Setelah bumbunya harum, baru Ayah menumis sayur itu selama beberapa menit.

Bumbu means seasoning, spice mixture, or the aromatics used in cooking.

The suffix -nya here makes it more specific. In this sentence, bumbunya is best understood as the seasoning/spice mixture or his/the seasoning depending on context.

In everyday Indonesian, -nya often does not literally mean his/her/its. It can also work like the when referring to something already understood from context.

So:

• bumbu = seasoning, spices
• bumbunya = the seasoning / the spice mixture

In Indonesian, adjectives can function directly as predicates, so you do not need a verb like to be.

So:

• bumbunya harum = the seasoning is fragrant

There is no need to add a separate word for is. This is very normal in Indonesian.

Setelah means after.

It introduces a time clause:

• Setelah bumbunya harum = After the seasoning becomes fragrant / After the seasoning is fragrant

This sets up the sequence of actions:

1. the seasoning becomes fragrant
2. then Dad stir-fries the vegetables

Baru here means only then, then only, or after that. It emphasizes that the second action happens only after the first condition is met.

So:

• Setelah bumbunya harum, baru Ayah menumis sayur itu
  = After the seasoning is fragrant, only then does Dad stir-fry the vegetables

This baru adds a sense of proper sequence, often used in instructions or storytelling.

Placing baru before the subject gives stronger emphasis to the sequence:

• Setelah bumbunya harum, baru Ayah menumis sayur itu
  = After the seasoning is fragrant, only then Dad stir-fries the vegetables

If you say:

• Ayah baru menumis sayur itu...

that can sometimes sound more like Dad only just stir-fried the vegetables or shift the emphasis in a different way.

So in your sentence, baru is being used to mark the next step in a process.

Tumis is the base form, related to stir-fry / sauté.

MeN- is a common active verb prefix in Indonesian. When added to tumis, it becomes:

• menumis = to stir-fry

This is the normal active verb form when the subject is doing the action.

So:

• Ayah menumis sayur itu = Dad stir-fries the vegetables

Sayur can mean vegetables in general, but in cooking contexts it can also refer to a vegetable dish.

In this sentence, sayur itu most likely means those vegetables or that vegetable dish, depending on the broader context.

Indonesian often leaves this slightly flexible, and the exact meaning comes from the situation.

Itu means that.

So:

• sayur itu = those vegetables / that vegetable dish

It shows that the speaker is referring to something already known or already mentioned.

Compare:

• sayur = vegetables
• sayur itu = those vegetables / that vegetable dish

Selama means for in the sense of duration.

• selama beberapa menit = for several minutes

So this tells you how long the stir-frying lasts.

Breakdown:

• selama = for
• beberapa = several, a few
• menit = minutes

Not exactly as a personal name, but it is being used like a title or family-role noun, similar to Dad in English.

Because it refers to a specific person in the family, it is capitalized:

• Ayah = Dad

If it were being used more generally, it might not be capitalized.

Yes, that would also be grammatical:

• Ayah menumis sayur itu setelah bumbunya harum.

That means roughly Dad stir-fries the vegetables after the seasoning is fragrant.

The original sentence:

• Setelah bumbunya harum, baru Ayah menumis sayur itu...

sounds more procedural and emphasizes the sequence more strongly, like giving cooking instructions step by step.

Yes, literally it means the seasoning is fragrant.

In cooking Indonesian, this usually means the spices/aromatics have been sautéed enough that they release a nice smell. It often signals that it is time for the next step.

So it is both a literal smell description and a practical cooking cue.

They are similar, because both can mean fragrant or pleasant-smelling, but harum often sounds especially natural in cooking, flowers, and nice aromas in a slightly polished or standard way.

For this sentence, harum fits very well because Indonesian cooking instructions often say things like:

• tumis sampai harum = stir-fry until fragrant

That is a very common phrase.