Chicken noodles are an Indonesian food that has a distinctive taste and low price. For this reason, chicken noodles have become a culinary dish that is popular with all levels of society.
Adzkiyak in the book "Culinary Ethnography: Food and National Identity" states that chicken noodles are a traditional Indonesian dish made from boiled yellow noodles, then added with chicken, vegetables and soy sauce.
The popularity of chicken noodles in Indonesia is marked by the large number of traders selling them, either from carts, simple stalls or large restaurants. The presentation is no longer just traditional, but also more creative and modern.
One of them is serving chicken noodles with toppings such as claws, mushrooms, meatballs, dumplings, and others. There are also chicken noodles served with dumplings as a bowl. This innovation aims to attract buyers' attention.
History of Chicken Noodles
Quoting the book Entrepreneurial Success, Best Selling Cart and Fastest Return on Capital 15 Types of Best Business Recommendations by Herman Ichsan Pangestu, based on history, noodles were first made in mainland China around 25-200 AD during the reign of the Han dynasty.
In 2005, the oldest noodles were discovered, 4,000 years old, in China. The discovery of noodles in a bowl buried 3 meters deep is proof that noodles were first made by Chinese people. From China, noodle making continued to develop and spread to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asian countries, and even to the European continent.
Then, noodles first entered Indonesia through trade routes. In the book Culinary Ethnography: Food and National Identity by Adzkiyak, it is stated that the noodles that first entered Indonesia were made from pork.
However, due to the large number of Islamic kingdoms in Indonesia, the basic ingredient was replaced with chicken meat. Next, chicken noodles were created which are a simple combination of noodles, chicken meat, thick spices, and topped with boiled mustard greens.
Every region in Indonesia has different variations of chicken noodles. For example, Jakarta chicken noodles are made using yamie (salt soy sauce) and yamin (sweet soy sauce). So Jakarta chicken noodles have a lighter, savory and salty taste.
Nutritional Content of Chicken Noodles
Chicken noodles have quite complete nutritional content in the form of carbohydrates, protein, fat and vitamins. The following is an explanation of the nutritional content of chicken noodles summarized from the book Culinary Ethnography: Food and National Identity by Adzkiyak.
*Yellow noodles
Yellow noodles are a food ingredient that contains carbohydrates which function as a source of energy.
*Mustard greens or boiled lettuce
Mustard greens and boiled salads contain vitamins A and C. Vitamin A functions as an active antioxidant to strengthen the body's immunity. Meanwhile, vitamin C functions to repair skin cells and reduce the risk of heart attack.
