Sambal à la bu Rudy revisited, No MSG needed!

It's been awhile since my last post, I know!
I just want to update a little, telling the world that i recently made Sambal à la Bu Rudy, a famous condiment made by Ibu (Mrs) Rudy.

Ingredients:

• 50 gram Indonesian bird eyes chilies (cabai rawit - they have pretty colors, green/yellow/orange/red)
• 1 TBS of small shrimp
• 3 shallots thinly sliced
• 4 TBS canola oil 
• 3 tbs chicken stock
• Salt and sugar

Methods:

1. Fry shrimp and chilies together, strain them of oil. Grind using mortar (or blender). Add salt (and sugar if you like it a little sweet)
2. Using the same oil, fry  the shalllots until witter.  
3. Combine the fried shallots and ground chilies.
4. Add chicken stock and continue cooking for around 5 minutes. 
5. Serve (can last more than 3 weeks in the fridge)

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Sambal Udang and Sambal Ikan Tuna Asap (Chili Condiments)

Sambal is a must in Indonesian table. It's a spicy chili condiment, that many people just cannot live without. They just have to eat sambal together with their rice. 

SAMBAL UDANG (Chilies and small fried shrimps condiments)

This is just one of my creations. The inspiration comes from the famous Sambal Ibu Rudy, only sold in Surabaya - East of Java (oh how i wish one day she would blatantly disclose her secret)... I added deep fried small shrimps in my usual coarse sambal (boiled chilies, ground with salt, sugar and add 1 tsb of cooking oil). And it is not bad at all!!!!! 

 SAMBAL IKAN TUNA ASAP (chillies and smoked tuna condiments)

About a month ago, a friend brought Sambal Ikan Roa (roa fish sambal), typically from Manado. And from there, I just cannot forgot the taste of it. I have heard of the sambal before, whenever I went to Manado (a town in the north part of sulawesi) restaurants in Jakarta they 'd sell them in jars or plastic box, but I did not really notice how actually good it tastes.

And this is my version of sambal ikan roa. I dont know where on earth I would find a smoked Roa (flying fish) in Paris. So I replaced it with Thon fumé that I bought in Auchan (french local supermarket). To tell you the truth, it is not the same as sambal ikan roa that my friend brought from Jakarta, but it is not bad either...

Ingredients:

• 100 gr of Thon fumé, grilled and grind.
• 3 tbs of cooking oil
• 2 kaffir limes

Grind the following ingredients:

• red and bird eye chilies (more less, according to your taste)
• 5 shallots
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 tbs of chopped tomatoes

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan, saute the ground ingredients. Add the juice.
2. Switch of heat, and add the ground thon.
3. Serve.

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Asinan Buah à la Bogor (Fruit condiments à la Bogor)

I think in the past i have made several failure attemps of "asinan" (condiment - pickled - for dessert purpose) either it is from Jakarta or from Bogor. Asinan litteraly means salty... but the dish asinan itself always has the sweet or the spicy taste dominating the salt.

Wikipedia: Asinan refers to the process of preserving the ingredients by soaking them in a solution of salty water. Asinan is quite similar to rujak', which is usually served fresh, while asinan is preserved vegetables or fruits. Of the many types and variations of asinan in Indonesia, the most popular are asinan Betawi and asinan Bogor.

There are several types of asinan dish in Indonesia, but the famous ones are the ones  from Jakarta and Bogor. The one from jakarta uses peanut as sauce, while in Bogor the juice is clearer, and served with fried peanut, to be sprinkled on the top of the dish. Bogor is a city located on the south of Jakarta. And it is famous for many things, among other, for having raining everyday, thanks to its mountainous surroundings.

In gedung dalam neighborhood, there is an "asinan" vendor which is very famous for its fresh sour-salty-spicy taste of the asinan. Many other vendors tried to copy it, but seems that the winner is the one sold in  this particuliar place in jalan Siliwangi. They also sell vegetables asinan, together with fruit asinan. I love the fruit asinan better (i did not like eating veggies, actually). The fruits in their asinan are always fresh and rarely found in the market, such as Kecapi fruit (santor), Menteng (Baccaurea racemosa), Kedondong (spondias dulcis)..
 

Frankly speaking, it has been awhile the last time i went there to buy this asinan... I missed it so much. Luckily, i found an asinan recipe which taste is very close to the one in gedung dalam - Bogor. 

As asinan fruits you can use Pineapple, sweet potatoes, cucumber, apple, young papaya, bengkoang - Pachyrhizus erosus, peel and cut them.

Ingredients:

• 1l water
• 250 gr  sugar
• 3 big chilies, crushed
• 1 tsp of salt
• 4 tsb of Indonesian vinegar (25%)
• 1/2 tsp shrimp paste
• 2 tsb of peanuts (i used ready to make grilled peanuts, bought in big supermarkets)

Method:

1. Boil the water together with the ingredients (except the peanuts). Strain. Add the fruits. Cool in fridge.
2. Serve with the peanuts.

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Sambal Teri dan Tekokak (Anchovies condiment)

this condiment comes from minangkabau (west sumatera), and uses big green chilies. But i didn't have it, so i used the red ones. Source : Primarasa Nasi Kapau.

Ingredients:

• 1 big red chili and 2 small green chili
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 shallots
• 0.5 tsp sugar
• juice from 1 bergamotte (kaffir lime)
• cooking oil
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 8 kaffir lime leaves
• 50 gr of leunca/tekokak/rimbang Solanum torvum Sw
• 1 tsb of dried anchovy (the one from medan has the best texture and taste!) -dry fry

Method:

1. Coarse chili and shallots, add sugar, salt and juice.
2. Warm a little bit of oil in a skilet, and sauté ginger and leaves until fragrant.
3. Add the coarse ingredients, mix well
4. Add the tekokak, and cook until the tekokak begins to wilt.
5. Serve.

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Bawang Goreng (Indonesian style deep fried shallots)

When we eat soto, bakso or other Indonesian cuisines, we often sprinkle Bawang Goreng or deep fried shallots on it. It reveals another fine taste that the food has. So, bawang goreng, though looking so petit, holds an enormous role in our cuisine.

There are only two ingredients to make Bawang Goreng; Shallots, and all purpose flour (don't ask about the quantity of the ingredients, as we hardly take it into account). It is so difficult to find asian type shallot here in Paris, which is smaller than its European counterpart. I will have to go to Indian store to find it, but it is so far from where i live, and it is not my favourite neighbourhood either over there. So i use normal common shallots here.

Just slice the shallots as thin as possible (i admit i am not good at it), and make sure that every surface covered by flour. Don't be affraid of being royal on giving the flour. I notice that the flour helps the shallots becomes heat resistant when deep fried, thus slower the burning process. Therefore you have you enough time to gather them when they've turned golden brown.

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Acar Kuning

Acar or pickles was never my favorite. But so were many other Indonesian food when i was still young.

I found this Acar kuning (yellow pickles) on the net, and i am very willing to try since i have all of the ingredients in the cupboard. You can eat acar as your grilled fish companion, salty martabak, or nasi/mie goreng (fried rice or noodles).

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, cut as you like (i followed the original recipe)
• 2 carrots, cut
• 200 gr pineapple
• 300 ml water
• 1 tbs vinegar
• lemon juice from ½ lemon

spices, using your pestle, ground the following:

• 2 cm curcuma, grilled,
• 2 shallots
• 1 garlic
• 2 chillies
• sugar
• salt

Methods:
boil the water together with the spices
Add the pineapple, carrots, cucumber, vinegar and lemon juice.
Simmer until the veggies go tender.

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Kimchi

Back to Korean food.... yes, i am amazed with this country, thanks to their food (okay i am also amazed with their liking of plastic surgery, hehe).I made Kimchi last week, based on Maangchi recipe. I did not use oyster (not the season yet in France), thus i used half block of maggie beef stock (crushed) that i added to the chili paste.
The result is de-li-ci-ous! Mr. Gorilla told me that Korean Chilli powder smells very good, it gives a very good appetite if combine with the smell of just cooked rice. I could not agree more!

Hansa hamida Maangchi (she is my héroïne!).

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Sriracha Sauce

In my country, people say that we need to paint life with different tastes to make it more colorful. And the most interesting taste is from spicy hot sambal (Indonesian word for condiment sauce).

This one, is home made sriracha, hot chilly sauce from Thailand (or Indochina?). It is usually being sold in plastic bottles. In Indonesia, people are utterly maniac with this kind of Sambal, we call it sambal botol, because it is sold in bottles. One mark that people seems so attached to is sambal botol ABC. Many people are addicted to add this sauce in their plate, just to have the chemical taste of it, haha. I used to be a fan of this sambal in bottle thing, but not anymore. Since i moved to France, i have completely forgotten the joy of adding it to most of my plate... nowadays, i try to eat healthier (huh, but i am still hooked to Indomie, a brand of instant noodle from Indonesia - an accused of the responsible for the health problem of many many poor Indonesian people).

The original recipe is from this site. The sriracha that i make, actually reminds me of sambal Lampung (a hot chilly condiment from Lampung, a city in South of Sumatera, Indonesia).I used only 6 of Thai chillies, 3 chopped tomatoes (i don't use canned tomatoes, as..well.. i just want my sambal to be purely homemade. And the vinegar that i used is only the normal white one, and after having them all cooked, I blend to have a smooth sambal texture.

And you know what? I dropped half of my sambal on the floor by accident when I wanted to blend it with my hand blender. This accident was thus followed by a big drama between my big mouth-big attitude and my mr. Gorilla's... huh >:( but anyway, thanks to the photo session, which result you can see above, things between us were back to normal again as if there were nothing going on. The drama was neutralized, no damage done. I think he was greatly seduced with my settings for the photo session that he wanted to participate in and forget the stupid sambal drama. He installed the lights, and voilà the picture is there...(i put the 'before' and 'after' having it blent. Guess which is which!! :p)

My conclusion:
drama = sambal in our life! ;°)

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Indonesian Pickled Fruits (Asinan Buah-buahan)

Lately, I have been obsessed with Indonesian Pickled Fruits, with the spicy juice (asinan buah). I have been torturing my tongue with the burning taste, and I often still desire for more, searching for the best recipe and method (yeah like I ever really follow them anyway!).
Most of the recipes exist on the net, are using shrimp paste or dried small shrimp as one of their ingredients, while others are using garlic. There is one recipe that is quite unique, because it uses a fresh orange juice which makes me curious. And then I saw this picture in my friend's blog, and found my self drooling heavily, hehe...so I thought that I had got to try her recipe. But then I remember that more than 2 weeks ago, Mr. Gorilla bought a lot of fresh oranges to be pressed..and they seemed already half decay in the fridge, had to finish it right away before we lose more dying oranges. Thus, I chose the first recipe for the useful ingredients.

There are many type of young (raw-acid) fruits that we can use to make pickled fruits but I usually use young Mango altough the best one is young papaya and red cassavas, as they are always firm. But today I have leftover apples, and the orange juice used as the basic ingredients should preserve the colour of the slashed apple, thus it should stay white not broken white, hehe.

Ingredients for the hot spicy sauce:

• 350 ml fresh orange juice
• white sugar (i used more than 2 tbs)
  
• 700 ml water
• 6 bird eye chillies
• 1 tbs chopped red chillies
• a pinch of salt
  

Method:

1. Boil sugar and salt in water until it is dissolved, let it cool.
2. Pour it in your blender together with your chillies. Blend till smooth.
3. Using a sieve, filter the juice, put the cut fruits inside a Tupperware box and add the juice and sweet salty water.
4. Cool it inside the fridge.

By the way, i used bunch of DVD as my pictures' background. Has anyone seen "Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet"? (They say i am monkey?!) It is an indonesian movie, one of the best movies i'd say. All the symbolic scenes, the pretty faces of the actresses, the well built story...have to see it!

I think 2007 was the best year for our movie, there were this one, "Kala", "Claudia/Jasmine", "Radit&Jani". Well my mark is: several gorgeous faces can act! No kidding!! And that special musician called Titi Sjuman who plays in Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet, oh i adore her for her musical skill as well as her acting. Glory!!

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Sambal Mangga

For the Indonesians, hot spicy sambal (condiment) is the heart of our cuisine. No sambal, no fun! I had been yearning for a small bowl of sambal mangga muda (green -young - acid mango condiment) for quite some time, and i finally made one!

It is not that difficult to find green mangoes in France, they have 'em quite a lot here. The real young acid mangoes from Asia can harm your wallet, but fortunately, France is well self-stocked with lots of African mangoes, which are cheaper, bigger, with almost the same taste as the real mangga muda (green mango) from Indonesia. It is not that we do not have this kind of african mango in Indonesia, my aunty has the tree in her garden in Bali, but i forgot how we call that kind of mango there. It has green and red colour on the outside and pale yellow on the inside, and the fruits are huge! She said that to be able to get the the best taste of this mango, you need some patiences. When you let it ripe on its tree, it is normally spoiled - thus non edible, but when you picked it up too early it is too acid and the colour is too pale. What to do? You pick it from the tree, and then put it on your stockage of husked rice. And let it there at least one week or when it is starting to be softer. That is the best moment to eat this mango, because it tastes sweet.

But of course, for the purpose of the green mango sambal, we can just skip this step. We want to cram our throat with the acidity right away so if you live in France, (or Paris) just buy it in your local Franprix/G20/Ed/Auchan/Carrefour. If you are a perfectionnist, buy green mangoes in your local Asian Store, which cost quite a lot for non tasty ones. While the real yummy tasty mangoes can only be found in Indonesia (in my hummble opinion, hehe). But then again, i have never been to other part of Asia, so..you can discard my stupid opinion in the trash bin in your kitchen.

Green mango sambal is probably originated from the east part of Indonesia, and a perfect accompagnion to naturally grilled seafood. Bellow is my own version of green mango sambal: the way i like it!

Ingredients:

• 50 gr young mango sliced julienne
• 1 tsp shrimp paste, sauté with a little bit of oil or just grilled it for a moment, set aside
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs shallot finely choped
• 2 red chillis thinly sliced
• 2 green chillis thinly sliced
• 2 leaves of keffir lime (hey this time i got the frozen one), sliced
• juice of 1/4 of lemon

Method:
Except the lemon juice, coarsely grind all ingredients (using your mortar). Put it in a small bowl, and add the lemon juice.

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Sambal (Lampung) dan Rasa Pedas

Sambal, rasanya kata-kata ini sudah begitu menyatu dengan kehidupan sehari-hari orang Indonesia. Dan kebiasaan makan dengan sambal kita bawa juga di negeri perantauan, dan menularkannya kepada orang-orang terdekat kita, dengan cara mengajarinya bagaimana mencintai jenis masakan yang satu ini.

Suami saya pun sudah ketularan, katanya kalau makan gak ada sambel atau kurang pedes kok kayaknya gimana gitu. Padahal kemaren sempet berantem gara-gara gulai cerimping saya yang kepedesan. Lah pedes gimana sih, kan cabenya cuman empat mas???!!! Tapi iya sih, gak tau kenapa ya, kemaren emang gulai saya itu pedes banget, sampai menegak sebotol air gak cukup buat menghilangkan rasa pedas di lidah. Saya curiga, sereh membuat aroma cabe makin kuat, ditambah aroma jinten, jahe dan merica putih. Jadi sebetulnya cabai bukanlah satu-satunya elemen yang membuat suatu masakan pedas (selain lada yang sudah terkenal pedas), atau mungkin kita yang terlalu kelelahan setelah seharian beraktifitas tanpa istirahat?

Seperti yang sudah saya ceritakan di tulisan saya yang lalu, bahwa saya pencinta sambal terasi. Tapi entah kenapa, saya udah mulai bosen dengan sambal terasi, dan akhir-akhir ini saya lagi malas masak goreng-gorengan, yang memang cocok dimakan dengan sambal terasi. Tau-tau pengen ganti suasana, dan kepengen banget makan sambal Lampung. Iya, dulu waktu tugas sidang ke Lampung, sempetin juga mampir di suatu daerah yang terkenal dengan jualan sambal botolnya, trus, di begitu pulang lagi ke Jakarta, kita rame-rame di kantor, nyocolin gorengan pakai sambal ini, muantuap abiss Tapi saya terus terang lupa loh, rasa sambal ini... Saya cari-cari resepnya di net, kok gak ada yang nampilin sambal lampung ya, sampe bosen googling.

Nah, ternyata, di buku ensiklopedia masakan Asia Tenggara, ada foto sambal botol lampung, dan di fotonya, keliatan deh bagian ingredientsnya. Jadilah, saya tiru, dengan takaran ngarang sendiri....ditambahin tomat, biar kental berwarna berani dan gak terlalu pedas kayak setan (bandingin kalau isinya cabai tok, panas panas!), dan kalau sambal gak berwarna merah menyala kok kayaknya kurang merepresentasikan cabai sebagai bahan dasar utamanya ya? (Padahal sambal hijau padang kan enak juga ya, dasar plin plan!!!!).

Sambal Lampung
Bahan:

• 6 buah cabai iris tipis
• 3 buah tomat ukuran kecil (gak mini tapi loh) dibuang bijinya dipotong-potong
• 2 siung bawang putih geprak
• 1 sdm gula
• 1 sdt garam
• sedikit minyak goreng

Cara:

1. panaskan minyak, tumis bawang sampai harum
2. Masukkan tomat dan cabai, aduk rata, hingga tomat mengeluarkan airnya.
3. masukkan gula, garam dan cuka, masak terus hingga air tomat berkurang.
4. Matikan api, biarkan dingin.
5. Blender halus (kali ini saya tidak ingin menguleknya, saya ingin membuat sambal yang rada cair, yang dimasukkan di botol, biar kesannya sambal beli tuh.... hehehe).

Sambal merah, menyatu seperti warna hatiku yang merah membara, mengingat kampung halaman...dan membara bagai warna cintaku pada... korbanku "yang kemaren kepedesan makan gulai, dan bakal kepedesan lagi setelah makan sambalku ini"...

Gulai Serimping Sumber Persengketaan Kemarin Malam

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Sambel Be Tongkol

Masakan Bali yang selalu terhidang di rumah kakak, setiap kali saya pulang ke Bali. Ini dan ayam pelalah yang pedasnya kayak setan...
Ini saya bikin tidak terlalu pedas, karena waktu kapan hari tengkar sama si mas Gorilla gara-gara saya naruh cabe kebanyakan. Loh gimana sih mas, katanya sekarang suka pedas?

Bumbu Dasar:

• 4 siung besar bawang merah iris
• 4 siung bawang putih iris
• 2 cabai merah besar dibuang bijinya dan iris tipis
• 1 sdt bubuk jahe
• 1.5 sdt bubuk ketumbar
• 1 sdt bubuk kunyit
• 1.5 terasi
• 1 sdm minyak goreng (saya pakai minyak kelapa)
• 2 lembar daun salam
• secuil asam jawa
• 2 buah tomat, dibuang bijinya
• 1 sdm bubuk serai

sambal dasar sea food

Bahan Sambal matah:

• 2 siung besar bawang merah iris tipis
• 2 siung bawang putih iris tipis
• 1 cabai merah iris tipis
• 3 lembar daun jeruk (saya pakai yang kering)
• 1 (atau lebih) buah jeruk nipis
• 1 sdt terasi bakar
• 0.5 sdt merica putih
• 1 batang sereh, iris tipis bagian yang empuk
• minyak goreng (dipanaskan dahulu)

Sambal Matah

Bahan lain:

• Minyak untuk menumis
• 555 gr tuna kalengan
• bawang goreng

Cara:

1. Buat dahulu sambal dasarnya: haluskan semua bumbu dan tomat, kecuali daun salam, dan asam jawa beserta minyak.
2. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam penggorengan, tumis semua bahan bumbu dasar. Tarik dari api, sisihkan, biarkan hingga asapnya hilang.
3. Campur semua bahan sambal matah dalam mangkok.
4. Di dalam mangkok besar, aduk rata bumbu dasar dengan tuna, tambahkan sari jeruk nipis.
5. Panaskan sedikit minyak di penggorengan, panaskan tuna, masak hingga berubah warna (agak kecoklatan)
6. Tarik dari api, dalam mangkok besar, campur dengan sambal matah.
7. Hidangkan dengan taburan bawang goreng diatasnya (bisa jadi teman makan nasi gurih)

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Sambal Terasi

Akhir-akhir ini, saya dan suami, demen banget makan sambal terasi, sampai kalau makan gak pakai sambal terasi, rasanya kurang nikmat. Si mas Gorilla sampai cemas sendiri, katanya, "Waduh gawat, sekarang kalau makanan gak pedes, rasanya kayak ada yang kurang!" Iya mas, kurang pedes gitu.. hehe.

Ada beragam macam sambal terasi, tapi yang paling saya suka, adalah sambal terasi yang pakai tomat. Bahan dan cara membuatnya sangat mudah, dan cocok sebagai teman makan goreng-gorengan ditambahin kecap. Mantap deh pokoknya!

Bahan:

• 2 buah tomat
• 10 cabai merah dipotong-potong
• 1 sdt terasi
• garam (kalau masih merasa kurang)
• 1 sdm minyak goreng

Cara:

1. Di cobek batu, haluskan cabai dan terasi.
2. Potong-potong tomat, buang bagian bijinya.
3. panaskan minyak, masukkan tomat, kemudian masukkan terasi dan cabai halus. Masak hingga mengental.

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