The sprawling archipelago of Indonesia takes in almost 274 million people, somewhere between 700 and 800 languages and 6,000 populated (and over 17,000 in total) islands, from the tourism magnet of Bali and the bustling city of Jakarta to unspoilt, remote areas like Siau Island. It's a vibrant, varied cultural tapestry, which has only been diversified by the influence of countries like India, China, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal throughout its history. Its cuisine is equally as multi-faceted, which might go some way to explain why, relatively speaking, Indonesian cooking is still underrepresented around the world; though most people in the UK have a good grasp of the food of other Southeast Asian countries, it's still much trickier to track down authentic Indonesian restaurants and cookbooks. We might be familiar with some of its national dishes – namely nasi goreng – but our collective lack of understanding means we know much less about others and, in some cases, even wrongly link them to Indonesia's neighbours.

The reasoning for that is complex, though can be put down in part to the size and spread of the country – after all, the cuisine's nuances make it more difficult to package it up neatly. ‘I don’t think a lot of people realise quite how vast the country is – people ask if Indonesia is in Bali,’ laughs Rahel Stephanie, an Indonesian-born chef who runs supper club and pop-up Spoons. ‘Naturally, that diversity is reflected in the nation's cuisine. You jump over from Java to North Sumatra to South Sumatra, and the cuisine changes completely.’ Petty Pandean-Elliott, chef and the author of The Indonesian Table cookbook, says that there are multiple factors that have led to Indonesian cooking being overlooked: a smaller Indonesian diaspora in the UK and around the world, fewer street food vendors and restaurants in UK cities, weaker trade links between the UK and Indonesia and a lack of direct promotion around the country's tourism, to name a few. ‘People ask me what Indonesian food is, but it’s very complex to describe,’ she says. ‘In one sentence it’s a cuisine which is influenced by other world cuisines. It's true fusion, starting many centuries ago. It's so varied, but undiscovered.'

While that makes typifying it impossible, there are common threads that run between the various regions. Rice, for example, is a staple (some areas rely on sago, a palm stem starch, instead), along with coconut milk, while turmeric, galangal, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaf and garlic are common flavours. Dishes range from salty and sweet to hot, sour and spicy, depending on the area; Sumatra is home to some of the country's spiciest cooking and Indian influences, for example, while Javan cuisine is known for being sweeter, thanks often to palm sugar and sweet soya. Here, we've taken a look at some of Indonesia's most loved ingredients and dishes. 

'The first thing that springs to mind is coconut, for sure,' Rahel says. 'We are the world's biggest coconut producer. It’s very prevalent in our cuisine, in all different kinds of flavour profiles, be it sweet or savoury.' Coconut milk is found in braised meat dishes like rendang and gulai (a spicy stew), the steamed rice dish nasi uduk, and sayur lodeh, a vegetable stew. Indonesian communities also drink the water of young coconuts, Petty says, and use the meat in desserts – including klappertaart, a tart of Indo-Dutch heritage – as well as turning it into flour and jam. While coconut oil was a traditional means of cooking food in Indonesia, palm oil is more common today. 

Over the last decade, tempeh has become better known in the UK as a meat substitute, but its origins go back to the seventeenth century in Central Java. Made from fermented soybeans (the fermentation and use of whole beans sets it apart from tofu), it has a firm texture and earthy, slightly nutty flavour and remains a popular source of protein in Indonesia. It's fried until crispy in the sweet and spicy tempeh kecap, mashed with spices and coconut milk and steamed in a banana leaf in gadon tempeh and eaten in a vegetable stew in oblok-oblok tempeh. Although often consumed by Javanese royalty, it also started to be eaten as a meat protein by workers when Indonesia was colonised by the Dutch in the eighteenth century, and became associated with poverty.

Though rice is at the heart of Indonesian cooking, some communities still rely on sago, particularly in the east of the country. An edible starch from the sago palm, it's used as everything from noodles to pearls (like tapioca) and sticky dough to a thickener. In most areas, though, rice has overtaken it in popularity, and has become a staple in households and restaurants. Its most notable use is in nasi goreng, a collective term for fried rice dishes, which have arguably become the country's most popular culinary export. In nasi uduk, rice is cooked in coconut milk with lemongrass, Pandan leaves and cinnamon, while in nasi kuning, it's cooked with turmeric and spicy green beans. Ketupat, meanwhile, are rice cakes sold in woven containers made from palm, and rice flour is also found in sweet rice cakes klepon.

Though chilli features in all sorts of Indonesian dishes, it's most important use is arguably in sambal, a chilli paste made from peppers and often shrimp paste, palm sugar, lime juice, garlic and ginger. Though sambals originated in Indonesia, they have become ubiquitous across much of Southeast Asia, in particular in Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. In Indonesia, they can be served raw (sambal mentah) and cooked (sambal masak). Chilli is first thought to have been brought to Indonesia in the sixteenth century by Portuguese and Spanish sailors.

Mie and nasi goreng are collective names for fried dishes; in Indonesian, nasi means 'rice', while mie means 'noodles'. Nasi goreng is so popular it is often dubbed the country's national dish (in 2018, the government listed it among five national dishes, alongside soto soup, rendang, stay and gado-gado), and – though recipes vary – it often includes garlic, onions, cabbage, eggs, chilli, soy sauce and shallots. It's often accompanied by chicken or seafood (usually prawns). Nasi goreng is believed to have been influenced by Chinese immigrants in Indonesia, and began life as a way of using leftover rice in the morning. Today, it's often enjoyed for breakfast and can be found everywhere from roadside stalls to restaurants. 

In the UK, satay is usually synonymous with peanut sauces and Thai cooking, but the dish of skewered and grilled meat is believed to have originated in Java island. Today, it's spread across Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, in particular Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and, of course, Thailand. Satay sees meats and tofu grilled over wood and charcoal fire and served with various sauces and seasonings – Indonesia alone has dozens, if not hundreds, of versions, including seafood satay from Bali and pork satay from Manado.

Another national dish, rendang is from West Sumatra and is said to have been created by the Minangkabau people. It sees meat, often beef, braised in coconut milk over several hours until the sauce has reduced and the meat is caramelised and tender. It's usually eaten with steamed rice, fried onion and chilli, and is often served on special occasions and during festive seasons.

Gado-gado is a popular Indonesian salad covered with a salty-sweet peanut dressing. It's usually made with various vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, fried tofu or tempeh and lontong (rice wrapped in a banana leaf). It's eaten across Indonesia, though every region has its own twist on the recipe, and is thought to have originally been a Sundanese dish. It can be found at street food markets and restaurants throughout the country. Adding ginger and lime leaves and removing the sweet soya and egg creates pecel, a different kind of gado-gado.

There is a world of Indonesian cooking to discover, ranging from the best-known, treasured dishes to those which are yet to find a footing in the UK. All blend bold, vibrant flavours and are a reflection of the country's fascinating history.