Disclaimer: Asam padeh tongkol comes with medium amount of reddish mixture liquid. Don't do what I have done, mine was too dry. I left the kitchen and almost forgot with my cooking. :)

A whole of skipjack tuna (Indonesian: ikan tongkol) had been sitting in the fridge for a day. First time, before thawing it, I was thinking to make balado tongkol, the easy peasy food that I used to make if I don't have lots time to cook. I came home from work and I changed my plan, but still didin't know what to do. I made fish with rica (the Manado style) spices and another style with sambal dabu-dabu before. Googling is one of ways to get an idea and ended up at Uni Dewi Anwar's blog, Kitchen Craft with Asam Padeh Tongkol.

With the richness of spice and bright red colour, asam padeh is one of typical Western Sumatran (Minangese) dishes that I relish. Thanks Uni. The recipe has the same taste as I had the last time while I was still at my parent's house.

Asam kandis (Garcinia xanthochymus) and turmeric leaves are types of spices in Minangese dish. Due to the lack of ingredients, I modified this recipe by using kokum or kokam (Garcinia indica) which is popular in Western India culinary. For some people who familiar with South India culinary such as Kerala, kodampuli (Garcinia gummi-gutta) can be used as substitution. Asam kandis, kokum/kokam, kodampuli Kokum or kokam Kokum are belong to the same family of Garcinia or mangoosteen family, so they can be used interchangeably.

Asam Padeh Tongkol
recipe by Dewi Anwar, modified by me

Ingredients
a whole skipjack tuna (about 500 g) ==> this had been scaled
3 tbsp squeezed calamansi juice*original recipe used lime juice
olive oil for stir frying
water

Spices (non-grinding)
3 pieces kokam/kokum *original recipe used asam kandis
2 bilimbi (Indonesian: belimbing sayur) *original recipe didn't add ones
5 cm long galangal, bruised
2 lemongrasses, take the white parts and bruised
3 Indonesian bay (salam) leaves
3 kaffir lime leaves, teared
1 turmeric leaf, teared ==> can be substituted for curry leaves (Indonesian: daun salam koja or daun kari)
2 cardamom

Spices grind into a paste:
300 g ground red chili peppers ==> can be substituted for sambal ulek
8 shallots
5 cloves garlic
5 cm long ginger
2 candlenuts
salt as desired


Directions:
1. Clean the stomach cavity, remove the gills and surrounding tissue. Cut into pieces. Drizzle calamnsi over and set aside.

2. In a medium-hight heat, stir fry non-grinding ingredients and paste spices until fragrant. Add water and cool until boiling and the liquid thicken.

3. Add skipjack tuna, reduce the heat to low and cook until fish done and the liquid has evaporated. Taste to perfection and remove from heat.

» Read More...

This recipe was inspired by Deetha of Mlebu Pawon, my foodie fellow, who shares the same passion with me; we love Acehnese food. I have differences in cooking method and some ingredients. I marinated the fish with calamansi and baked it while Deetha used lime and deep fried the fish. I added curry leaves as well.

I categorized this into a thick soup, since it is added by coconut milk. Asam sunti (English: sun-dried bilimbi) and curry leaves are widely used in Acehnese culinary, but it seemed I have modified this recipe by adding calamansi which is widely used in Manadonese culinary.


Acehnese Mackerel Curry // Gulai Ikan Kembung Khas Aceh
Recipe by Dita, modified by me

Ingredients:
300 g Indian mackerel (Indonesian: ikan kembung)
3 kaffir lime leaves
8 curry leaves (Indonesian: daun salam koja, daun temurui)
1 stalk lemon grass, white part only, bruised
400 ml coconut milk
sea salt
2 asam sunti (sun-dried bilimbi)
1 calamansi (Indonesian: jeruk kesturi, lemon cui)
oil

Spices to Grind:
5 shallots
2 cloves garlic
3 fresh red chilies
1 fresh green chili
1 cm turmeric, toasted
2 candlenuts, toasted

For Marinating:
1 teaspoon calamansi juice by squeezing fresh calamansi
sea salt as desired

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven at 350F.
2. Marinate fish for 30 minutes with salt & calamansi juice.
3. Bake fish in a oven for 10-15 minutes.
3. Heat oil in a wok and saut� ground spices, kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves and lemon grass until fragrant.
5. Add coconut milk, asam sunti and let to a boil.
6. Add the baked fish and cook until thickened.
7. Add calamansi juice and salt, stir evenly, and remove the heat. Serve with warmed cooked rice.

» Read More...

One time, Anh of Food Lover's Journey asked me regarding bilimbi, one of ingredients that I use lots in Indonesian culinary, especially Acehnese. As one of my friends through multiply told me that bilimbi also use lots in Moluccas culinary as well.

Bilimbi has a scientific name Averrhoa bilimbi and belimbing wuluh or belimbing sayur is other names in bahasa Indonesia. A close relative of the carambola, of genus Averrhoa, family Oxalidaceae. Carambola itself is known as starfruit or belimbing in bahasa Indonesia.

Nowdays, bilimbi is cultivated or found semi-wild throughout Indonesia, the Phillipines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. It's also common found in other Southeast Asian countries. In India, it's found in gardens, has gone wild in the warmest of the country. Bilimbi's information is courtesy of wikipedia.

Cumi Tumis Aceh (literally translated Acehnese Spicy Squids) is a version of Cumi Teutumeh (literally Acehnese Squids in Spiced Coconut Milk) without coconut milk added. In this recipe, I added bilimbi as well as asam sunti (sun-dried bilimbi). As other Acehnese recipes, do not forget daun temurui or daun salam koja, which also known as curry leaves.

Bilimbi and this recipe are my entry for WHB (Weekend Herb Blogging) # 111, hosted by Kalyn. Since I can't find any fresh bilimbi for purchased, I have been using frozen bilimbi. You might find them in vegetable freezer at Asian groceries. If you notice on my bilimbi package's label, it is said kamias, that is in bilimbi's name in Tagalog.

Ingredients:
500 g cleaned squids, cut as desired
1 lime
salt as desired
8 curry leaves
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 lemongrass, bruised
2 shallots, finely sliced
125 ml water
salt and sugar as desired to season

Grind into a paste
4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
5 dried red chillies
5 bird's eye chillies
10 asam sunti (sun-dried bilimbi)
3 bilimbis (Indonesian: belimbing sayur, belimbing wuluh)
3/8 - 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/8 - 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Directions:
1. Squeeze and drizzle lime over squid and sprinkle with salt. Add 1 - 2 tbsp spices paste, mix and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Stir fry shallot slices, the remain spices paste, curry leaves, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass until fragrant.
3. Add squids mixture. Season with salt and sugar.
4. Add water; cook at medium heat until spices absorb and the water evaporates.

» Read More...

The cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which include squash and the same genus as the muskmelon. Cucumbers are commonly harvested while still green. They can be eaten raw or cooked, or pickled. They have less nutritious than most other fruits, fresh cucumber seeds are still a source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium, also providing dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B6, thiamin, folate, pathothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and manganese.

If you go to Acehnese restaurants in Indonesia you will see this beverage on the menu. It's perfect combination for Acehnese food which is spicy. It's so refreshing and also good for people who have high blood pressure. I'm used to serve this iced cucumber limeade when I host a dinner party at my house.

This is my entry for Monthly Mingle: Liquid Dreams, hosted by Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey?.

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise, discard the seed (if you like the seed, don't discard), and shave.
ice, crushed

Limeade syrup
500 ml water
100 gram sugar
1 lime, juiced

Directions:
1. Limeade syrup : Bring water, sugar, and lime juice to a boil until sugar dissolved. Remove from heat. Cool down at room temperature.
2. Serving : In a glass, add cucumber shaved and crushed ice. Pour limeade syrup over. Serve.

» Read More...

I saw a recipe of Sambal Serai Udang in Indonesian women magazine �Kartini� through bacamajalah.com . Served twice a year every Eid-ul Fitr and Eid-ul Adha on tradition �Menjunjung Duli� in the Sultanante of Deli, Medan, North Sumatra. At those days, Maimun Palace or Maimoon Palace is opened for public to say Happy Eid to Sultan of Deli and the families. The current Sultan of Deli is Tuanku Sultan Mahmud.

According to wikipedia, Maimun Palace or Maimoon Palace (Indonesian: Istana Maimun), is a well-known landmark at Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra. It was built by Sultan of Deli, Sultan Makmun Al Rasyid Perkasa Alamsyah in 1888, the palace covers 2,772 m2 and has 30 rooms. The Palace has become a tourist destination not solely because of age but also because of the unique interior design of the palace, mixing elements of Malayan cultural heritage, Islam, Spanish, Indian, and Italian style.

This recipe can be substituted for Kerang Kepah (a kind of clam that I�m still not sure the English name, whether littleneck clam or manila clam). You should be ready to use 20 lemongrasses as I substituted for � to � cup ground lemon grass. Frozen ground lemon grass can be found on frozen vegetables section at Asian grocery stores.

Asam Gelugur

Ingredients:
500 g prawns
1 lime
Salt as desired
200 ml coconut milk
20 lemongrasses (I substituted for � cup ground lemon grass)
2 cm fresh galangal, crushed
asam gelugur as desired (Malay: asam gelugor)

spices to be ground
10 long red chilies
7 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 cm fresh turmeric (I substituted for � - � tsp ground turmeric)
salt and sugar to season

Directions:
1. Squeeze lime and sprinkle salt over the prawns. Marinate for 15 minutes.
2. In a pan, add oil and heat the oil at medium-high. Stir fry ground spices, galangal, and lemon grass until fragrant.
3. Add prawns, stir evenly, then add coconut milk, salt, sugar and asam gelugur. Cook until hydrated. Set aside. It was suggested to serve this with ketupat (rice cake in coconut leaves).

» Read More...

Two weeks ago, on Thursday afternoon after work, I was waiting for a bus, #17, at the bus stop that is closed to my work place. This bus was gonna take me to Notre Dame ave. Yupss I was going to go to my favourite oriental store. I just wanted to buy something small, such as vegetables and tofu. I didn't expect that I could find green chilies at that time. Finally I bought a pack of long green chillies, vegetables and Indian mackerel (Indonesian: ikan kembung) too.


Weeekend is a time for me to relax. Some people have a different way to get relax, my way is by cooking of my favourite food. I decided to make samba lado mudo and lalapan daun ubi. Daun ubi means yam leaves. It's not the same as Medan people's term. I used to hear daun ubi's term for cassava (Indonesian: singkong/ubi kayu) leaves in Medan. I was thinking that steamed or cooked daun ubi must be good with samba lado mudo.

Speaking about samba lado mudo, Samba Lado Mudo is Western Sumatran's dish which is very popular throughout Indonesia. This is another version of sambals and eat as a condiment as well.

According to wikipedia, Yam is a term and common name in Canada and the US for some species in the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae). These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. They are used in a fashion similar to potatoes and sweet potatoes. There are hundreds of cultivars among the cultivated species.

One day, I was browsing on the internet and discovered several recipes (Tabloid Nova, Melroseflowers , Uni Imun�s Multiply) for Samba Lado. After examining all the different preparation methods and possible ingredients, I finally decided to create my own version. In Indonesia, people usually add green tomatoes, which I haven�t yet found in Winnipeg. Instead, I added bilimbis (Indonesian: belimbing sayur). Also, I don�t have the kind of anchovies (Teri Medan, which translated means dried tiny anchovies or silver anchovies) that we usually use to make this version of Sambal. In my recipes, I cut dried anchovies into smaller pieces.

Category:		Side Dishes and Condiments
Style:		Indonesian
Special Consideration:		Quick and Easy

Ingredients:
15 green chillies, steam for 5-6 minutes
10 shallots
3 bilimbis
30 g dried anchovies
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2-3 tsp fresh lime juice
salt an sugar to season

Directions:
1. In a food processor or blender, place steamed green chillies, shallots, and bilimbis. Do not process too smooth, just roughly blended.
2. In a skillet, place oil and heat it over medium-high. Fry dried anchovies until cooked. Remove the anchovies.
3. Heat the remaining oil in same skillet, stir fry the blended ingredients until wilted. Add fried anchovied, stir evenly. Add lime juice, sugar and salt, stir evenly. Remove from the heat. Ready to eat as a condiment.

PS. I enjoyed this condiment with lalapan daun ubi (cooked yam leaves).

» Read More...

As I promised to Devi few months ago to post a recipe of "Ikan Panggang Pacak", here it is, Devi. I know I didn't use a fresh whole fish as the recipe noted, due to my limitation of getting fresh fish in Winnipeg.


I got this recipe from Iyuk, even though she is a Madura descendant, she is pretty good in cooking Sumatran style cuisine. Mom taught her how to cook Sumatran cuisine. This dish was one of my dad's favourite. Sometimes, Mom and Dad hosted dinner parties, this ikan panggang pacak was one of the dishes.

Iyuk is used to use pomfret or red snapper fish for this, since I had 1 ocean perch fish in my freezer, I used that ocean perch which is not different in taste with red snapper.

It will be more yummy if you eat this with gulai daun singkong (translated as cassava leaves in spices coconut milk/curry) and warm steamed rice.

Category:		Barbecue & Grilling
Style:		Indonesian

Ingredients:
1 whole (750 grams, lean, moist and flacky and firm texture fish (I used ocean pearch)
1 lime
1 lemongrass, cut into a half and bruised
3-4 tbsp unsweetened desiccated coconut, you can add more (original recipe uses grated coconut of 1 coconut)
60 instant thick coconut milk
100 ml water

Pureed Spices
8 shallots
3 cloves garlic
3 toasted candlenuts
sambal oelek, as desired (original recipe uses red chilies and bird's eye chilies)
3 cm ginger, peeled
3 cm galangal, peeled
1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tomato (optional, I didn't add it as I followed iyuk's recipe)
salt as desired

Directions:
� Clean up the fish. Using a sharp knife, cut diagonal 1/4-inch deep slits on each side of the fish. Cut slightly deeper toward the back fin of the fish. The slits will help the fish to cook more evenly throughout.
� Drizzle and rub the inside and all over of the fish with lime squeezed and salt. Let stand for couple minutes.
� Combine instant thick coconut milk and lemon grass, bring to a boil.
� Combine 100 ml water with desiccated coconut and pureed spices.
� Rub inside and out of the fish with desiccated coconut mixture. Lay the fish directly on the grill. After the fish is close to done on one side, brush with thick coconut milk mixture, use lemongrass as the brush then flip it over. Do the same thing for another side. Do these steps until the fish is done and fragrant. Remove from the grill.

» Read More...

I was craving for this gulai, since I saw my friend post on multiply. He posted the restaurant reviews, Rumah Makan Padang (translated as Padang Style Restaurant) and Rumah Makan Khas Aceh (translated as Aceh Style Restaurant). To make a good Sumatra style gulai, you will need some ingredients which are not easy to find in Canada, such as turmeric leaf, mangkokan leaf (I haven't found the English translation for this leaf), asam kandis, asam gelugur and/or asam sunti. Lucky me I can find the Indonesian intant seasoning "Munik" of head fish curry and also the frozen bilimbi here to subtitute asam sunti.

Next time, I may make this gulai from scratch, I should wait for summer to plant turmeric to get the leaves and dry up the bilimbi to get asam sunti.

Category:		Soups & Stews
Style:		Indonesian

Ingredients:
350 g red snapper, clean and cut the fish into serving size slices or as desired
1/2 sachet of fish head in curry instant seasoning "Munik"
2-3 bilimbis, cut in half
sambal oelek, as desired (if you like hot spicy taste, add more)
Directions:

• Put all ingredients in a pan; bring them to a boil in medium heat for 40 minutes or more. Serve with rice.
• If you want to remove the unwanted residue spices, do that at minute 30 and simmer them until the next 10 minutes.
  

» Read More...

Another recipe from West Sumatra culinary. It's called balado ikan tenggiri and it can be translated as mackerel in tangy chili sauce. Since I can't find a kind of tenggiri/ king mackerel (another name of king fish) like in Indonesia for purchase here, I used pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus) instead.

Category:		Fish and Shellfish
Style:		Indonesian

Ingredients:
1 pacific mackerel, cut into serving pieces
3 dried lime leaves (nova's recipe: 2 fresh lime leaves)
2 lemon grasses, bruised
vegetable oil
4 tbsp sambal oelek (nova's recipe: 50 gr pureed chilli)
2 cm jahe, parut // 2 cm ginger, grated
1 tsp ground turmeric (nova's recipe: 2 cm fresh turmeric)
1 tsp ground galangal (nova's recipe: 2 cm fresh galangal)
lime juice as desired (remember sambal oelek has a little bit sour flavour, don't bother if you don't want to add lime juice)

Puree:
8 shallots
3 cloves garlic

Directions:

• Marinate the fish with salt and lime juice for 15 minutes.
• Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Fry the fish until golden brown, remove from the pan and set a side.
• Remove some oil from the skillet and remain about 3 tbsp oil. Add shallot and garlic stir fry until fragrant, add sambal oelek, lime leaves, lemon grass, turmeric, ginger and galangal. Cook until all the spices are done. Rduce heat to low, add lime juice, stir evenly, and add fried fish, cook until the fish covered up by the spices. Remove from the heat and serve with steamed rice

» Read More...

As I previously stated on my first post, andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC) is native to North Sumatra. The plant grows wild in Tapanuli, North Sumatra. This andaliman also has a natural antioxidant source. It's part of the Rutacea family and close to a Szechwan pepper.

Andaliman is a small, green, round fruit. The dried fruit of andaliman has an aromatic odor that, for most species, can be described as lemon-like, with more or less pronounced warm. The taste is pungent and biting; it may take some time to develop, but in the end produces a strongly numbing, almost anesthetic feeling on the tongue.

As the Food Technology and Industry bulletin of Bogor Agriculture University stated, andaliman is a specialty spice. Using andaliman in batak culinary makes the food have a long life. It�s assumed that andaliman has an anti-microbial and antioxidant activity.Here, I post a pic of sambal Andaliman, which is translated as Andaliman Sambal.

» Read More...