Pasar Malam Indonesia

So the Pasar Malam Indonesia was back in town!

The Pasar Malam Indonesia is a yearly event, and literally means 'night market Indonesia'. Here you can have a little taste of real Indonesian culture, entertainment and proper Indonesian food!

In the 50s there were a lot of 'Indo's' (=European Indonesians) here in the
Netherlands, so a pasar malam was founded to celebrate all things Indonesian.
This fair grew to be the biggest Indo fair in the world, and attracts more than
100.000 visitors each year. Since this is such a huge event, another pasar malam
was founded, mainly to promote Indonesian businesses. The first pasar malam became the Pasar Malam Besar (besar meaning large), and the second the Pasar Malam Indonesia.

I think the Pasar Malam Indonesia is less touristy than the Tong Tong Fair and more authentic. Especially when it comes to the food. Ahhh the food.

Indonesian cakes are so brightly coloured, they almost glow in the dark. I don't know why, hehe.

So after strolling around in the food hall and seeing all the delicious food, we decided to stuff our faces.

We started off with a risolles (similar to a croquette), some sate ayam lontong (rice cubes),  and some pangsit. Ahhh that pangsit was so gooood.

And this... this is something incredibly delicious you get at the side of the street in Indonesia and it is SO delicious when it's freshly prepared.  This is something you can't usually get here in the NL (unless when you're at  a Pasar Malam). It's called martabak, and it's sort of a posh version of an omelette. It's basically eggs, leeks, onions, meat, and a very thin and crispy pastry. It's made in a large flattened wok, which is the reason you can't really find or make it properly yourself here in the NL.
Oh and in Indonesia there are two kinds of martabak, martabak telor, which means martabak with eggs and then there's martabak manis, which means sweet martabak. The latter has really nothing to do with martabak with eggs and isn't similar at all. Very confusing.

My beverage of choice when eating Indonesian food. Jasmine ice tea! It doesn't really help when you're thirsty, but it just tastes good.

Another brightly coloured Indonesian specialty. Es campur, which literally means 'mixed ice'. It's a sweet coconut milk drink with lots of crushed ice, fruit, bright green worm like jelly dough thingies floating in it (also known as cendol), and other unrecognizable things (like grass jelly and glutinous rice).

And then we went to see a cooking demonstration by mr William Wongso, who is a renowned chef with three top restaurants and his own cooking show in Indonesia.

I am currently obsessed with all the yummy food pics on mr Wongso's Instagram (he also takes beautiful photos as well). This man eats well, let me tell you.

Mr Wongso said that cooking should be fun, and I totally agree.

Everything he made we could try, so that was cool (the lady that hosted the show also joked that we probably liked the food just because it was free, hehe. We are after all Dutchies)! This was a quickie rendang, made with ground beef and cooked within an hour. Usually, rendang has to simmer for hours, so this quickie rendang is a good alternative. But he also shared a recipe for the real deal, so I will definitely try the recipe sometime! The quickie rendang (or 'Speedy Gonzalez rendang' as the host jokingly called it) was tasty though, you could really taste all the usual rendang flavours. He also said you could make a rendang with minced beef and eat it with spaghetti and tomato sauce, like a spaghetti Bolognese.

Then there was sayur kapau, a vegetable dish with jackfruit. This was really nice!
(Do you remember me saying I used to dislike Indonesian food? I'm really opening up to it now, haha)

Another version of a quickie rendang. Also good on a sandwich, Mr Wongso said.

After the demo we went to see the rest of the Pasar Malam.

And then we went home.
But not without some Indonesian dessert!