Gudeg Recipe: Yogyakarta's Sweet Young Jackfruit Stew

A sweet stew simmered all day in the old city of Yogyakarta

The main ingredient of gudeg is young, unripe jackfruit. This green fruit, called "gori" in Javanese, is finely shredded and simmered for hours over low heat in coconut milk and palm sugar. The aromatics are garlic, shallots, candlenuts, coriander seed, galangal, and salam leaves. Add teak leaves, and the jackfruit turns reddish brown. Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism says that simmering it in a clay pot over a wood or charcoal fire is best, and that making a perfect gudeg takes almost a whole day.

Finished gudeg is served over white rice with several accompaniments: opor ayam, chicken stewed in coconut milk; telur pindang, eggs stewed with spices; bacem, tofu or tempeh stewed sweet; and sambal goreng krecek, crisp fried cow skin cooked with chili and peanuts. Alternating sweet gudeg with spicy krecek is the Yogyakarta taste.

Gudeg comes in two broad types. Wet gudeg keeps plenty of coconut milk and is finished like a sauce. Dry gudeg is simmered longer so the coconut milk cooks off and the jackfruit turns a deep, caramel-like brown. Dry gudeg is sweeter and keeps longer. The gudeg of neighboring Solo is soupier and, because it uses no teak leaves, is pale in color.

What to know when cooking it in a home kitchen

Fresh young jackfruit and teak leaves are essentially impossible to find in many places. This article follows the method on the cooking blog What To Cook Today, which is based on a recipe by Indonesian cooking authority Sri Owen, and uses canned young jackfruit and a black tea bag. The tea gives the reddish-brown color in place of teak leaves. The chicken and boiled eggs are simmered in the same pot, so one pot gives you the gudeg and its accompaniments together.

Canned young jackfruit is available at Asian grocery stores and online. It is a different product from canned ripe jackfruit in syrup, so choose cans labeled "young," "green," or "in brine." Candlenuts (kukui nuts) are available at Indonesian grocery stores, and you can substitute macadamia nuts if you can't find them.

Palm sugar is made by boiling down palm sap. It has a rich sweetness resembling Japanese brown sugar (kokuto). You can make this with raw cane sugar or dark brown sugar instead, but with dark brown sugar reduce the amount a little so it doesn't become cloying.

Ingredients (serves 4)

How to make gudeg

The simmering takes about 2 hours, but during that time you only stir occasionally. Coconut milk scorches easily, so use a heavy pot.

Sweet gudeg, with spicy sambal

Many people are surprised on first trying gudeg that a side dish can be this sweet. Because the palm sugar sweetness is pronounced, we recommend always serving it with a spicy sambal. When the heat of the chili and the sweetness of the gudeg alternate, the rice disappears.

Store-bought sambal oelek is fine for the sambal. If you want to make your own, the raw Indonesian sambal Sambal matah is easy. Served with another Javanese dish, Ayam goreng, the sweet-and-savory fried chicken, or with the soup Soto ayam, it makes a table like an Indonesian eatery.

Ways to vary it

Making it with only jackfruit and boiled eggs and no chicken lets the flavor of gudeg itself come through. If you leave out the eggs too, it becomes a vegetable-only dish. Cut thick fried tofu into 2 cm cubes and add it at the same time as the eggs, and it soaks up the sweet cooking liquid and becomes something like a Yogyakarta sweet stewed tofu.

The method at What To Cook Today adds about half a cup of red kidney beans, soaked in water for 4 hours, together with the chicken. The beans add a tender texture and make a substantial dish. If you use canned kidney beans, drain them and add them in step 5.

FAQ

Will it taste of tea?

The tea bag is simmered for 1 hour and then removed, so almost no tea aroma remains. Its role is coloring. Left in too long it can turn astringent, so take it out when you add the eggs.

Can I make it ahead?

Once cooled, put it in a storage container and refrigerate, and eat it within 2 days. According to Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism, dry gudeg, with the liquid cooked off, keeps about 24 hours in the refrigerator. To reheat, add a little water and warm slowly over low heat.

The coconut milk separated.

With long simmering, the oil in the coconut milk can separate and float on the surface. In gudeg this is not a failure; it is rather a sign that it is reducing. Keep stirring from the bottom so it doesn't scorch.

Can I make it with ripe jackfruit?

No. Ripe jackfruit is a sweet fruit and falls apart when simmered. Gudeg uses the green fruit before it ripens. When buying canned jackfruit, check the label for "young" or "green."

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