In Indonesia, the term krupuk refers to the type of relatively large crackers, while the term kripik or keripik refers to smaller bite-size crackers; the counterpart of chips (or crisps) in western cuisine. For example, potato chips are called kripik kentang in Indonesia. Both terms, krupuk and kripik, sound like the breaking or crumbling of this crispy snack to denote its crispiness.

Usually krupuk is made from the dried paste from the mixture of starch with other ingredients, while kripik is usually made entirely from thinly sliced, sun-dried, and fried products without any mixture of starch.

Preparation and consumption[edit]

To achieve maximum crunchiness, most of this pre-packed raw krupuk must be sun-dried first before being deep fried at home. To cook krupuk, a wok and plenty of very hot cooking oil is needed. Raw krupuk is quite small, hard, and darker in color than cooked one.^[6]

Krupuk and kripik can be consumed solely as a snack, or cracked and sprinkled on top of certain food as a complement to add crispy texture. Certain Indonesian dishes such as gado-gado, karedok, rujak, asinan, bubur ayam and certain kinds of soto were known to require certain type of krupuk for toppings. Krupuk is an essential ingredient to make seblak, a savoury and spicy dish made of boiled wet krupuk cooked with protein sources (chicken, beef or seafood) in spicy sauce.^[7]

Types[edit]

Indonesia[edit]

Variety of raw unfried krupuk sold at Indonesian traditional market, Bengkulu province

Indonesia has perhaps the largest variety of krupuk.^[4] There are many variations on krupuk, many of which are made from starch with seafood (shrimp, fish, or squid), but occasionally with rice, fruits, nuts or vegetables; these variations are more usual in Southeast Asia.

Krupuk gendar (brown rice cracker) and krupuk kampung or krupuk putih (cassava starch crackers) in air-tight containers

• Krupuk amplang, refer to pingpong balls-sized fish krupuk from Kalimantan.
• Krupuk bawang, Garlic cracker
• Krupuk gendar, ground rice cracker
• Krupuk ikan, fish cracker, commonly found in Indonesia, especially seafood industry production centres, such as Palembang, Bangka, Cirebon and Sidoarjo. Wahoo is the most popular fish used to make krupuk ikan, however a more expensive variant uses belida fish / featherback knifefish.
• Krupuk blek (also known as krupuk uyel, krupuk kampung, or krupuk putih), cassava starch cracker is ubiquitous in Indonesia
• Krupuk kemplang, a type of flat fish cracker is particularly popular in Southern Sumatran city of Palembang
• Krupuk kuku macan, another name of amplang with distinct "tiger nail" nugget-shaped brown-coloured fish cracker, popularly associated with Samarinda and the island of Bangka.
• Krupuk kulit (most parts of Indonesia), Krupuk jangek (Minangkabau), or Rambak (Java), refer to cracker made from dried cattle skin, particularly popular in Minangkabau area West Sumatra.
• Krupuk kulit babi, crispy fried pork skin, also known as pork rinds. Rarely found in Muslim majority regions in Indonesia, but common in non-Muslim majority provinces, such as Bali, North Sumatra, and North Sulawesi.
• Krupuk mie (noodle cracker) is yellowish krupuk made from noodle-like paste usually used for asinan topping, particularly popular in Jakarta and most of markets in Java.
• Krupuk udang, shrimp cracker or prawn cracker probably is the most internationally well-known variant of krupuk. The examples of popular krupuk udang brands in Indonesia is Finna^[8] and Komodo brand whereas the popular krupuk udang household brands in Malaysia are Rota Prawn Crackers and myReal Pulau Pangkor Prawn Crackers.^[9]