Mustika Rasa
- Year
- 1967
- Era
- 20th century
- Origin
- Indonesia · Southeast Asia
- Language
- Indonesian
- Category
- Southeast Asia
Mustika Rasa, first issued in 1967, is a monumental compendium of Indonesian cookery commissioned under the Sukarno presidency as part of a nation-building project to document the culinary heritage of the newly independent republic. Compiled in Indonesian and gathering thousands of recipes drawn from across the archipelago's regions, the work stands as the first state-sponsored attempt to define a unified national cuisine and remains a foundational reference for Indonesian gastronomy.
Cooking from this book
Nasi Tumpeng
Signature dishThe cone of yellow rice ringed by an array of side dishes stands as the emblematic centrepiece of Mustika Rasa. Commissioned under President Sukarno as a national culinary compendium, the volume gathered recipes from across the archipelago to assert a unified Indonesian identity after independence. Tumpeng, served at ceremonies and celebrations from Java outward, embodies that ambition: a single mountain of rice surrounded by the regional flavours of a vast and varied republic.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
