Wonderful Indonesia

From time to time, my office features a country to get to know it better. There is a program to open the "exhibit" and after, a buffet of food native to that country. I've never attended any of the previous programs but this time, I was very interested because it's P's country.

I was surprised how interesting it was. There was a fashion show, talk from people who lived and worked there, and performers from their tourism ministry. We enjoyed the performance especially the one with audience participation, playing songs with the Angklung. Everyone who attended had a souvenir, an anklung. It's a musical instrument made of bamboo. It makes a sound when you tap or shake it depending on the tune.

The fashion show was a hit. The native costumes were very festive and colorful. I took a picture but it wasn't clear because of the lights on the stage. Too bad. The clothes were amazing.

Of course we enjoyed the buffet after.

My friend Becky with her Batik bag and me with the souvenir with the angklung inside.

This assorted dish is so delicious. See the dilis on the left side? That's Ikan Bilis. P always brought back Ikan Bilis with him when he went to visit Indonesia. I love it!

This is a mixed vegetable dish. It looks boring but it's really full of flavor.

Chicken Satay.

Some of the clothes on display.

It's just a preview of Indonesia's rich culture. I'm looking forward to seeing the more historic places in the country.

Fun Facts:

Java is one of the earliest places the ape-man lived. The skull of the ape-ma who lived at a time when most of Europe was under ice was discovered here.

Almost everyone in Bali has their teeth filed down. They believe that the essence of the six vices, jealousy, anger, confusion, drukenness, desire and greed, enters the body through the top six teeth. By filing the top six eeth, they are filing away their "demonic" ends. The entry of the vices are thwarted and entry to heaven is guaranteed.

Top places to see:

Bogor, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Borodubur Temple, Tagunan Zoo in Jakarta, Istiqlal Mosque, Bali and Medan.

Happy foodtripping and traveling weekend everyone!

Read more...

Beef Rendang

Been trying to learn Indonesian dishes for P so he wouldn't be too homesick for food. He's been subsisting mostly on fried chicken, KFC, Jollibee, McDonald's, Inasal, etc. He's tried them all. Most of my experiments have not been too successful though. Either the recipes were not good or I wasn't following it correctly or I did not have the right ingredients. Still, I keep on trying. My friend Karen got a Singaporean cookbook which had a lot of Indonesian and Malaysian dishes in it. I decided to try out the Beef Rendang although the recipe confused me a bit because it was not specific enough. I had to look up other recipes on the internet. So this is a combination of many recipes.

1/2 kilo beef brisket cut into cubes
1 cup grated coconut, lightly toasted
1 cup thick coconut milk
3 pieces dried tamarind, sliced thinly
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pieces kaffir lime leaves
1 piece turmeric leaf
1 piece salam leaf
1 cup cooking oil


Blend the following into a paste:
1 medium onion
6 pieces large garlic cloves
1 teaspoon minced ginger
a handful candlenuts (I used almonds as candlenuts were not available)
1 piece shallot


Add these to the blended paste:
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon chili paste
2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric poweder


Season beef cubes with salt and pepper and marinate for at least an hour.


Heat 1 cup cooking oil (in medium heat) in a large wok and fry the blended paste. Add the kaffir lime leaves, turmeric leaf and salam leaf and continue stirring until brown.


Add the sliced tamarind. Once the oil separates from the paste, add the marinated beef and cook in slow fire for 2 hours or until beef is tender. Stir once in a while and add a little water if the paste starts to dry up.


Add the grated coconut when the beef is almost tender and stir until well mixed. When the beef is tender, add the coconut milk. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once oil starts to float on top, it is ready.


Serve with steamed rice.


This time my experiment worked out well. P said it was good and I brought leftovers to work to have my friends taste it and they liked it too.

Read more...

Sambal Ikan Bilis

Ingredients:

About 2 cups Ikan Bilis (dried achovies)

10 pieces chili

10 pieces shallots

2 pieces tomatoes

Brown Sugar to taste

Olive oil

Mash or grind chillis, shallots, and tomatoes into a paste. Set aside.

Heat about 2 tablespoon olive oil and fry ikan bilis until golden brown and crispy. Drain oil and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil and fry spice paste (chilli, shallots, and tomatoes) for about 2 minutes then add ikan bilis to the mixture. Mix well and add brown sugar to taste.

Serve with steamed rice.

Read more...

Egg Sambal Recipe

I have never thought of having eggs for dinner. However, I decided to try this tasty Malaysian dish because it contains no meat. After going through a few recipes I found online, I decided to try the one I found in My Kitchen Snippets.

5 hard boiled eggs
1 large onions – sliced thinly
1 clove of garlic - chopped
2 tbsp of chili paste or sambal olek (more if you like it spicy)
2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1 tbsp of lemon juice (optional)
Some water
1 tbsp of sugar
Salt to taste

Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in pan and shallow fry the hard-boiled eggs till eggs are slightly browned. Remove eggs and set aside.

Add in garlic and onion and stir well until aromatic and lightly brown. Add in the chili paste and tomato ketchup. Stir for a few second and gradually add in some water.

Add salt and sugar to taste. Return fried eggs to the sambal mixture coat evenly and allow to boil until sambal is reduced in liquid.

Serve warm with rice.


I made slight changes in the ingredients because we didn't have a couple of them. I used chili bean paste instead of chili paste and banana catsup instead of tomato ketchup. Since banana catsup is already sweet, I didn't add the brown sugar. Also I added more garlic because I just love the taste of garlic. It's sooooo good. I will try some more recipes from that blog since there are so many similar dishes between Malaysia and Indonesia.

I will make this again tomorrow morning as I told my friends at the office I would give them a taste if it's successful.

Read more...

Homestyle Indonesian Chicken Soup with Vegetables

from Periplus Mini Cookbooks by William W. Wongso and Hayatinufus A.L. Tobing

Ingredients:

½ Chicken cut into pieces

6 cups water

1teaspoon peppercorns

4-6 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon oil

1 medium carrot, sliced thinly

2 tablespoons dried woodear mushrooms coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons dried lily buds, hard stems removed

½ cup cabbage

½ cup snow peas

2 spring onions, cut in 1 cm lengths

2 stalks chinese celery cut in lengths

8-10 hard boiled quail eggs

100 g glass noodles

1 tablespoon sweet Indonesian soy sauce

2 tablespoons crispy fried shallots

Place the chicken, water and salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 35 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, grind the peppercorns in a spice grinder until fine. Add the garlic and process to a coarse paste. Heat the oil in a small saucepan, add the spice paste and stir fry over medium heat until golden brown. Add to the soup.

When the chicken is tender, remove and cool slightly, then cut the meat into 1 cm cubes and set aside.

Add the carrot to the soup, return to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, lily buds, cabbage, snow peas, spring onion and chinese celery. Simmer for 5 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Add the reserved chicken, quail eggs, noodles and sweet soy sauce to the soup. Heat through, then serve garnished with crispy fried shallots.

I tried this recipe over the weekend. I didn't put all the veggies in though. Just carrots and cabbage and I forgot the sweet soy sauce :) Still P said it tasted good.

Read more...

Crispy Fragrant Chicken

I've been trying to learn how to cook Indonesian dishes with little success. I find it difficult because I'm not familiar with most of the ingredients and the proportions and how they should taste. I don't usually follow cookbooks to the letter. I try to add spices or change the proportions. So far I've tried Ikan Bilis, Nasi Goreng Ayam, Pecel with Peanut Sauce a few times. Something's always wrong with them. Today I decided to try Crispy Fragrant Chicken.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken cut into serving portions
2 salam leaves (optional)
1 stalk lemongrass, tender inner part of bottom third only, bruised and cut in 3 pieces
Oil for deep frying

Spice Paste:
5 candlenuts or macadamia nuts
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
5 cm (2in) fresh ginger root, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt

To make the spice paste, dry fry the candlenuts or macadamia nuts, coriander and cumin seeds in a skillet or wok over low heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Grind them in a blender or food processor until fine, add the galangal, turmeric powder, garlic and salt and grind to form a smooth paste. Add a little water if needed to keep the mixture turning.

Put the spice paste in a wok or frying pan with a lid. Add the chicken pieces and stir fry over medium heat to coat with the spice paste, then add the salam leaves, if using, and lemongrass. Cover the pan and simmer slowly over low heat, turning the chicken peices from time to time, until all the moisture is absorbed and the chicken pieces are tender, 30-35 minutes. Remove and discard the lemongrass and salam leaves.

Heat the oil in a wok until very hot. Add several chicken pieces, with the spices still coating the outside, then deep-fry over high heat until golden brown about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and keep warm while frying the remaining chicken peices.

I basically followed everything except for the salam leaves and the lenmograss which I forgot. I used almonds instead of candlenuts and coriander and cumin powder instead of seeds. Also I added juice of 2 calamansi, 5 pieces chilli and a little Knorr original seasoning.

Finally, P said it was good. Finally!

Read more...