Nasi Pecel Sambal Tumpang

As a person who grew up in East Java, I love to eat vegetables with peanut-based sauce. There are different dishes using this peanut-based sauce. However, our son cannot (yet) eat peanut safely. We are still as carefull as possible avoiding certain food. The last he ate green Kiwi, we ended up camping in the hospital's emergency room (it was happy ending but tiring day, though, especially after a busy working day). However, gold Kiwi, is amazingly ok for him. Peanut is still a NO but pistache is ok.

Anyway, away from home town, I missed some of my home town local dishes. However, many of the dishes uses ingredients that are difficult to find here. And some dishes contains things that our son cannot eat (yet, note, we are still hopefull that he will be clear of all allergy one day), for example peanut. Nasi pecel is basically steamed rice served with boiled vegetables, fried tempe or fried tofu, some other extra things and served with peanut-based sauce. However, there is also nasi pecel served with sambal tumpang. This sauce (i.e. sambal) is not made from peanut but from tempe, which is basically fermented soy bean.

So, when a friend of us visited us, play with our son, I made this for our meal. Our son enjoyed the meal, he also did not refuse to eat the vegetables. But, anyway, eating vegetables and fruits has never been a big problem to him. He refuses now and then certain vegetables or fruits but when we stay persistent to try them again another day, usually he would give a try and although not always love the vegie/fruit he will not fight too hard to refuse.

The taste of the sauce is a nice compliment to the boiled vegetables since it also contains coconut milk. If you do not like coconut milk or avoid the fat content of it, you may want to try to replace it with soy milk instead. I have not tried it, but I did use soy milk or cow milk sometimes as a replacement of the coconut milk.

Here is my version of the sauce. Note that this is simplified version since the ingredients are not as easy to find as much stock in my kitchen as when I was back in East Java. You can find the more complete version in the internet.

Ingredients

6 tempe (fermented soy bean cake, *I used around 200 gr of tempeh for the sauce and I fried the other 200 gr as sliced fried tempe)

4 pieces of tempe semangit (which is basically very old tempe, almost going "bad", *I did not use this, since it is difficult to imitate here)

4 pieces white tofu (*I used 1 pieces of big firm white tofu, cut into cubes)

500 cc coconut milk (*I used only 200-250 cc coconut milk)

boiled vegetables (*I used kangkung/morning glory, taoge, long beans)

5 lime leaves (*I only used 2-3 leaves)

2 Indonesian bay/salam leaves

Spices, ground

5 cloves garlic (*I used 1 big red onion)

5 cloves shallot (*I did not have this on stock, so I skipped)

1 lemongrass, use the white part (not grounded but only crush it)

2 cm galangal/lengkuas (*I used 1 tsp galangal powder)

2 cm kempferia galangan/kencur (*I used 1 tsp powder)

250 gram bird eye chilli and red chilli (*I did not use it but add it separately)

1 tbsp dried shrimp/ebi

salt to taste

white pepper to taste

palm sugar/gula merah (*I used arond 2 tbsp)

How to make

1. Prepared the boiled vegetables and put aside

2. Cut the 200 gr tempe and fried it (you can put it first on the mixture of crushed coriander seeds, salt and pepper before frying), and put aside

3. Cut the tofu and fried it and put aside

4. Put the rest of the tempe (for the sauce), garlic and shallot in the food processor and crush it

5. Heat a pan and put in the crushed tempe, garlic and shallot mixture

6. Add the rest of the grounded spices

7. Add the coconut milk, adjust the consistency using a bit of water when necessary (the end result should be thick enough)

8. Cook until it boils

9. Serve steamed rice, with boiled vegetabes, fried tempe and tofu, and put the sauce on top of the dish.

Enjoy!

 

Nasi Bakmoy

I saw a posting about the place I used to visit during my college year to buy favorite foods (e.g. nasi bakmoy, rujak, petis kangkung, nasi lengko) in Bandung, a city in West Java, Indonesia. Suddenly I got an idea to use the shrimp paste (petis) I brought from home to make "Nasi Bakmoy". I would like to see how my son like it.

Here is the detail.

Ingredients:

Main

Chicken fillet, cut into small cubes *I used around 250 gr chicken fillet

Tofu *I used around 1 - 1 1/2 block of tofu, but not the soft type

1/4-1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2-1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp oyster sauce

3-4 tbsp sweet soya sauce (Indonesian kecap manis) or to taste

1 tbsp soya sauce *if you like, if not, just use the salt mentioned above

garlic, chopped

2 ltr water/chicken stock *I used 2 ltr water and ready to use jelly form chicken stock

1-2 sticks celery, cut into small pieces

Boiled chicken eggs

Fried shrimp (ball)

150 gr peeled and cleaned shrimp *I used around 7-8 medium large shrimp

3 tbsp tapioca or corn starch flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 egg

Shrimp paste chilli

Mixed of good shrimp paste (i.e. Indonesian petis), sweet soya sauce, and fresh or dried chilli to taste. If you do not like something hod, leave out the chilli *mixed it to a good paste like, not to thick not to watery

How to make:

1. Cut the tofu to make small cubes and fry the tofu, put aside

2. Stir-fry the garlic, chicken, oyster sauce, sweet soya sauce, salt (and soya sauce), white pepper for a few minutes until the chicken is a little bit brown (half cooked)

3. Add the water and/or chicken stock and the celery

4. Add the fried tofu

5. Boil it and put aside

6. Chopped the shrimp or use blender

7. Add the other ingredients of the fried shrimp (ball) until well mixed

8. Heat the oil to fry

9. Put 1 tsp of the fried shrimp (ball) dough into the hot oil, and fry it until golden brown. Don't forget to turn the shrimp half way

10. Put aside the fried shrimp (ball)

11. Place steamed rice and 1/4-1/2 tbsp of the mixed shrimp paste chili onto the plate

12. Add the soup and ingredients

13. Add some fried shrimp (ball) *I never made a ball but something more flat and cut it smaller with scissors to accomodate my son mouth size

14. Add 1/4 or half boiled egg

15. Mix everything before eating

Enjoy the Nasi Bakmoy.

It turned out that my son, Patrick, found it delicious.

Biji Salak/Sweet Potato Snack in Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk

Last week, I saw the photo uploaded by a good friend of mine, Fransisca. We met for the first time when we were very little, I think. My childhood friend, mostly because of our mothers who were schoolmates and best friends.

Fransisca uploaded an Indonesian snack called Biji Salak. Literally translated: seed of salak fruit. But it is technically not from the fruit. It is called biji salak because of the shape, I think. Anyway, I did not check the history of the food.

Her photo gave me inspiration (Thanks, Sis!). I had sweet potato at home. But since usually I only served it as steamed sweet potato, I have not made any for some time. A little bit boring, I think, every time serving it as steamed one. But, seeing her photo, I wanted to try to serve it as Biji Salak for Patrick and my husband. So, this was my last weekend project, hm part of the project, since we made also Gudeg. But that one is another story.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredient

Sweet potato *(depends on how much you want to make or have, I used around 650 grams, and it served around 7 portions)

Tapioca flour *(There are different proportion between sweet potato and the flour in different recipes, I used the following ratio 1:10 for the flour:sweet potato)

1/4 tsp salt

1000 ml water

150 gr palm sugar

2-3 tsp brown sugar

200 ml coconut milk

1/4-1/2 tsp salt

How to make

1. Wash the sweet potato

2. Steam the sweet potato and than peel the sweet potato

3. Mash the steamed sweet potato

4. Add the 1/4 tsp salt and flour to the mashed sweet potato. Mixed it using hands until uniform

5. Shape the mix into balls by rolling it using hands

6. Boil water *(use water as necessary, the amount of water should be able to cover the sweet potato balls)

7. Wait until the water is boiled *(do not put in the balls when it is not yet boiled, it will make the balls break)

8. After the water is boiled, put in the balls inside the boiling water. Do not turn off the fire.

9. When the balls are floating on the water surface, wait for 1-2 minute before taking them out of the boiling water.

10. Keep around 1 ltr of water and boil it again with the palm sugar and brown sugar.

11. After it is boiled, add in the sweet potato ball.

12. In other pan, boil the coconut milk and 1/4-1/2 tsp salt. Put it aside.

How to serve

1. Serve the sweet potato in the palm sugar soup

2. Add 1-2 tbsp coconut milk *(you can use it to decorate also if you like)

And, it turned out that Patrick found it nice. Hm, may be he was just hungry. But I am happy that my friend's photo has given me additional food variation idea for Patrick, although we live thousands of kilometers away. I miss you a lot, my friend. GBU.

Ayam masak kecap asin dan tomat/Chicken cooked in soy sauce and tomato

Since my son, Patrick, started to eat solid food without the need to make it into paste-like consistency, we tried to let him eat with us. He will sit at the table with us, gets his utensils, and since he was around 15-16 months he started to try using utensils to feed him self. It is a mess, of course, and most of the times we have to clean the floor and our son. But he loves to feed him self and becomes more and more "independent". Hm, not really...

Anyway, this week I have chicken drumsticks. I wanted to make spicy Indonesian food, called ayam bumbu rujak (do not know how to translate it). But, of course not suitable dish for a soon-to-be-toddler (here, he is considered as "dreumes" which not yet 2 years old but also not baby anymore).

So, I put aside 3 chicken drumsticks for him. I thought they could make as 3 meals for him. Hm, wrong calculation. The first meal, he finished 1 drumstick with the rice and vegetables. But, the second meal, he finished two left over drumsticks and only a little bit of rice plus some vegetables. Next time I should have different strategy.


Ok, here is the simple recipe I used to make the dish.

Ingredients
3 chicken drumsticks *(of course you can use more, I only put aside those 3 drumsticks for 1 little man)
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
2 cloves garlic (chopped) or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
5-7 cherry tomato cut into small pieces *(of course you can subtitute it with other type of tomato)
sesame oil
olive oil

How to make it
1. Heat the pan with olive oil
2. Fry the garlic for around 1 minute
3. Add the chicken drumsticks. Fry it until it is 3/4 cooked
4. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, ginger powder and tomatos
5. Stir it until the chicken is fully cooked. If it is needed, you can add 1-2 tbs of water
6. Add sesame oil and stir it for additional 1 minute
7. Serve it with warm steamed rice

And here is photo of Patrick's chicken drumstick and rice before he attacked it.

Kukus Singkong - Steamed Cassava

Being a mom also means being a cook for the little boss. That is how I call my son. Sometimes I also call him with other names.

I love to cook, but I am not a good cook. I love to eat and am critical to what I eat. Don't get me wrong, I am always grateful of what is served in front of me. However, having tasted variation of foods from so-so quality to quite good quality (do not dare to say I have tasted the best, since I am not a qualified cook or food critic), I manage to from-time-to-time differentiate the better one from the not-so-good one.

Anyway, I am trying to record what I have served for my family and friends. And will use this to improve what I can provide them. I hope everybody enjoy the food and process.

The following is a snack I tried to serve to my 1 year old boy. I was looking for something Asian, which is not easy to get in our living place, but suitable for a new toddler. One Sunday afternoon, I made this. Turned out that my baby boy quite liked it. It is easy to do.

The recipe is taken from www.detikfood.com. It is reposted below in Indonesian. If I have time I will post the translation.

Bahan:
1 kg singkong, kupas, parut *(I used frozen grated cassava, thawed)
1 bungkus agar-agar bubuk putih
300 ml santan *(I used 400 ml coconut milk since I do not want to waste the extra 100 ml from the package)
150 g gula pasir *(I used only 100 gr sugar)
Pewarna makanan, sesuai selera
Taburan, kukus jadi satu:
100 g kelapa kupas, parut memanjang
½ sdt garam

Cara membuat:
•Peras singkong, sisihkan.
•Siapkan loyang segi empat 20 cm, olesi minyak.
•Campur santan, gula dan agar-agar, aduk rata.
•Masukkan singkong parut, aduk rata.
•Bagi menjadi 3 bagian, beri pewarna sesuai selera. *(I used only 2 colors)
•Tuang satu bagian adonan dalam loyang.
•Kukus dalam kukusan panas hingga matang.
•Lapisi dengan adonan kedua.
•Kukus dan kerjakan yang sama dengan adonan ketiga.
•Kukus hingga seluruhnya matang.
•Angkat dan dinginkan.
•Potong-potong setebal 1,5 cm. Taburi kelapa parut.

And I do not have a big enough steamer. So, I heated my oven for 15 minutes with a pyrex bowl full of water at 200C, and after that put the cassava in the oven. It worked!

Here is a picture of my son enjoying the food.



And here is the whole loaf of the steamed cassava cake.