have a taste of authentic Indonesian cuisine that’s a cornucopia of scents and spices as diverse in taste from chili-hot, spicy, creamy, pungent to sweet. This culinary tradition is rich in history and is a confluence of cultures.

This rich array of flavors are whipped up by guest chefs Mardjuki and Primadi Herwantoro for The Ultimate in Diversity, lunch and dinner buffet at the heritage hotel Manila’s Restaurant Riviera until March 23.

The chefs, who are from the five-star Millennium Hotel, Jakarta were flown to Manila by Cebu Pacific Airlines.

The Heritage Hotel with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia is staging the food festival. Below are recipes of some selections from the buffet.

½ cup flour

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

¾ cup milk or coconut milk

oil spray for cooking

1 cup grated palm sugar or brown sugar

½ cup water

1 pandan leaf

1 cup shredded coconut, toasted

1 papaya, diced

Combine flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and milk and whisk mixture until smooth. Add a little water if too thick. Heat a frying pan. Spray with oil and add enough mixture to make a thin pancake. Cook pancakes for one to two minutes on each side.

Combine sugar, water and pandan leaf in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat, stir until sugar dissolves and syrup thickens slightly. Place coconut and papaya on each pancake and roll up. Serve pancakes with ice cream and drizzle with syrup.

Makes eight.

2 large potatoes, peeled and cooked

150 grams snake beans, blanched

2 carrots, sliced and blanched

100g beancurd, diced and deep fried

4 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered

1 cucumber, sliced

1 cup bean sprouts, trimmed

Peanut Sauce (Saus Kacang)

1/3 cup peanut oil

100g raw peanuts

1 clove garlic

2 French shallots

½ tsp terasi

salt

2 tsps chilli sauce or sambal ulek

½ tsp brown sugar

1 1/2 -2 cups water

lemon juice to taste

Place vegetables on a large platter and serve with peanut sauce and the sambals of your choice.

To make Peanut Sauce: Heat one-fourth cup oil in a wok. Add peanuts and fry for four to five minutes or until golden. Drain on paper towel. When peanuts are cool, crush it using a mortar with pestle or process in a food processor. Crush or pound garlic, shallots, terasi and salt to a paste. Heat remaining oil in a saucepan and cook paste for one minute or until aromatic. Add chili sauce, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and add peanuts, simmer for 20-25 minutes or until sauce is thick. Add lemon juice. Serves four.

2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed

1 ½ tbsps peanut oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 green shallots, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 small red chilies, seeded and finely chopped

300g chicken thigh fillets, diced

1 carrot, finely sliced or grated

2 cups shredded Chinese cabbage

100g prawns, peeled and cooked

2-3 tbsps sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

1 tbsp soy sauce

Cook rice in boiling salted water for 10-12 minutes or until cooked. Drain and rinse. Heat two teaspoons oil in a woks and add egg and swirl to coat the wok to form an omelet. Turn omelet and cook the other side. Remove and cut into thin strips.

Heat remaining oil in wok and add green shallots, garlic and chili and cook for one to two minutes. Add chicken and stir-fry for three minutes. Add carrot, cabbage, prawns, kecap manis and soy sauce and stir-fry until cabbage wilts. Add rice to mixture and stir-fry until all ingredients are heated. Serve rice with strips of omelet, fried shallots and the sambal of your choice.

Note: This dish can be served as a meal with chicken satay and garnished with a fried egg. Ingredients in rice can vary to suit your taste. If served with meat you may omit the chicken and prawns.