Fried Bihun ala Old Jakarta Kota Station

Bihun or rice vermicelli often uses in Indonesian recipes. Wiffy's post, fried bee hoon has reminded me of this old time snack.

It was the time whenever my destination was Jakarta Kota aka Beos, an old area of Jakarta with heavy inhibited by Chinese descendant, I bought this fried bihun.

As I resided in Bogor, I had to take a mass transit (train) to go to there. Once I arrived at the Jakarta Kota station and got off of the train, I saw many food sellers, including the noodle ladies.

The sellers offered three kinds of nooddle; mie (egg noodles), bihun (rice vermicelli), and kwetiau (rice noodle). The fried noodles were not complete without choices of fritter and sambal kacang (peanut sambal). The fritter choices were risol (spring roll filled with rice vermicelli), fried tempe, tahu isi (breaded stuffed tofu) and bala-bala or known also as bakwan (vegetable fritters).

The proper way to eat them is place the noodles, cut any fitters into bite size and pour the spicy peanut sambal over.

I knew they are not the most healthiest food on the planet. But heyy, I was a student at that time with a tight budget :). Those food were delicious and cheap.

Today, when I posted the pic on my facebook. One of friends commented that there are no longer fried bihun sellers at the Jakarta Kota station. :(

Bihun Goreng, Sambal Kacang and Bala-Bala
- Fried Bihun, Peanut Sambal and Vegetable Fritters -

Ingredients:

Bihun Goreng (Fried Bihun)
250 g dry rice vermicelli, soak in cold water until soften and drain
100 g cabbage, roughly sliced
2 tbsp ground ebi* (can be substituted for fish sauce)
kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
mushroom soy sauce (regular soy sauce will be fine)
salt as needed

spices to be ground:
3 garlic
3 shallots
white peppercorn
oil for stir-frying

Sambal Kacang (Peanut Sambal)
3 tbsp roasted/fried peanuts
3 roasted/fried red cayenne pepper
3 roasted/fried bird eye chilies
sugar
salt
canesugar vinegar (Indonesian: cuka lahang)
a small amount of water

Bala-bala (Vegetable Fritters)
adapted from Dapur Bunda, modified by me
125 g rice flour
25 g tapioca starch
1 egg
100 ml cold water (4 degrees Celsius)
100 g cabbage, finely sliced
100 g julienned carrots
50 g bean sprouts
1 green onion, sliced
oil for deep-frying

Spices to be ground:
2 candlenuts
2 garlic
1 shallot
1 1/2 tsp white peppercorn
1 tsp seasalt

Note: *Ebi is an Indonesian term for dried shrimp

Directions:
Bihun Goreng (Fried Bihun):
1. Combine kecap manis, soy sauce and rice vermicelli.
2. In a wok, add oil. Stir fry ground spices for a minute.
2 Add cabbage and ebi.
3. Add bihun mixture and salt if you need. Mix. Remove heat and set aside.
4. Serve with fritters and sambal kacang.


Sambal Kacanng (Peanut Sambal):
In a blender, process peanuts, cayenne pepper, chilies, salt, sugar, water and vinegar until smooth.

Bala-Bala / Bakwan (Vegetable Fritters): 
1.  In a bowl, stir in flour, egg and water until smooth
2.  Add ground spices, and stir well.
3.  Combine vegetables and stir well.
4.  In a pan/wok, heat up oil at medium-hot.  Using a tablespoon, do a spoonfull of batter, add into hot oil and fried until dry and cooked.
5.  Remove from hot oil and drain with brown paper bag to absorb more oil.