Combro — West Java, Indonesia

Combro is a fried snack from West Java built around two contrasting textures: a soft, slightly chewy shell of grated cassava on the outside, and a spicy, crumbly filling of oncom on the inside. Its name is said to be a contraction of oncom di jero, Sundanese for 'oncom inside', which describes the dish exactly. This version is reported from West Java, where combro is sold alongside other fried snacks such as bakwan by street vendors and warung stalls, usually eaten warm as a mid-morning or afternoon bite rather than as part of a main meal. Grated cassava is mixed with a little grated coconut and salt and worked into a firm dough. Separately, oncom is crumbled and cooked with a pounded paste of shallot, garlic and chili, lime leaf and a touch of sugar until dry and fragrant. A portion of cassava dough is flattened, filled with the oncom mixture, and shaped into an oval that fully encloses the filling before being deep-fried until golden and firm. What sets combro apart from other fried cassava snacks is the oncom filling itself, made from fermented soybean or peanut cake rather than meat or plain vegetables, which gives it a distinctive savory, slightly funky depth. The ratio of cassava shell to filling, and the heat of the chili paste, are adjusted differently from one vendor to another.