Tempe with Sweet Soy Sauce (Kering Tempe)

Tempe and Tahu (Tofu) are the most popular lauk or side dish in Indonesia. Basically tempe is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybean particles into a cake form. It originated from Indonesia, invented by the Javanese, where it is most popular, although it is common in other parts of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia as well, introduced by migrated Javanese.

It is especially popular on the island ofJava, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempe is made from soybeans, but tempe is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempe's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor.

Because of its nutritional value, tempe is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue. Even long ago before people found and realized the rich nutrition fact of tempe, tempe was referred to as 'Javanese meat'.

There are many kinds of dishes that could be made from tempe: tempe goreng (fried tempe); tempe mendoan (a kind of tempe cooking that is made from thin tempe, fried with spicy flour so as to taste deliciously piquant. Traditionally in the Banyumas territory, tempe mendoan was made from thin, wide tempe, one or two sheets cooked at a time); oseng tempe (sweet sauté tempe with vegetables) and kering tempe.

Kering tempe is a side dish, usually served with nasi uduk (rice cooked with coconut milk) or nasi kuning (rice cooked with coconut milk and some herbs / curcuma so that the color is yellow). The taste of kering tempe is tasty and a little bit sweet from the used of sweet soy sauce. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

250 gr tempe, sliced into small-long pieces

10 tablespoon cooking oil

3 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Spices:

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

3 cloves of shallot, sliced thin

½ teaspoon pepper powder

2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced thin (optional)

3 red pepper, sliced thin (optional)

How to make it:

1. Fried sliced tempe with cooking oil until cooked perfectly, put aside.
2. Stir fry shallot and garlic until golden brown; add red pepper and kaffir lime leaves.
3. Put fried tempe. Add pepper powder, soy sauce, salt and sugar. Mixed until the spices absorb.
4. Served with nasi uduk or nasi kuning.

Some parts of this article are taken from wikipedia. Photos by moderator.

Fruit with Sweet Spicy Dressing (Rujak)

Rujak is a fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The term "Rojak" is Malay for mixture, is also used as a colloquial expression for an eclectic mix, and in particular is often used to describe the multi-ethnic character of Malaysian and Singaporean society.

In Indonesia, rujak is a very popular dessert. It contains some fruits, usually papaya, bengkoang (jicama), mango, watermelon, pineapple, cucumber, jambu air (water apple), star fruit, raw red sweet potato, green apple and jeruk Bali (grapefruit). The fruits are eaten with special dressing made of grinded sautéed peanuts with palm sugar, chili and tamarind essence. All of the fruits are sliced to bite-size, and put in the dish. The bumbu rujak or thick sweet spicy rujak dressing is poured on the fruit slices. Or you can just stick in the dressing into your bite-sized fruits.

Basically, there are four kind of rujaks in Indonesia: Rujak Ulek or Rujak Bèbèk (fruits and dressing are mashed together (tumbuk or bèbèk in Indonesian) in a wooden mortar), Rujak Serut (the fruits is not sliced in biteable size, but shredded into rough almost paste), Rujak Cingur (literary "cingur" means mouth in Javanese, and indeed beside the noodle and vegetable as the main ingredients, rujak cingur also contains slices of cooked buffalo's or cow's lips. This special rujak fromEast Java has "meaty" taste) and Rujak Juhi (juhi means salted cuttlefish for Indonesian, this rujak contains fried bean curd, cuttlefish, cucumber, noodle, lettuce, cabbages, peanut sauce, vinegar, chilies, and fried garlic).

If you want to try to make the ordinary rujak by yourself, you can put the only fruits that you like, then make the simple dressing. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients (put all the fruits you like):

Mango

Papaya

Pineapple

Bengkoang (jicama)

Green apple

Watermelon

Dressing (Sambal Rujak), grind:

250 fried peanut or

8 tablespoon peanut butter

4 red pepper

3 chili

1 tablespoon tamarind essence

2 teaspoon prawn paste, fried

70 gr palm sugar

1 teaspoon salt

50 ml water

How to make it:

1. Sliced into bite-size all of the fruits

2. For dressing, mix all the grind ingredients with water until it becomes thick dough.

3. Served the dressing separately or pour it on top of the fruits.

Some parts of this article are taken from wikipedia. Photos by moderator and Dwi Firmansyah.

Chicken Porridge (Bubur Ayam)

Bubur Ayam is a kind of popular food in Indonesia. Originally, it comes from Betawi (natives of Jakarta) cuisine, but now you can meet bubur ayam everywhere in Indonesia. Usually it is sold by vendors that walk around kampong with gerobak (a kind of wagon with two wheels). You also can get bubur ayam in kedai bubur ayam or chicken porridge booth in the morning or evening. There are two kind of major bubur ayam in Indonesia; Bubur Ayam Sukabumi (chicken porridge from Sukabumi, West Java) and Bubur Ayam Cina (Chinese Chicken Porridge). The differences between two of them are: Chinese Chicken Porridge use salty soy sauce, angciu (Chinese gin) and sesame seed oil, whether Sukabumi Chicken Porridge use sweet soy sauce and use some herbs for seasoning. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Porridge
200 gr rice
2000 ml water
2 bay leaves
3 teaspoon salt

Broth
600 gr chicken
1000 ml water
2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon cooking oil
½ cm nutmeg, grind
½ teaspoon pepper powder
1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

Spice, grind:
10 cloves of shallot
3 cloves of garlic
1 cm saffron / curcuma
1 teaspoon coriander
5 kemiri (Aleurites moluccana)

Topping:
Cooking oil for frying
½ boiled chicken (that is already taken from its broth)
2 celery, sliced thin
50 gr soy bean, put in water for about 1 hour, dried
100 gr red crackers, fried

How to make it:

1. Porridge
• Cooked rice with water and bay leaves until the rice is broken, add salt.
• Cooked for about 60 minutes until it becomes thick porridge. If it is needed, you can add water.
2. Broth
• Boiled chicken with water and salt until it becomes tenderly.
• Separate the broth for about 1 liter, you can add hot water if it is needed.
• Stir fry grind spices with cooking oil until it is cooked put into the broth.
• Add nutmeg, pepper powder, sweet soy sauce, boiled.
• Now the broth is ready.
3. Topping
• Fried chicken until it cooked perfectly.
• Then use your fingers to cut the chicken into small thin shreds ('suwir' in Javanese; there is no Indonesian word for it).
• Sliced thin celery.
• Fried soy bean and red crackers until they are crispy.
4. Serving
• Put porridge in a bowl.
• Add the broth and the toppings on top of it.
• Served warm.

Recipe’s source: Bubur Gurih dan Legit, Seri Masak Femina Primarasa, PT. Gaya Favorit Press, with a little of modification.

Vegetables with Hot Peanut Sauce (Pecel )

Pecel is an Indonesian sauce based on peanuts. It is commonly served over boiled vegetables. It is similar to the sauce used in Gado-gado. The famous pecel is from Madiun, East Java, namely Pecel Madiun. In Solo, Central Java there is another pecel, that is called Pecel Ndeso (In Indonesia: Pecel Desa, means pecel dish from a village), that used biji wijen (sesame seed) as a sauce based, not peanuts. Pecel Ndeso usually is sold by a vendor that walk around kampong in Solo, whether in Jakarta, rarely Pecel Madiun is also sold by vendor that walk around kampong. It served in a kind of plate that is made from banana leaves called pincuk. Curious to make Pecel Madiun by yourself? Here the recipe:

Ingredients:

200 gr young cassava leaves

200 gr spinach

200 gr bean sprouts

200 gr cabbage

200 gr long bean, sliced 3 cm

For Sambal Pecel or Pecel Sauce:

250 gr peanuts, fry, grinded or 6 tablespoon peanut butter

2 red pepper

6 small chili (cabe rawit)

6 cloves of garlic

6 cm kencur (Kempferia galangal)

12 kaffir lime leaves, sliced thin

2 teaspoon prawn paste
100 gr palm sugar
2 tablespoon tamarind essence
1 teaspoon salt
300 ml hot water

4 tablespoon cooking oil

How to make it:

1. Boil all vegetables separately. Except for bean sprouts, just wet with boiling water. Put aside.

2. For Pecel Sauce: Stir fry red pepper, small chili, garlic and kempferia galangal until faded. Grind with cobek or food grinder.

3. Add kaffir lime leaves, prawn paste, palm sugar, salt, tamarind essence and peanuts. Grind again.

4. Add hot water and mixed it until it becomes a smooth, thick dough.

5. Served all boiled vegetables with Pecel Sauce as an appetizer. As a dish, you can eat it with warm Nasi. You can also complete the dish with boiled egg and kerupuk udang or kerupuk bawang (shrimp or garlic crispy crackers)

Spicy Lamb Curry (Tongseng)

Tongseng is a kind of Gulai or curry but using more hot and spicy herbs. The most difference is, unlike Gulai, Tongseng usually is using young lamb meat, not beef or chicken. And as a food specialty from Solo, Central Java - but you can also meet the vendor of Tongseng with gerobak in Jakarta - Tongseng usually is trade accompanied with satay and served with ketupat (rice stuffed in coconut leaves) or nasi (rice).

Ingredients:

1 kg young lamb meat

1/4 kg cabbage, sliced

2 tomatoes, sliced

180 ml coconut milk

1 sachet of instant bumbu gulai (Gulai or curry seasoning)

2 kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk)

1 bruised lemongrass (daun sereh)

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

4 cloves of shallot, chopped

5 red pepper

2 teaspoon pepper powder

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1,5 l water

3 tablespoon of cooking oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

How to make it:

1. Boiled water, put the lamb into.

2. Add seasoning instant bumbu gulai, leave for a while until it absorb perfectly to the flesh.

3. Add coconut milk, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves.

4. Cooked the lamb until tenderly. Now we have a pan of gulai. Put a side.

5. Then, to make tongseng, stir fry shallot and garlic with cooking oil for a while. Put the gulai into it.

6. Add soy sauce, pepper powder, salt, sugar, red pepper, cabbage and tomato.

7. Serve warm with ketupat or nasi.

The Exotic Snacks From Java

These traditional snacks are commonly sold in wet market in Java, so people named it Jajan Pasar. But you can also meet these snacks by traveling vendor that walk around kampongs in Central Java. If you’re lucky enough, although only visit Jakarta you still could meet the traveling vendor in kampong Depsos Bintaro Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta.

Tiwul

Ingredients:
300 gr dried cassava flour (tepung gaplek)
70 ml water
2 pandanus leaves (daun pandan)
100 gr palm sugar
100 gr young scrapped coconut, steamed with pandanus leaves and salt for 15 minutes
¼ teaspoon salt
Banana leaves

How to make it:

1. Put dried cassava flour in winnowing tray, spattered with water and beat it until the dough is granulated.
2. Put banana leaves in hot steamer, add the dough on top of it.
3. Add palm sugar, steamed for about 60 minutes.
4. Served with scrapped coconut.

Sawut

Ingredients:
500 gr cassava
150 gr sugar
½ tablespoon salt
2 pandanus leaves

Complement:
250 gr young scrapped coconut
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pandanus leaf
50 gr sugar

How to make it:

1. Take cassava, peel and wash it. Scrapped, add sugar and salt.
2. Put in hot steamer, add pandanus leaves and steamed until cooked.
3. Mixed the complement ingredient and steamed for 15 minutes
4. Served Sawut with young scrapped coconut.

Recipes source: Tabloid Nova No. 964 – 15 Aug 2006 (Tiwul) / www.tabloid-nova.com (sawut) Photos by moderator

Javanese Pancake from Solo (Srabi Solo)

This is one of the most popular snacks in Solo or Surakarta, Central Java. Srabi Solo is made from rice flour mixed with coconut oil and cooked with small clay wok on top of charcoal. The taste is so delicious because the used of coconut oil. Usually Srabi Solo has some toppings on it, and you can choose the toppings whether sliced of banana, jackfruit, chocolate or even cheese. And if you visit Solo, the legend of srabi vendor is in kampong Notosuman. No wonder that its srabi popular with a calling name ‘Srabi Notosuman’. But if you only visit Jakarta, you can still have the delicious one in Menteng. Or, you want to try to make it by yourself? Here the recipe:

Ingredients:
500 gr rice flour
50 gr wheat flour
225 gr sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla powder
¼ teaspoon yeast
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
400 ml water
450 ml thin coconut milk for dough
100 ml thick coconut milk
Toppings: sliced of banana, jackfruit, chocolate or cheese

How to make it:

1. Mixed rice flour with wheat flour, add vanilla powder, yeast, baking soda and egg, stir.
2. Stir water and sugar until it soluble, pour to the mixed of flour.
3. Add coconut milk and egg, stir until it becomes a thick dough.
4. Prepare wok (usually using small wok from clay), heat it. Pour the dough, put topping on it and leave for a while.
5. Add thick coconut oil on it and cooked well.
6. Served warm.

Buntil (Javanese Vegetable Rolls)

Buntil is a traditional Javanese cuisine, made from young cassava leaves with scraped coconut in it. It tastes so spicy, since the scraped coconut is seasoned with red pepper and other various spices. Its coconut milk broth makes Buntil is suitable served with Nasi (rice).

Ingredients:
100 gr young cassava leaves, boiled, drained
100 dried salty tiny sea fish (ikan teri)
300 gr young coconut, scraped
750 ml thin coconut milk
500 ml thick coconut milk
10 petai, sliced
1 bay leaf
2 kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk)
4 red pepper, sliced (or used small chili/cabe rawit)
½ tsp salt

Spice, grind the following ingredients:
6 cloves of shallot
4 cloves of garlic
1 cm greater galingale
2 teaspoon coriander
6 red pepper
1 cm galingale
4 kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk)
½ teaspoon prawn paste
1 teaspoon palm sugar

How to make it:

1. Mixed scraped coconut with ikan teri, petai and other grind spices.
2. Arrange 4-6 young cassava leaves, put 2 tablespoon of the batter on top of them, folded, wrapped and string tightly.
3. Put the wrapped of young cassava leaves in a pan, pour thin coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, sliced red pepper, salt and cooked until the broth is less.
4. Add thick coconut milk, cooked until the spices absorb perfectly.
5. Served warm with Nasi.

Gadon (Steamed Chopped Meat in Banana Leaves)

Gadon is a traditional Javanese cuisine from Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. Gadon - or digado from Javanese language - means a dish that eaten alone without additional rice. But in fact, mostly people eat Gadon with nasi or rice. Actually, Gadon is similar with Pepes, which is using a kind of cooking method of steaming the ingredients (fish, chicken, tofu, or mushroom) wrapped in banana leaves until it becomes tender, then grilling the packets. But unlike the Pepes, Gadon is from chopped meat and it is not be grilled. Here the recipe:

Ingredients:
250 gr beef chopped meat
1 egg
2 bay leaves
2 kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk), slice very thin
4 red pepper, slice
60 ml coconut milk
Banana leaves and palm leaf rib to wrap

Spice, grind the following ingredients:
¼ tsp coriander
4 cloves of shallot
3 cloves of garlic
½ tsp salt
½ tsp palm sugar

How to make it:

1. Put together beef chopped meat, coconut milk and egg.
2. Add grinding spices, bay leaves and kaffir lime leaves.
3. Put a table spoon of batter in banana leaves, put sliced of red pepper on top of it and wrapped. Pin with palm leaf rib.
4. Arrange in hot steamer, and steamed until cooked.
5. Serve warm with rice (nasi).

The Exotic Food of Indonesia

Indonesian culinary foods are various, and of course, mostly are very delicious. Since Indonesia have lots of island, spread over from West (Sumatra, Java, Bali, Madura, Borneo) to East (Maluku and Papua) so that the culinary are differ among the islands and each of them very rich in local traditions. People usually made the food with ingredients from natural spice, brings the food for traditional ceremony and share with others to eat together.

When you come to Surakarta (or usually called Solo) and Jogjakarta, Central Java, every 12th days of Javanese month (Mulud), you can enjoy Gerebeg Mulud, the culmination of Sekaten Ceremony. This festival start at early morning preceded by parade of the palace guard with their magnificent uniform.

In this ceremony, the local people will take a little bit of Gunungan. The Gunungan is made of food such as vegetables, peanuts, red pepper, egg and several delicacies made of sticky rice. Its mountain shaped symbolizes the prosperity and wealth of Mataram's land (in the present-day province of Jogjakarta).

Besides for ceremony, cuisine is also take part as important things in social culture. That makes every regions in Indonesia have their own food and cuisine specialty. Jogjakarta, for instance, has Gudeg (a traditional food young nangka (jack fruit) among other things, boiled for several hours with palm sugar and some spices, thus it tastes sweet) as its food specialty, while Surakarta has Nasi Liwet (rice cooked with coconut oil, served with boiled egg, chicken curry called Opor and hot spicy squash curry called Sambal Goreng Labu Siam). And Magelang has specialty in Kupat Tahu (tofu served with Ketupat - a type of dumpling made from rice that has been wrapped in a woven palm leaf pouch which is then boiled - and sweet Petis, a sauce made from sweet soya sauce and fermented prawn paste).

Jogjakarta, Surakarta and Magelang's cuisines are included in Javanese Cuisine, which is largely divided into three major groups:

1. Central Javanese cuisine (masakan Jawa Tengah)

2. East Javanese cuisine (masakan Jawa Timur)

3. Common Javanese dishes

There are similarities in the two cuisines, but the main differences lie in the flavors. Central Javanese cuisine is sweeter and less spicy, while East Javanese cuisine uses less sugar and more chili, possibly influenced by Madurese cuisine.

Rice is the common staple food (commonly called nasi in bahasa Indonesia or sego in Javanese), and served with every meal. Gaplèk, or dried cassava, is sometimes mixed into rice or replaces rice. Bread and grains other than rice are uncommon, although noodles are often served as accompaniment to rice. Potatoes usually accompany rice too.

Almost 90% of Javanese are Muslim, and consequently, Javanese cuisine never contains pork. Only a few ethnic groups in Indonesia use pork in their cuisine, most prominently in Indonesian Chinese cuisine, Manado cuisine and Balinese cuisine.

(Some parts of this article are taken from Wikipedia. Insert Photo: Kupat Tahu Stall in Magelang, Central Java, by moderator.)

Oseng-oseng Buncis Kikil (Sweet Sauté String Bean with Kikil)

Oseng-oseng is very popular side dish (usually eat with nasi or rice) in Java, Indonesia. Oseng-oseng can be contained of vegetables combined with tempe or kikil. The taste of sweet from soy sauce blend with salty oyster sauce makes this dish very appetizing.

Ingredients:

¼ kg string bean, cut at an angle into small pieces (1½ cm)
½ kg kikil (part of ox foot), cut into small cubes (boiled tenderly)
¼ kg baby corn, cut at an angle into small pieces

Spices:

3 cloves of garlic, slice very thin
3 cloves of shallot, slice very thin
5 red pepper, slice
2 bay leaves
2 cm bruised galangal
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cooking oil
100 ml water

Procedure:

1. Stir fry garlic, shallot and red pepper with cooking oil.
2. After for a while, put galangal and bay leaves.
3. Then, put kikil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, water and salt.
4. Add string bean and baby corn. Wait until the vegetables cooked.
5. Served warm with rice.