Bakwan () are vegetable

fritters A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory var ...

or ''

gorengan A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory var ...

'' commonly found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. 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

bean sprout Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth. In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...

s, 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.& ...

and

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

—battered and

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. N ...

in cooking oil. To achieve a crispy texture, the batter uses a mixture of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

corn starch Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch (American English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the seed, kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thick ...

and

sago Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

tapioca Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the tubers of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North Region, Brazil, North and Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast regions of Brazil, but which has ...

. In

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

bakwan is known as ''bala-bala'' and in

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

is called ''badak''. It is similar to Japanese '' yasai tenpura'' (vegetable

tempura is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep-fried. Tempura originated in the 16th century, when Portuguese Jesuits brought the Western-style cooking method of ...

), Korean ''

pajeon ''Pajeon'' () is a variety of '' jeon'' with scallion as its prominent ingredient, as ''pa'' () means scallion. It is a Korean dish made from a batter of eggs, wheat flour, rice flour, scallions, and often other ingredients depending on the var ...

'', Bruneian '' cucur'', Indian

pakora Pakora () is a fritter originating from the Indian subcontinent. They are sold by street vendors and served in restaurants across South Asia. They often consist of vegetables such as potatoes and onions, which are coated in seasoned gram flour ...

, Burmese '' a-kyaw'', Caribbean ''

pholourie Pholourie (), also spelled ''phulourie'' or ''phoulourie'', is an Indo-Caribbean snack food commonly eaten in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and other parts of the Caribbean. It consists of fried, spiced split pea and flour dough balls that ...

'' 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 ''Perkedel'' are vegetable fritters from Indonesian cuisine. Most common ''perkedel'' are made from mashed potatoes, yet there are other popular variations, such as ''perkedel jagung'' (peeled maize ''perkedel'') and ''perkedel tahu'' (tofu ''p ...

'. For example, Indonesian corn fritters are often called either 'perkedel jagung' or 'bakwan jagung'. In

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

, bakwan refers to fried

wonton A wonton ( zh, t=, s=馄饨, p=húntun, j=wan4 tan4, first=t) is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun, a transliteration from Cantonese zh, j=wan4 tan1, ...

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 Bakso or baso is an Indonesian meatball, or a meat paste made from beef surimi. Its texture is similar to the Chinese beef ball, fish ball, or pork ball. The word ''bakso'' may refer to a single meatball or the complete dish of meatball soup. ...

meatball soup, and commonly known as 'bakwan Malang' or 'bakwan Surabaya' in reference to their cities of origin,

Malang Malang (; , ), historically known as Tumapel, is an inland 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 the Singhasari, Singhasari K ...

and

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

in East Java. Originally bakwan comes from a

Chinese Indonesian cuisine Chinese Indonesian cuisine (, ) is characterized by the mixture of Chinese with local Indonesian style. Chinese Indonesians, mostly descendant of Han ethnic Hokkien and Hakka speakers, brought their legacy of Chinese cuisine, and modified s ...

recipe along with bakpao (meat bun), bakso (meatball), bakmie (meat noodle), and bakpia. The name "bakwan" is derived from the

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

language.

Gallery

Image:Menggoreng bakwan.JPG, Frying bakwan Image:Bakwan (seafood cake with whole shrimp).jpg, Bakwan udang, seafood cake 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 corn kernels. Originating in Native American cuisine, they are a traditional sweet and savory snack in the Americas, the Southern United States, as ...

References

Fritters Street food in Indonesia {{Indonesian cuisine

Variations

Gallery

See also

References