Dutch East Indies Rijsttafel
Indonesia was a Dutch colony in the 19th century and this rijsttafel (or rice table) is the Dutch interpretation of the fantastic array of dishes eaten at a traditional Indonesian feast. The meal would consist of one or two types of rice with up to 50 side dishes including curries, stews, soups, salads, raw vegetable dishes, pickles and sambal - the region’s favourite chilli sauce. Here we have rice served with a beef and potato stew known as semur gading, a vegetable salad served with peanut sauce known as gado gado, grilled sate chicken skewers and a spicy, umami-packed sambal flavoured with tamarind and galangal.
Indonesia was a Dutch colony in the 19th century and this rijsttafel (or rice table) is the Dutch interpretation of the fantastic array of dishes eaten at a traditional Indonesian feast. The meal would consist of one or two types of rice with up to 50 side dishes including curries, stews, soups, salads, raw vegetable dishes, pickles and sambal - the region’s favourite chilli sauce. Here we have rice served with a beef and potato stew known as semur gading, a vegetable salad served with peanut sauce known as gado gado, grilled sate chicken skewers and a spicy, umami-packed sambal flavoured with tamarind and galangal.
| Description | Indonesia was a Dutch colony in the 19th century and this rijsttafel (or rice table) is the Dutch interpretation of the fantastic array of dishes eaten at a traditional Indonesian feast. The meal would consist of one or two types of rice with up to 50 side dishes including curries, stews, soups, salads, raw vegetable dishes, pickles and sambal - the region’s favourite chilli sauce. Here we have rice served with a beef and potato stew known as semur gading, a vegetable salad served with peanut sauce known as gado gado, grilled sate chicken skewers and a spicy, umami-packed sambal flavoured with tamarind and galangal. |
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| Spices Included | Tamarind Blend: tamarind (tamarind and cornstarch), amchur |
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Product Rating (14):
Took a bit of work but was well worth it. Enjoyed left overs the following day and would make again
From the simplicity of the starters to the more complex stew, it was a delight! True culinary adventure, I have discovered a cooking I did not know at all. Excellent and definitely recommend that Sate Chicken Skewers!!
It's fantastic to see that you're enjoying discovering new delicious recipes, everything looks so vibrant and tasty!
My husband (he’s Dutch) and I very much enjoyed the rijsttafel! Lovely flavour combinations, not too hot (if careful with the amount of sambal...) typical for Indonesian dishes. I had to improvise a bit what vegetables to use for the gado gado so gave it my own twist - and also added boiled eggs. Would happily cook it again!!!
It's great to hear that this recipe got his seal of approval- everything looks delicious! Fantastic twist on the gado gado too- one for us to try ourselves!
We really enjoyed this meal, although making it involved quite a lot of preparation. Central to this feast were the Semur Gading (a spicy beef stew with added potato and carrot) and Sate Chicken skewers. There was also a fragrant jasmine rice, peanut sauce, Sambal (a hot chilli and shallot sauce), crispy shallots and Gado Gado (a cold salad of cucumber, green beans and beansprouts). These were served with prawn crackers. All the dishes were delicious and there was plenty of food for four people. A real treat!
Everything looks delicious plus we're loving the patterned crockery- wonderful!
Another thoroughly enjoyable Spicebox
Looks delicious- glad you enjoyed this! Happy spicing!
Took quite some time, but what better way to spend a rainy Sunday. It was very well received by the family!
Glad to hear everyone enjoyed this- looking like a proud chef and the meal looks lovely! Happy spicing!
Really impressed, wasnt sure this was going to be something the family would like but it all worked well together. Thanks for another wonderful meal
Brilliant- glad everyone enjoyed this! Everything looks delicious!
It’s interesting to see hw polarised the reviews are on this recipe, and I’m afraid I’m on the “didn’t like it “ side. The satay and peanut sauce was ok, but the beef curry was definitely not nice. The reason I didn’t like it is because the overwhelming spicing is a mixture of cloves and star anise, which are so strong you can’t taste anything else. This is ok in small quantities but to me it tasted like the mouthwash you get at the dentist, not surprising when you think that oil of cloves is what my gran used to use for toothache.
Thanks for your feedback, i'm sorry to hear that the cloves were a bit too strong! I have passed your feedback on to the recipe developers and in the meantime if you get in touch with us via email, we can arrange sending you something else you might prefer!
Great flavours in this recipe a mix of sweet, salty and spicy! Unlike anything I’ve tasted before. Heat of the Sambal really set the dish off - really impressed
Glad you enjoyed this new taste experience! It looks like you did a fantastic job with this exciting combination of flavours!
Not as good as other spice boxes we've had. A bit odd!
Sorry to hear this wasn't a favourite! Looks like you did a great job with this recipe though- everything looks so fresh and the patterned crockery is very pretty!
A spice box win here! Enjoyed again the next day too as we had leftovers for lunch (perks of cooking a meal designed for 4 and eating between 2 of us!).
Fantastic- everything looks delicious and what a bonus having some to enjoy the next day too! Plus we're loving the pretty patterned crockery!
Not for me, Family didn’t rate it either☹️
So sorry you didn't enjoy this one! If you get in touch with us via email, we can arrange sending you something else you might prefer!
Did not like at all, I feel like I wasted so much time cooking just to throw sambal away, was sooo bad. Shame, not look forward to the next box but I feel like I should give it a go.
We're so sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this one! I have passed your feedback on to the recipe developers and in the meantime if you get in touch with us via email, we can arrange sending you something else you might prefer!
Is it ‘gading’ or ‘daging’? Nice long-simmered beef, flavouring the potatoes it was cooked with. I used kicap manis in place of sugar and soy sauce. The sate was good; next time I might marinade it for longer. I burnt the sate sauce, my fault, and had to make a new one. The sambal was quite powerful but rice calmed it a bit. The rice worked well; however I would have been happy with plain. I wasn’t expecting much from the gado gado but it was a useful addition. I bought a packet of prawn crackers though, I think, it might have been better to buy discs and deep fry them. I may well prepare this for guests in the future. Perhaps with a dressing on the gado gado and cut corners if I can find a commercially produced sate sauce or sambal that I like.
Thanks for your review- looks like it was a great success to us! Everything looks so tasty and beautifully presented!
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We're happy to hear that your efforts in the kitchen were rewarded with a delicious meal! Happy spicing!