Gudeg

Yogyakarta's young jackfruit braised for hours with palm sugar, coconut milk, galangal, and teak leaves until sweet and a deep reddish brown, served with areh, braised eggs, and rice

Origin: Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia

From the journey of Jackfruit.

Gudeg is the dish Yogyakarta is known by: young jackfruit, gori, simmered for hours in coconut milk with palm sugar, shallots, garlic, candlenuts, coriander seed, galangal, and salam leaves, in a pot lined with teak leaves, until the liquid has been drawn into the fruit and the whole is sweet, soft, and a deep reddish brown. It is served with areh, coconut milk cooked down to a thick, savoury cream, with eggs that have braised in the pot alongside the jackfruit, and usually with sambal goreng krecek, crisp beef skin in a chilli and coconut sauce. The name is usually derived from hangudeg, cooking jackfruit in coconut milk in a great cauldron. Its history, as Bara Yudhistira sets it out, runs through the courts of Surakarta as much as Yogyakarta. The Serat Centhini, the encyclopaedic Javanese poem composed at Surakarta between 1814 and 1823, has its travellers served gudeg at a house in Klaten, and Pakubuwana IX, king of Surakarta from 1861 to 1893, is recorded buying it with nasi liwet at Baki. A popular story sets the first gudeg in the clearing of the Mentaok forest for the Mataram capital at Kotagede; it is told without documentary support. Yogyakarta's gudeg village grew up at Barek, north of the city, after 1949, when Gadjah Mada University moved to Bulaksumur and the villagers, who had jackfruit trees in their own yards, found themselves with students to feed and their raw material 'without capital'. Java divides its jackfruit as every jackfruit country does. The soft nangka bubur breaks down easily and is used for wet gudeg, eaten the day it is made; the firm nangka salak holds its shape through long cooking and repeated warming and is used for dry gudeg, fried down so that it keeps. This recipe is for wet gudeg.

Ingredients

Gudeg

1.2 kg young jackfruit (gori), peeled, cored, and cut into 4 cm chunks, or 3 x 565 g tins of young jackfruit in brine, drained
6 eggs, duck or hen, hard-boiled and peeled
8 teak leaves (daun jati), washed
250 g palm sugar (gula jawa), shaved
1.5 litres thin coconut milk
5 salam leaves (Indonesian bay)
4 cm galangal, bruised

Spice Paste

10 shallots
6 garlic cloves
6 candlenuts, toasted
1 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted
1.5 tsp salt

Areh

400 ml thick coconut milk (coconut cream)
2 salam leaves
1 tsp palm sugar
0.5 tsp salt

Method

If using fresh jackfruit, oil your hands and knife, prepare the chunks, and boil them for 10 minutes to draw out the sap. Drain. Tinned jackfruit needs only a thorough rinse.
Grind the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, coriander seeds, and salt to a smooth paste.
Line the base of a large, heavy pot with half the teak leaves. Layer in the jackfruit and the eggs, tuck in the remaining teak leaves, the salam leaves, and the galangal, spread the spice paste over, and scatter the palm sugar on top.
Pour in enough thin coconut milk to cover. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat as low as it will go and simmer, partly covered, for 4 to 5 hours, turning the contents gently from the bottom now and then, until the liquid has almost all been absorbed and the jackfruit is soft and reddish brown.
For the areh, simmer the thick coconut milk with the salam leaves, palm sugar, and salt in a small pan, stirring often, for 15 to 20 minutes, until it thickens to a soft custard.
Serve the gudeg on rice with a braised egg and a spoonful of areh over the top, with sambal goreng krecek, tofu, or tempeh alongside if you like.

Notes

For dry gudeg, use firmer jackfruit and, when the liquid has gone, keep cooking over a very low heat, turning gently, until the jackfruit is almost dry; it will keep for two or three days. Gudeg improves overnight, and many cooks make it the day before.

The Gastrographer

Name: Gudeg
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 5 h
Total time: 5 h 40 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Indonesia
Ingredients: 1.2 kg young jackfruit (gori), peeled, cored, and cut into 4 cm chunks, or 3 x 565 g tins of young jackfruit in brine, drained; 6 eggs, duck or hen, hard-boiled and peeled; 8 teak leaves (daun jati), washed; 250 g palm sugar (gula jawa), shaved; 1.5 litres thin coconut milk; 5 salam leaves (Indonesian bay); 4 cm galangal, bruised; 10 shallots; 6 garlic cloves; 6 candlenuts, toasted; 1 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted; 1.5 tsp salt; 400 ml thick coconut milk (coconut cream); 2 salam leaves; 1 tsp palm sugar; 0.5 tsp salt

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control