Gado Gado (Indonesian Salad with Peanut

Sauce)

I know I'm terrible! We are 13 days into November and I haven't posted any world food month recipes
yet! I'm very excited that November is Indonesian food month and now that I have done my big feast of
cooking up Indonesian food (I have some friends over on Friday night to help me eat it all and they were
very happy) I will make up for the fact that I haven't posted any Indonesian recipes yet by posting at least
8 over the remaining days of the month. How does that sound? Do you forgive me?

I'm starting off with an Indonesian classic. Gado Gado is something I'm sure most of you will have heard
of. I've seen it in cookbooks and online for years and always thought to myself that I really wanted to try it.
But, I would then forget about it which is why I had actually never even tried it before Friday. I was
definitely missing out, because this salad is something special. It's also very easy.
Ingredients
The Salad
350-400g hard tofu
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large desiree potato (or other waxy variety)
2 handfuls green beans, ends trimmed
2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
1 carrot, thinly sliced (I used a peeler to create nice ribbons)
A handful of fresh bean sprouts

The Sauce
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 shallots (scallions)
2 long red chillis (this will make the sauce "medium", just 1 if you want mild or as many as you want for
hot)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup roasted salted peanuts
1 heaped tsp tamarind puree, dissolved in 1/3 cup hot water
3 tbsp soy sauce

NOTE: I made my sauce quite chunky, so I just roughly pounded it up in a mortar and pestle. If you want
a smoother peanut sauce, you can just puree the whole sauce in a food processor at the end.
Alternatively, you can substitute a food processor for the mortar and pestle in every instance in the below
recipe, and your sauce will be smoother.

To Make
1. Drain the tofu and gently squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can. Cut it once horizontally and
once longitudinally (so that you end up with 4 large thin pieces).
2. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok and fry the 4 pieces of tofu, turning over half way, until they are
brown and crisp on both sides. Remove from pan and set on some absorbent paper to soak up some of
the oil. Set aside.
3. Slice the potato in half and then into 1cm thick slices. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and then
add the potatoes. Cook until just tender. About 1-2 minutes before the potato is cooked, throw in the
trimmed beans.
4. Drain the potatoes and beans and rinse well under cold water immediately.
5. To make the peanut sauce: Roughly chop the chilli, garlic and the shallots and place in a mortar.
Pound with the pestle until you have a thick paste.
6. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a small frypan. Add the paste and fry over a low heat for a few minutes.
7. While it's frying, pound up the peanuts using your mortar and pestle. You can pound them however fine
you like them, I left mine a bit chunky.
8. Add the peanuts, tamardind (in water) and soy sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently
for about 3 minutes. Now add as much water as you like so that the sauce is thinner and pourable
(probably between 1/2-1 cup). If you add lots of water, taste for seasoning and add more soy sauce as
needed. (If you want a smooth sauce, add the whole thing to a food processor now and puree until
smooth).
9. Layer a large plate with the cabbage, carrot, potato, tofu, beans and bean sprouts. Pour the sauce all
over the top and serve immediately.

Serves 4.
Acar Kuning (Indonesian Hot, Sweet and Sour
Vegetables

It's not hard to get into cooking lots of Indonesian dishes this month. Fresh bright vegetables with strong
hot, sour and sweet zing? Yes, please. This easy and quick dish of vegetables makes a great stir fry over
rice or a great veggie dish to serve at a buffet/potluck/family dinner.

I'm keeping this one short and sweet, as I've been a bit hectic over the last few days. Apologies for being
so brief - but here is a recipe to appease you :)

Ingredients
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2cm fresh ginger, peeled
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lemon grass stalk, tough outer parts removed
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
3 carrots, cut into strips
2 cucumbers, cut into strips
10 small shallots, roots cut off and cut into 4cm lengths
100g green beans, ends trimmed
4 long red chillis, cut into long strips
To Make
1. Put the garlic, ginger and turmeric in a food processor and purée to a smooth paste.
2. Heat the olive oil in a wok or large frypan and add the paste and the lemongrass. Fry for 1-2 minutes,
until fragrant.
3. Add the water, vinegar, sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer and taste test (you can adjust the sweet and
sour balance at this point by adding more sugar or vinegar).
4. Add all the vegetables and chilli, stir through until well coated with all the sweet and sour sauce. Cook
until the vegetables are just cooked but still crisp.

Serves 4, or 8 as a side dish.

Rujak (Indonesian Fruit Salad with Chilli

Dressing)
When I heard about rujak it went immediately on my Indonesian meal plan. It's everything I love about
south east Asian food - fresh, brightly coloured and laced with chilli! An admission though - I cheated a bit.
I know, I feel terrible. But the thing is, that I just happened to find a jar in my cupboard that had been
sitting up the back unopened for a while. It was labelled Sambal Rujak! Great, makes it easier for me
AND uses up one of the many jars in my over crowded pantry!

It still feels like cheating though, and I realise that this may be an ingredient not available to a lot of
people. So, for those who don't have an Asian grocer nearby, I have included a recipe for the sambal
rujak which comes from the lovely SBS Feast Magazine, which also has a beautiful recipe for Rujak in it's
October edition. I'll definitely have to give it a try myself sometime, because I'm sure that making a fresh
sauce is much nicer than getting it out of a jar.
Despite a lot of recipes and references for rujak around on the internet, not one of them mentioned when
this dish is traditionally served. Is it a dinner or dessert? Or maybe just a snack. It could really go either
way in my opinion - the fruit makes it light and sweet and good for dessert, the chilli sauce lends a
savoury flair. I couldn't find an answer so I served it up with my savoury dishes at my Indonesian feast. So,
if any Indonesians read this, please let me know!

Ingredients
2 mangoes
1/2 papaya
1 small pineapple
1 400g can of lychees
2 pink grapefruits
(Starfruit - sadly I couldn't get this, but I really wanted to put it in mine!)
Sambal Rujak (either from a jar or use the recipe below)
Juice of 1 lime

To Make
1. Cut the mango flesh, into large chunks. Remove the skin and seeds from the papaya and also chop
into big chunks.
2. Remove the skin from the pineapple, remove the woody core and chop into large pieces. Peel the skin
off the grapefruit and divide into segments.
3. Drain the can of lychees and combine in a bowl with the mango, papaya, pineapple and grapefruit.
Drizzle sauce over to taste (I used about scant 1/4 cup). Drizzle the lime juice over and mix through.
Serve.

Serves 4, or 6-8 as part of a buffet.

Sambal Rujak (from SBS Feast Issue #14)
3 tsp sambal oelek
1/3 cup grated palm sugar
1/3 cup kecap manis
1 tbsp lemon juice

To Make:
1. Whisk ingredients together until combined. Pour over fruit.

Lawar Ayam (Indonesian Coconut and Bean

Salad)
I secretly wish I could own all the cool cooking utensils which have very limited use. I'm not talking about
electrical appliances - I have no desire for large electric stand mixers which take up heaps of bench or
cupboard space. Nor do I covet the strange electrical appliances like pie makers, popcorn makers, egg
cookers etc - because you don't really need those things, I can bake pies in the oven and I can make
popcorn in a saucepan. If I ate eggs I would cook them in a pan. No, I'm not talking about appliances - I'm
talking about utensils.

Here is an example - cannoli tubes. I'd LOVE to have some cannoli tubes - so I could make cannoli! But
honestly, I wouldn't make cannoli very often and since they have such a specialised use I can only
conclude that they would sit in my draw and never get used. I still want them though.

But why am I talking about this when there is a picture of bean salad at the top of this post? Good
question. It's because I'm going to introduce you to a very specialised utensil that I bought on my
recent trip to Sri Lanka, and I'm so glad that I did! It's a coconut grater. That's all it does, grate coconuts. It
might seem excessive to have a utensil just for grating fresh coconut, after all I don't buy them that often.
But, if you have ever tried to use a fresh coconut in your cooking before then you'll know what I'm talking
about.

The first time I bought a fresh coconut it seemed like such a great idea - they were $1.99 each! I thought,
"awesome - we can have lots of things with fresh coconut!". So, I bought it and brought it home - where it
proved to be somewhat of a struggle. You might think that getting into the coconut is the hardest part - I
admit, it was challenging. As we don't have a machete in our kitchen (mores the pity), we eventually
managed to get it open with a hacksaw. But then the real challenge started: how do you get the flesh out?

I once read a recipe on the internet which said: "scoop the flesh out of the coconut". This is laughable,
because if there is one thing that coconut flesh isn't - it's "scoopable". The flesh is hard and it very keen
on staying attached to the outside shell. I ended up hacking away at it viciously with a knife, slightly
dangerous. This yielded some randomly sized chunks of coconut flesh, but I made do with it. But then -
the recipe said "grated coconut", so I wasn't finished battling with the coconut yet. My traditional grater
was useless against it, it was too hard. In the end I tried it in my food processor, which worked slightly
better but the pieces were still too hard for the processor to grate finely.

The whole experience really put me off using fresh coconut in cooking. I hung up my apron and declared
"never again!".

Until.... during my trip to Sri Lanka in July of this year, we took a cooking class in Unawatuna. The first
thing we did in the class was to grate up some coconut and make our own fresh coconut milk and
coconut cream. She had an amazing contraption for grating her coconut which simply worked like a
dream (she also showed us how to crack it open without a machete or a hack saw!). Here it is:

I bought one from her on the spot and, despite it looking like some sort of horrible torture device, didn't
get any questions from customs on the way home to Sydney. So now fresh coconuts are no longer as
daunting, which was lucky - because I found a lot of recipes during my research for Indonesia Month
which called for fresh grated coconut. No problem, I thought, I've got it covered!

Grating coconuts with ease in Sri Lanka

This recipe uses fresh grated coconut, courtesy of my coconut grater. However, most kitchens don't
contain such a contraption, so you may have to substitute. Fresh grated coconut can be bought in some
Asian supermarkets, or you can substitute desiccated - however I recommend steaming it to put some of
the moisture back in otherwise your dish will be too dry.

Lawar Ayam

Ingredients
200g green beans, trimmed
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chilli, minced
1 tsp red curry paste
3-4 tbsp water
1 cup fresh grated coconut (probably sub 1/2 cup desiccated, and steam to rehydrate)
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste

To Make
1. Cut the beans into 2 inch lengths and blanch in boiling water until just tender, about 3 minutes. Drain
and rinse with cold water until completely cold.
2. Heat the oil in a small frypan and add the shallots, garlic and chilli. Cook for about 4 minutes. Add the
curry paste and water and simmer for about 2 minutes.
3. Remove the frypan from the heat and stir the coconut through. Combine this with the cooked green
beans in a bowl and mix well. Finally, add the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve at room temperature. Serves 2, or 4 as a side.

Triple Threat Vegan Coconut Cake

Coconut cake looks and sounds very unassuming and not particulary special. Don't let that fool you! This
coconut cake is special with a capital spec. It's my second Indonesian inspired recipe to go up this month,
and my first sweet offering. A small heads up, if you are allergic to coconut then Indonesian month might
not be your month, as it's all loaded with coconut!
So, why is this cake a triple threat? Yes, it can sing, dance and act, but there's more. It's not just a cake
with some coconut, oh no, it's a cake with coconut, coconut cream and coconut oil. It's also drizzled
generously with coconut glaze, so maybe it's a quadruple threat? The result of this combination is really
triple the goodness - the texture of the cake is exceptional. It's moist and dense and packed with flavour.

Triple Threat Vegan Coconut Cake

Ingredients
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup palm sugar (liquid)
1 x 400ml can coconut cream (minus 1 tbsp for the glaze)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 cup dessicated coconut (you could probably sub fresh grated coconut if you have it)

And for the glaze:

1 tbsp coconut cream (just reserve it from the can you used for the cake)
1 cup soft icing mixture
Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
2. Heat the coconut oil over a low heat until melted. Remove from the head and place in a large mixing
bowl.
3. Add the palm sugar and stir well.
4. Shake up the can of coconut cream well before use. Open it and set aside 1 tbsp of it to use for the
glaze. Add the rest to the bowl along with the vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
5. Add the flour, baking powder and bicarb and whisk through. Finally, stir through the dried coconut.
6. Line a well grease medium square baking dish with greaseproof paper on the bottom and pour the
batter in.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes or until springy to touch and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Set aside to cool while you whip up some glaze.
9. To make the glaze: place the icing mixture and 1 tbsp of coconut cream in a small bowl and stir well
with a fork or spoon until smooth.
10. Once the cake is completely cool, cut into slices and drizzle the glaze liberally over the top. Ready to
eat!

*TIPS*
~ If your coconut cream comes out of the can a little lumpy, don't worry. Just whisk it well when you add it
to the bowl to get rid of lumps
~ If you're going to make this cake in advance, I recommend NOT storing it in the fridge. Putting this cake
in the fridge will cause the coconut oil to solidify making the cake much harder. I advise storing it in an air
tight tupperware container in the cupboard, and the same goes for any leftovers.
Indonesian Vegetarian Recipes

Vegetarain recipes of Indonesia include:

 Chayotes Stew (Sayur Labu Siam)  Cooked Vegetables with Grated Coconut
 Crispy Fried Tempe (Keripik Tempe) (Urap)
 Oseng-Oseng Wortel (Stir Fried Carrots)  Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice)
 Indonesian Salad (Gado-Gado)  Terong Balado
 Atjar Tjampoer Steamed Mushroom  Asinan (Sweet And Sour Cucumber
Wraps (Pepes Jamur Kuping) Salad)
 Sweet Eggplant Stew (Semur Terong)  Fresh Salad With Peanut Sauce (Keredok)
 White Curry Jackfruit (Gudeg Putih)

Chayotes Stew (Sayur Labu Siam)

Ingredients

 200 gram stew meat water

 3 tbs. vegetable oil
 2 chayotes, peeled and cubed
 2 spring onions, sliced in 1 cm slices
 ¼ cup flat-leaved parsley minced
 1 tsp. tamarind, dissolved in 1 Tbs. water
 1 Tbs. fried onions
 Spice Paste

 10 red chilies
 4 cloves garlic
 2 candlenuts
 1 cm fresh ginger
 ¼ tsp ground pepper
 1 tbs dried shrimp, soaked briefly in hot water and drained
 salt to taste

Directions

Simmer the meat in water to cover, together with the salt, until tender. Remove
and slice the meat in 1×2 cm cubes. Set aside 1 Liter of the broth.

Heat the oil and fry the spice-paste until fragrant. Add the meat and stir it around until
the spice are well-mixed with the meat. Add the broth.

Let it come to a boil, then add the chayotes, spring onions, minced parsley and tamarind
water. Serve with fried onions/shallots scattered on top.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Cooked Vegetables with Grated Coconut (Urap)

Ingredients

 8 oz fresh green beans

 8 oz bean sprouts
 4 carrots
 1 can bamboo shoots
 ½ small cabbage
 1 cup fresh grated coconut
 1 small onion, finely chopped
 ½ tsp. chilli sauce (sambal ulek)
 1 tsp. salt
 2 Tbs. lime juice
 ½ tsp. dried shrimp paste (terasi)

Directions

Wash bean sprouts, pinching of any brown tail. Pour boiling water over bean
sprouts, then rinse under cold water tap. Drain well.
String beans and cut diagonally or bite-size lengths and cook in lightly salted water until
just tender. Beans should still be crisp to bite.

Scrub carrot and cut into thin strips, cook until tender. Drain well.

Slice cabbage, discard the center stem. Blanch in boiling salted water for a minute or
two, until tender but not limp. Drain and refresh with cold water.

Cut bamboo shoots into strips the same size as the beans.

Place fresh grated coconut into a bowl, add onion, chili sauce, salt, lime juice and the
shrimp paste which has been grilled for a few minutes, or heated in a dry frying pan. Mix
thoroughly together.

Sprinkle this grated coconut mixture over vegetables, reserving some to garnish the
dish when served.

Put vegetables in a steamer and steam for 5-8 minutes.

Put the steamed vegetables to a serving dish/platter and sprinkle with reserved grated
coconut mixture. Use as an accompaniment to a meal, or as a salad by itself.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Crispy Fried Tempe (Keripik Tempe)

Ingredients

 600 gram tempe (fermented soybean cake) – not tofu

 200 ml water
 ½ tsp. slaked lime water
 100 gr. rice flour mixed with 25 gram cornstarch
 vegetable oil

 Spice Paste Ingredients:

 4 candlenuts
 1 clove garlic
 1 tsp. coriander seeds
 salt to taste
 1 cm fresh kencur

Directions
Slice the tempe in thin 3½ x 5 cm squares. Set aside.

Mix the spice-paste together with the water and slaked lime water. Add the rice flour
and cornstarch and blend till smooth.

Heat the oil in a wok, dip the tempe in the batter and deep-fry until it is golden brown
and crisp.

Note: Make sure that the oil is not to hot, otherwise the batter and the tempe will not be
done at the same time.

Makes 5-6 servings.

Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) Recipe

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

 4 c Long-grain rice
 8 Shallots or 1 small onion
 4 Red chillis or 2 tsp chilli -powder and 2 tsp paprika
 4 tb Vegetable oil
 Salt
 2 ts Sweet soya sauce
 2 ts Tomato ketchup

Directions

The name Nasi Goreng means simply ‘fried rice’, and it is really a collective description
of an indefinite number of slightly differing dishes. You can vary the trimmings and
garnishes to suit your taste; but even the most elaborate Nasi Goreng is quick to make.
It is a particularly good luncheon dish.

Boil the rice a good long time before you intend to fry it; you can fry freshly boiled rice,
but the Nasi Goreng will be better if the boiled rice is allowed to cool. Two hours is a
satisfactory interval. Leaving the rice to cool overnight, however, gives less good
results-the rice has time to go dry and stale. An important point to note here is that rice
for Nasi Goreng must be cooked with the least possible quantity of water; this prevents
it from becoming too soft. For 1 cup of rice, use 1 cup of water. Assuming you have now
got your cool, boiled rice, proceed like this: slice the shallots or onion, seed and slice
the chilli (or pound the shallots and chilli together in a mortar). Heat the oil in a wok; it
makes no difference, by the way, whether you use oil, fat, or butter. Saute the shallots
and chilli for a minute or so, and season with salt, soya sauce, and tomato ketchup. Put
in all the rice, and stir it continuously until it is well heated: this will take 5 to 8 minutes.
Serve in a good large dish, generously garnished with sliced cucumber, tomatoes, fried
onions, and Krupuk.

Oseng-Oseng Wortel (Stir Fried Carrots)

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

 250 g (8 oz) carrots

 4 Shallots
 1 Clove garlic
 1/2 Green or red chilli or
 1 pn Of chilli powder
 4 tb Good stock or 1 ts Dark soya sauce and 4 tb -water
 2 tb Vegetable oil

Directions

Did my first cooking out of my new Indonesian cookbook last night. I fixed a stir fried
carrot dish to back up a pork/soy stew (originally posted by Jen Kuiper) and plain white
rice. Both are very easy to fix and quite good. Here’s the particulars.

These are carrots, cut into matchsticks and cooked in a little oil or butter. The word
wortel doesn’t sound Indonesian and isn’t. It is borrowed from the Dutch name for the
carrot, since it was the Dutch who introduced this vegetable to Indonesia.

Peel, wash, and cut the carrots into small sticks. Slice the shallots and chilli. Crush the
garlic. In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or clarified butter. Saute the slice
shallots and chilli for 1 minute, then add the garlic and the carrots. Stir continuously for
a minute or so and then put in the stock, or soya sauce and water. Cover and continue
to cook for 4 minutes. Uncover, taste, and add salt if necessary. Cook for a further 2
minutes, stirring all the time. Serve hot.

Makes 2 servings.

Indonesian Salad (Gado-Gado)

Serving Size : 6
Ingredients

DRESSING

 1/2 c Flaked coconut

 1 c Hot water
 1 Onion — chopped
 1 cl Garlic — finely chopped
 1 1/2 ts Peanut oil
 2/3 c Peanut butter
 1/2 c Water
 1 tb Sugar
 1/2 ts Salt
 1/2 ts Chili powder
 1/8 ts Ground ginger SALAD
 1 c Bean sprouts
 1 c Cabbage — shredded
 4 oz Bean curd — drained and cut -into 1″ pieces
 2 tb Peanut or vegetable oil
 1 c Potatoes — cooked, peeled -and sliced
 1 c Green beans — cooked
 1 c Carrots — cooked & sliced
 1 Cucumber — sliced
 2 Hard-cooked eggs — peeled -and sliced

Directions

To prepare Dressing, place coconut in blender container. Add 1 cup hot water. Cover
and blend on high speed about 30 seconds. Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in 2-
quart saucepan about 5 minutes. Stir in coconut and remaining ingredients. Heat to
boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until
slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
To prepare Salad, pour enough boiling water over bean sprouts and cabbage to cover.
Let stand 2 minutes. Drain. Cook bean curd in oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat,
turning pieces gently, until light brown. Remove with slotted spoon. Drain. Cook
potatoes in same skillet until light brown. Drain. Arrange bean sprouts, cabbage, bean
curd, potatoes and remaining ingredients on platter. Pour warm dressing over Salad.

Terong Balado Recipe

Ingredients

 1 lg Eggplant
 3 Garlic cloves, -sliced or chopped
 4 tb Onion, chopped
 1 1/2 c Tomatoes (fresh), ripe
  1 t Sugar
 1 t Salt
 2 ts Red hot chili peppers, -fresh
 1/2 c Water
 2 tb Vegetable oil

Directions

Cut the eggplant into long quarter-round strips. Bake them at 400 200 for 20-25 minutes,
or until they are soft but not mushy.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the onion, garlic, tomatoes, salt, sugar, peppers and water
and mash with a wooden spoon until it forms a coarse paste.

Fry the tomato paste in the oil until the liquid is reduced (about 10 minutes). Pour the
sauce over the eggplant and serve immediately

Asinan (Sweet And Sour Cucumber Salad)

Serving Size : 4

Ingredients

 3 ea Cucumber, large
 1 ea Onion, med
 1 ea Thai chile dressing
 1/4 c Vinegar, white
 1/4 c Oil
 1/2 t Salt
 2 t Sugar
 1/2 t Garlic powder

Directions

Peel and thinly slice the cucumbers. Slice the onion thinly. Seed and thinly slice the
chile. Put the cucumber slices in a shallow bowl, arrange the onion slices on top and
sprinkle with the chile slices. Combine all the ingredients with the dressing, mixing well.
Taste and adjust seasoning with salt. Pour the dressing over the onions and cucumbers
and refrigerate a few hours or overnight if possible to allow flavors to blend.

Atjar Tjampoer Recipe

Serving Size : 1
Ingredients

 100 g Carrots
 Salt
 100 g Green beans
 4 ea Scallions
 100 g White cabbage
 2 ea Toes of garlic
 1/4 ea Cucumber
 1 tb Oil
 150 ml Vinegar
 100 g Bean sprouts/shoots
 1 tb Sugar
 1 t Powdered ginger
 1 t Kunjit/kurkuma
 1 t Sambal ulek

Directions

Cut carrot into the size of matches. Cut beans in 1″ pieces. Chafe the cabbage. In a pan
with a little water and salt, boil the vegetables for 5 minutes. Drain. Cut cucumber in
*small* cubes.

Peel scallions and garlic. Put in kitchen machine; cut to paste. Mix with sambal, kunjit
and ginger.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry the herb-mixture for 2 minutes. Add vinegar and sugar; stir
to dissolve sugar. Add all vegetables (also the ones not cooked yet); add a *little* water
if there is too little liquid. Boil softly for 2 minutes. Put in a bowl and let cool. You can
also preserve it by putting the hot veggies in sterilized screw-lid jars (metal lids with a
‘dome’ in the middle are quite handy, I always save jam-jars when they’re empty); add
liquid as well. Screw the lids on. Place jars upside down until cooled completely (the
‘dome’ in the lid will be down, this is to check if the jar closed well). Can be kept for at
least a year (store in dark place to avoid having the color goes away). Nice as a
present! Kunjit or kurkuma is a herb. If I look on the jar, it says ‘powdered yellow-root’. It
is used to color this dish, and other dishes as well. In that way it is much like saffron,
although kunjit tastes a little bitter.

Sambal ulek [INDONESIA]: Used as an accompaniment and in cooking. Made by

crushing fresh red chilis with a little salt. Remove the seeds from the chilis, chop finely,
then crush with salt using a pestle and mortar. Three chilis will make about 1 tablespoon
sambal ulek. Also available ready-prepared in small jars from Oriental stores and some
delicatessens.
This is a refreshing side dish made of crisp, sweet-and-sour vegetables. Goes
really well with Nasi Goreng. The dish can be kept in the fridge for a few days.

Fresh Salad With Peanut Sauce (Keredok)

Ingredients

 1 fresh red or green semihot chili, cut into thin slices

 1 clove garlic, sliced
 1 teaspoon salt
 2 small slices kencur, soaked in water for thirty minutes (optional)
 3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
 1 teaspoon tamarind, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
 2 teaspoons sugar
 1 cup thin-sliced cucumbers
 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
 1 cup lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces

Directions

Crush the chili, garlic, salt, kencur and peanut butter in a mortar so it’ll become
the sauce of the dish.

Add the tamarind liquid and sugar. Mix well.

Toss the sauce with the vegetables until well mixed. Serve chilled or at room
temperature.

Makes 4 servings, with other dishes.

White Curry Jackfruit (Gudeg Putih)

Ingredients

 1 kg young jackfruit, peeled and sliced into 5x5x3 cm slice. Soak the slices in plenty of
cold water
 100 g melinjo leaves
 4 bay leaves
 1 cm fresh galangale (lengkuas), bruised
  750 ml coconut milk and 500 ml thick coconut milk from 1½ coconut Spice Paste
Ingredients:
 10 small shallots
 7 small cloves garlic
 10 candlenuts
 1 tbs. coriander seeds
 salt to taste
 a pinch of sugar

Directions

Boil the jackfruit slices in the thin santan together with the melinjo leaves, the spice-
paste, salam leaves and lengkuas until the jackfruit is tender.

Add the thick santan. Bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Continue simmering until
done.

Makes 4-5 servings.

Steamed Mushroom Wraps (Pepes Jamur Kuping)

Ingredients

 100 gram cloud ear mushroom, soaked in hot water until soft, then drained
 1 egg, beaten
 125 ml medium thick coconut milk from ¼ coconut
 banana leaves Spice Paste Ingredients:
 10 red chilies
 10 bird shit chilies (prik kii nuu)
 7 small shallots
 3 small cloves garlic
 5 candlenuts
 2 tomatoes
 1 cm fresh galangal (langkuas)
 1 tsp. salt
 1 tsp. palm sugar or brown sugar

Directions

Slice the mushroom in 1 cm lengths and mix together with the egg, santan and
the spice paste blend.

Devide the mixture among 20 packets made of banana leaves. Fold the ends of the
packets and seal.
Steam the packets for about 25 minutes until done. Remove and set aside. Broil the
packets over medium heat until liquid has evaporated.

Makes 20 Wraps

Sweet Eggplant Stew (Semur Terong)

Ingredients

 1 lb. eggplant
 4 Tbs. vegetable oil
 1 Tbs. shallots
 1 clove garlic, sliced
 ½ cup water
 1 Tbs. sweet soy sauce
 ½ tsp. pepper
 ¼ tsp. nutmeg
 1 tsp. vinegar
 ½ tsp. salt
 1 tsp. sugar

Directions

Cut the unpeeled eggplant into ½-inch-thick slices, and then cut the slices in half. Fry
lightly in 2 Tbs. of oil for 2 minutes, or until light brown and softened. Set aside.

Stir fry the shallots and garlic in the remaining oil until light brown. Add the water, sweet
aoy sauce, pepper, nutmeg, vinegar, salt and sugar. Let all of these ingredients cook for
approximately 3 minutes to prepare the sauce.

Cook the eggplant slices in the sauce for additional 2 minutes to distribute the flavors.
Shake the pan several times to mix but not mash the eggplant.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.

Indonesian vegetarian recipes are colourful, spicy, nutritious AND

delicious!
dles
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Pan fried noodles are a staple across Asia and several varieties have become quite
popular in the west. There are many more varieties of noodle dishes in addition to the
popular pad thai from Thailand and Chinese chow mein, and many more pass under the
radar on North American restaurant menus.
An amazingly flavorful and simple dish originating from Indonesia is the famous mie
goreng (pronounced mee gor'Ang). In Indonesia and Malaysia, it is a common street
food as well as a dish which is served in restaurants in elevated forms alongside satay,
vegetable crackers and vegetable curry.
Lucky for us, most ingredients can be found in nearly all North American grocery stores
and the main component is the humble package of ramen noodles. Yes, the very same
ones that you can buy 3 packages for a dollar. Seasonings and inclusions are up to you
dear chef, but another key ingredient is called kecap manis or sweet soy sauce in
English. If you have a hard time finding this ingredient, simply mix soy sauce with sugar
at a ratio of 1:1.
For one serving
 1 package ramen noodles
 1/2 cup green peas
 1 carrot shredded
 1/4 cup fried shallots (available at most Asian grocery stores)
 1 scallion, chopped
 2 garlic cloves, chopped
 1 inch knob of ginger, chopped
 1 teaspoon lemongrass powder
 1 teaspoon Sriracha or sambal (Indonesian hot sauce)
 4 teaspoons kecap manis (or 2 teaspoons soy sauce mixed with 2 teaspoons sugar)
 Water for boiling
 Oil for frying
Method
1. Boil water and add ramen noodles. Cook as directed on package.
2. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. In a wok or frying pan, heat a drop of oil and combine peas, carrot, scallion, garlic,
ginger and lemongrass and saute for 2 minutes.
4. Add the noodles and toss together with Sriracha and kecap manis.
5. Garnish with fried shallots.

Image from flickr.com

More about hot, soysauce, lemongrass, ramen, miegoreng, noodles,fried, indonesian, spicy, peas
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