Indonesian Lamb Satay (Sate Kambing)

In Indonesia, satay is one of the most popular dishes. Usually in Java, satay is made from chicken, lamb or beef. It will be eaten with peanut sauce or sweet soy sauce. In Bali, there is a well known satay named Satay Lilit, which is made from minced seafood with herbs spice. And in Sumatra, there is a famous satay named Satay Padang which is made from beef innards with salty spicy sauce. If you’re curious about the taste of the most popular satay in Indonesia, you should try Satay Kambing (Lamb Satay). Here the recipe:

Ingredients:
½ kg young lamb meat, cut into 1 ½ x 1 ½ cm
½ kg lamb liver, cut into 1 ½ x 1 ½ cm
100 ml sweet soy sauce
5 tsp coconut oil or cooking oil
3 cloves of shallot, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced

Spices, grind:
5 cloves of shallot
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon tamarind essence
¼ teaspoon salt

For sambal sweet sauce:
5 red chilies, boiled, finely sliced
50 ml sweet soy sauce
25 ml water
2 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
3 cloves of shallot , finely sliced
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced

Method:

1. Thread 5 pieces of meat and liver onto the skewer.

2. Mix sweet soy sauce, coconut oil and grind spices. Dip meat and liver into this mixture for about an hour.

3. Grill over hot charcoal until golden brown.

4. You can loose the skewer so that you can easily eat it.

5. For sambal sweet soyce: Combine chilies with water and stir well. Add sweet soy sauce, tomatoes, shallots and lime leaves.

6. Serve immediately with sambal sweet soy sauce, tomatoes and slices of shallot.

Note: People in Indonesia usually eat satay with nasi (rice) or ketupat (rice stuffed in coconut leaves).

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.

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.