Kakul is the Balinese term for freshwater snail. In Indonesian term, it's known as keong sawah. As you may notice that Indonesia is a country with many dialects, I have known two other names; kreco in Surabayan (East Javanese) and tutut in Sundanese (West Javanese).

This recipe was adapted from the Bali Cookbook by Lonny Gerungan. Lonny is a famous chef in the Netherlands. I bought this book few months ago through amazon.ca. For you who are interested to learn about Balinese cooking and not able to speak Indonesian, this is a perfect guide for you since the book is in English and written by a Balinese native.



Thou I'm an Indonesian native, I still have to learn about other foods from many different ethic groups. I know more about Sumatran and East Javanese cookings since those two are where my ancestors came from.

Lonny has described how he loves this dish. It brings his childhood memories in Bali. As he explained we have to suck the meat out of the shells and when we have done it, nine out of ten, the meat off course will shoot right into our throat. The soup is fun to eat.

Anyway, this spicy soup goes for Masbar October 2010 with a theme "Variety of Balinese Dishes". The recipe has been slightly changed from the original as I used more freshwater snails than the recipe was stated.


Kakul Mekuah
- Bali Style Frehswater Snail Soup -
serves 4


Ingredients:

• 1 lb (454 g) fresh water snails
• 2 1/4 tsp tamarind pulp
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin coconut oil
• 1.2 L water seasalt
• 7 salam (Indonesian bay) leaves

For the spice paste

• 8 toasted candlenuts
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp toasted terasi (dried shrimp paste)
• 1 1/2 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 4.8 oz (135 g) peeled shallots
• 0.7 oz (20 g) garlics, peeled
• 9 cayenne peppers (can be substituted for bird eyes chilies), sliced
• 1.4 oz (40 g or 6-cm long) fresh ginger, peeled 7 cm long fresh turmeric, peeled

Methods:

To make the spice paste, if you use a mortar and pestle, chop shallot, garlic, ginger and turmeric first.  Then, pound candlenuts, coriander, terasi and peppercorns to a fine paste.  Add shallots, garlic, chilies, ginger and turmeric; pound again to a paste.

Rinse off the snails with cold water and drain them.  Take the white parts of lemongrass, cut into 3-cm long and bruise them with side of a heavy knife.

Heat the oil in a wok and stri fry the spice paste for about 3 minutes.  Add water and season with seasalt.  Add snails, tamarind pulp, lemongrass, and salam leaves.  Simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes.  Serve with warm long grain rice.

Note:
If you live in Winnipeg and wonder where to get these freshwater snails, Young's sells them in the frozen section. On the package, it was saying "rice snails and made in Vietnam"

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Another spices recipes from Bali, Gods Island. This recipe was modified from my cookbook that I brought from Indonesia, Hidangan Ayam ala Resto by Sufi S.Y. In that cookbook, I saw a recipe Bebek Betutu which Bebek means duck in bahasa Indonesia. I modified by using chicken instead.

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs (750 g)
1 lime
banana leaves and aluminium foil to wrap

Spices to grind
2 lemongrasses, finely angle cut
4 lime kaffir leaves, finely sliced
1 tsp sugar
8 shallots
4 cloves garlic
6 bird's eye chili (original recipe used red chilies)
5 candlenuts, toasted
1/2 cm ginger, finely sliced
1 tsp ground turmeric (original recipe used 3 cm fresh turmeric)
4-5 cm kaempferia galangal (original recipe used 3 cm kaempferia galangal)*
1 tbsp coriander seed, toasted
1 tsp dried shrimp paste (original recipe used 1/2 tsp dried shrimp paste)**
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt as desired

Note:
* kaempferia galangal is what Indonesians call kencur and don't get confused with galangal which translated as lengkuas or laos in bahasa Indonesia
** dried shrimp paste is translated as terasi in bahasa Indonesia or belacan in Malay.

Directions:
1. Drizzle all over the chicken with lime and rub with salt. Let stand for 30 minutes. Clean up chicken with tub water, drain and wipe off with clean cloth.
2. Place all spices to grind in a food processor or hand blender. Grind/blend until smooth.
3. Rub chicken with ground spices. Place in banana leaves and wrap it up, then wrap the chicken in banana leaves with aluminium foil. Keep in a fridges for 2 hours or so. In my case, I kept it for 24 hours.
4. Steam for an hour and continue cooking by baking in the oven for an hour at 325F.

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This dish is named after the island of Bali, which some pople do not realize is part of Indonesia. This lack of knowledge often upsets me.

This is one of my comfort food. Absolutely spicy!!!

Category:		Fish and Shellfish
Style:		Indonesian

Ingredients:
� 500 grams fish (you can use red snapper, mackerel, pomfret, milkfish, grouper, cod or seabass; I myself added seabass fillets)
� 1 lemongrass, bruised
� 1 cm galangal, bruised
� 2 salam (Indonesian bay) leaves
� 3 kaffir lime leaves
� 1 lime, squeeze to get the juice
� 1 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce
� 1 tsp water
� 200 ml water
� oil, to stir sry

Spices to grind/puree:
� 5 red chilies, disacard the seed (I subtituted for sambal ulek)
� 8 shallots
� 4 gloves garlics
� 4 candlenuts
� 1 cm ginger
� salt as desired

Directions:
� Drizzle lime juice over and rub salt on the fillets. Set aside and let stand for 30 minutes. Clean with tap water and drain.
� Stir fry pureed/ground spices until fragrant, add galangal, lemongrass, salam leaves and kaffir lime leaves; stir evenly. Add water and Indonesian sweet soy sauce.
� Add the fillet, cook until fish broth comes out, the spices arbsorbs and thicken. Remove from heat.
� Serve with warm rice or nasi kuning

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