Cooking East Timor

 Gastronomy

Indonesian cuisine, a mixture of Indian, European and Chinese cuisine, is specially flavoured and spicy according to the region. Rice is the staple food and the 'longtong' is vapour-cooked rice served in banana leaves. The people eat a lot of fish and shellfish, with the fish being mostly dried, smoked, or grilled ("L'ikan bakar"). There are also dishes like 'soto' (stew-like soup), 'bakso' (meat soup) and 'mie-goreng' (noodles fried with vegetables). 'Babi guling' is spit-roasted sucking pig and 'Rijsttafel' or 'rice table' is of Dutch origin and consists of sauce cooked with vegetables, meat, fish, egs and chicken served with a large quantity of rice and banana fritters ('krupuk'), peppers, marinated peanuts or cucumbers. Lastly, the Portuguese cuisine in East Timor mostly consists of beef (steak), stews and olive oil salads.