Facts About Bumbu
Bumbu is the Indonesian word for a blend of spices and it commonly appears in the names of spice mixtures, sauces and seasoning pastes. The official Indonesian language dictionary describes bumbu as "various types of herbs and plants that has pleasant aroma and flavour — such as ginger, turmeric, galangal, nutmeg and pepper — used to enhance the flavour of the food."
It is a characteristic of Indonesian cuisine and its regional variants such as Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, Padang, Batak and Manado cuisines. It is used with various meats, seafood and vegetables in stews, soups, barbecue, sotos, gulai, and also as an addition to Indonesian-style instant noodles.
Indonesians have developed original gastronomic themes with lemongrass and galangal, cardamom and chilies, tamarind and turmeric.
Unlike Indian cooking tradition that favoured dried spice powder mix, Indonesian cuisine is more akin to Thai, which favour the use of fresh ingredients. Traditionally, this mixture of spices and other aromatic ingredients are freshly ground into a moist paste using a mortar and pestle.
The spice mixture is commonly made by slicing, chopping, grinding, beating, bruising, or sometimes burning the spices, using traditional cooking tools such as stone mortar and pestle, or a modern blender or food processor. The bumbu mixture is usually stir-fried in hot cooking oil first to release its aroma, prior to adding the main ingredient (usually meats, poultry, or fish).
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