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Gudeg Jogja - Yogyakarta Jackfruit Stew
Learn how to cook authentic gudeg Jogja (Indonesian jackfruit stew) at home with this simple recipe, with tips and pointers to prepare fresh jackfruit.
The top two young jackfruit dishes in Indonesia are Padang jackfruit curry and Yogyakarta jackfruit stew (gudeg Jogja).
Traditionally, we cook gudeg by simmering young jackfruits for long hours in a Javanese clay pot. The dish is done when the jackfruit has absorbed all the spices and liquid, resulting in super flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth jackfruit meat. ♥
Ingredients for gudeg Jogja
We will need young jackfruit, coconut milk, coconut palm sugar, hard-boiled eggs, salt, coriander, black tea, garlic, shallot, galangal, lemongrass, candlenuts, kaffir lime leaves, and daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves).
Where to buy young jackfruit for making gudeg Jogja
You can use either canned young jackfruit, or you can buy a fresh one from your nearest Asian market.
My local Asian market only occasionally stocks fresh young jackfruit, so I use the canned version most of the time whenever I prepare gudeg.
If you happen to live in Indonesia, your neighborhood wet market probably stocks them regularly. And be sure to get the seller to cut them for you if you don’t want to deal with the sticky mess.
How to prepare fresh young jackfruit
If you spot young jackfruit in the market and decide to prepare your own, here are what you need to do:
- Be sure to oil your knife with each cut to prevent the sticky sap from sticking to your knife.
- Be sure to use only the fleshy part, the green part from the rind should not be used at all.
- Discard the tough center core (similar to how we discard pineapple core).
- Cut into bite-size pieces.
- Boil in a pot of water until tender before using.
- Once boiled, and if you don’t plan to use the jackfruit right away, you can let cool and freeze in a freezer-safe ziplock.
For beginners, I highly suggest using canned young jackfruit. Not only is this option so much easier, but it also means you can prepare gudeg any time you crave this dish. :D
How to cook gudeg Jogja
1. Prepare spice paste
Grind shallot, garlic, candlenuts, and coriander in a food processor into a smooth paste.
2. Boil jackfruit
Place daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves), kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, tea bag, salt, palm sugar, spice paste, and young jackfruit into a pot.
Pour coconut milk into the pot, making sure that everything is submerged, and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until the sauce is reduced by about half, stirring every 30 minutes or so. This can take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours.
3. Add hard-boiled eggs
Add hard-boiled eggs and stir. Continue simmering for another 1 to 2 hours, or until the sauce is fully absorbed by the jackfruit and eggs.
What to serve with gudeg
At the minimum, you can serve gudeg Jogja with steamed white rice. For a better experience, you may also want to make some of the following dishes:
- sambal krecek dan tahu (beef skin and tofu in chili sauce)
- tahu tempeh bacem
- telur pindang
- sambal terasi or sambal bajak
You may also want to upgrade steamed white rice to nasi gurih or nasi liwet.
Gudeg Jogja - Yogyakarta Jackfruit Stew
Ingredients
- 6 Indonesian bay leaves (Indonesian: daun salam)
- 3 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
- 1 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas), bruised
- 2 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), bruised and knotted
- 1 tea bag of black tea (optional)
- 75 gram palm sugar (Indonesian: gula Jawa)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 500 gram young jackfruit (Indonesian: nangka muda), cut into bite size pieces (use 2 cans if you use canned version)
- 1 liter coconut milk
- 4 hard-boiled eggs (optional)
- Grind the following into spice paste
- 50 gram shallots (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 4 cloves garlic (Indonsian: bawang putih)
- 8 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds (Indonesian: biji ketumbar)
Instructions
- Prepare spice paste: Grind shallot, garlic, candlenuts, and coriander in a food processor into a smooth paste.
- Boil jackfruit: Place daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves), kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, tea bag, salt, palm sugar, spice paste, and young jackfruit into a pot.
- Pour coconut milk into the pot and mix, making sure that everything is submerged, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the sauce is reduced by about half, stirring every 30 minutes or so. About 3 to 4 hours.
- Add hard-boiled eggs: Add hard-boiled eggs and stir to mix. Continue simmering for another 1 to 2 hours, or until the sauce is fully absorbed by the jackfruit and eggs.
- Serve: Turn off heat, adjust seasoning as needed as some people prefer their gudeg to be on the sweet side. Remove all the leaves. Transfer to a serving plate and serve warm or at room temperature.
Comments
thank you so much very recommended site
Hi! Your recipe seems very easy to follow. I have been craving a bowl of gudeg jogja for a very long time. My question is, can I use a slow cooker to cook it with? Kindly let me know. Thanks! Dini
Hi Dinni, yes, add everything except eggs in a slow cooker pot and cook on low heat setting for 8 hours. After 8 hours, discard the tea bags, then stir a bit and add the eggs. Then cook on high setting for 2 hours. I hope this helps.
Such a delicious, comforting stew! I love your tips on how to prepare fresh jackfruit. So far I have only worked with the canned fruit, but hopefully I can try with fresh jackfruit someday.
As much as I would love to always use the fresh fruit, it is so rare to see them in my local Asian market. And on the rare chance that I actually spot them, most of the time they are not fresh. But on that rare day when the stars are aligned, getting my hands on a fresh looking jackfruit makes me feel so happy. :)
This is such a great, different recipe, quite original. I haven't heard of jackfruit too much or seen it in cooking, so it was great to read this to get an idea about how to use it. Thanks for sharing!!
Jackfruit is still so underrated in the US, but I have been spotting pretty creative ways to use young jackfruit in cooking too, like pulled jackfruit instead of pulled pork, or jackfruit rendang instead of beef rendang. So there is hope that jackfruit can go mainstream. :)
I've never heard of gudeg Jogja but I do love learning about new foods to try! Thanks for sharing!
What a great recipe! This sounds absolutely scrumptious!
This looks and sounds so delicious! I love cooking with jackfruit and will definitely try this. Yum
Wow! This looks great! I have never cooked with jackfruit but I have always wanted to! Cannot wait to try it out!
I just had jackfruit for the first time ever recently and really liked the flavor! Would love to try this thanks for the recipe!
How creative and delicious this stew is. Must try. Yummy.
Such a flavorful and easy way to use jackfruit! Great recipe.
I have been wanting to try jackfruit forever and finally just found a local market that sells it - I'm glad I found this recipe, because I literally had no idea how to prepare it. I'm so excited to try this stew!
i like this recipe for the gudeg.
why we can’t put egg in the same time and cook it for long time?
Hi Chierly, you can if you want to. For me, I prefer only cooking the hard-boiled egg on simmer, so I only usually add the eggs later (step 3). I find that cooking the eggs on high heat tends to end with some broken eggs and the egg whites become too tough and slightly rubbery.
I've been looking for new ways to use jackfruit. This looks great.
Wow, this is interesting. We normally just eat jackfruit as a fruit when it's ripe here in Thailand!
We are always looking for new things to do with jackfruit and this looks super comforting.
What a tasty looking stew! I really don't use jackfruit as often as I could - might just give this a whirl!
I love learning about new recipes from other cultures. So intriguing to me! I have never used any of these ingredients before so if I can come across them I might give this recipe a try!
I’ve noticed so many ready to eat jack fruit meals in supermarkets recently and now Australian canned jackfruit available too. This reminded me of the local specialty Gudeg, sold by hawkers on the train in Yogajakarta in 1987. Do they still sell these bungkus at the station nowadays ? I’ll try to replicate it and see if I appreciate it more these days. I found it too sweet for savoury food then. Thanks.
Hi Colleen, it has been ages since I last visit Yogyakarta myself, though the city has the best gudeg in Indonesia. The sweetness is mainly from the palm sugar, so perhaps add half of the amount (37.5 gram) first, and only add more once you give the dish a taste test.
How can I adopt this for instant pot? And if I want to serve it with chicken, when should I add it?
Hi Zaza, you can. Add chicken, jackfruit, and eggs in that order to your pot. Top with lemongrass, galangal, Indonesian bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves, and tea bags (if using). Stir together palm sugar, salt, spice paste, and coconut milk. Pour the coconut milk mixture into the pot. Cook with high pressure for 60 minutes, and use the quick release function when you are done. Discard the tea bags and serve the gudeg with steamed rice.
Hi, I Am so happy that I found this recepe but i have a question. You mention tea bags. What do you mean? And why do you use this? Thank you
Hi Yvette, traditionally gudeg uses teak leaves (leaves from teak trees) to create its signature brown color. Since it is not that easy to procure teak leaves outside of Indonesia, I am using black tea in tea bags (as opposed to loose tea leaves) instead. If you don't mind not getting that signature brown color in your gudeg, it is okay to omit using tea bags too.
Love slow cooker tips! I add some of the red onion skin-for the color + 4 cans of young jackfruit. Then 8hrs low (and sleep). In the morning, ditch the tea-bag. Add in 7 boiled eggs. Continue cooking for 2hrs high. Came out BEAUTIFUL! Thank youuuu.
Wow a bag of tea what a brilliant idea, I was looking for this trick.
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