Green Papaya Salad, Laos Version/ Salad Pepaya Muda khas Laos

I looove this salade, as much as i love Indonesian asinan (veggies/fruit condiment) or rujak (fruit salad). I prefer the laos version over its neighbours, as i feel it has more 'body'. This is my own version with the ingredients that i could find in my pantry.

Ingredients:

Crab Paste

• 3 cups of frozen green papaya (store bought, you can of course find it fresh, you will just have to slice it yourself using julienne peeler)
• 2 carrots julienne sliced
• 1 tomato, cut in wedges
• Juice of 1 green lemon

Sauce

• 1 tsp Crab Paste (you can use shrimp paste just to replace it)
• 3 tbs tamarind juice 
• 1 tbs palm sugar
• Chilies
• 1 garlic
• Fish Sauce (i only use 1 tsp to add more taste)

Method:

1. Mix the green papaya, carrots, tomatoes and lemon juice
2. Mix and grind the sauce ingredients,
3. Pour the sauce over salad. Mix well.
4. Serve

Bahasa Indonesia
Bahan 1:

• 3 cup pepaya muda diiris julien
• 2 wortel diiris julien
• 1 buah tomat, dibelah 4
• Jus dari 1 buah jeruk nipis

Bahan 2:

• 1 sdt pasta kepiting, atau bisa diganti terasi.
• 3 sdm air asam jawa
• 1 sdm gula palem
• Cabai 
• 1 bawang putih
• Saos ikan (saya hanya menggunakan seperlunya saja untuk rasa)

Cara:

1. Campur bahan 1
2. Campur bahan 2 dan ulek.
3. Campur bahan 2 ke dalam bahan 1 dengan baik.
4. Hidangkan.

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Sayur Asam - Indonesian sour veggies soup

Sayur asem litteraly means sour veggies. But it actually refers to a soup consists of veggies, which taste a little bit sour yet sweet and bitter at the same time. It uses kacang melinjo  – the fruit (gnetum gnemon) as well as the leaves for the bitter note. But okay, since my chance of finding the ingredient here in France,  falls down to zero, i actuallly never make this dish. Until last week, i went to visit a friend, Lita, in 93 region, and she made us this meal.

Apparently, this preggy momma has been cooking since petite. And that makes the difference between me and her... she is very good in the kitchen! And to weigh my argument, she is from Surabaya city, east of Java. Okay, this is just my theory, but I think Surabaya women are very good in the kitchen. I realy wonder why !!!

Even in Indonesia, i rarely tasted the best sayur asem. So rare! So the reason why i haven't really made sayur asem since my moving to France, was i think i can really live without it. I was not a big fan, and beside where can i find the melinjo? Sayur asam is merely the same without that one.... and even so, i remember that when my mom cooked the dish, i would not eat the chayote, neither the melinjo bean. But she always put old cooked knobs of corn.. and that was practically the one that i ate ! Never i like the rest, and even the taste of the soup. But gradually as i grow up, i begin to eat the melinjo leaves and the long beans too. But that is just it. Melinjo is the main ingredient of emping snack though. That i wouldn't mind eating.



But this Lita changed my life... i am now convinced that i have to try to make sayur asem too, even without the melinjo ingredient. She gave me a note about the ingredients she used, and i had to figure out how to cook it. I use my own measurements, and add kaffir lime juice to the soup. I like to have the soup a little bit too sour.

Ingredients:

• 2 marrow bones
• 1,5 l water
• 2 Indonesian bay leaves
• 2 pieces of dry Galanga
• 10 gr tamarind 
• 50 gr palm sugar 
• a handful of French beans (or Asian long beans, cut 3cm each) 
• 1 chayote, peel and cut in cubes
• 1 tsp raw peanuts (i did not have any)
• ¼ of cabbage, cut the leaf in square
• cooking oil

Crunch the following :

• 1 tomatoes 
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 2 tsp of salt
• 1 big chili (or you can eventually add more or omit this) 
• 3 shallots 
• 2 garlic 
• 3 candelnut pecan
• 3 tsp of shrimp paste

 Method:

1. in a skilet pan, sauté the coarsed ingredients, galanga, and bay leaves, until fragrant, transfer to a big pan. Add water, marrow, tamarind and palm sugar. Cook until the center of the bones soften.
2. Add the vegetables and peanut. Cook until tender.
3. Serve.

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Cah Kailan

My mom used to make cah kailan (Kailan Sauté / Stir Fry Kailan), which recipe, i think, is originally from China. She knows that among all legumes that i hate (i hate all veggies), i hate Kailan less. But that does not mean that i love it of course, that is why she often put this on our menu. Recipe is based on my trial and error, of course, trying to remember what she put in the wok....

Ingredients:

• 3 Garlics
• 0,5 tps sesame oil
• 3 branch of Kailan, cut
• 250 gr tenderloin beef
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sweet soy sauce (Indonesian soy sauce)
• 1 tps ginger powder
• 1 tbs cooking oil

Bring it on!

1. Heat oil in a wok, fry the garlic and ginger powder.
2. Add the meat and cook until half done.
3. Add the sauces, mix well while continue cooking.
4. Drop the kailan inside the wok, and continue cooking for around 2 minutes (don't cook the kailan too long as it is better when it is not wilty).
5. Serve.
   

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Tofu and Broccoli Soup with Soy Paste

I am baptising this dish as my other lender of the last resort when i am running out of ideas of what to cook, but craving for good simple (oriental) food. It will remind you of miso soup of course, but this one is my creation, thus very rustic unline the fine miso taste.

Ingredients:

• Korean soy bean paste (soenchang doenjang)
• 1 tps dashi powder
• 1 tbs korean/japanese soy sauce
• tofu cut in dice or even bigger (next time I will use soft tofu so it would be even closer to miso soup)
• 1 broccoli, cut and washed
• 1 tbs mirin
• 700 ml water

Method:

1. Except broccoli, boil all ingredients, until the tofu takes color.
2. Add the broccoli, and cook to your liking.

tips:
If you want the soup's color to be clearer, took out the soy sauce, and do the inverse of cooking, boil the broccoli first, then tofu later.

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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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Gado-gado, The Famous Indonesian Mixed Salad

It has been awhile, again?! Yes again. Have been busy with life outside blogging, but not outside the internet. I just realized that i have so many food pictures which recipe i have not yet posted. That i am not sure that i still store the modified recipes in my head, as i never really follow the original recipes.

Okay, lets see...if i can still call back what i made... as i have made 2 gado-gado recipes for the past one month. Gado-gado is typical Indonesian food, which means mix. It is kind of salad with mixed veggies, depending to your own taste. Every house has its own recipe, but they always use peanuts as the main ingredients. I used peanut butter as ingredients because i am too lazy using the real peanuts, breaking up the skins, it hurts!

What makes it so special about gado-gado, like i implicitly said, is the sauce, of course, while you can use your fave veggies to be mixed. You can use blanched water spinach, spinach, sliced cauliflower, cut Asian long beans, sprouts, batavia, sweet corns, boiled eggs, etc.

Almost everybody in Indonesia loves Gado-gado, thus it is a very common food that you can find everywhere, while in Indonesia, they have their own local name to call it with several modifications of ingredients for the sauce of course (kupat tahu in Bandung, tipat tahu in Bali, Karedok- Sundanese and Pecel for the Javanese for other modification of gado-gado).

What is common about gado-gado is that you eat it with rice cake. (lontong or ketupat). As usual, i am also too lazy to follow the real complicated rice cake recipe, thus i just boil a bag of instant rice for an hour (until they fill the bag tightly), and cool it in the fridge for 1 hour to make it hard.

Gado-gado Version 1.0 (inspiration from Masakan Indonesia, Gramedia 2008)

• 2 tbs peanut butter (smooth)
• 1 tps shrimp paste
• 1 tps palm sugar
• 3 chillies
• a pinch of tamarin
• 5 tbs warm water

Directions:

1. Using your mortar, grind all of the ingredients except water. You can add water occasionally if you think that it is too thick (according to your taste, and it depends on your peanut butter.
2. In a big bowl, mix the peanut sauce and the veggies, fried shallots, boiled eggs.

Gado-gado Version 2.0 (inspiration from the net, sorry, i printed this 3 years ago, without the source)

• 2 tbs peanut butter (smooth)
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 1 lemon grass, bruised
• 2 kaffir leaves
• 1 tomatoes chopped
• Indonesian sweet soja sauce
• 3 sliced chillies
• 2 sliced shallots
• 1 crushed garlic
• 1 tps kencur (indonesian galange)
• salt
• cooking oil

Directions:
In your pan, heat the oil, and saute the chillies, shallots, garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients until the tomatoes are melting (tenderly cooked).
In a big bowl, mix the peanut sauce and the veggies, fried shallots, boiled eggs.

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Shrimp and Algae Salad à la Japanese

The idea was taken from Maraboutchef, sushis et compagnie 2001.But since some of the ingredients I don't really have, such as green algae, I decided to use the me hijiki algae. And I also added avocado fruit, and altered almost all of the measurement. Well, it is not that I want to brag about what I made, but it tastes sooo good, that I finished my portion, within 5 minutes. Hehe...

Ingredients:

• 300 gr cooked medium shrimps, (I used frozen package)
• 1 avocado fruit, peeled, slice
• ½ cucumber, cut length in two, discard seed using a spoon, sliced thinly, and sprinkle salt, set aside for 15 minutes. And wash it under running tap, and drain well.
• 100 gr me hijiki algae, soak with hot water, drain.

Sauce, in a small pot, boil the following:

• 60 ml Rice vinegar
• 2 tbs kikoman sauce soja
• ½ dashi powder
• ½ tps ginger powder
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs mirin

Direction:

1. Combine the algae and shrimp in a big salad bowl, pour the sauce, set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Add the cucumber and avocado, mix well, serve.

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Tak Sup Sanjok and Mu Saeng Ch'ae

Tak Sup Sanjok (left) and Mu Saeng Ch'ae (right)

Help, i am really addicted to Korean food!!!

By the way, insipiration is from my korean cook book, 120 recettes de cuisine traditionnelle Coréenne, Grancher 1998. Modified by me.
By the way, if i see how Maangchi cook, i conclude that the Koreans love to mix the ingredients using their bare hands straight to the dough, instead of using other utensil such as spoon. If my mom knows about this, she would never want to eat Korean food.. oh, her loose by the way..hand is the best utensil, really!

For the Tak Sup Sanjok, the original recipe demand for "tubu", as i don't have it, i omitted it.

Tak Sup Sanjok

• Using your food processor, smooth the following ingredients:
• 250 gr chicken,
• 1 small carrot,
• 2 dried shiitake mushroom, soak with boiled water for 30 minutes before

Seasoning:

• 2 tbs Korean soja sauce
• 1 tbs sugar (i read the recipe wrongly, should be 1 tps, hehe)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp powdered garlic
• 0,5 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 tsp powdered Korean chili

Directions:

1. Heat oven for 150°C.
2. Mix all of the ingredients in big bowl, alloy them using your hands.
3. Pour it in an anti-heat pan, make the mixture flat with the help of your spoon.
   
   
   
4. Grill it in your oven for 20 minutes.
5. Serve

Mu Saeng Ch'ae

Ingredients:

• ½ of parsnip (peel and cut julienne)
• 1 granny apple (peel and cut julienne and soak with lepon juice from ½ lemon, to prevent it getting oxidated)
• 3 green onions, slice thinly

Sauce:

• 3 tbs Korean soja sauce
• 1 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sesame grains (the original recipe asks it to be crushed, i did not)
• 1 tsp powdered Korean chili
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1. Soak the parsnip in salt for 15 minutes. Wash it with running water, and using your hand, squeze it to drain the juice out. Mix the apple and the parsnip together with the onions, and the ingredients for the sauce, again mix well with your hand.
2. Cool it in the fridge.
3. Serve.

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Bibimbap

My plate is full of colours, thanks to the Koreans, hehe. I love this dish, since it tastes good, easy to make, and healthy (yea yea, i know, if you are very much looking for healthy food, this is not the blog to be). I got a very lazy attack on the day i cooked it, so excusez-moi for using powdered garlic. I did not use the scrambled eggs either, as i think we had enough on our plate (it was just a normal dinner, come on, enough with big feast almost every night, hehe).

Bibimbap (original recipe is from 120 recettes de cuisine traditionnelle Coréenne, Grancher 1999)

ingredients and methods:

• 2 bowls of rice (for 2 people)
• Sesame seeds

• Minced meat, mixed all together the following ingredients, and stir fry it;

250 gr of minced meat
1 tbs Kikoman sauce soja
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
black pepper

• Cucumber:

1 cucumber, thinly sliced, add 1 pinched of salt, set it aside for 10 minutes. Throw away the water. Add sesame oil, stir fry it for 5 minutes.

• Turnip

1 turnip, julienne sliced, marinate with ½ tps of salt.
Drain the water, add 1 tsp of powdered red chilly + ½ tsp of garlic +1 tsp vinegar +1 tsp sesame oil
(i added also 1 tsp of Korean red chilly paste, gochujang – yeah, i kinda love this paste), mix very well

• Soja Beans

70 gr soja beans, blanch with hot salty water for 5 minutes. Drain water, add 1 tbs of soja sauce and 1 tsp of sesame oil, drain it.

How to serve it?
In one bowl contains of rice, put each ingredients, until they cover the rice. Sprinkle a little bit of sesame seeds on top. Eat the rice by mixing them all together in your bowl.

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Sayur Tim Saus Asia (Your Choice of Steamed Veggies with Asian Sauce)

The original recipe is taken from one of my bibles, my guide to the kitchen world; Marabout's Tout Vapeur (Marabout's All Steam). Then I thought we could always add our own favourites steamed veggies, thus I also added two slice of steamed fish fillet (marinated with lemon juice, salt and pepper). It is quick and easy to have good food on your table, put your veggies and fish on a plate and pour over the Asian sauce. Enjoy!

Asian Sauce, on a small bowl, mix the following:

• 1 clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
• ½ cm fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs japanese rice vinegar
• 1 tbs japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp peanut oil

Note:
I used sweet corn cob and chopped chives, as mentioned by the original recipe. It marries very well with the taste of the asian sauce!

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Oisobagi

This is my own version of oisobagi, or Cucumber Kimchi. The original version of the recipe can be found in this sacred book titled "120 recettes de cuisine traditionnelle Coréenne" (Grancher Paris 1999). I love Korean food, and i dont mind living in the country (the only asian country that i have ever visited beside my own country, hehe).

Ingredients:

• one big cucumber wash cut 5 cm length
• 10 cm of leeks sliced lengthy
• 2 tbs of thinly sliced chives
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 tbs of chilly powder (i used S&B Japanese seasoning, consists of Chilli, pepper, Orange Zest, Ginger and Sesame Grains)
• 1 tsp of Korean chilli Red paste (kochujang)
• 2 tsp of salt
• 2 tbs of anchovies (or small dried shrimp) stock (produced by boiling dried anchovies and add a bit of pepper and chives).

Methods:

1. Form a cross on each cucumber, make sure that you don't cut it all off. Leave one 1cm under (on bottom part) attached. Salt them, set aside for 1 hour, dispose the cucumber water which is produced.
2. In a big bowl, mixed the chilli powder, garlic, chilli paste, and anchovy stock all together.
3. Fill the empty space of each crossed cucumber with the chilli paste, and leave it overnight at room temperature.

I add a tea spoon of soy sauce on my oisobagi just for the fun of it, and yeah it was fun! :)

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Rujak Petis

Bumbu campur dan haluskan:

• 2 sdm Pasta petis
• 1 sdm kacang tanah bakar
• garam
• 2 cabai rawit iris
  
• 2 cabai merah iris
  
• 1 sdt gula merah
• secuil asam
• 2 sdm air (atau lebih bila suka yang lebih cair)

Bahan sayuran:

• timun, cuci, kupas iris tipis
• kangkung di blanchir
• tahu goreng, potong
• telur ayam rebus iris
• bangkoang potong

Cara:
Di dalam mangkok besar, campurkan semua bahan aduk rata dan hidangkan!

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Young Papaya Salad Laos Version Revisited

Guilty pleasure! Eat this and try not to talk or even kiss your lover afterwards..guaranty, a big spar will take place right after..hehe.. Nah, actually the dish is not even worst than the green stinky bean and co, but the garlic and the shrimp paste stay in your mouth until you brush your teeth. But anyway, same as stinky beans, they are worth to be tried!! I got the recipe from a Laotian cookbook in French (Orphie Collection - Les Meilleures recettes du monde). I add pinaples in it, and omit the lemon juice since i have no spare in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• ½ green papaya
• 1 carrots
• 1 tomatoes
  
• 2 chillies
• 3 slices of pinapple
• a pinch of tamarind
• salt
• sugar
• 1 tsp of shrimp paste
• 1 grab of dried small shrimp
• 2 tbs of fish sauce

Methods:

1. Cut the papaya, carrots with julienne style, cut the pineapple in thin bits, while thin slices for the tomatoes, and mashed them coarsely using a mortar, set aside.
2. Using the same mortar, mashed the garlics, shrimp paste, sugar, chilies, tamarind, dried shrimps all together.
3. In a big bowl, combine the fruits and the spice, add the fish sauce.
4. You can serve this meal as a side dish of rice meal (just like we do..but I bet it feels a bit weird for most of Indonesian to eat sweet fruits altogether with their rice, but I am getting used to it).

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Sayur Betik (Rembang)

Ide resep diambil dari buku 1010 Resep Asli Indonesia. Buku yang mantap abis, resepnya rata-rata simpel, tapi sayang gak ada fotonya.

Bahan:

• 1/2 butir pepaya, kupas, potong-potong melintang
• 2 buah kluwek, pecahkan, ambil dagingnya, rendam air panas, haluskan
• 250 ml santan
• 1 lembar daun salam

Bumbu halus:

• 2 buah bawang merah (besar)
• 2 siung bawang putih, 1 sdt ketumbar
• 2 cabai merah
• 1 sdt kencur
• 1 sdt gula merah
• garam
• minyak goreng

Cara:

1. rebus pepaya.
2. tumis bumbu halus.
3. Masukkan kedalam rebusan pepaya, kemudian tambahkan santan.
4. Masak hingga matang dan kuah kental.
5. Hidangkan.

ENGLISH VERSION

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of young papaya fruit, pealed, diagonally cut.
• 2 kluwek beans, cracked, take the paste, soak in hot water, and crushed
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 1 Indonesian bay leaf
• 1 tbs cooking oil

mash the following spices:

• 2 big shallots
• 2 garlics,
• 1 tsp grains of coriander
• 2 chillies
• 1 tsp lesser galanga (kencur)
• 1 tsp palm sugar
• salt

Methods:

1. boil the papaya.
2. Saut the mashed spices and throw it into the pan filled with papaya.
3. Add the coconut milk.
4. Cook until ready and the sauce is thick.
5. Serve

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Udang Goreng Saus Cuka Xerès

Ide resep di dapat dari buku sekolah masak paling bergengsi di Paris, Atelier Escoffier (pemberian teman-teman kantor atas partisipasi magang saya di kantor mereka). Mayanlah, jadi ada ide buat masak-masakan rasa Perancis.

Bahan:

• Udang, kupas kulitnya, buang kepala, sisakan buntutnya
• 2 buah wortel iris julienne
• 300 gr buncis
• merica
• garam
• 2 sdm minyak zaitun untuk menggoreng
• 1 bawang merah iris melintang tipis-tipis
  

Saus:

• 50 ml Cuka Sheri (Xères)
• 30 ml minyak zaitun
• 50 ml kecap asin (saya pakai kecap asin jepang)
• irisan daun ketumbar

garam

Cara:

1. Didihkan banyak air dalam panci, beri garam. Masukkan buncis, masak selama 5 menit, kemudian angkat dan siram dengan air dingin. Dengan memasak cara ini, warna hijau buncis yang menggoda tetap terjaga.
2. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam penggorengan. Biarkan penggorengan sedikit berasap, masukkan udang ke dalamnya, beri garam dan merica putih. Masak hingga dua menit, angkat.
3. Sekarang bikin sausnya, masukkan secara berurutan ke dalam cuka sheri :garam, kemudian aduk. Masukkan minyak zaitun, kecap asin dan irisan daun ketumbar.
4. Hidangkan sayuran dan udang dengan cara menaburkan irisan bawang merah dan saus cuka.

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Tahu Isi

Gak tau kenapa, buat saya bikin tahu isi itu susah banget. Apalagi yang isi dan rasanya mirip dengan yang dipinggir jalan, kok gak pernah berhasil ya. Nah untuk yang ini, saya bikin dengan cara saya sendiri, rasanya juga gak terlalu mirip dengan yang ada di pinggir jalan. kira-kira saja takarannya.

Tahu Isi

bahan:

• 4 buah tahu putih ukuran besar
• Minyak banyak untuk menggoreng
  

Isi: bersihkan sayuran berikut ini

• toge
• kol, potong tipis memanjang
  
• wortel iris juliene
• bawang putih geprak dan iris
• kecap
• garam
• merica
• minyak goreng

Kulit:

• 2 biji telur kocok
  
• 4 sdm tepung beras ketan
• 2 sdm tepung terigu
• air
• garam
• merica

Cara:

1. Bikin isinya dahulu. Tumis bawang, kemudian masukkan sayuran dan kecap, garam merica, aduk rata hingga setengah layu.
2. Campur bahan kulit, jangan sampai kental.
3. Bagi tahu jadi empat, sendokkan satu sisinya, masukkan isi tahu ke dalam bagian tahu.
4. Celupkan tahu ke dalam bagian kulit.
5. Goreng hingga garing.

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