From the name siomay, you can tell this food had an influence from the Chinese who immigrated to Indonesia long time ago.  A word of siomay itself is derived from shaomai (also spelled shui mai, shu mai, sui mai, sui maai, shui mei, siu mai, shao mai, siew mai or siomai), the traditional Chinese dumpling.  Siomay (or Somay) has an ice cream cone shape, except the bottom is flat.

This kind of dim sum is a popular meal in Indonesia as a street/hawker food.  The difference between Chinese traditional dimsum with the Indonesian is the sauce.  We enjoy siomay with peanut sauce that has a kick from chili and drizzle with citrus juice (usually from jeruk limo (aka nasnaran mandarin or leprous lime) or jeruk purut (aka kaffir lime).

Most Indonesians use king mackerel fish (ikan tenggiri) meat for the filling.  But, you can find other filling variants such as shrimp or chicken or different type of fish.  For my recipe, I used featherback fish (ikan belida) paste.  Ikan belida was traditionally used by Palembangese (South Sumatrans) for making kerupuk (crackers), pempek (fish cake with tamarind sauce) and otak-otak (grilled fish cake wrapped in banana leaves).   I'm attaching the picture of ikan belida paste below.

Other complements to siomay bandung are hard boiling eggs, afilled cabbage, potatoes, bitter melon, and tofu.

As some of you know that I'm not a big fan of hard boiled eggs, I never add them to my plate.  In this case, I totally forgot to buy fresh tofu and potato, so I used tofu puffs and skipped the potato.

Note: I slightly change the NCC's recipe to my liking.  I used almost all roasted ingredients.   Find the tips for making easier sambal kacang below the recipe.

Siomay Bandung
-Bandung Style Steamed Dumplings with Peanut Sambal-
recipe by NCC (Natural Cooking Club), modified and translated by me
Ingredients:
500 g featherback fish (ikan belida) paste -> can be substituted for other white fish or shrimp or chicken
2 tsbp shallots, grated
1 tbsp mashed roasted garlic -> NCC: grated garlic
2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp dried shrimp (ebi), ground -> NCC: chicken bouillon
1 tsp fish sauce -> my idea
2 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsbp sesame oil
3 eggs
400 g chayotte or jicama, shredded
450 g tapioca starch

round wonton skins
bittermelon
cabbage
tofu puffs







Featherback Fish (Ikan Belida) Paste

Sambal Kacang (Peanut Sambal)
400 g garlicky roasted peanuts
100 g garlicky roasted cashew nuts
150 g red cayenne pepper (reduce the amount to your liking), roasted
3 cloves roasted garlic, mash with a spoon
2 tbsp canesugar vinegar
2 tbsp salt
7 tbsp coconut sugar (gula jawa, gula merah)
500 g baked sweet potato (about 2 regular size sweet potatoes), peeled
1.5 L water

Methods:
1. In a big bowl, combine fish paste with shallot, garlic, white pepper, dried shrimp, fish sauce, sugar, salt and sesame seed oil.  Then add egg and mix well.

2 Add chayotte or jicama, mix well. Add tapioca starch and mix well again. Set aside.

3. Steam all of these below for about 20-30 minutes. Grease the steamer with very small amount of oil if you need, so the dumplings won't be sticky.

--> Siomay:
Take one piece of the wonton skin, scoop 1 tbsp of filling on the centre of the skin. Shape the siomay using hands and leave the top open. Repeat the step until all wonton skin are used up. Steam for 20-30 minutes.

--> Tofu and Potato Soybean Cake & Potato:
Cut in half and scrape a portion of tofu & potato side and fill it in with the filling. Do the same step if you use tofu puffs.

--> Bitter Melon
Cut in 3 to 4 pieces. I cut up to 5 pieces since the bittermelon size is quite bigger here. Scrape the seed portion and fill it in with the base filling.

--> Cabbage:
Many recipes suggested to dip the leaves in to hot water for a few seconds since they don't fill the cabbage leaves with fish paste mixture. I prefer using the Ukrainian way of making holubtsi (cabagge roll). Steam the whole head of cabbage until soften. Cut the leaves off of the cabbage and cut the larger leaves in half. Spoon 1 tablespoon of filling into a leaf and roll tightly. Place rolls in a prepared casserole dish. Ready for steaming.

--> Egg
Hard boiled eggs split in half, paste on a mixture of fish.

Sambal Kacang (Peanut Sambal)
1. Process peanuts and cashew nuts in a food processor until smooth (I like a bit crunchy, everyone who loves smoother texture can process a bit longer). Transfer into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Process red cayenne pepper and garlic until smooth. Add sweet potato and process again. Add ground nuts; process. Add salt, vinegar, sugar and combine again. Do a taste test, if it's perfect for your tastebuds then it's ready to serve.

Seving suggestions: place all dumpling on a plate, cut to bite sizes if you like. Add peanut sambal and drizzle over the juice of leprous lime or kaffir lime, kecap manis and ketchup. I usually serve another side of chili sambal if people want to have more heat.

Tips:
* Use ready to use natural peanut and cashew butter from a store.  I like using the natural ones since there is no other additions beside the nuts and salt.  Some natural health stores in Winnipeg offer a service for us to grind the unsalted roasted peanuts that we buy there.

*In this recipe, I made my own garlicky roasted peanuts and cashew nuts.  Soak the nuts in warm water with lots of mashed garlics, add a bit of salt if you like.  Leave them overnight.  The next morning, drain them and roast in a pan with extra virgin coconut oil (add just enough, don't put too much).  Before the nuts turn golden brown (about a half of roasting time), add garlic slices.

* You can always roast the cayenne pepper with the whole head of garlics.  If you have a left over roasted garlic, you can apply for your toast or spice up others foods.

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Growing up in the country where sambal is in every corner of food stalls or restaurants, I enjoy making my own sambal since moving to Canada.  Every household has a different style of sambal terasi and my family used to enhance with bilimbi as we grew a bilimbi tree on the backyard.  Sambal terasi belimbing sayur/wuluh (sambal terasi with bilimbi) was one of my fave sambals.

In my parents' house, sambal was served daily on the dining table, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  At that time, sambal terasi was usually making fresh before lunch by my family's helper.  Yes! Sambal terasi rule! It has to be there for daily condiment.  We enjoy it with fresh raw or blanched vegetables (lalapan) and grilled or fried fish/chicken/duck/tofu/tempe.  I also love adding it into my soup.

Note: If there are many Filipino immigrants in your city, a chance to get bilimbi at Asian market is greater. They call this small fruit as "kamias".

Sambal Terasi with Bilimbi
- Sambal Terasi Belimbing Sayur/Wuluh

Ingredients:

• 150 g long red cayenne peppers (Indonesian: cabai merah keriting)
• 5 -10 bird eyes chilies (more or less depend how spicy you want)
• 6 bilimbis, sliced � since I used the frozen ones, I put more bilimbis
• 2 1/2  tbsp terasi (dried shrimp paste)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
• seasalt as desired
• sugar if you like, but I don�t add any

Methods:I usually roast/toast everything except bilimbi, salt and sugar.  The reason why I do that, I make a big batch; so I tripled or more the recipe, keep it in a jar and store the jar in the fridge.

Slice the chilies before roasting.  In a baking pan, place sliced chilies and terasi.  Drizzle coconut oil over and roast in oven at 350F about 5 minutes or so.

After the roasting process, pound or crush or grind the chilies and terasi.  The best way to make sambal is using a pestle and mortar.  Add bilimbi, salt and sugar. Pound again until mix. Some people like to add a small amount of coconut/palm sugar or sugar.

Ready to serve. Selamat Makan (Bon app�tit)!

» Read More...

Tempe or tempeh is an Indonesian soybean cake. In order making sambal tumpang, you need tempe semangit. Semangit is derived from a word "sangit" which is meant less pleasant odour. A word "semangit" usually is followed after a word "tempe", and known as Tempe semangit. What is tempe semangit and is it different from tempe?

Tempe semangit can be categorized as an old or rotten tempe. What did I mean by old or rotten tempe? First of all, I will explain briefly the process on making tempe. You will need cooked soybeans, then add Rhizopus, a mold that helps soybeans to ferment for 24 hours. When the fermentation process is done, it binds the soybeans into a compact white cake. According my internet research, it will take more than 24 hours to ferment cooked soybeans into tempe in North America; it's about 36-48 hours.

Tempe is a protein alternative resource for vegetarians or vegans. Back when I was in Indonesia, tempe is a cheap protein resource and totally different since I moved to Canada; tempe becomes an expensive protein choice. Tempe is not only rich in essential amino acids, it is also high in vitamin B12.

When the tempe has undergone the fermentation more than a day and untreated, it will be overly ripe or rotten and known as tempe busuk or semangit because the smell is dreadful. But it doesn't make the tempe become useless. The Javanese seeks and uses it for cooking sambal or adding to a vegetable dish. Please see closely the different profile of tempe and tempe semangit.


The one on the right hand corner of each photo is tempe semangit

There are two places in Java that claimed Sambal Tumpang as their dish, Kediri (East Java) and Solo (Central Java). However, both places have a slightly different way in the recipe and serving. In Central Java, sambal tumpang is added with other protein resources such as beef, tofu as well as vegetables ("it tastes better with petai - stinky beans" said my friend Haley) while in East Java this sambal is pure made from a combination of 75% old tempe and 25% fresh/frozen good tempe. In this post, I will include the Eastern Javanese way for sambal tumpang.

In East Java, sambal tumpang is drizzled over pecel (Java style salad with peanut sauce). On the other hand, in Central Java, sambal tumpang is a side dish that is eaten with warmed cooked rice and boiled vegetables; no pecel to company.

Sambal Tumpang
- Java Style Old Tempe Sambal -

Ingredients:
200 g tempe semangit (use fresh or frozen tempe if you can't find tempe semangit)
1 cm galangal, bruised
2 Indonesian bay (salam) leaves
200 ml coconut milk
1 cup (250 mL) water

Spices to be ground:
45 g peeled shallots
5 g peeled garlics
1 cm peeled kencur/kaempeferia galangal (substitute for 1/2 tsp kencur powder)
6 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
1 tsp toasted coriander seed
1/2 tsp terasi/dried shrimp paste (optional)
1 candlenut (substitute for macadamia nut)
3 red cayenne peppers (Indonesian: cabe merah keriting)
1 bird eye chili
seasalt

Methods:
1. Pound or chop tempe semangit with a pestle or a chopper.

2. In a pot, add pounded tempe, ground spices, salam leaves, galangal and water. Cook until a boil. Then turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 -10 more minutes or until the spices absorb.

3. Add coconut milk, stir occasionally and bring to re-boil. Remove from the heat. Serve with pecel and warm cooked rice.

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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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Cassava (Manihot esculenta), also called yuca or manioc, is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America. There are two names for cassava in Indonesian, singkong and ubi kayu. According to wikipedia, it is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates.

There are many different recipes of this cassava cake. This snack is popular among most SE Asian nations. If you are a reader or follower of SE Asian food bloggers, you will notice that the Filipino has this classic dish as well as Indonesian and Malaysian. I recalled back when I was reading mbak Wien's blog, she said "this cake is a recipe of my mother's mainstay." Yet, I don't follow her recipe as I brought this cake to my laws for the Thanksgivng dinner, so I wanted to have a richer taste by adding more condensed milk, cheese and reducing the sugar. Some people also like adding coconut meat/flesh in the cake.

There are ample fresh cassava roots for purchase at Asian stores and Superstore, but I was too lazy to peel and grate so I just bought frozen grated cassava.

Kue Singkong Keju
- Cassava Cheese Cake -

Ingredients:
Batter:
2 packs grated cassava
400 mL coconut milk (use thin coconut milk for lighter taste)
1/2 can condensed milk
2 free run eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used white cheddar cheese)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (depend on how sweet do you want)

Topping:
melted butter
grated cheese
condensed milk

Methods:
1.  Preheat oven at 350 F
2.  Combine the grated cassava, butter, condensed milk, vanilla, cheese, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly
3.  Add the coconut milk and stir well to combine.
4.  Grease the baking dish then pour the batter mixture.
5.  Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6.  Take the baking dish out.  Brush melted butter on top of the cake.  Sprinkle grated cheese and drizzle condensed milk over.
7.  Broil the cassava cake until colour turns light brown.

» Read More...

With many different style of chicken noodle soup in the country (depend on the region off course), this one was not the soup that I grew up. Yet, I felt in love right away!

Being raised in Java island (thou my dad originally was from Medan), I wasn't aware of this Peranakan street food until I heard from many foodies who live in Medan. Thanks to Jun of Indo-Chine Kitchen for the recipe. I still have to learn a lot about Peranakan cooking in Medan from you, Jun.

To describe this dish, it's like describing Medan; a city where has a perfect blend of Chinese, Malay and Indian descendants in Indonesia. This chicken noodle soup has more flavour compare to the one that I used to have in Java. The aroma of cinnamon, clove, star anise, nutmeg, cardamom was flavouring the air when I cooked the broth.

For this recipe, I also recommended using green cardamom that has more flavour compare to the black one. I slightly changed some measurements to my preferably palate. I didn't deep fry the chicken, but broiled it instead.

Mie Sop Ayam Medan
- Medan-Style Chicken Noodle Soup -
adapted from Indo-Chine Kitchen

Ingredients
Spices to be ground
15 g (about 3 cloves) garlic
50 g (about 2) shallots
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tbsp sea salt
3/4 cm fresh gingerroot, peeled
2 candlenuts (you may use macadamia nuts if there no candlenuts)

Whole spices for broth
1 star anise
2 cm length cinnamon stick
4 pieces cloves
1/2 nutmeg
1 -2 green cardamoms

Other ingredients
2 L water for broth
2 leg-thighs (you can add more chicken bones to have deeper chicken taste)
50 g Chinese celery (divide into two, chopped finely for condiments and the other half for broth)
2 green onions (same as above)
150 g tomato (quartered)
150 g jicama (quartered), can be substituted for carrot
150 g yellow fresh/dry egg noodles (I used fresh ramen)
150 g dried rice vermicelli
fried shallot flakes
red and white tapioca crackers (fried till fluffy)
slices of lime (optional)
sambal cabai hijau/green chilies (optional)

Methods:
In a large stock pot, boil water and add star anise, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom. Boil over high heat for 10 minutes. Lower heat to a simmer

Grind the spices till smooth using a spice grinder (or pound away with mortar and pestle). In a skillet, heat 1/4 cup of vegetable cooking oil and quickly stir fry the ground spices till turned brown, for about 5 � 7 minutes.

Add the spices into the stock pot, and throw in tomato, jicama and chicken. Turn the heat to medium. Cook for another 10 minutes or till boiling. Reduce heat to a simmer and remove the chicken breast from the broth. Add celery and spring onion to the broth

Broil chicken leg-thighs for 2-3 minutes till the skin turned brown and crunchy. Shred the chicken meat to small pieces or cube them.

Prepare the egg noodles and vermicelli by blanching them quickly with hot water for 2 � 4 minutes and drain well.

Remove the tomato, whole spices, jicama, spring onion and celery from the broth before serving.

To serve, first put cooked egg noodles and vermicelli in a deep dish or bowl. Add chicken bits and chopped celery and spring onions on top. Pour the boiling broth on top of the noodles. Add one tablespoon of sweet soy sauce and one teaspoon of tomato sauce. Sprinkle some shallot flakes and crackers. Serve with green chili sambal.

Note :
I still served the jicama and tomato on top as well.

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Cantik means pretty while manis means sweet. It's straight forward translated from its name. Even though the name is cantik manis, I reduced the sugar amount from the recipe that I saw in my Yasa Boga cookbook. It's very easy to make, no steaming or baking process. Cantik manis is also popular during Ramadan in Indonesia. Usually, there are evening markets that sold traditional goodies before the Iftar time, so people can buy and bring them for breaking their fast at home or mosque.

Anybody who wants to participate in Joy From Fasting To Feasting (season-III) who is hosted by Lubna Karim, feel free to click the link above. You don't have to be a Muslim to join the event. The more the merrier, don't you think?




Originally, these little cute dessert cakes are wrapped individually in thick plastics or banana leaves. However, I couldn't find thick plastic wrappers and too lazy to thaw and shape my frozen banana leaves. I used my bite-size brownie squares 24-cavity silicone and putu ayu moulds. Below is the pictures.






Cantik Manis
- Indonesian Sweet Pretty Cakes -

Ingredients:
� 100 g colourful sago/tapioca pearls (Indonesian: biji mutiara)
� 50 g mung bean flour (Indonesian tepung hunkwe)*
� 500 mL coconut milk (If you use a 400 mL coconut milk in a can, just add another 100 mL water)
� � tsp salt
� 90 g sugar (the recipe calls for 100 g)
� 1 pandan leaf, knotted
� banana leaves or plastic sheets, for wrapping (I used moulds)



Methods:
� In a boiling water, put sago pearls and cook until done and transparent and strain.
� Dilute mung bean flour with some parts of coconut milk and set aside.
� Boil remaining coconut milk and pandan leaf with salt, then add mung bean flour mixture and stir. Add sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add sago pearls, stir well and remove from heat.
� Pour the mixture into moulds. Leave to cool. Unmould the cakes and serve.

Cook's Note:
* For people who can't find tepung hunkwe, you may substitute for the Korean mung bean starch by reducing the amount of mung bean flour that I used in this recipe.


Mung bean flour is known as tepung hunkwe in Indonesian. However, there is a bit different with the Korean mung bean starch on the right hand side picture. If you notice tepung hunkwe is translated as flour not starch since it's mixed with vanilla. The Korean one is pure starch.

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Anybody remember the folk song of binte bilihuta? It's not only a song title, binte biluhuta is a corn soup from Gorontalo.

Gorontalo province is known as the largest corn producer in Indonesia. Beside as an export commodity, sweet corns are main ingredients in the Gorontalo signature food, Binte Biluhuta. In addition to corns, this dish is also used other main ingredients, such as cakalang (known as skipjack tunas), tenggiri (king fish mackerels) and shrimps. Binte biluhuta or milu siram is a soup base dish that has very unique flavour. Sweetness from the corns, sourness from bilimbi and lime, hot from chilies. If you desire to complete the taste with bitterness, you may add chopped papaya leaves. The dish is very suitable during the cold weather, especially for those who are catching the flu.

You may wonder why I made this whilst it's summer now. Don't you think it will be too hot to enjoy this. Winnipeg's weather is entering the fall.  Some days are hot and the other days are gloomy, rain and cold. I chose making this soup in the gloomy weather since I still have had fresh corns.

In the local language, binte or milu means corn, biluhuta mean flush or pour. I guess, I can translate binte biluhuta as corn soup.

Gorontalo is located on the northern part of Sulawesi island and was established in December 2000 after splitting from North Sulawesi province. No wonder if this dish uses cakalang and lemon basils which are popular in Manadonese food as well.

Again, I said I'm lucky enough, surround by the Filipino community.  I can find frozen cakalang at Asian stores. You got to know the science names in order to find fish names in other languages. Through this fishbase list, I found the Tagalog's name for cakalang. Thou many Indonesian sources stated that cakalang has a bigger size than tongkol (another variety of tuna which is very popular in the west part of Indonesia), cakalangs in Winnipeg are sold in big and small sizes.



Binte Biluhuta - Milu Siram
- Gorontalo Corn Soup -
recipe by Hayatinufus Tobing, modified and translated by me

Ingredients:

• 425 g sweet corn kernels
• 300 g cakalang*
• 200 g peeled small or medium size shrimps
• 100 g frozen grated coconut
• 1 L water
• 4 shallots (8 shallots for smaller size), thinly sliced
• 0 bilimbi, sliced
• 25 lemon basils
• 4 key limes

Spices to be ground:

• 3 long red cayenne pepper
• 5 bird eyes chilies (add more if you are able to handle spicy food)
• seasalt

Directions:
For Broiled Cakalang:
1. Clean and rinse off the cakalang under running water.
2. Drizzle 2 key limes over and rub with salt. Set aside for 15 minutes.
3. Broil each side for 2 minutes at high. Cool down and shred the meat by hand.

For Binte Biluhuta:
1. In a pot, add water, corns and ground spices until the corn cooked.
2. Add grated coconut, shallots and bilimbi. Cook for the next 15 minutes.
3. Add shrimp and cakalang shredded; simmer for the next 5 minutes. Drizzle 2 key limes and add lemon basil. Stir and remove from the heat. Ready to serve.

Cook's Note:
* Feel free to substitute for cans of skipjack tuna if you can't find fresh/frozen cakalang (skipjack tuna)

» Read More...

Longing to make this Ayam Garo Rica for so long! Ayam Garo Rica (Manadonese Chili and Lemon Basil Chicken). In the local dialect, Garo means stir fry and Rica means chili pepper.

All I had to do was being patience until my red long cayenne pepper grown more. Yes... I was yielding long red cayenne pepper, lemon basil and turmeric leaves from the pots before they get hit by the cold weather.

The long red cayenne pepper is very useful for Indonesian cooking. To the best of my knowledge, there are two variants of long cayenne pepper that we use in Indonesia. One is cabai merah keriting (curly red); the fruit has a smaller diameter compare to the other one, cabai merah besar (big red). The curly one is slimmer, dense and has a wavy shape. In term of taste, curly red cayenne pepper is more spicy than the big red ones. In this recipe, I used the curly type.

I was messaging Ellen back forward whom native to North Sulawesi and lives in England to get more knowledge about her Manadonese or Minahasan specialty food. This is what I quoted from one of her posting.

"Manadonese or Minahasan almost never use coriander, cumin and kaempferia galangal (or kencur) in food. The basic spices that we call "bumbu" mainly use garlic, shallot, a bit turmeric, lots of ginger, lots of lemon grass, lemon basil, tomato, tons of chillies, pandan leaf, mint leaf, daun tebal (Coleus Amboinicus. Lour) similar to thyme or oregano, kaffir lime leaf, cloves, nutmeg, mace and white peppercorn."

I found out also that Manadonese food applies many kind of leafy ingredients that I have never known before. For example:

- Daun Gedi
  Botanical name: Hibiscus manihot L.
  Other names:
  * English: Edible hibisus
  * Indonesian: Daun dedi, Daun belender
  * Tagalog: Lagikuway
  * Thai: Po fai

- Daun Leilem
  Botanical name: Clerondendrum minahassae
  Native to Minahasa (Indonesia) and the Philippines
  Other names:
  * English: White glory bower

- Daun Pangi
  Botanical name: pangium edule
  Other names:
  * Indonesian: daun keluwak

- Daun Nasi
  Botanical name: Halopegia blumei (Koern.)K.Schumann
  Other names:
  Indonesian: Daun patat (Sundanese), jelantir (Javanese), langkuwas (Kangean)

- Daun Tebal
  Botanical name: Coleus amboinicus Lour
  Other names:
  * English: Country borage, Indian mint, Mexican mint, Cuban oregano
  * Indonesian: Bangun-bangun (North Sumatra), daun kucing, daun kambing
  * Chinese: Zuo shou xiang, yin du bo he, dao shou xiang
  * Japanese: Kuuban oregano
  * Vietnamese: Tan day la

- Daun Werot
  This leafy plant is quite unique, because most people know as an ornamental plant, croton varieties. But, the Minahasan uses for cooking croton varieties of plants. This leaf is added to reduce odour of beef, chicken, pork, and water buffalo.
  Botanical name: Codiaeum variegatum
  Other names:
  * English: Garden croton

Woooo, what a long list for leaf seasonings. Let's move on to the recipe. Make sure, you click read more.

Ayam Garo Rica
- Manadonese Chili and Lemon Basil Chicken -
recipe by Ikaray, modified by me

Ingredients:
500 g chickens (thighs and drumsticks)
1/2 cup lemon basil (or you can use thai basil)
10 kaffir lime leaves, torn
3 pandan leaves, thinly sliced
2 turmeric leaves, thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup frozen ground lemon grass (available at Asian markets)-> originally, it was used 2 lemongrass and thinly sliced
5 calamansis
3 tbsp EV coconut oil
sea salt
1/2 tsp sugar to season

Spices to be ground:
6 shallots (use 10 shallots for smaller size)
10 long red cayenne pepper
10 bird eye chilies
3 cm peeled ginger
1/2 tsp seasalt

Methods:
1. In a medium bowl, drizzle 2 calamansis and sprinkle sea salt over chicken. Set a side for 15 minutes in the fridge.

2. At medium-high, heat oil in a wok. Stir fry ground spices until fragrant.

3. Add chicken, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, panda leaves, and turmeric leaves; stir well.

4. Reduce to low heat, place the lid on and let chicken simmer until tender and cook through

5. Open the lid and continue simmering. Add sea salt and sugar to season, taste.

6. Add lemon basil and green onion, cook until the mixture is slightly thicken.

7. Remove from heat, drizzle 3 calamansis over and mix well.

Serve with steamed rice.

Resources of the herbs: Many sources from the internet

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Can you believe that I made this dish in a microwave. Our AC didn't work (and still doesn't, the maintenance guy is still on holiday), in order to reduce the heat, I made the soup with microwave. It was really hot here. About 32 �C with the humidex feel like 40 �C.

Since this dish came from North Sulawesi (Manado), an ethnic group of Indonesia that has a large Christian population, the soup traditionally uses pork bones. For you who don't consume pork, you may substitute for beef ribs or marrow or oxtail.

My husband is a pesco vegetarian, so I made the soup into vegetarian version. Just a little bit background about pesco vegetarian. Pesco-vegetarianism, also called pescetarianism, is the practice of a diet that includes seafood and excludes other animals. In addition to fish and/or shellfish, a pescetarian diet typically includes some or all of vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs and dairy.

In the original recipe, it didn't add any mushroom or mushroom broth. It was just my idea to substitute the meat and meat based broth.

As updated on August 15, 2010, I added the method for making this soup with the meat based broth.

Sup Brenebon
- Manadonese Red Kidney Bean Soup -
recipe by Ikaray, modified and translated by me

Ingredients:
150 g red kidney beans (I added more beans about 300 g), soak in water for 3 hours
1.5 L water, for cooking the beans
500 g pork hocks (substitute these for beef ribs, marrow or oxtail if you don't eat pork. I myself used 250 g cubed king oyster mushroom)
1.5 L homemade veggies and shittake mushroom broth (If you are going to use beef or pork, use 1.5 L water)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 nutmeg, grated (can be used 2 tsp ground nutmeg)
6 cloves
1 tsp margarine (I used unsalted butter)
2 green onions, finely sliced
fried shallot, for garnish

Methods:
For Vegetarian Version:
1. Boil red kidney beans in 1.5 L water until tender but not mushy. It will be faster if you use a pressure cooker. Drain the cooked beans.

2. In a pot, add the mushroom broth and cooked beans; bring to a boil.

3. Meanwhile stir fry onion and garlic in butter. Add chopped king oyster mushroom, nutmeg, and ground white pepper, then continue sauteing until the mushroom tender.

4. Transfer the sauteing mixture to the pot. Add cloves, stir. Taste the soup and add sea salt as you need. Simmer for the next 15 minutes. Ready to serve and garnish with green onions and fried shallot.

For the beef/pork version:
1. Prepare two pots. In pot 1, cook soaked red kidney beans with 1.5 L water until tender but not mushy. In pot 2, make meat based broth by boiling beef/pork with another 1.5 L water. After the pot 2 is boiling, simmer for next 10 minutes and remove from heat.

2. After the beans are tender, transfer to pot 2. Start pot 2 to simmer again while you are stir frying onion and garlic in butter. Add nutmeg, and ground white pepper.

3. Transfer the sauteing mixture to the pot. Add cloves, stir. Taste the soup and add sea salt as you need. Simmer for the next 15 minutes. Ready to serve and garnish with green onions and fried shallot.

Cook's Note:
I have changed the direction of cooking as well since I didn't use any beef or pork products.

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Have you ever seen this herb before? It does look like fingers growing out of a center piece and the reason why it is called Fingerroot in English. This herb is known as Temu Kunci in Indonesian and I have tasted ever since I can remember.

Fingerroot is popular as a medicinal and culinary herb in China and Southeast Asia. It has a strong and dominating flavour. Many people would think to classify this as a medical due that reason. The fingers and the central, globular part of the rhizome have different odour.

Temu Kunci is mostly used in Javanese cuisine, but I haven't found any recipes from other regions of Indonesia using this herb. I surely will share with you two Javanese dishes that I ate for lunch while I was still young and lived in my parents' house. If you wonder what those foods are, please do come back for my two next postings.

Meanwhile, you can look through other common names of this plant.
Botanical name: Boesenbergia rotunda (L.)
English: Chinese ginger, Chinese key, Lesser ginger
German: Chinesischer Ingwer, Fingerwurz
Indonesian: Temu kunci
Thai: Ka-aen, Wan-phraathit, Khingsai khingkaeng, Ka chai, Kra chai
Vietnamese: B?ng nga tru?t, C� ng�i

Source: Wikipedia and Gernot Katzer's Spices Pages

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Tahu Bacem is perfect for summer BBQ. Instead of buying tofu or vegetarian burger at the stores for your vegetarian guests, why you don't try to make this Tahu Bacem. Many recipes of this sweet marinated tofu apply frying process. However, some people like to BBQ them on top of the charcoal.

People on the other part of the planet might think Java is something related to coffee. The reason why I translated Tahu Bacem as Java Marinated Tofu was, this recipe is popular among the Javanese. Javanese especially the ones who are from Central Java tend to cook sweeter food compare to the ones who live in East Java.

One day, I saw there are marinated tofu packages ready to grill/bbq for sale at a health product store. I bought a package of them. When I tried, it did taste like this tahu bacem.

Since then, I always say it's better to make my own tahu bacems in a big batch then grill them whenever I need. Plus, it costs me cheaper. In this recipe, I will broil them.

How do the Indonesians eat them? Enjoy them as a snack along with biting small pieces of bird eye chilies.

Once again, I approved that it will be easier to be a vegetarian if you are Asian! Many Indonesian recipes that I know are vegetarian and gluten free friendly. I'm not a vegetarian, but I used to be when I was at university for almost 2 years.

Tahu Bacem
Java Marinated Tofu

Ingredients:
2 packages (800 g) extra firm tofu (choose Asian style one), cut into smaller bite pieces*
1 L (2.5 cans) young coconut water (substitute for any broth or water if you don't have)
200 g palm or coconut sugar, shaved or microwaved
4 Indonesian bay leaves (salam leaves)
2 tsp tamarind pulp
a small amount oil for broiling

Spices to be ground:
4 shallots (if you use the small size as the one in Indonesia, take 7 shallots)
3 cloves garlic
3 cm long galangal (can be substituted for ground one)
3 toasted candlenuts (use macadamia nuts if you don't have it)
1 tbsp ground coriander, toasted
seasalt as desired




Directions:
1. In a dutch oven, place ground spices, cut tofus, palm or coconut sugars, salam leaves, tamarind pulp and young coconut water.

2. On the stove, at high heat temperature, bring the mixture to a boil. Once, the mixture bubbling, reduce to low-medium heat.


3. Stir occasionally and cook until the liquid dissolves. Remove from heat.


After Braising Process

4. Move the rack in your oven to the top-most setting. Select high broil mode on the oven. Grease the baking pan with a very small amount cooking oil. Place the braised tofus on the broiler pan and put the pan on top of the rack. Broil about 2-3 minutes for each side of tofus. Every oven has a different heat, so you can adjust the time for broiling. You may barbecue them instead of broiling. The result is supposed to be dark brown and crispy on the edges.

Tips:
* You can cut tofus into bigger size as the size of your burger buns. But, keep the thickness about 1 cm.

*To braise the tofu, you can use your slow cooker.

* After this braising process, you can keep them in a container and put it in the fridge. When you ready for bbq, just take whatever you need.

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I realized some of my Indonesian readers don't know about Cuka Lahang (Canesugar Vinegar). This vinegar is used in West Java area more, especially for sate mariggi (Cianjur or Purawakarta Beef Sate).

Another vinegar that I like to use is Cuka Aren (Nypa Sap Vinegar). Unfortunately, Nypa sap vinegar is no longer popular in Indonesia. The people like the chemical white vinegar more.

In which I disagree with those people choice. I pick these two vinegars over a white vinegar. The reason is, first of all, I hate white vinegar (I come to the point that I really can't stand the taste and smell). Secondly, they are naturally fermented from plant resources, canesugar (Indonesian: tebu) and nypa-sap (Indonesian: nira aren/enau).

Living in Winnipeg, it makes me easy to find South East Asian stuffs. These two vinegars are product of the Philippines and also popular among Filipino community. So, I don't need to buy these at the special stores, just go to any Superstores in town.

For those who follow a Halal diet. These vinegars are also safe to consume since they have a halal label on the bottles.

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Gulai Kerapu Tauco is very interesting combination dish. Indonesian gulai is influenced by South Indian cuisine especially curry and by adding fermented salted soy bean sauce/paste (or tauco), it makes this dish very fusion. Tauco is a part of Peranakan ingredients in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, there are two terms that refer to Chinese descendants, Peranakan and Totok*:

1. Peranakan is a term for people of Chinese descent who were born in Indonesia and have blended into the local culture. A peranakan usually has an Indonesian name and can't speak Mandarin. However, it has been changing lately. I know ample younger generation of Peranakan go to school that is taught in three languages; Indonesian, English and Mandarin.

2. Totok refers to Chinese people who were born in China and maintain strong links to mainland China. The term now also includes Chinese Indonesians raised with strong Chinese traditions, and usually speak Mandarin.

When did these Chinese immigrants move to archipelago (Indonesia)? According an article from the Jakarta Post, between the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of Chinese immigrants moved to the archipelago from different ethnic groups in the southeastern part of China, including Hakka, Hainan, Hokkian, Cantonese, Hokchia and Teochew.

Back to our food discussion, tauco has many different varieties depend on the region. The city producers of tauco are Cirebon, Medan, Riau dan Cianjur. Medan's Tauco is salty just like the fermented soybeans that I use in Canada. While people who grew up in Central Java will say that is not the tauco that they have. Tauco in Central Java has sweeter taste due to the coconut/palm sugar added.

Interestingly, I grew up in Java cities but I used to have Medan's tauco, because my dad came from Medan. So, I accustomed to salty tauco. For those who live in Indonesia and want to try this recipe, I recommended to use Medan's tauco.

Gulai Kerapu Tauco
- Grouper Curry with Fermented Salted Soybean Sauce -
recipe by Sedap Sekejap, modified by me

Ingredients:
400 g whole grouper, cleaned and rinsed off under running water
1 turmeric leaves
2 cm (0.8 inch) long galangal, bruised
2 long green chilies, length cut
3 tbsp tauco
200 ml water (I substituted for clam juice or shrimp/fish broth)
400 ml thin coconut milk
1 asam kandis (I substituted for kokam or gorakha)
2 tbsp EV olive oil/coconut oil

Spices to be ground:
8 shallots
4 cloves garlic
4 candlenuts
5 long red cayenne pepper
salt as desired


The spices without tauco in the picture

Directions:
1. Broil grouper until both sides are brown.
2. Stir fry ground spice until fragrant.
3. Combine turmeric leaves, galangal and green chilies; stir until chilies wilted.
4. Add tauco; stir briefly. Add grouper and stir evenly.
5. Add broth and coconut milk. Cook until spices are absorbed. Add asam kandis/kokam/gorakha. Stir briefly and remove from the heat.

Notes:
- Thank you to the Jakarta Post for the article.

- The original recipe stated to deep fry the fish. I chose to broil it since it applied less oil and left a small mess in the kitchen.


If it happens you don't have to scale your fish, all I say lucky you!
When I bought a fish sometimes, the fish hasn't scaled yet. At least, I don't have to clean the innards

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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.

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People may be known this as satay, but we spelled this out "sate" and pronounce as "sat�".

There are many varieties of sate in Indonesia; peanut, sweet soy sauce or curry base.

Sate Padang is one that has curry base sauce. It consists similarity to Minangese rendang spices, turmeric leaves and other spices.

Based on Sefa�s blog, there are three different variant of Sate in West Sumatra; Sate Pariaman and Sate Padang Panjang. Those two are named after the cities in that province.  However, it�s commonly called Sate Padang as Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra.

All is made from oxtongue and beef, but they have a different sauce.  Sate Padang has a thick and very hot sauce or gravy due to peanuts and ample chilies.  Also, Sate Padang has a combination taste of Sate Pariaman and Padang Panjang. While Sate Pariaman has red gravy, Sate Padang Panjang has yellow one.

Sate Padang
- Padangese Sate -
Recipe from different various sources on the Internet and modified by me

Ingredients:
908 g (2 lbs) oxtongue (or beef or combination of two)
8 kaffir lime leaves
2 stalks of lemongrass, take only the white part, bruised
1 turmeric leaves, knotted (optional)
2 asam kandis (I substituted for kokam or gorakha, it can be found at Indian/Caribbean markets)
water for boiling ox tongue
bamboo skewers
cooking oil
� - � cup rice flour, dissolved in a small amount of water

Spices to grind:
7 shallots
3 cloves garlic
red cayenne peppers (I substitute for ground chilies as many as you can handle the hot flavour)
3 cm long galangal
2 cm long ginger
2 cardamoms
1 tsp ground coriander
� tsp cumin powder
2 tsp curry powder (I prefer the Srilankan curry powder)
ground white pepper and salt as needed

Condiments:
rice cake (ketupat)
fried shallots (bawang goreng)

Directions:
1. In a pot, add water and bring to a boil. Add oxtongue, cook for about next 15 minutes.

2. Remove ox tongue from the pot and save 750 mL of the liquid. Scrape the ox tongue with a knife. Rinse well under running water. Cut into cubes (1x2x1 cm3).

3. In the same pot, combine 750 mL liquid, ox tongue cubes, ground spices, turmeric leaves, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, asam kandis and salt. Bring into a boil then reduce the heat, simmer until the tongue completely cooked.

4. Thread 4-5 pieces of tongue into each skewer. Brush with a small amount of cooking oil and grill couple of minutes until both sides are brown (do not grill too long as ox tongue is already cooked).

Gravy:
1. Simmer the broth.
2. Gradually pour into rice flour mixture while stirring.
3. Keep stirring until the gravy thickens.

Serving Suggestion:
Place Sate Padang and rice cake on the plate. Pour the gravy over and garnish with fried shallots. Serve while it�s still hot.


Note: If you are using beef, you don't need to boil with water first.  Cut the the beef into cubes, combine with water and spices and boil.

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Perfect for hot weather! Today was 29C in Winnipeg

For people who only know that avocado is added into savoury dish, I'll tell you something about avocado. I grew up with fresh fruit shake that we can buy from the street food hawkers at most places in Indonesia. My favourite fruit shakes are guava, soursop and avocado. Usually the sellers will have whatever fruits are in season.

Anyway, what I'm going say, I didn't really know about putting avocado into savoury stuff before. Nowdays, I use avocado for both, savoury (sushi, sandwich, dipping) and sweet (avocado shake and smoothie).

Yes, avocado blended/shake is very popular beverage in Indonesia and Vietnam. That is why I can easily purchase avocado shake at the Vietnamese restaurants in Winnipeg, since there is no Indonesian restaurant in town. However, there is a different style compare to the one that I used to have.

Every family or person has their own recipe. My family used to add coffee instant and chocolate sweetened condensed milk or mocha syrup. It's topped with chocolate sprinkle which the Indonesian is called for meisis. Some people serve this with ice cream on top and it's called avocado float.

As chocolate sweetened condensed milk is not available for purchased in Winnipeg, I just used the regular sweetened condensed milk.

PS. I almost forgot about this until today I visited Serge's blog. He blogged about this on February. I posted this picture before on my facebook.

Note. when I made this, I didn't have my mocha syrup. I was in Boissevain not at my own house. Well, I can only find Marjan Boudain's mocha syrup in Winnipeg.


Jus Alpukat
Indonesian Avocado Blended/Shake

Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
1 tsp espresso coffee brew (if you like stronger/weaker taste, feel free to add/reduce more)
4- 5 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
300 ml water
ice crushed as much as desired
mocha syrup
chocolate sprinkle.

Directions:
Blend all ingredients, except chocolate sprinkle until smooth. In the serving glasses, add mocha syrup, transfer the avocado mixture and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkle over before serving.

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First and foremost, I would like to say thank you very very much for the birthday wishes that I received through emails and facebook. Also, I got a nice breakfast in bed from my husband, a glass of berries (acai, blueberry, blackberry and boysenberry) smoothie and a glass of strawberry soy milk. Thank you, Pung!

Let's move on to what I'm going to post. Since I have been taking some different food pictures, I was confused which one that I'm going to post first. I finally did an online polls and the result was Tahu Pong Semarang as you can see the pic below.

Tahu Pong Semarang is a dish from Semarang, the capital city of Central Java. According to Ci Ine, a Semarang native this dish wasn't lay on bed of bean sprouts and no Chinese celery sprinkle over as well. However, the cookbook that I brought from Indonesia did mention.

You may bet this dish is a mixed Chinese Indonesian with the use of lo bok (known as Chinese radish or daikon, or lobak in bahasa Indonesia) and tofu.

Tahu Pong Semarang consists four different preparations, gimbal udang (shrmp fritters), tofu puff, acar lobak (lo bok pickle) and the hot sweet sour sauce. Since tofu puff is easy to find, I don't need to buy fresh tofus, cut and deep fry them. All I need was buying the package of tofu puff and heat up in the oven to get crunchier texture. Yes, I still had to fry the gimbal udang, slice lo bok and make the sauce.

Upsss, there is one complement that I didn't use fried hard boiled eggs. I'm not a big fan of hard boiled eggs, so I skipped them.
Tahu Pong Semarang
-Tofu Puff and Shrimp Fritters with Hot Sweet and Sour Sauce-
recipe by Yasaboga, modified by me

Ingredients:
1 package of tofu puff
vegetable oil

Gimbal Udang - Shrimp Fritters
200 g medium size shrimps, peeled and deveined
150 g bean sprouts
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp ground white peppercorn
2 tsp Chinese celery, chopped
150 g unbleached all purpose flour
a dash of baking soda
2 eggs
125 mL cold water (4C)

Acar Lobak - Lo bok pickle
300 g lo bok/Chinese radish/daikon, juilenned
1 tsp seasalt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp nipa vinegar

Hot Sweet and Sour Sauce:
1-2 tsp sugar (I stick to 1 tsp)
1 tbsp nipa vinegar
3-4 tbps Indonesian sweet soy sauce
125 mL water
Grind:
5 bird eyes chilies
4 cloves garlic, fried

Other complements:
bean sprouts
fried shallots
1 tbsp Chinese celery, chopped

Directions:
Tahu Pong - Tofu Puff
Reheat in the oven until crunchy

Gimbal Udang - Shrimp Fritters
1. Mix garlic, white peppercorn, celery, flour, egg and water; stir evenly. Add bean sprouts.
2. Prepare a flat pan and skillet to fry the gimbal. In a flat pan, pour a small a amount of oil. Use low heat at first. Pour batter about 8 cm diameter on a pan, place 4 shrimps on batter. Cook until half done. Remove from pan. At medium-high heat, fill the skillet with oil, re-fry the gimbal until golden brown.

Acar Lobak - Lo bok Pickle
Sprinkle salt over the lo bok. Do soft-squash until lo boks are wilted. Rinse lo bok under running water and drain. Add other ingredients and keep in the fridge until time to serve.

Hot Sweet and Sour Sauce
Mix all ingredients

How to serve:
Plate a bed of bean sprouts. Place tahu pong and gimbal udang on top of bean sprouts. Pour the sauce over and sprinkle with chopped Chinese celery and fried shallots. Ready to serve and eat with acar lobak.

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Bistik is the Indonesian way for beef steak or biefstuk in Dutch. With the use of potato, mayonaise, bistik's name, this dish is a part of the marriage between Indonesian and Dutch cuisine. However, the Javanese says bestik, so I wrote as the Surakartan custom.

Surakarta (known as Solo) is a city in Central Java province, a place that is very popular with Bestik and Salat Solo. Salat Solo is another food that was influenced by the Dutch.

I followed Haley's recipe.  She came up by adding mustard into the recipe of sweet mayo. When I tried to make the mustard mayo of hers and tasted it, it reminds me of honey mustard that I usually buy here.

In her mustard mayo, she used egg yolk and sugar. I skipped the egg yolk and sugar, instead I added Manitoban honey.

In the sauce, I reduced the amount of kecap manis and ketchup, and skipped the sugar. Also, I made my own substitution of Worcestershire sauce since I forgot that I didn't have anymore in my fridge.

Twisting all the way in order to make the bestik.  The original recipe was called for raw oxtongue.  However, I had a smoked oxtongue, so I didn't follow some of the cooking instruction. Smoked oxtongue isn't available for purchased here. I was asking my uncle in law for help to smoke the oxtongue that I bought.

Additionally, there is the different between bestik and regular steak is the generous amount gravy or sauce for bestik. If you use raw oxtongue, you can make the gravy from boiling the oxtongue. I didn't use raw oxtongue, I got the gravy by making beef broth separately.

Surakartan Smoked Oxtongue Bistik
Bestik Lidah Asap Solo
recipe by Haley Giri, translated by me

Ingredients:
1 smoked oxtongue (1 kg), peel skin off with a sharp knife

Gravy:
1 onion, chopped
4 tbsp margarine (I used a combination of unsalted butter and olive oil)
2 Indonesian bay leaves (Haley didn't add this into gravy)
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 nutmeg, grated
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (my own: soy sauce, tamarind paste, chili powder, cloves, garlic, anchovies which I used fish sauce)
10 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce (I used 1/2 cup)
10 tbsp ketchup (I reduced to 1/2 cup)
1 large tomato, cut into 6 pieces
salt to taste
2300 ml beef broth (I made from beef bones, Indonesian bay leaves and garlic)
2 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour, dissolved with a small amount of beef broth

Complements:
potato, wedged and steamed
baby carrots, steamed
peas, steamed
mustard mayonnaise

Mustard mayonnaise:
2 tbsp margarine (I used unsalted butter)
2 tbsp all purpose flour (I reduced into 1 tbsp)
1 tsp mustard
1 sdm gula (I substituted for Manitoban honey)
salt to taste
1 egg yolk (I skipped this)
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp lime juice (I substituted for lemon juice)

Directions:
Bestik
1. Bring the broth to a boil. Meanwhile, in a pan, stir fry onion with butter and olive oil until wilted. me
2. Transfer onion mixture into the broth pot and combine.
3. Add ground whitepepper, nutmeg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Indonesian sweet soy sauce, pieces of tomato.
4. Add flour mixture and salt. If you need sugar, add it at this time as well.
5. Add smoked oxtongue and cook until tender. Remove oxtongue and slice into desirable size.
6. Reduce the heat, transfer sliced oxtongue back to the pot and let them simmer for 15 minutes or until oxtongue absorbs the spices.

Mustard Mayonnaise
1. Heat butter in a pan at medium-high heat. Add flour, stir and mix for about 10 minutes.
2. Add mustard, honey, salt and water. Cook until the flour is not sticky
3. Add lemon juice and stir.

Serving Suggestions:
Place sliced oxtongue on the centre. Add vegetable around the oxtongue. Pour the gravy on and serve with mustard mayo.

» Read More...

Did you notice that I put the spoon on the left side? It was totally a wrong set. It was supposed to be on the right hand side.

Otak-otak is made from a mixed between fish, and spices. In Indonesia, there are two kinds of otak-otak. Otak-otak bakar or grilled or barbaqued otak-otak, in which the mixture is wrapped inside banana leaves and grill. Another type is otak-otak goreng or fried otak-otak. The fried one is not wrapped inside the leaves.

This dish is served as an appetizer or snack. There are three sauces that I know to eat otak-otak. While I was in South Sumatra, I ate grilled otak-otaks with cuko (Palembangese spicy tmarind sauce). In Jakarta, I ate them with spicy peanut sauce. Another sauce is an Indonesian bottled chili sauce.

Palembang of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sumatra, Jakarta and Ujung Pandang (formely Makasar) of South Sulawesi are known for their otak-otaks.

Let me explain what otak in bahasa Indonesia and Malaysia is; it means brain, so otak-otak means brains. The name of the dish is derived from the idea that the dish some what resembles brains, being on the soft and squishy side.

In this recipe, I made the fried method one. The popular fish to be used is king mackerel (Indonesian: ikan tenggiri). As you may know, it is a bit pricey in Winnipeg, so I substituted for basa fish (Indonesian: ikan patin siam). Also, I don't have the exact measurement for making cuko, since I was just mixing them together.

Ingredients
250 g boneless skinless white fish fillet (I used basa fish)
100 g tapioca starch
75 ml coconut cream
1 green onion, finely chopped

Spices to grind:
1/4 - 1/2 cup fried shallots
3 cloves garlic
ground white pepper
salt

Cuko:
coconut sugar
garlic, grated
tamarind, soaked in warmed water
chilies, ground
sugar, just to taste
salt
lime
dried shrimp (ebi)

Directions:
Fried Otak-Otak:
1. Process fish and ground spices in a food processor until fine.
2. Transfer into a big bowl, combine green onion.
3. Add tapioca starch and pour coconut cream little by litle in.
4. Shape the mixture into long oval and deep fry in hot oil until cooked and golden brown.

Cuko:
1. Soak coconut sugar into tamarind mixture. Bring to a boil.
2. Add sugar, salt, garlic, and chilies. Turn the heat to low. Let it simmer for 20 minutes
3. Taste it, add fresh squeezed lime.

Topping:
Soak ebi in water. With a mortar and pestle, crush ebi until fine. Toast crushed ebi in a pan.

Serve otak-otak with toasted ground ebi and diced cucumber.

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