Pecel Lele

Pecel Lele is an Indonesian deep fried catfish dish served with rice and red and green sambal. This is simple street food that fills the belly, which may be why it's a standout across Jakarta.

Although it's a popular Javanese specialty, it is often associated with the town of Lamongan, west of Surabaya in East Java, as majority of pecel lele vendors hailed from this town. Often served in a street-side humble tent warung in Indonesian cities, pecel lele can be considered as an affordable food for everybody. Today, due to Javanese migrations to neighboring countries, pecel lele can also be found in Singapore and Malaysia.

Although has similar name, it should not be confused to other Javanese dish pecel, which is a vegetables dish served in peanut sauce. Pecel lele is not served in peanut sauce, but in sambal terasi (ground chili with shrimp paste sauce) instead. However, some recipe might add a little bit of ground peanuts into their sambals.