Bakwan is a vegetable

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

or '' gorengan'' from

Indonesian cuisine Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 popula ...

. Bakwan are usually sold by traveling

street vendor A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether stationa ...

s. The ingredients are vegetables; usually beansprouts, shredded

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

s and

carrots The carrot (''Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nativ ...

, battered and deep fried in cooking oil. In West Java bakwan is known as 'bala-bala' and in

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

is called 'badak'. It is similar to Japanese ''yasai tenpura'' (vegetable tempura) or Filipino ukoy.

Variations

Bakwan usually consists of vegetables, however another variation called 'bakwan udang' adds whole shrimp to the batter and is sold in snack stands at the marketplace. Because of its similarity, the term 'bakwan' is often interchangeable with ' perkedel'. For example, the Indonesian corn fritters are often called either 'perkedel jagung' or 'bakwan jagung'. In East Java, bakwan refers to fried wonton with filling; served with tofu, noodles and meatballs in a soupy broth. The dough filling is a mixture of ground meat or fish with flour, wrapped in wonton skin and fried. This kind of bakwan is similar to bakso meatball soup, and commonly known as 'Bakwan Malang' or 'Bakwan Surabaya' in reference to their cities of origin;

Malang Malang (; ) is a landlocked List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of Singhasari, Singhasari Kingdom. It is the second most popul ...

and

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

in East Java. Originally Bakwan comes from a Chinese recipe along with Bakpao (Meatbun), Bakso (Meatball), Bakmie (Meat Noodle), and bakpia.

Gallery

Image:Menggoreng bakwan.JPG, Frying bakwan Image:Bakwan (seafood cake with whole shrimp).jpg, Bakwan udang,

seafood cake A fishcake (sometimes written as fish cake) is a culinary dish consisting of filleted fish or other seafood minced or ground, mixed with a starchy ingredient, and fried until golden. Asian-style fishcakes usually contain fish with salt, water, ...

with whole shrimp Image:Baso Malang Karapitan.JPG, Bakwan Malang, also called Bakso Malang File:Perkedel Jagung Jakarta.jpg, Bakwan jagung, a type of

corn fritter Corn fritters are fried cakes of a dough or batter made of, or containing a featured quantity of maize ( corn). Originating in Native American cuisine, they are a traditional sweet and savory snack in the Southern United States, as well as Indon ...

References

Fritters Street food in Indonesia {{Indonesian cuisine

Variations

Gallery

See also

References