Sate Padang - Padangnese Satay

Helo, everyone...

How's your Fall? cooler temperature is the perfect time for hot food, right :)

As culinary haven, Indonesia has endless offer when it comes to delicious food.

The perfect ingredients combined with distinct spices brings bold and rich flavor on every plate.

Just like one recipe that I am about to share with you.

Sate Padang. 

Have you heard of this before?

Have you tried this one?

Back home, sate padang or the Padangnese satay, is quite famous. 
Originated from Padang in West Sumatera, this sate is different from the usual Indonesian satay you have in the restaurant or on your favorite street vendor. Made of beef or ox tongue,- yes, originally it was the tongue,- this grilled satay is marinated with different mixture of Indonesian traditional herbs and spices, with a very special sauce too.

Here in NYC, we are lucky to have on Padangnese Restaurant, Upi Jaya, which serves this menu. We also have some other Indonesian restaurant having sate padang on their menus. We even have the famous Singkuan family, who has been staying in NYC for generations and famously known for their exquisite sate padang. Even on the last Indonesian Street Festival, their booth was the one with the longest queue :).

Read: New York Indonesian Street Festival 2016

So, I tried to cook it myself and I guess I nailed it :).
Not as authentic but at least it tastes yuuum and I am using no MSG!
Let's give it a try.

First, let's get the ingredients.

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs of Beef - the best, tender part, cut into cube. Or if you dare, try tongue :).
Sate skewers

Spices to grind:

3 Shallots

1 Onion

3 cloves of  Garlic
3-5 fresh chili *if you like it to be spicy

4 Candle nut
1 Cardamon
1 teaspoon Turmeric

1 teaspoon Coriander 

Salt and Pepperas needed

2 stalks of l emon grass
5-10 Lime leaves

1 piece of Ginger - bruised/pressed
2 Galangal, frozen or fresh - bruised-pressed

For the sauce:

Ground spice above

Rice flour

Beef broth

Condiments:
Ketupat or rice cake - I usually buy the instant, ready-to-cook one.
Fried onion - found in Asian groceries

some of the ingredients :)

How to cook:

There are 2 separate steps that we have to do here. Well, actually 3 if you want to cook the rice cake or lontong as well.

First, we will prepare the meat.

Put all the cube beef, mix the ground spice well, and add water. Cook it in medium stove until the beef is tender and well cooked, with the ground spices well mixed. Once it's done, put it aside until it's cool enough. Put the beef in bamboo skewer and grill it to your preferences. Best is not too well-done.

Ready to grill 

rick in sauce :)

Then we will prepare the special sauce or gravy.

This is the best part for me as I love it sooooo much :).

 Put the beef broth on a pot, add the ground spices and once it's boiling, put the rice flour little by little and stir it well until it gets thick. 

here's the gravy :)

Once it's done, put the grilled sate padang on a plate and pour the special sauce on top of it. 

You can eat it with ketupat or rice cake, or just like that!

it's ready yummy indeed :)

Bon appetit and I hope you enjoy sate Padang as much as we do :).

And as this is October, join my Giveaways and support the #breastcancerawareness campaign :). Check it out in Giveaway #breastcancerawareness #finishthefight #gopink 

Ikan Panggang Bumbu - Oven-baked Spicy Fish a la Indonesia

Does summer mean baking or grilling time for you?
Well,  it's almost fall now but for us, grilled food is always welcomed :)

I know it's sizzling hot out there but as the weather gets warmer and warmer, we see many people going out in the park and have BBQ parties.

How wonderful it smells! 

Sepertinya sudah lumayan lama saya tidak posting resep masakan Indonesia kesayangan keluarga di sini. 

Di NYC, seteleh udara semakin menghangat, banyak sekali orang-orang yang mengadakan pesta barbekyu di taman-taman publik maupun di halaman rumah mereka. Semerbak wangi aneka daging dan makanan yang mereka panggang!

My familly loves grilled chicken and fish as well. But sometimes we just don't have the luxury of setting up our grill in our petit yard, so I oftenly use my oven.

This time, I have this barbecue spicy fish recipe a la Indonesia for you. 

It will be best if you grill it but baking it in the oven will still bring its exquisite taste.
Let me introduce you to Ikan Panggang Bumbu - Oven-baked Spicy Fish a la Indonesia

Ready to try?

Ingredients:

One whole fish - any fish you like but we usually love red snappers, swordfish or yellow tail.
Lime juice

For the spices (ground)
Onion - a half of medium one
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Shallots - 1 medium
candlenuts - 3-4 pieces
Coriander - 1 teaspoonfull
Palm sugar - 1 big chunk or if you don't really fancy the bold, sweet flavor, you can reduce it to half.
Chili - if desired

Salt 

Pepper

Vegetable oil - one spoon

Basking sauce (all mixed):
Butter
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Sweet soy sauce

Lime juice 

How to cook:

First, clean the fish, make some deep cuts on both sides of the fish and rub it with lime juice.

Then we prepare the marinating sauce by grinding (you are free to use the food processor or the traditional mortar and like I do ;)) all the spices listed above. 

my traditional way of preparing the spicy sauce :)

Once all the spices are ground and well-mixed, add the vegetable oil on it. Rub it well and generously on both sides of the fish. Set it aside for a while, at least 30 minutes.

You can use your grill, griddle, grill pan or like me, the oven. Preheat it at 325 degree F. Makes sure you get the right grilling temperature and time.

As we have used palm sugar and sweet soy sauce, we use medium heat to cook it. It will take around 45 minutes to one hour to cook it. And every 20 minutes, I brush the basking sauce for extra flavor. I also bake it together with fresh red onion and big green chilies. 

ready to bake :)

And that's it, Indonesian barbecue spicy fish is ready :).
Super easy, right?

enjoooy..

I hope you like ikan panggang bumbu - oven-baked spicy fish a la Indonesia and have a great time enjoying it with your family :)

Sop Buntut - Indonesian Oxtail Soup

More Indonesian culinary experience from my kitchen table :).

Let me introduce you all to Sop Buntut - Indonesian oxtail soup.

I recently went to our local supermarket here in Astoria and found halal oxtail. Yup, oxtail.

Although oxtail is obviously not a common ingredients here, but I found various menus from different countries using the same ingredients, like oxtail osso bucco and oxtail stew, for example.

Back home in Indonesia, sop buntut or oxtail soup has been widely known as a famous plate. Not only in authentic warung or street food vendors, but also in five-star hotels in Jakarta. Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, one of the luxurious hotels in the Capital, has long been recognized as 'the place' for the best sop buntut in town. 

Served with a warm plate of steamed rice and crackers, be it kerupuk or emping - or bitter nut crackers, sop buntut is one of the favorite choice for lunch or dinner. The rich texture and tender meat, enhanced with special aroma from the spices being used, makes sop buntut a yummy 

Some of you might not get a chance to try it in the restaurant here in the US,  but if you want, you can cook it at home.

Ingredients:

Oxtail - 2 pounds, usually it's already cleaned and chopped to pieces.

Garlic - 3 cloves

Shallot - 2 medium cloves

Coriander - 1 teaspoon
Candlenuts - 3 pieces

Nutmeg powder - as desired

Salt and pepper - as desired

Sugar - as desired
Vegetable oil
Carrots - cut in dice
Celery or cilantro or spring onion - all serves as garnish and my fave is cilantro and spring onion
Tomatoes

In some recipes, they use cloves. You are indeed welcomed to use it as it brings an exquisite aroma to the soup. I don't find one here so I skip it. But I make sure that nutmeg is added as it is sort of a 'signature' hint for this soup, at least in my family's recipe :). 

How to cook:

First, we get all the spices ready. Using mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, shallot, coriander and candle nut. Of course you are welcomed to use your food processor as well. Then heat one spoonful of vegetable oil and sauté the ground spices until it's well cooked and fragrant. In a large pot, boil the oxtail, together with the spices, until the meat is soft. I takes around 3 hours to get it tender, depending on the oxtail. Once the meat is tender, put carrots, celery/spring onion and boil it for 5 - 10 minutes. And sop buntut is ready.

Give some drops of fresh lime or lemon to add extra tangy kick in your soup and some fresh chopped chili if desired. You can also eat it together with a bowl of warm steamed rice.

lime or lemon gives you a fresh kick in the soup

Hope you get a chance to try this exotic culinary.
Selamat makan, bon appetit

Bubur Ayam - Indonesian Chicken Porridge

Yuhuuuu...

Time to spend some times and create something in the kitchen.

We are in the middle of our midsummer break and away from home, but we are trying to bring the homey feeling through our favorite food. 

One common breakfast meal that you can find in Indonesia is bubur ayam - or Indonesian chicken porridge.

Have you tried it before?

I love it!

Some might find the preparation for this meal a bit complicated as bubur ayam has many condiments require to make it a complete dish. But again, it tastes wonderful so it worth all the efforts.

Back home, bubur ayam can easily be brought from the food vendor, including the  mobile one who's coming to your front door. 

Here in New York City, some authentic Indonesian restaurant has bubur ayam on their menu. 

As I love this food, I learn how to cook it properly. What makes it different from other porridge is the condiments and some spices used for this Indonesian chicken porridge. I put ginger and lemongrass to give extra flavor and aroma.

On our last trip to Pennsylvania, I had it before rowing our boat on the lake. Feels like heaven eating my favorite food while enjoying nature's beauty.

What else is needed?

Here are the ingredients:

Porridge:

Rice - 1 small pack or 2 cups

Chicken broth 

Ginger - slightly pressed

Lemongrass - 1 piece, slightly pressed

Shallot or red onion - thinly sliced

Salt and pepper - as desired 

For the soup:

Chicken broth

Shallot

Salt and pepper - as desired

For condiments:

Boiled chicken - shredded, you can use the chicken from the broth

Scallion - thinly sliced

Kerupuk or shrimp/garlic crackers - fried

Shallot - thinly sliced and fried, or you can easily buy the ready pack at any oriental stores

Kedele

Sweet soy sauce - as desired

Chili sauce - as desired 

Some love to add cakue  or like fried salty Funnel cake which make the porridge more like a chinese-style one. I don't usually add it but it's nice as well.

How to cook:

Clean the rice and add the chicken broth as well as the rice and a few cups of water in a cooking pot. I usually use 5 cups of water, including the broth. You can definitely use rice cooker as well but I prefer using the cooking pot because We need to stir it frequently until the rice has reach a certain consistency as porridge. Put the ginger and lemon grass as well as shallots and keep stirring for about 30 minutes. Once it starts getting ticker, use low heat to avoid burning. The porridge is well cooked after it's tick enough and not runny.

This is how it looks :).

For the soup, we simply make clear soup from chicken broth. If you like and you want to add some colors, you can add turmeric.

Once everything is ready, put the porridge in a bowl and give all the condiments you like on top of it.

Enjoy your bubur ayam - Indonesian chicken porridge:).

Selamat makan.

enjoy...

Sate Ayam - Indonesian Chicken Satay

Chicken satay, anyone?

Perhaps, one of the most popular Indonesian food that people, including expatriates, love is sate ayam or chicken satay.

Those living or spending some times in Indonesia will instantly realize how seriously popular this dish is as they can easily find it anywhere. Be it in the big restaurants, special satay corners or even street vendors and those using wheel charts or gerobak and come to your house directly. With those high-pitched calling, sate sate, the satay vendors will make sure that their presence is well-known so that satay lovers can enjoy delicious plate of satay, usually accompanied by a bowl of steamed rice.

Back home, we commonly have the choices of chicken or lamb. With peanut sauce or sweet soy sauce. With the liver or the skin :). Again, using the same ingredients, we can easily find sop kambing or lamb soup sold together.

As satay is traditionally charcoal-grilled, you can order the cruncy or well-done one, or medium. How I miss those street vendors :).

Here in NYC, it's relatively easy to find chicken satay in Indonesia Restaurants around the city. But as #summerisON and our grill is waiting, amidst the hot weather, I try to make it at home. Apparently it's easy and managable.

Wanna try?

Let's give it a go...

some of the ingredients :)

Ingredients:

Breast chicken - 500gr, cut in cubes

Vegetable oil - 2 spoonful

Sweet soy sauce - 2 spoonful or as desired

Coriander - ground or use the powder

Garlic - ground or use the powder

Salt

Skewers - as needed

For the sauce:

Peanut - fried and ground for authentic flavor, or you can easily use peanut butter

Vegetable oil

Sweet soy sauce

Palm sugar

Salt

Chili 

Shalot - thinly sliced

Garlic - ground

How to cook

First, we marinate the chicken. Mix the cubed chicken and sweet soy sauce, veggie oil, coriander, garlic and salt. Leave it for about 15 minutes. Don't do it too long as the sweet soy sauce will turn the color of the chicken meat. 

Once done, arrange the chicken meat in the skewers.

Prepare the grill and cook the satay as you like, medium or well-done. Don't forget to toss it around to make sure that it's well-cooked evenly.

For the sauce, we have two options. Peanut sauce or sweet soy been sauce. For the peanut sauce, if you use fresh fried peanuts, ground them well first then add water to make it like tick sauce.Then in a pan, heat 1 spoonful of vegetable oil, sauté shalot, ground garlic and chili, then add the tick peanut sauce, salt, sugar and a bit of sweet soy sauce.Mix it well and cook it in low heat to avoid burning.

If you prefer kecap or sweet soy sauce, it will be a lot easier to prepare it because you only need to mix the sweet soy sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes and and chili as you desire.

Once the satay is well cooked, add the sauce on top of it and eat it with a bowl of warm steam rice.

Yuuuum!

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do :).

Selamat makan.

enjoy...

Lemper - Indonesian Sticky Rice with Savory Chicken

Always happy to go back to my cozy kitchen and cook some more Indonesian food.

Lately we have been going out more frequently. With warmer weather, being outdoorsy is one of the best choices for me and the kids. And picnic is usually a pack-and-parcel with that. Therefore I need to have a good stock of yummy, healthy snacks for our adventure outside.

lemper :)

And Lemper - or Indonesian Sticky Rice with savory chicken filling (such a long name because we have no exact translation for that) is one of the yummy Indonesian snacks that my kids love so much. And it's easy to prepare it as well :).
Perhaps, to those who haven't tried lemper before, it's like a rice ball.
With savory filling.
But not really a round ball, as the shape is more like an oval one :).

Originally, it's wrapped with fresh, green banana leaves.
How I miss that!
Because besides the great and fresh looking from the leaves, it gives you extra appealing aroma while the sticky rice and the savory chicken are steamed.

But, as I am low in fresh leaves department here in NYC, I, unfortunately, have to change it with aluminum foil.
Not as pretty as the original version, but it's not that bad either.
Here's how it looks..

Wondering how to make it?

Let's check on the ingredients first:

Sticky rice - 500 gr
Coconut milk - 1 can, a half for the sticky rice and a half for the chicken
Lemon grass - 2 pieces (1 for the sticky rice, one for the chicken) slightly crushed
Bay leaves
Minced chicken - 500 gr
Shalot - 1 piece, thinly sliced
Onion - a half, ground
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed
Coriander - ground
Candlenut - ground
Salt and sugar as desired
Veggie oil - 1 tablespoon

Banana leaves or aluminum foil for wrapping

And now let's cook.

First, we get the sticky rice ready. After you clean the sticky rice or glutinous rice in a pan, put water, coconut oil, lemon grass, bay leaves and salt and mix it together. I usually use a traditional way of determining how much water I need, by using my finger. Yes, my finger. One part of the finger's phalanx (that's the name, right) on top of the rice, that's the height of water I use. It might not be scientifically proven but it works for me. I always manage to get a well amount and balances steamed rice, not to dry, not to runny. So feel free to try my centuries-old-techniques :). After we mix it all, bring it to boil, use low heat to dry the excess water then put the lid on for about 20 minutes. I prefer using my steamer to get a better result. 

start with the sticky rice

Once the sticky rice is ready, set it aside and let's prepare the filling.
Put the veggie oil on a non-sticky pan, saute shallot, garlic, onion, coriander, and candlenut until fragrant and put the minced chicken. Cook it well and add lemon grass, bay leaves as well coconut milk. Cook it with low heat until all is well mixed and tender.

excuse my old pan :)

Now, time to wrap it!
Take a spoonful of sticky rice, spread it on the aluminum foil and add a bit of the chicken filling. Put a half spoonful of the sticky rice to cover the chicken and shape it as you wish, but perhaps oval is the easiest one as we will then wrapped it with the aluminum foil. Steam it for 15 minutes until the rice is well cook and well blended with the chicken.

Hope you enjoy it and have fun this summer!

Sayur Labu - Spicy Chayote Soup with Coconut Milk

Hello, everyone.

Back to the kitchen and let me introduce you to another delicious Indonesian food.

It's still a few mere days from Lebaran so it's only appropriate if I share some of our traditional lebaran day culinaries.

I know perhaps you're familiar with rendang, opor or sambal goreng ati. I shared some of those recipes here before. But one that we cannot miss is the soup. 

Sayur Labu for you :)

This time, I have sayur labu - or as I freely translated as spicy Chayote soup with coconut milk.

Chayote cut in half..

Have you tried chayote before?

By trying I mean trying to cook and eat it.

Chayote is one-of-a-kind veggie that belong to the gourd family. Its exquisite  cruncy taste makes it perfect for Indonesian typical spicy, heartie soup. Although I read that it's known as Mexican origin, but I have known it back home in Indobesia since I was a little. Be it sautéd with cruncy carrots, simply steamed, mixed with sweet and sour soup a la Indonesia or sayur asem, and sayur labu, the one that I am about to share with you, chayote has become a familiar sight  on our table.

some ingredients we will need :)

Here in the US, I can easily find chayote in oriental market. Perhaps not many of us know what to do with it as whenever I buy it, there will always be a question from a lady queuing up behind me asking what I can do with that vegetable! 

it's good to steam it as well.

For Lebaran day, we usually have sayur labu accompanying ketupat or rice cake. With or without ketupat, sayur labu is tasty. Wanna try?

Here are the ingredients for it:

Chayote - 1-2 pieces, clean and take out the core and cut into rectangular shape

Carrots - peel and cut into rectangular shape as well

Tomatoes - cut in halves

Shallots - thinly sliced

Fresh shrimps - clean and cut the tails

Chilies - hoarsely ground

Garlic - 2 cloves, minced

Coconut milk - 1 can

Lemongrass  - 1 piece, cut, slightly pressed

Galangal - clean and slightly pressed

Salt and sugar - as needed

Vegetable oil - 1 spoonful, for sautéing 

How to cook

Clean and take out the core of chayote,?then wash it with salty water. You will find that it might be a bit slimy but it washes off easily. Then prepare the cooking pot, put 1 spoonful vegetable oil and sauté chilies, shallots and garlic for a while until fragrant. Put the shrimps, cook it for a while, then add the clean and cut chayote and carrots as well as lemongrass and galangal, sauté it for  approximately 5 minutes. Add water, salt and sugar as well as tomatoes then bring it to boil. Add the coconut milk and bring it to boil while stirring the soup to ensure that coconut milk is well mixed. Once it's boiled and chayote as well as carrots are soft and well cooked, your sayur labu is ready.

hearty soup we got here :)

Eat it together with rice cake or a bowl of steamed rice, sprinkle with fried onion.

Hmmmm... 

Bon appetit!

Perkedel Kentang - Potato Croquettes

It's been a while since I post some easy-to-cook recipe that becomes my family's favorite.

Ramadhan has been a perfect time for me (and the kids) to spend some time at the kitchen. As we are preparing for ifthar,   I usually venture those simple but yummy recipe that will fit my family's appetite for a lovely dinner.

This time I have Perkedel kentang, or loosely  translated as potato croquettes. Indeed you will find many variations of it over the internet, but the one I will share with you is my family's simple version.

My son Bo is a big fan of potatoes. He loves everything you do to potatoes so I usually try to mix it with veggies and other ingredients.

Here's the ingredients we need:

4 pieces of big potatoes - I use Idaho potatoes because its texture is nice and perfect for it.

Garlic

Shallot

Salt - as desired

Pepper - as desired

Ground nutmeg - as desired. I love using it because it gives you different aroma

Spring onions - thinly sliced

Egg - beaten, for dipping before frying

Oil - for frying

Sometimes we mix corned beef or ground beef with this perkedel. You are free to do so of course but This time, I prefer to mix the potatoes and spring onions only.

Here's how to cook:

Boil all the potatoes until they are soft enough but not too soft. Some people love to fry it instead, but since we will fry the final product later, I try to minimize the oil by boiling it. Using potato masher or like me, using traditional mortar and  pestle, mash the potatoes together with garlic, salt, and pepper. Add thinly slice spring onions for extra flavor, color and aroma.

My kids helped me out by shaping it into small, bite-size balls of potato croquettes. 

Beat an egg, add a bit of salt, then dip the croquettes into it before frying it until it's beautifully golden and well-cooked. And... That's it. Super easy, right :).

Perkedel kentang will be a perfect companion for a bowl of steamed rice and chili sauce. But it's perfect to munch it just like that.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Bon appetite!

Tempe Bacem - Javanese Sweet Marinated Tempe

Have you tried tempe or tahu bacem before?

tempe bacem

In this lovely Father's Day as well as the blessed holy month of Ramadhan, allow me to share one of my hubby's favorite recipes.

Tempe Bacem or Javanese Sweet Marinated Tempe, if I may freely translate it :).

Those who have been to Indonesia, particularly to Java,  might be familiar with this famous dish from my country. Owing to its exquisite sweet and bold taste, tempe and tahu bacem are surely loved by most of us, Indonesians.

Remember tempe?
I have passionately shared about this vegan food. Made of fermented soybean, tempe has surely stolen the hearts of Indonesian. You will definitely find various dishes using tempe in Indonesia. But even abroad, whenever you have Indonesians, there will always be ones who produce and sell tempe. Including here in NYC. Some of the tempe being sold here are made in New Jersey or Philadelphia. Every week, we have our own schedule at the nearest Indonesian groceries stores in Elmhurst, Queens. 

When we were in Melbourne, we have a steady suply of tempe as well, produced by some of the students there. In Geneve, we have a very nice and yummy tempe made in the Netherlands and somehow delivered to Geneve, Switzerland, every 2-3 months. 

So, that's a little story about tempe and now let's try our simple recipe today.
Usually, we cook tempe together with tahu or tofu, and even chicken, using the same spices and marinating sauce. But this time, I skip the tofu (and the chicken) and only have tempe.

it can be yummy snack, too :)

Ingredients:

Tempe

Spices to be ground:

Palm sugar

Coriander

Shallot or red onion, thinly sliced

Salt

Kemiri or candle nut

Bay leaves - set it aside

Galangal - pressed 

How to cook:

There are several steps to go through while cooking tempe bacem.

First, we prepare the spices. As always, I enjoy grinding it manually using my traditional mortar and pestle that I brought from home :). It was actually my mom's and I cherish it dearly. Using it is like cooking in my mom's kitchen, so warm and cozy. 

So..back to the cooking.

let's grind it..

Once the spices are all ground, then we marinate and cook tempe together with all the spices. Put them all in a pot, add a half glass of water (or more if deem necessary) and bring to boil until all the spices are well absorbed by tempe. Some use coconut water to add the extra bold flavor but to me, water is enough.

Use low heat to avoid overcooking or burning the tempe because the marinate sauce is sweet. To have a bolder taste, I usually add sweet soy sauce. My favorite Indonesian brand is Bango and luckily, we can easily find it here in NYC. Cook it until the water is dried and the spices are well mixed.

And finally, once tempe is well cooked and looks brownish from the spices, we can deep fry it or bake it to make it crunchy. If you don't fancy frying it, you can eat it as it is, because it is basically well-cooked already.

Eat it together with a bowl of steamed rice and some fresh chili, if you like :).

Hope you enjoy it and till next recipe.

Check out more of my stories at #Steller :)