7 Manado Foods You Should Try

Some cities in Indonesia has their own signature dishes which are also popular, such as Padang with its rendang. Another city that is also popular with its typical foods is Manado.

One of most awaited things to do in Manado is eating Tinutuan Porridge, one of the reasons why you should visit Sulawesi. But do you know that Manado has many more tasty authentic foods? Here are 7 Manado foods you should try.

1. Tuturuga Chicken

Are you chicken lovers? If you are the ones, do not forget to try Tuturuga Chicken in Manado. This food has a densed soup and typical taste. You will have a rich taste of coconut milk and spices. That is why some people call this foor as Chicken Opor from Manado. As most of Manado foods, Tuturuga Chicke is spicy.

There is also a unique taste comes from pandan leaf. Although Tuturuga Chicken itself has had spicy taste, people usually eat this with sambal, and also with rice.

There is a fun fuct about Tuturuga Chicken. This food was originally made from sea turtle. But because consuming sea turtle has no longer been allowed in Indonesia, it is replaced with chicken. This change also makes the taste of Tuturuga more accepted by most Indonesian people.

Tuturuga Chicken is a nice choice for suhoor and break fasting during Ramadhan. You can find Tuturuga Chicken in any food stalls selling Manado foods easily, the price is about Rp 25.000 per portion.

2. Rica Rodo

If you are vegetarian, there is a good choice of Manado food for you. One of the vegetarian foods of Indonesia from Manado is Rica Rodo. It consists of various kinds of vegetables, such as eggplant, long beans, and corn.

Some people said it tastes like lodeh, but lodeh contains coconut milk, while Rica Rodo is not made with coconut milk.

It is so easy to make Rica Rodo. You have to cut the vegetables as you like. After that, cook them with spices just like making lodeh without coconut milk. As its name ‘rica’, this food must be spicy.

If you want to add the nutrition inside this food, you can put any additional ingredients such as fish. If you want to buy outside, a portion of Rica Rodo is only about Rp 15.000. So affordable, right?

3. Lalampa

Javanese people must be familiar with lemper. In Manado, there is a food which looks quite similar with lemper. It is called Lalampa. If lemper in Java has chicken meat as its filling, Lalampa is usually filled with mackerel tuna.

The mackerel tuna will be put inside glutinous rice. Another difference between lemper and Lalampa is the way of cooking. For Lalampa, it also needs to be grilled, while lemper does not need it.

Making Lalampa is quite easy eventhough it needs such a long time. The glutinous rice is soaked with coconut milk, pandan leaf which has been sliced, salt, and oil for about two hours.

Cook the rice then fill with macakrel tuna, after that the Lalampa is ready to grill. Lalampa is also all time favorite lebaran dishes from Indonesia in Manado.

4.  Paniki

Some regions in Indonesia are famous with their extreme foods. In Manado, there is also an extreme food that is very popular. Its name is Paniki. Paniki itself means bat. For Manado people, they might have been familiar eating this kind of extreme food.

A whole body of the bat is cooked with some spices such as shallot, chilli, lemongrass, etc. You could smell the unique aroma of the bat, and tempting taste of the spices.

Paniki is commonly made as a soup. But some people also fry it or make it as satay. There must be spicy taste. People believe that consuming bat can cure any illnesses.

But because it is really not common for some people eating bat, some sellers modify Paniki by replacing bat with chicken.

5. Papare

If you ever heard or tasted bitter melon or pare in bahasa Indonesia, you might be able to imagine what is the food called Papare. There must be pare in this food. Pare is used as the cover, while the filling is mackerel tuna.

The mackerel tuna is finely chopped with some spices, then being filled into the pare. The spices include shallot, garlic, coconut milk, sugar, and salt. After that, Papare is deeply fried.

You may know that pare itself is so bitter. But do not worry because the taste of mackerel tuna and the spices could handle the bitter taste, so you could enjoy the dish comfortably.

Papare is one of the best choice for you who have not been familiar with the taste of Manado foods.

6. Pinende Cake

When visiting Manado, you might think about any foods that you can bring back home for relatives. Pinende Cake can be one of Indonesian cities with best street food you can buy.

This cake is made from glutinous rice flour, hot water, salt, and grated coconut. On the top, it is added with brown sugar syrup.

Pinende Cake has sweet taste and the shape is small round. It also has a slightly savory taste from the grated coconut. It will be more tasty to eat Pinende Cake with tea or coffee.

7. Jaha Rice

The last one is a food that is made from glutinous rice flour and coconut milk, which is called Jaha Rice. This food is quite similar like lemang, one of delicious foods of West Sumatra.

The rice is covered with banana leaf then being grilled inside bamboo. You will smell authentic aroma from banana leaf and bamboo.

You can eat Jaha Rice with some condiments, such as fish. It is not hard to find Jaha Rice, especially during ceremonies or special events in Manado.

So, which one of these food is your favorite?