Sop or Sup is Indonesian word for Soup. Oxtail soup is one of my favourite soup. I sometimes created the oxtail soup into grilled oxtail soup. Fried oxtail soup is also another style of this one. However, I am trying not to have it, thou I know it's really tasty.

If you are my old time readers, you may read the old post of my Oxtail Soup with Spices or Sop Buntut Rempah.

I made this soup about almost two weeks ago and didn't post it as I need to use this recipe for participating "Masak Bareng Yuuk Event" with a theme Aneka Sup (English: Variety of Soups).



I had a different approach on making this soup by making the vegetable broth first.

You may need to wait for another post my recipe of Sambal Lado Uap (English: Minangese Steamed Green Chilies Sambal) next time

Sop Buntut
- Oxtail Soup -

Ingredients:
1.5 kgs oxtail, cut
water
1 large carrot, peeled
2 medium potatoes, rinse off, cubed and steamed
5 stalks Chinese celery (2 stalks are knotted, the other three are chopped)
2 tomatoes, cubed
2 leeks, take the white parts
3 green onions, sliced
1� tsp. white peppercorn
1 nutmeg, cracked
5 cloves



Directions:
Homemade Vegetable Broth
In a pot, bring 8 cups water, whole peeled carrot, white part leeks, 1/2 cracked nutmeg and 1/2 tsp white peppercorn to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer another 15 minutes.

2. Remove from the heat. Separate the carrot and cubed. Let the broth cool down.

Oxtail Soup
1. In a different pot, add 6 cup broth with herbs, oxtail, salt, the cloves and another half of cracked nutmeg. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the meat is tender, approximately 2-4 hours. Pour in some more vegetable broth instead of water when needed until they become tender. If you use a pressure cooker, the process will be faster.

2. Add cubed carrots and potatoes, chopped tomatoes and celery, green onions, and the rest of vegetable broth. Let them simmer for another 10 minutes

3. Ready to serve with warmed cooked rice, emping crackers, lime or calamansi and sambal lado uap.

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When I was 13 years old, our family moved to a residential area that had more Chinese descendants. My dad decided to move there since his work was remote to Surabaya.

In that area, I had more opportunity to know their culture, including the food. Take a look Tuty's blog, she mentioned all the goodies that I used to get from my neighbours when they celebrated Chinese New Year.

After graduating from high school, I moved to Bogor to continue my education where I met my good friend who has mixed blood of Chinese, Javanese and Sundanese. I recalled we loved to collect Chinese accessories and see barongsai (Lion's dance). Not only that, we love to eat noodle, Sundanese food and fish head.

Ohh well, time goes by so fast. I miss that old time! Not to mention that I got the day off because Chinese New Year is a public holiday in Indonesia. I know I am to late to say "Gong Xi Fa Chai" or "Selamat Tahun Baru Imlek" or Happy Chinese New Year.

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I have been making this snack so many times. Since I love spring rolls but sometimes when I bought them, I didn't get the appropriate flavour for my taste buds.

This snack is one of my favourite street foods in Indonesia. For the people who live in North America,  lumpia is related with Filipino's cuisine.  However, lumpia is also a word for spring roll in Indonesian, lumpia's term derives from lunpia in the Hokien dialect of Chinese.

Since Indonesia and the Phillipines are neighborhood country, we have some similarity in words, although we speak different language.

The same name doesn't mean the same filling.  Lumpia semarang is enhanced by shredded bamboo shoot and Indonesian favourite sweet soy sauce, kecap manis.

Some people that I gave a taste of lumpia semarang asked me, how I cooked the bamboo shoot without the nasty smell. The key is boil bamboo shoot in water with a small amount of sugar to kick the stink away.


Lumpia Semarang
Ingredients:
15 sheets spring roll warpper (size 215 mm x 215 mm)
500 g shredded fresh bamboo shoot
500 g peeled shrimp, chopped
2 tbsp ground dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
100 ml homemade shrimp broth (can be substituted for water and dried shrimp)
3 tbsp oil for stir frying

Brown sauce
250 ml water
6 cloves garlic, minced
85 g coconut sugar, shredded (Indonesian: gula merah; original recipe called for 100 g coconut sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp corn starch or tapioca flour dissolve in a small amount of water
bird eyes chilies, chopped

Directions:
Brown Sauce:
In a saucepan, bring water, coconut sugar, salt and garlic to a boil. Thicken with tapioca flour mixture, stir until mixed. Remove from heat and set aside.

Lumpia1. Cook bambo shoot with water and 1 tbsp sugar until boiled, drain. Stir fry garlic until fragrant, add shrimp, bamboo shoot, ground dried shrimp, oyster sauce, kecap manis, white pepper and salt. Add broth, cook until water evaporates.

2. Place 2- 3 tbsp filling on the wrapper. Fold over the corner that faces away from us. Brush brown sauce onto this corner for gluing. Fold over the left-facing and right-facing corners. Roll the lumpia toward us, onto the remaining corner of the wrapper. Examine the wrapper to ensure that it is fully sealed. Do until all filling and wrappers done.

3. Deep fry until golden brown.

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I have taken so many pictures lately, but didn't have time to post them on blogspot. Challenging my self to 365 days project is what I have been doing. This project is to explore more your photography skill by doing things that we don't like. 11-tips-to-succeed-with-a-photo365-project is a good source for your inspiration. You may take a peak to my 365 days project set on flickr as well.

Speaking about another picture that I haven't post, Cumi Bakar Kecap or Indonesian Grilled Squids with Sweet Soy Sauce is one of them. 

The simplest one is using kecap manis, lime juice and margarine.  Margarine is widely used in Indonesia for grilling and baking.  Cumi Bakar Kecap is easy to make and has various recipes on the internet.  The key is kecap manis.  We, Indonesians love our kecap manis [read: ketchup muneez] or known as sweet soy sauce.  We apply kecap manis for almost everything, stir fry, grill, etc.

See how my recipe is also different...

Cumi Bakar Kecap
- Indonesian Grilled Squids with Kecap Manis -
recipe by me

Ingredients:
500 grams squid,  cleaned and rinsed under cold water
2 calamansi, squeezed to get the juice
1 tsp sea salt

Marinated mixture:
3 cloves garlic, grated
3 candlenuts, grated
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
3 - 4 tbsp kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (instead of margarine, the one that is used by Indonesians for grilling)
1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Directions:
1. Marinate squids with calamansi juice and sea salt for 15 minutes, then drain.
2. Marinate squids with garlic, coriander, turmeric, candlenuts, white pepper, butter, and kecap manis
3. Grill or bbq them until done, one a while brush the squids with marinated mixture. Serve with warm cooked rice, vegetables and sambal.

Cook's Note:
If you can find any fresh calamansi, feel free to substitute for key lime or lime or nasnaran mandarin (known as leprous lime or jeruk sambal/jeruk limo in Indonesian).

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