Indonesian vs Japanese food & cuisine

Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean cuisines are often confused overseas due to their geographical proximity and overlapping rice, coconut milk, fermented products, seafood, chili, and spices; also, steaming, frying, and curry-making are staples in all three countries. Satay, rendang, nasi lemak, and laksa have versions in all three countries, leading to frequent cross-identification. Indonesian cuisine is distinct for its extensive regional diversity, with thousands of islands, and has a broader variety of flavors. Indonesians commonly use palm sugar, kecap manis, indigenous galangal, and candlenut. Unique to Indonesia are sambal varieties, more assertive flavors, and the rare use of wheat bread or buns.

What’s this framework for? Instead of focusing on protein as the main, it balances the nutrition: ensures a mix of carbs (rice), protein (fish/tofu), fiber (vegetables), and probiotics (miso/pickles).

Nasi goreng, fried rice, is omnipresent in Indonesia and considered a national dish.

Noodles are a popular staple and comfort food across Indonesia, consumed at all times of day, as well as rice.

Wheat is not native to Indonesia; it got here through the Chinese and the Dutch. Indonesians acquired a taste for Chinese wheat noodles, Indian roti, and Dutch bread. Yet in Indonesia, rice is so ingrained in the culture that even noodles are often consumed with rice.

Fermented grains are also important: rice koji molds transform soybeans into miso and soy sauce; sake brewing relies on polished rice’s starch-to-sugar conversion. Even the Japanese word sushi refers to the flavored rice. The raw fish is just an addition.

Wheat appears as flour for making noodles, tempura batter, and confections. Barley is used in teas like mugicha, a popular summer drink. Noodles arrived in Japan around 800 AD from China and were quickly adopted due to their flexibility. The three main Japanese styles are soba, udon, and ramen.

Tempura is one of the few successful foreign culinary adaptations. Tempura provides peace of mind for those uncomfortable with raw fish, appears in tendon (tempura rice bowls), tempura udon/soba, and various combination dishes.

The Japanese do eat bread, but its significance is far from that of rice.

Though many iconic dishes use vegetables, data shows lower veggie consumption than the global average (which is ~200 g/day); quantities eaten daily are generally small. The plate is filled mainly with rice, and the rest is just a touch of vegetables and protein. Also, veggies are mixed with coconut, peanut sauce, sambal, or tempeh, so the flavor is strong, but the portion sizes of the vegetables can be modest. When consumed, water spinach, regular spinach, long beans, eggplant, chayote, cucumber, and bitter melons are frequent choices.

Starchy roots, though, are big in Indonesia, especially cassava and snacks, crackers, and flour-based street foods made of it. Cassava leaves are one of those everyday Indonesian foods that outsiders rarely notice.

Alongside cassava leaves, papaya leaves, melinjo leaves, katuk leaves, and sweet potato leaves are also widely consumed, usualy stir-fried with garlic or chilies.

Indonesia is unique as the birthplace of tempeh, a fermented soybean product, an affordable protein. It’s even higher in protein, fiber, and vitamins than tofu. Compared to meat, tempeh has a very low carbon footprint and is a great plant-based meat substitute.

Oncom is a lesser-known, also fermented Indonesian staple. It’s closely related to tempeh; both are fermented using mold, but oncom is made from the by-products of other foods: soy pulp remains from making tofu, peanut remains after the oil has been pressed out, and cassava tailings when extracting the starch. This makes oncom a very sustainable protein source.

The top four ways to prepare vegetables in Japan are lightly blanching, simmering in dashi broth, quick pickling, and simple stir frying.

Long ago in Japan, fruits were called ‘water sweets’ and were categorized as confections in Japanese culture. The most popular are mandarin oranges mikan, melons, persimmons, strawberries, ume plums, apples, grapes, apricots, watermelons, and yuzu.

Sea plants (seaweed) are important in Japanese cuisine, both as a flavor foundation and for their nutritional value. Kombu, nori, hijiki, and wakame are offered to the gods in Shinto rituals, which shows how sacred these sea plants are in Japanese culture. Kombu is especially important because it gives dashi that deep, savory umami. Seaweed is thought to be a contributing factor to the long life expectancy of people in Japan, as it is low in calories and rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Indonesians breed free-range chickens in the villages. Compared to mass-farmed chickens, these village chickens are thinner, and their meat is firmer.  About 60% of chicken production is concentrated in Java.

Various fried and grilled chicken recipes exist throughout the country. Chicken feet are enjoyed in many countries, but they are particularly popular here as a street staple.

When most people think of curry, they’re picturing Thai green curry or Indian curries. Indonesian meat curries represent a different approach – they’re not about balancing heat and cooling (like Thai), building layers of spices (like Indian), or showcasing fresh herbs (like Vietnamese), but about transformation. Indonesian cooks don’t just add coconut milk – they reduce it. This reduction, called pecah minyak – oil breaking, is fundamental and creates this rich, almost creamy texture without any dairy.

Satay is a dish of grilled skewers and peanut sauce that spread widely, first across Indonesia and then Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Indonesian satay uses beef or goat due to the Muslim majority, and is a quintessential street food in many Southeast Asian countries. Indonesia alone has over 250 different recipes.

The three main types of meat eaten in Japan are beef, pork, and poultry, with chicken being consumed the most. Pork was previously Japan’s most consumed meat for many years before being overtaken by chicken. Beef is a premium choice; Japanese wagyu has developed some of the world’s most prized beef varieties, representing the finest Japanese meat and a major export product.

Popular seafood in Indonesian cuisine includes skipjack tuna, tuna, mackerel, pomfret, wahoo, milkfish, trevally, rabbitfish, abalistes, amberjacks, rastrelliger, yellowtail scad, nemipterus japonicus, John Dory, garoupa, red snapper, anchovy, swordfish, shark, stingray, squid or cuttlefish, shrimp, crab, blue crab, and mussel.

Japan likely leads the world in raw fish consumption in absolute terms, but the Japanese actually eat far more cooked fish than raw. Daily meals feature cooked fish: grilled for breakfast, fish in soup, tempura, simmered fish dishes, and fish cakes. Raw preparations are more often for special occasions or dining out.

Fresh dairy milk consumption is limited; Indonesia is not known for mass dairy farming. Several unique traditional dairy products exist, mostly from water buffalo milk: minyak samin, a butter-like product similar to ghee; dadih, a yogurt-like fermented milk product from West Sumatra; bagot ni horbo, cheese-like products from North Sumatra made from coagulated buffalo milk. In cooking, coconut milk is much more prominent than dairy milk.

Raw and lightly cooked eggs are quite distinctive in Japanese cooking. Take tamago kake gohan – just a raw egg stirred into hot rice with some soy sauce, and you get this creamy, super comforting dish. Raw or lightly cooked eggs also work like dipping sauces for sukiyaki and other hot pot meals, where the egg coats the hot food and cools it down. Food safety standards make this totally safe to do.

Dairy was once essentially nonexistent in Japanese cooking. Buddhist beliefs weren’t big on dairy, and many people have lactose intolerance. After World War II, dairy became more common, but it’s still not really a centerpiece.

Another unique feature is the prevalence of glutinous rice and chewy, sticky, and luscious textures. Pandan leaves for flavor and color also distinguish Indonesian sweets.

Thin, thick, coconut milk, and coconut cream largely fulfill the dairy role. Candlenuts are a distinctive ingredient of Indonesia, which integrates seamlessly and enriches the mouthfeel. They are important in making rempah (wet spice pastes). Candlenuts are never eaten raw and are never used as snacks; their use is strictly culinary.