Yogyakarta Royal Kitchen · Jackfruit Stew
Gudeg
Photo: Indonesiagood / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Its name comes from 'hangudeg' — the stirring motion — and it's said to have started when royal soldiers building the 16th-century Mataram Kingdom found themselves with an enormous surplus of felled jackfruit trees to use up.
Young jackfruit is slow-stewed for hours with palm sugar, coconut milk, and melinjo leaves until it turns a deep brown and takes on a sweet, almost meaty texture, then served with rice, chicken, egg, and spicy krecek (skin crackers in chili sauce). Yogyakarta's street warungs simmer it in huge clay pots from early morning.
Why it's made this way: The dish traces directly to the founding of the Mataram Kingdom in the Alas Mentaok forest that became Yogyakarta, when soldiers clearing jackfruit, coconut, and melinjo trees cooked up what they'd cleared, making it one of the most historically documented street dishes on the island.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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