For the last week, we have been on a mission to return to our favorite places to eat and to find some new gems. I had forgotten some of what makes Indonesian food so good.
Thankfully, we both love street food. Of all the street foods, bakso tops my list. Bakso is as much about the situation as it is about the actual dish. It’s a clear meatball soup with rice noodles and other ingredients that vary from one place to another. It is served at a stand, from the back of a motorbike or out of a pushcart. It can be served with rice, an egg, wontons, and fried onions. Squeeze bottles are always on hand with sweet soy sauce and hot sauce. The key, though, is the sambal, a firey salsa that people here eat by the spoonful. For me, about a quarter of a teaspoon of sambal in my bakso means an unbelievable hotness that is as spicy as I can stand. I have to ration my tiny bottled sweet tea, while I sweat and gulp my way through my bowl of bakso. Yum!