Es doger, when served at a restaurant, will usually be listed under an amorphous menu heading such as "drinks and desserts." A fat straw is useful; a spoon is a necessity. It hails from the West Java capital of Bandung, a name associated with pink drinks, often colored by rose syrup but, in this case, by a bottled, tinted cocopandan syrup.
Other ingredients in this rendition included ice, basil seeds, red tapioca pearls, condensed milk, slivers of young coconut, avocado, and two types of tape (Tah-Peh), one made from black glutinous rice, the other, from cassava. Tape is a pasty fermented food known by many other names thoughout East and Southeast Asia; the sweeter ingredients of es doger are balanced by its sour twang.
Shown below: Bubur ayam, literally "porridge chicken," is essentially a well-decorated chicken congee. Warm rice porridge is first topped with shredded chicken, then dressed with chopped scallions, toasted soybeans, salty and sweet soy sauces, spicy peanut sauce, pickled vegetables of some sort, multicolor tapioca crackers, and an ingredient or two I might have missed, then freshened just before serving with a ladle of hot chicken broth. Bubur ayam is often one of the first items to sell out at these bazaars — it's what's for breakfast.
For more photos from multiple bazaars, see the Eating In Translation page on Facebook.
Indonesian bazaar at City Blessing Church
38-02 61st St. (at 38th Ave.), Woodside, Queens
(These 2015 events have been replaced, in 2016, by a series of larger bazaars at the St. James Episcopal Church.)
