Spicy Padang food a finger-licking feast

BUKITTINGGI, West Sumatra (JP): Minang men have spread local culinary delights in their practice of merantau, (to travel far and wide seeking one's fortune), thus introducing Padang food to the world.

Rich in color and flavor, Padang food is a culinary experience second to none. The food steeped in curry and coconut milk based sauces, with chili, turmeric, green ginger and other ingredients, is generally hot and spicy. The colorful array of sauces reflect the sun's passage from palest yellow at midday through to deepest orange with streaks of red at sunset. Padang food has a long shelf life, as the sauces not only marinate and flavor dishes but also preserve them.

There are 20 main dishes which are mainly for the meat-eater. The most famous is spicy rendang, beef marinated in hot spices and cooked in coconut milk until the sauce thickens to a paste. Chicken, a staple in West Sumatra, is fried, curried and baked tandoori style.

For seafood lovers, there is a choice of fish, prawn, squid and octopus delights. There is also an incredible selection of offal dishes for the adventurous.

The highly inventive vegetable dishes include beans, seed pods, papaya leaves, spicy spinach and banana flower cooked in coconut milk with green ginger, kaffir lime leaves and chillies.

Padang restaurants are easy to spot by the large bowls and plates of food artfully stacked in the front window, displaying what's on offer. There is no menu and each restaurant has its own specialities. A selection of dishes is brought to the table by waiters who skillfully stack the plates up their arms, competing to see who can carry the most.

Padang food, normally eaten with your fingers, is accompanied by rice and glasses of tea. Each dish consists of two portions and the customer is charged only for what they've eaten, the rest being returned to the window display.

-- Nicky Walsh