Sate Sapi Manis

Sweet Beef Satay

Satay is a dish of marinated & skewered meats grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire.  Served with sauce, either peanut sauce or sweet soy sauce, depend on the meat used. 

No sauce necessary for above "sweet satay".  They're marinated overnight, so the meat has absorbed all the spices.  To cut the sweet taste of the meat, we served it with pickles of cucumber, chili and shallot.

 

Tumis Daging & Kwetiau Goreng

Beef Stir Fry with Carrot

Fried Kway Teow

Teri Kembang Honje

 

 

Anchovies with Kecombrang Flower

Kembang Honje is Sundanese language for Indonesian "Bunga Kecombrang". 

I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that it has many names : Torch Ginger, Ginger Flower, Red Ginger Lily, Torch Lily, Wild Ginger, Combrang, Bunga Siantan, Philippine Wax Flower, Xiang Bao Jiaing, Indonesian Tall Ginger, Boca de Dragón, Rose de Porcelaine, Porcelain Rose.  

Now I'm confused, which one to use in English?  Anyway, this unique flower is used in many Asian cooking and it has the most distinctive scent when you eat it. 

For above dish, the flower goes really well with saltiness of the anchovies.  The additional young corn and french beans also add in some texture to the dish.  One of my favourites.

Nasi Uduk

Nasi Uduk with various side dishes

Nasi Uduk is steamed rice cooked in coconut milk, originally from Jakarta.  It usually accompanied with various side dishes, like in this case :

• Bihun Goreng - fried vermicelli
• Semur Daging Kentang - beef and potato stew
• Sambel Kacang - peanut sambal (most common type of sambal that usually served with nasi uduk)

Ikan Sambal Dabu & Sambel Goreng Udang

Fried Fish with Sambal Dabu-Dabu

The star of this dish is actually the Sambal Dabu-Dabu.  It comes from Manado origin. Consists of coarsely chopped tomatoes, calamansi or known as lemon cui or jeruk kesturi, shallots, chopped bird's eye chili.
Any fried fish is suitable for this sambal, just marinate them with salt and lime juice, then deeply fry.

Prawn with Boiled Egg in Sambal Balado Sauce

Soto Ayam and Sate Ati Ampela

Chicken Soto

Soto is a traditional soup mainly composed of broth, meat and vegetables.

Soto ayam (chicken soto) has yellow spicy broth and consist of bean sprout, glass noodles and tomatoes.  Completed with chopped celery and fried shallot as toppings.

Tofu/Tempeh Bacem and Liver Gizzard Satay

Bacem is a method of cooking by boiling with spices and palm sugar.  Most common are tofu and tempeh bacem.

Sate Ati Ampela (Liver & Gizzard Satay) made from chicken liver and gizzard.  After seasoning, the organs are not grilled, but fried and put into skewers.  Aside from soto, this satay also eaten as side dish for chicken porridge.

Soto Bening Daging & Mun Tahu

Soto Bening Daging : a clear soto made of beef meat and cartilage with daikon pieces.  Squeeze some lemon juice before eating and complete it with melinjo crackers.

Mun Tahu : Tofu with Minced Beef

Singkong Thailand

 

Cassava root with sweetened coconut milk

Sayur Asin Dishes

Bakut Sayur Asin

Sayur Asin Kering

Sayur Asin is fermented chinese cabbage. 

Sayur asin is widely used in Indonesian Chinese dishes and these are what my sister usually cook : 

• Bakut Sayur Asin - pork rib soup
• Sayur Asin Kering - black sayur asin stir fried with pork belly cuts (LOVE this !) 

Manado Part 2

This menu was inspired by Manado cuisine.  From left to right :

Bakwan Jagung - corn fritters

Nasi Putih - steamed white rice

Acar Kuning - pickles with turmeric (cucumber, red chili, french beans and carrot)

Kangkung Tongkol - stir-fry kangkung with fish flakes

Kerupuk

Empal Komplit

Complete Sundanese menu.  From left to right :

• Lalap - raw vegetable eaten with sambal
• Sambal Terasi - sambal with fermented shrimp paste
• Kering Tempe - tempeh and peanut stir fried with sweet soy sauce and palm sugar
• Sayur Asem - clear soup with assorted vegetables and tamarind
• Empal - fried shredded beef in sweet spice
• Nasi Putih - steamed white rice
  

Sup Sosis & Huzaren Sla

Clear soup with beef sausage and carrot

Huzaren Sla : Potato, Carrot and Apple Salad

Mie Goreng & Puyonghai

Mie Goreng : Fried noodle

Puyonghai : Chinese egg omelet with sweet and sour sauce

Ayam Sayur Asin, Soun Goreng & Perkedel Tahu

Ayam Sayur Asin : Clear chicken soup with fermented chinese cabbage

Soun Goreng : Stir-fry glass noodle with meatball and mushroom

Perkedel Tahu : Tofu patties

Banquet Food : Rujak Pengantin & Bakso Loa Hoa

Rujak Pengantin : Contains of cabbage, cucumber, carrot, bean sprout, lettuce, potato, slices of boiled eggs with peanut sauce that has little vinegar to it. It is one of Indonesia's colonial cuisine.
This dish can be found almost at every wedding banquet, thus the name ("pengantin"  means bride/groom in Indonesian).

Bakso Loa Hoa : steamed chicken ball (mixed with carrot, glass noodle and mushroom). Served in clear broth.

Sayur Lodeh, Teri Kacang & Oseng Oncom

Teri Kacang : spicy salted anchovy with peanuts

Oseng Oncom Kacang Panjang : Stir fry snake bean with fermented tempeh

Sayur Lodeh : mixed vegetable in coconut milk stew

Baso Goreng

Fried Pork Meatball

Semur Daging & Tempe Cabe Ijo

 

Tempe Cabe Ijo (top left) and Semur Daging (top right)

Tempe Cabe Ijo : stir fry tempeh with green chili

Semur Daging : beef and potato stew with sweet soy sauce and spices

Nasi Kuning Komplit

 

 

Nasi Kuning with side dishes

Nasi Kuning usually eaten during special event.  The rice is cooked with coconut milk and turmeric, hence the name "nasi kuning" (yellow rice).  It is commonly served with variety of side dishes.  

• Perkedel Kentang - potato patties
• Kering Tempe - tempeh and peanut stir fried with sweet soy sauce and palm sugar
• Sambel Goreng Ati - cow's liver, french beans, carrot, potato and petai fried in sambal sauce
• Sambel Kacang - peanut sambal
• Kerupuk

Ayam Rica-Rica

 

Ayam Rica-Rica : spicy chiken

Rica-rica is one of Manado's signature dishes and can use variety of proteins such as chicken, pork and fish.

Semur Bola Daging & Oseng Jamur

Our menu of the day.  From left to right :  

Tumis brokoli - broccoli stir fry

Semur Bola Daging - meatball stew

Oseng Jamur - mushroom stir fry with chili

 

Opor Ayam

Opor Ayam : chicken cooked in coconut milk

Pastel Goreng

One of my favourite snack.  Pastel Goreng is fried flour dumpling filled with vegetables and meat (like Singapore's Curry Puff).  Most common fillings are minced chicken/beef, carrot, potato, glass noodle, sliced boiled egg.

Our version above filled with minced chicken, potato and carrot.

Nasi Tim Ayam

 

Nasi tim is a Chinese Indonesian steamed chicken rice.  The ingredients are chicken and mushroom seasoned in soy sauce and garlic, and later those ingredients were put in the bottom of the tin bowl.  The tin bowl with chicken in it later were filled with rice and steamed until cooked. The dish usually served with light chicken brooth soup with chopped leeks.

This is the comfort food of Chinese Indonesian culture.  I couldn't agree more - whenever I have no appetite to eat, nasi tim always works for me.  The soft texture of rice and boneless chicken make this dish suitable for baby or sick and recovering people.

 

Paket Cumi + Sayur Asem

From left to right :

Cumi Cabe Ijo - salty squid with green chili

Sambal

Nasi Putih - steamed white rice

Sayur Asem - clear soup with assorted vegetables and tamarind

Tempe Goreng - fried tempeh

This is the common type of set menu you can find in any Sundanese restaurant. Of course each element can vary differently but basically you get rice, protein, vegetable, side dish, and (most importantly) sambal.

The anatomy of Sundanese set menu (and example) :

• Rice - plain white rice or nasi timbel (steamed white rice wrapped in banana leaf)
• Main dish (protein source) - most common are Ayam Goreng (fried chicken) or Empal (fried shredded beef)
• Vegetable - Sayur Asem and Lalap (raw/steamed veggie)
  
• Side Dish - Tempe & Tahu Goreng (fried tempeh and tofu)
• Sambal

Manado Inspired : Ayam Masak Manado, Tumis Bunga Pepaya & Perkedel Jagung

Ayam Masak Manado : grilled chicken cooked with vegetable and chili.
The uniqueness of this dish is the use of daun leilem (leilem leaf) which originated from Minahasa. Outside Minahasa, it's difficult to get the leaf (we purposely planted the leilem tree at home so we can use the leaves for cooking).  Melinjo leaf can be used as substitute.

This is inspired by Manado's dish, Ayam Isi Dibuluh.  The original recipe requires the chicken to be cooked inside a bamboo, thus the name ("buluh" means bamboo).

Tumis Bunga Pepaya : papaya flower stir-fry
This is also not the authentic Manado version.  We use the salty anchovy to cut the bitter taste of papaya flower.

Bakwan Jagung - corn fritters

 

Rendang and Gulai Daun Singkong

 

Rendang

Rendang is a dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia. It is made from beef (or occasionally beef liver, chicken, duck, or vegetables like jackfruit or cassava) slowly cooked in coconut milk, spices for several hours until almost all the liquid is gone, allowing the meat to absorb the spicy condiments.
 

Gulai Daun Singkong

Gulai is Indonesian curry soup characterised with yellow colour from turmeric and coconut milk.  It can be made with meat or vegetable.  Above photo is gulai made with cassava leaves.

You can find above two dishes in any Padang Restaurant.

Bento @ Shinkansen, Japan

Had some bentos in Japan, but this is the only one that I took picture of (and the most pretty one). Bought this on the shinkansen.
 

Snack @ Asakusa, Tokyo