Indonesian Vegetables

Hi, today I'll write a list of some known and rare vegetables. If you ask me why I'm doing this, it's simply because I love vegetables and I realized that so many people don't know that we have many many vegetables beside spinach, carrot, cauliflower or broccoli. 

Some Well known and Rare vegetables that I know:

1.     Spinach

We make spinach into sayur bening, Pecel or urab. But, don’t be surprised if you find spinach chips or spinach juice. The last one, I really don’t like it.

2.     Kangkung

It is a leafy vegetable growing in water.  We usually make kangkung into oseng-oseng, Jangan asem, pecel or urab. We don’t eat this vegetable for salad. I also never know people make it into juice,  please let me know if you do.

3.     Kapri or Snow peas

It is cooked into Oseng-oseng, Sambal goreng, soup etc.

4.     Greenbean or buncis

Oseng buncis is one of my favorite. But we can also mix buncis, carrot and meat into Asem-asem or soup.  Some people also eat buncis as salad, and although I never try salad buncis I can imagine the delicious taste of it.

5.     Long bean or kacang panjang

Oseng long bean is very delicious and you can also add bean sprout or carrot with Tempe or tofu

6.     Kecipir

It’s four sided bean cooked as Pecel, Oseng-oseng or decoction.

7.     Cabbage or Kubis

This kind of vegetable is very popular to make soup, pecel, gado-gado, cap cay, or mix it with noodle.  Cabbage can also be eaten as salad.

8.     China Cabbage or Sawi putih

We usually cook this vegetable into Oseng-oseng, soup or Jangann asem

9.     Mustard green or Sawi

This vegetable is commonly used by Chicken noodle seller. We can also cook it into oseng-oseng, cap cay, and sayur bening.

10. Lettuce

We eat this vegetable raw or as salad.

11. Carrot

This vegetable is so popular and can be made into various kind of food. Besides being drunk as carrot juice, this vegetable can be cooked into oseng-oseng, soup, jangan asem and many more dishes.

12. Broccoli

This vegetable is delicious for making soup, oseng-oseng, cap cay and is drunk as juice too.

13. Cauliflower

This vegetables can be cooked the same way we cook Broccoli.

14.  Tomato

This vegetable tastes sour and sweet and very popular. Beside we can make it into juice, tomato is used much in cooking for example garang asem, sambel, soup and many others.

15. Potato

It contains lot of carbohydrate and usually cooked into soup, semur or kering.

16.  Cassava leaf or Dong Telo

Cassava leaf with green sambel or sambel ijo is a kind of menu that you can find in every Padang restaurant. It can also be cooked into oblok-oblok or rendang, urab or oseng .

17.  Rebung or baby bamboo

It can be cooked into oseng-oseng or Lodeh. Add with tofu or meat for better taste. But the most special food made from rebung is Lumpia, which is a kind of food originated from Semarang.

18. Baby Jack fruit or Gori

Almost the same with rebung we can make oseng-oseng or lodeh, add some chicken feet or meat for special taste.  There is also special dish made from this baby jackfruit named Gudeg. Eating Gudeg with deep cooked egg and chicken will make you want to eat it again next time.

19.  Eggplant or Terung

We usually cook this vegetable into Oseng-oseng, lodeh and sambal balado.

20.  Labu siem or Gourd

We can cook it into lodeng, oseng or as one ingredient for making jangan asem

21.  Pumpkin

Beside  cooking pumpkin as Kolak, syrup, or make into various cake, it is also another ingredient to cook jangan asem.

22.  Dong So

It is usually cooked as jangan asem

23. Oyong/gambas or Squashlike vegetable

This vegetable can be added as  another ingredient to make jangan bening.

24.  Mushroom or Jamur

Nowadays there are so many kind of dishes made by mushroom, such as sate, steak and Jamur crispy . People said that Jamur tastes like chicken.

25.  Taro or talas or keladi

We usually steam the root of taro and its leaves as Buntil.

26.  Mbang Turi or pealike flower of  ornamental shrub

This flower can be cooked into Pecel or Oseng-oseng.

27.   Lamtoro or Mlanding

The leucaena glauca is a fast-growing tree. We usually cook its seed into Buntil or Botok.

28.  Jengkol

It’s a kind of bean  with pungent odor that can be eaten raw, but it is also very delicious to be cooked into Rendang or Semur.

29. Pete

It’s also a kind of bean with pungent odor that is eaten as raw or cooked as another ingredient to make sambal goring.

30.  Genjer

It’s an edible riverine plant which is usually cooked as Oseng-oseng.

31.  Kemangi or Basil

Basil is eaten as raw or made into salad, but it is also can be added into Pindang serani dish, Botok or Pepes.

32.  Kenikir or Cikra-cikri

It’s an ornamental  flower with edible leaves that is usually eat as raw or decoction

33. Beluntas

It is a kind of gardenia with edible leaves which is eaten as raw or decoction.

34. Water Lettuce or Jembak

It is a kind of edible riverine plant which is cooked as Pecel or Bobor .

35.   Pakis or edible fern

We cook it into Pecel or Oseng-oseng.

36.   DAun Katu

It’s edible leaves which is believed to be good in helping woman producing breastmilk. It is usually cooked as Sayur bening.

37.   Gandul or baby papaya

It is cooked as Oseng-oseng or additional ingredients of Jangan Asem.

38. Dong Kates or Papaya Leave

Besides its bitter taste, this leave is delicious to eat as raw or be cooked as Oseng-oseng.

39.  Kembang Kates or Papaya Flower

The papaya flower is also delicious if we cook it as oseng-oseng.

40.  Lembayung or Daun Kacang Panjang or Long Bean Leaves

The lembayung is cooked into urap or Jangan asem.

41.  Jlegor or Sweet Potato leaves

We usually stew  and eat it with sambel pecel or peanut sauce

42.   Daun Kelor

It’s the leaves of merunggai tree which is delicious to be cooked as Jangan Bening.

43.  Rumput Laut or Seaweed

There are some kinds of seaweed that can be eaten raw as Pecel or Urap.

44.  Kuti

It’s a kind  of edible weed which is cooked as bobor or stew with pecel.

45.  Jenggleng

It’s a kind of edible weed which is almost similar with spinach and eaten as stew or pecel.

46.  Timpoh Wiyung

It’s also  a kind of edible weed which is eaten as stew or Pecel.

47.  Krokot or Purslane

It’s a kind of edible weed too, and is eaten as stew with sambal tumpang or Pecel or Salad.

I am sure there are still a lot vegetables that I forget or I don't know, if you know some of the them please let me know because I'd love to add them to my list.