I know tteokochi or ddeok-kkochi when I volunteered for the Korean pavilion-Folklorama in 2006. It reminds me of cilok (West Java) or pentol (in East Java) in Indonesia. The differences, cilok or petol is made from sago or tapioca flour and enhanced with a very small amount of beef. The sauce is kinda close with spiceness of chili while some cilok/pentol have a choice of spicy peanut sauce too.

They have another similarity, sold by the street food vendors.

Anyway, after the training, I just drove around Grant avenue and saw a new Korean store. I was thinking to give a try and found a bag of frozen rice that was pretty cheap. I used to go to Arirang on Portage avenue for Korean food stuffs.

I didin't want to make Tteobokki or Ddeokbokki since I don't have any fish cake and cabbage.

Tteokkochi//Ddeok-kkochi
adapted from http://koreanfood-koreanet.blogspot.com/2009/08/tteokkochi-and-rabboki.html

Ingredients:
50 pieces of rice cake (25 pieces if you use longer pieces)
10 skewers
water
oil

Sauce
2 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp honey (you can substitute for corn syrup)
1/2 tbsp sugar ( I used 1/2 tsp sugar, but it was still too sweet for me. My suggestion, skip the sugar)
1 tbsp onion juice ( you can get this by using a garlic mincer, I used 1/4 of onion and grated instead)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp cooking wine (Mirim in Korean or Mirin in Japanese) -> you can substitute for vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped peanuts
1 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:
1. In a pot, bring water to a boil and put the rice cakes in. Boil frozen rice cakes for 1 minutes or until soften. If they are not frozen, boil them for 30 seconds.
2. Drain the soften rice cakes.
3. Thread 4 or 5 rice cakes onto the skewer.
4. Pan- fry them until golden brown with a small amount of oil. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, you can make the sauce.
6. Coat cooked rice cakes with the sauce and ready to eat.


Sauce
Mix all sauce's ingredients in a sauce pan. At medium heat, bring to boil; stir occasionally.

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I finally posted a recipe of Lontong Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang or Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk with Rice Cakes as the last series of Eid ul Fitr dishes 2009.

Traditionally, lontong is made by partly cooking or soaking raw rice, draining and packing tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf packaging is fastened with bamboo picks and cooked in boiling water about 2 hours or so. Once, lontong is cooled and solid, you can cut lontong into bite-sized pieces.

Basically, lontong can be eaten with any kinds of soup/stew or sauce base. Whenever I visited my beloved maternal grandmother in Probolinggo, I always had bakso (Indonesian meatballs soup) with lontong. In Surabaya/Sidoarjo, there are ample of dishes that accompany with lontong. Sate ayam, lontong kupang, lontong mie, lontong cap gomeh, rujak cingur, gado-gado, lontong balap, tahu tek (known as tahu gunting), lontong kikil, you name it!

In this posting, you will find two separated recipes for making Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang and Lontong.

Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang
(Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk)
recipe by me
Ingredients:
500 g green pepaya, peeled and julienned
300 g medium size shrimps
2 lemongrass, bruised
3 cm galangal, bruised
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 tsp ground dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi)
2 pkgs cream coconut powder
1.5 L homemade shrimp stock*
oil to stir fry

Spices to grind into a paste
6 shallots
3 cloves garlics
3 red chillies
3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
1 tsp dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malay: belachan), roasted

Directions:
Preparation
*Homemade shrimp stock can be made ahead from shrimp heads and skins
Combine shrimp stock and 1 package of coconut cream powder; stir occasionally. Bring to a boil and set aside.

Cooking
1. Stir fry spices paste/ground ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, add salam leaves, galangals, and lemongrasses, cook for another 1 minutes until fragrant.

2. Add julienned pepayas another package of coconut cream powder, stir until mixed.

3. Add shrimp stock and shrimp, stir and boil for another 10 minutes or until the shrimps are done.

4. Serve with lontong, sambal and kerupuks (any kind of kerupuks, either tapioca or shrimp ones).



Lontong
(Rice Cake in Banana Leaves Wrapped)
adapted from an Indonesian cookbook "Variasi Menu Sehari-Hari" by Hayatinufus A. L. Tobing

Ingredients:
1.25 kgs rice, rinsed off and drained
about 20 sheets of banana leaves

Directions:
1. Take a sheet or 2 sheets of banana leaves. Roll leaves into 5 cm diameter log-shape. At the edge of the rolled leaves, fasten one side with a bamboo tooth pick. Through another side, fill 3-4tbsp rice into the rolled leaf. Fasten the other edge with a tooth pick. Redo it until all rice are filled into the roll leaves.

2. In a large pot, place all the uncooked lontong. Fill in with water until all lontong sunken.

3. Cook for 2-3 hours or untill all done. Add some more water if the water evaporates and is lessened.

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Tauco are salted fermented soybeans and pronounced tow chow. They were brought to Indonesia by Chinese immigrants. It has cooperated with Indonesian culinary for centuries. Each regions of Indonesia have different type of tauco.

It can be combined with fish, chicken, vegetable, tofu etc. Tauco are sold in whole and paste. It's similar to miso in Japanese cuisine.

Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco means stir fry bittermellon with anchovies and tauco. This doesn't categorize as special Eid ul-Fitr dish either. I wouldn't make this dish for Eid ul-Fitr if my husband didn't request it. For Indonesians, this is just daily food for accompanying the rice.

Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco
adapted from Yusy Wijaksa, modified by me

Ingredients
2 bittermelons, halve, discard the seed and cut into 3/4 cm thick
150 g frozen anchovies, thawed and baked/fried
4 tbsp tauco
1 tomato, diced
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 cm length galangal
2 green chilies, discard the seed and angle cut
1 tbsp ground bird eyes chilies*
salt and sugar to season (I didn't add this as the tauco is pretty salt for my tastebuds)
oil for stir-frying

Spices to grind:
5 shallots (If you use smaller size, use 8)
1 clove garlic

Directions:
1. Sprinkle salt over bittermelon and squeeze softly by hand until wilted.
2. Let bittermelon sit for 10 minutes, rinse off with water and drain.
3. Stir fry all the spices, except green chilies until fragrant. Add anchovies and bittermelon, cook until done.
4. Taste and season with salt and/or sugar as desired.

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