’t have more great Indonesian restaurants in LA (say compared to Thai or Korean restaurants): any thoughts on the matter?
A: There has not been enough Indonesian migration to California to form local communities and villages as Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean immigaration has done, so there has not been a strong enough demand for the cuisine. Also the few Indonesian restaurants are forced to cater to Western tastes of their clientele, with a loss in authenticity. By contrast, there has been quite a large concentration of Indonesians in Philadelphia, so you find many small authentic Indonesian restaurants there.
Q: Because of the elaborate rijtsafels people here think of Indoesian food as complicated.
A: In the old days, during the Dutch occupation, the dignitaries had a large staff for household help, so at their diner parties they served rice with many varieties of dishes – which could include up to fifty to a hundred dishes – regional Indonesian, local Chinese, Dutch and general western. This has created a misconception that rijstafel is Indonesian dish.
Q: Do home cooks still cook from scratch, or have they moved on to prepared and pre-packaged ingredients?
A: When I was young my grandmother managed the kitchen and all the maids knew how to cook. Today, maids don’t know how to cook even traditional home cooking or comfort food, so small households tend to use ready made spice mixes and pastes for specialty dishes. They also tend to order food food to go.
Q: Are the regional differences still in tact or are they getting lost?
A: Regional cooking might be lost in big cities, but within 34 provinces along 17,000 islands that make up the 34 provinces, regional cooking is still well preserved and very diverse.
Q: We here are so unfamiliar with Indonesian cuisine: can you give us a quick introduction on what makes Indonesian cuisine uniquely Indonesian.
A: There is no such thing as Indonesian cuisine, there’s only regional cooking. No Indonesian in their lifetime can hope to taste all the regional varieties. Of course, a big city like Jakarta is a melting pot of regional cooking but there are still so much more that is confined to its local regional roots and not spread out.
Q: What do you think of the availability of ingredients necessary for Indonesian cooking in LA?
A: Indonesian cooking ingredients can be purchased at general Oriental grocery stores.
Q: Can I incorporate Indonesian flavors in my own cooking or is that an impossible goal? What is the best way to get started?
A: You can use Indonesian spices to fuse with your cooking but you need to understand the regional flavors before you can adapt them.
Q: Can you give us some tips.
A: Java fried rice spices paste using 50gr or red large chili, 30gr shallot, 20gr garlic finely group and sauté with 3 table spoon oil with medium heat until fragrance season with blacan (fermented shrimp paste) or or fish sauce for basic fried rice.
Q: Given that you consider LA as the best city for introducing Indonesian food to the States, have you considered opening an Indonesian restaurant in Los Angeles?
A: I’m an Indonesian food consultant and do culinary diplomacy for Indonesian Tourism Ministry, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Education to promote Flavors of Indonesia internationally and give advice to open Indonesian restaurant; I’m not a restaurateur.