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Indonesian Recipes
Talking about the variety of Indonesian food is not half as interesting as
tasting it.
To bring you in the right travel mood we have prepared three simple
recipes to try. We start off with fried rice or nasi goreng and continue
to another popular dish: bakso or meatball soup.
We'll finish with simple and straight forward semur and strong Indonesian coffee or kopi tubruk.
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Nasi goreng a la Indonesia OK!!
Throughout Indonesia you will find thousands of street side stalls with nasi
goreng (fried rice). It makes an excellent breakfast,
although it can be eaten any time of the day or night.
For one serving you will need a soup bowl's full of boiled white rice.
The basic ingredients are: onions, garlic, sweet soy sauce, chilly and strong
chicken broth. A good alternative for chicken broth are beef or chicken cubes. According to taste you may add a handful of dried shrimps (ebi),
or meat, fish, some leek or a combination of all.
Preparation: cut the onions and garlic and deep fry them in a wok together with
the chili (either chili paste or crushed fresh chili peppers) and the other
ingredients. Add the broth. When most of the broth has evaporated, add the rice, stir well and finally add some sweet soy sauce.
Serve in a deep plate with a fried egg and fried chicken. Decorate with slices of cucumber,
tomato,
and some salad leaves.
The best drinks to go with nasi goreng are tea or coffee. In summer ice
tea is a good option.
Bakso
Meatball soup is just as popular in Indonesia as nasi goreng. It is sold
from street side stalls, or push carts that make their rounds through
the neighborhoods. Bakso is sold from late afternoon and throughout the
night.
The preparation requires more time than our fried rice recipe. You will like bakso just as much as
all Indonesians, so let's prepare enough for four servings. We'll start with the
meatballs and then continue with the soup.
If you have a well stocked Oriental (Chinese, Indonesian, Thai or Vietnamese)
grocery store in your neighborhood, you will find ready-made beef or
fish balls there. Otherwise, preparing the meatballs yourself goes as follows.
In a blender mash beef or white fish with salt and garlic. To improve the
consistency add cassava flour or corn flour (after the blending). Add a bit of
water as needed. Roll the mixture into balls of not more than 2 cm or 1"
diameter. Boil the meat balls until they're done. Throw away the water.Prepare
the soup as follows:
Make a strong broth from beef marrow. Let it cook until its oil surfaces. Add
crushed garlic, pepper, salt and a bit of sugar or vetsin (which contains
monosodium glutamate). According to the Indonesian way of cooking it's not
possible to give exact quantities of the ingredients. It all goes according to
personal taste and, most importantly, feeling.
Finally add the beef balls you already prepared and sliced tofu and let it all
cook until the beef balls come to the surface. Finish it off with finely cut
celery.
You may like to 'beef up' the contents of the
soup with boiled noodles. The noodles go into the serving bowl first, followed by the
beef or fish balls, tofu and the soup.
Serve with finely cut celery, sweet soy sauce, chili, and fried onions according
to each individual's taste.
Mie Goreng a la Indonesia OK!!
Although rice is the staple food in most of Indonesia, noodles are competing
seriously to obtain first place. Different brands of instant noodles are very
popular and can be found on the family menu several times a week.
It's not difficult to prepare fried noodles, known as bakmi (or simply mi)
goreng. Here is a basic recipe that you can experiment with.
Ingredients: egg noodles, red onions, garlic, pepper candle nuts, salt, sweet
soy sauce, some shredded chicken and a bit of vegetables, such carrots, podded
peas, or leek.
Boil the noodles according to the instructions. Meanwhile clean and finely cut
the red onions, garlic, pepper, kemiri (two candle nut will do for four
servings) and salt. If you're in a hurry just put it all in a blender.
With the noodles done and waiting, stir fry the blended condiment mix, chicken
and your selection of finely cut vegetables. Add the noodles, stir well and
serve steaming hot.
Add a fried egg and sprinkle fried onions on top and you're done.
Experiment freely with a combination of vegetables or use pork or shrimp instead
of the chicken.
Cap Cai (Chop Suy)
Chop Suy is probably one of the most
internationalized dishes. Although Chinese in origin, Chop Suy has been
known in Indonesia as Cap Cai for many generations.
For an easy to prepare and healthy vegetable dish like Cap Cai you'll
need some or all of the following veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, carrot,
cabbage, mushroom, podded peas, spring onions, baby corn and bamboo shoots.
Also add some chicken filet or sliced bakso discussed above.
As you see, Cap Cai is not a spicy dish.
Start with deep frying the sliced onions in a wok, followed with the garlic. Add
pepper, salt (or salty soy sauce) and two table spoons of oyster sauce.
Then add the chicken or bakso.
When the chicken is well done quickly fry the vegetables, ensuring that they
remain crisp. So, take care not to overcook them. Finally one table spoon of
maizena (or other kind of flour) with a bit of water will allow the sauce to thicken.
Serve with white rice.
Semur
A really easy and quick to prepare dish is semur. It
is not spicy; chili being served on the side for those who like it hot.
Ingredients most often used are chicken, tofu (tahu) cut in approximately
one inch cubes, sliced fermented bean curd (tempe), and rice vermicelli (so-on).
Vegetarians could substitute the chicken with a product like shiitake
mushrooms or mock duck, which is based on tofu. It comes in a tin, made in China
(both the artificial duck and the tin).
Use a wok to fry (either in butter or oil) one sliced
onion, garlic according to taste, three or four cloves (cengkeh), one
inch of cinnamon (kayu manis), a pinch of salt, pepper, one third tea
spoon full of ground nutmeg (pala).
Then add the chicken or the vegetarian substitute and the slices of bean curd
and let it all simmer until the chicken meat turns brownish.
Add water, three spoonfuls of sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) then the
cubes of tofu and one cube of chicken broth. Let it simmer more until the
chicken is well done. Continue to add water to keep the chicken under.
Next, dip or rinse rice vermicelli in hot water, then add it to the semur.
Semur is served with steamed white rice.
Kopi Tubruk
The Indonesian way of drinking coffee, during any time of the day and with any
meal differs a bit
from the western way. If you like a strong and sweet coffee, try kopi
tubruk.
You will need some very finely ground coffee, sugar, hot water and a tall glass,
strong enough to withstand the heat.Put a tablespoon of coffee in the glass. Add sugar according to taste and
pour a bit of hot water on, like you would to prepare hot chocolate. Stir
carefully and continue to gently add hot water. Cover the glass and leave the drink
for a few minutes so that the
coffee can slowly settle on the bottom of the glass.
Snacks to complement the coffee include fried banana (pisang goreng),
fried fermented tofu (kripik tempe), steamed bread (kue mangkok or
bolu kukus) or your favorite cakes or cookies.
Also check this :
Indonesian Food Recipes
(blogspot about Indonesian food from across the archipelago with free Indonesian food recipes)
Resep.dekap (dozens and dozens of
recipes for appetizers, main courses, desserts and drinks from all parts of
Indonesia -in Indonesian only)
Indonesia Eats Blogspot (the
art and science of food -a must see and read blog)
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