Sweet Peanut sticky rice — Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Sweet peanut sticky rice is a snack built on steamed glutinous rice topped with a sweetened, lightly spiced peanut sauce, a combination found in many Javanese markets and here reported from Yogyakarta. The rice itself is plain and unsweetened, so the whole character of the snack comes from the sauce ladled over it. It is sold in Yogyakarta's morning markets and street stalls, wrapped in banana leaf, alongside other jajanan pasar, the wider family of market snacks typical of Central Java. Vendors usually prepare it fresh each morning and sell it warm within a few hours. The glutinous rice is soaked for several hours, then steamed with pandan leaves until half-cooked before coconut milk and a pinch of salt are added and it is steamed again until tender. Meanwhile roasted peanuts are ground with garlic and chili, then simmered with palm sugar, tamarind pulp and a little water until the sauce turns thick and glossy. Within the wider family of Javanese sticky rice snacks, this version is distinguished by the sweet, salty and lightly spiced balance of its peanut sauce, closer to a dipping sauce than to a plain caramelised coconut topping, with the level of chili and sweetness varying from one stall to another.