About this recipe
Young green jackfruit simmered for hours in coconut milk with palm sugar until it collapses into something sweet, soft and deep brown. Gudeg is strongly identified with Yogyakarta, where it is eaten with rice, a thick coconut sauce called areh, spiced beef-skin krecek and a slow-cooked egg. The colour comes partly from teak leaves, which are not easily found abroad.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 6 servings as part of a shared meal
- Prep
- 30 minutes
- Cook
- 4 hours
- Total
- 270 minutes
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Spice
- Mild
Allergens Contains tree nuts (candlenuts) and egg. Vegan if the eggs and any meat accompaniments are omitted. Gluten-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
Bumbu
- 8 shallots
- 6 cloves garlic
- 5 candlenuts (kemiri)
- 1 tbsp (6 g) ground coriander
- 1 in (2.5 cm) galangal, sliced
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground cumin
The gudeg
- 2 lb (900 g) young green jackfruit, canned in brine or water, drained, rinsed and cut into 2 in (5 cm) chunks
- 3 cups (700 ml) coconut milk
- 2 cups (475 ml) water
- 5 oz (140 g) palm sugar (gula jawa), chopped
- 4 daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves)
- 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
- 2 tsp (12 g) salt, or to taste
- 6 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
- 3 dried teak leaves, or 1 tbsp strong black tea leaves tied in cloth, for colour (optional)
Areh (thick coconut sauce)
- 1 cup (240 ml) coconut cream — the thick fraction, not coconut milk
- 2 daun salam
- 1 in (2.5 cm) galangal, bruised
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) salt
Equipment
- Large heavy pot or Dutch oven
- Blender or mortar and pestle
- Small saucepan
Method
- Blend the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ground coriander, galangal and ground cumin to a smooth paste.
- Put the jackfruit, bumbu, coconut milk, water, palm sugar, daun salam, lemongrass, salt and the teak leaves or tea bundle in the pot. Stir well.
- Bring slowly to a simmer, then cook UNCOVERED over low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. The jackfruit will soften and start to break down.
- Add the peeled boiled eggs, nestling them into the liquid so they colour evenly.
- Continue simmering 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours more, stirring every 20 minutes, until the liquid has almost entirely gone, the jackfruit is dark brown and falling apart, and the mixture is thick and glossy.
- Meanwhile, make the areh: simmer the coconut cream with the daun salam, galangal and salt in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring, 10–15 minutes, until noticeably thickened. Do not let it boil hard or it will split.
- Discard the lemongrass, salam and teak leaves from the gudeg. Taste and adjust salt.
- Serve the gudeg warm with an egg per person, spooning the areh over the top, alongside steamed rice.
The Complete Edition
Gudeg sits in the Indonesia chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Indonesia chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.