Deep fried catfish, known as pecel lele, is a very famous and common Indonesian street food, often served at street side restaurants and local food tents known as warungs. In Jakarta, mostly at night, if you drive around the streets you’ll see countless food stalls showcasing catfish on their banner menus.
The catfish are prepared pretty simple, just salted and sometimes rubbed with some coriander and turmeric, and then deep fried until extra crispy all the way through. The catfish I ate in Indonesia were pretty small, about the size of a sausage, so when they were deep fried they almost turned chip-like, fried solidly.
Once again, the secret of the flavor when eating pecel lele lies within the sambal that it’s always served with. You take a piece of crispy catfish, mix it with your rice, add on some sambal, and that’s a recipe for a delicious bite.
Where: Permata Mubarok 1 is a little far from central Jakarta, but a nice street food tend. Address: Komplek Permata Buana, Jalan Puri Kembangan, Puri Indah, Jakarta; Open hours: 5 pm – 10 pm daily; Prices: 125,000 IDR ($9.41) for 4 people.
