Gandasturi (Indonesian Breaded Sweet Mung Bean) Recipe

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Bunga Telang (Blue Pea Vine or Butterfly Pea), A Natural Food Dye of Blue

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Jadah Manten (Glutinous Rice Roll Wrapped in Omelet)

A guest post by Cemplang Cemplung. Full story and recipe have been moved to indonesiaeats.com

Sambal Bawang (Shallot and Garlic Sambal) Recipe

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Nasi Udang (Shrimp Rice) Recipe

Full story and recipe have been moved to indonesiaeats.com

Asinan Bogor (Bogor Fruit Salad/Pickle) Recipe

This year, on August 1 Muslims all over the world started the Ramadan fasting.  Some people asked "how do you manage to fast the whole month?"  I was giggling a bit. "we fast the whole month but from sunrise to sundown.  From dusk to sunrise we are able to eat and drink" :)  Then they realize "oo I see"  Another question that often I got "are you allowed to drink any fluid ?" I said, "no...fasting means no fluid and no food.  Better yet no anger and be a patience person"  The hardest trial for most people is about the emotional and negative feeling such as anger.  Especially when the weather is really hot like in Winnipeg during the summer.  That is a big possibility to get tense more.  For those who live on the equator and southern hemisphere, the fasting period is quite short compare to us who live on the northern hemisphere.  In total, if you live in Winnipeg you have to fast for 18 hours.

Anyway for all who do Ramadan fasting, Ramadan Kareem to you all.

Speaking of hot weather, I tend to enjoy something refreshing.  Asinan Bogor is one of them.  It's really easy to make and you can use any fruits that you like.  In this recipe, I substituted the chili pepper for scotch bonnet pepper.  I also used tropical fruits that I used to enjoy back when I was in Indonesia.  Too bad, the Caribbean store that I usually go for kedondong (Ambarella)  didn't have it in stock at that time.  In Bogor where I spent my life for 7 years before moving to Canada, this is one of street foods that I enjoyed.  There are two variants of this salad in Bogor, fruit and vegetables. But you can always ask to mix both of them.

Asinan Bogor
Bogor Fruit Salad/Pickle

Ingredients:
150 grams (5 oz.) sweet potato, peeled and sliced
150 grams (5 oz.) jicama, peeled sliced
150 grams (5 oz.) cucumber, sliced
150 grams (5 oz.) green mangoes, peeled and sliced
150 grams (5 oz.) peeled pineapple, sliced
150 gram (5 oz.) unripe red papaya, peeled and sliced
150 grams (5 oz.) roasted peanuts with skin-on

Dressing:
750 milliliter (3 cups) water
50 grams (1.7 oz)  scotch bonnet pepper, discard the seeds
150 grams (5 oz.) raw canesugar
25 grams (0.85 oz)  ground toasted dried shrimp
175 grams (60z) sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis Osbeck), squeezed out the juice
1 - 2 tablespoons canesugar or nypa palm vinegar
2 teaspoons seasalt

Directions:
1. In a blender, combine scotch bonnet pepper and a small water until blended. Transfer to a sauce pan with the rest of the water. Add sugar, ground dried shrimp, seasalt and orange juice and heat up until the sugar dissolved. Add vinegar. Let it sit in a room temperature to cool down.

2. In a container, add all the fruit slices. Pour the dressing in. Cover with the lid and keep it in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.

Serving suggestion:
Scoop out some of the fruits and dressing into a small bowl. Sprinkle with peanuts and enjoy with kerupuk mie (noodle crackers).

Sate Klopo (Surabaya Coconut Beef Saté) Recipe

It's summer now on the northern hemisphere.  Perfect time for grilling or barbecuing.  If you have been to Indonesia, you will notice there are many variants of Saté/Satay.  This time, I have Sate Klopo or Kelopo.  Klopo or Kelopo is the Javanese term for coconut in English and Kelapa in bahasa Indonesia. In Indonesia, when people say Sate Klopo, they will connect it right away with Sate Klopo Ondomohen "Bu Asih" in Surabaya.

Even though, it is very popular in Surabaya, the capital city of East Java, this saté/satay is originally from Madura, an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately 4,250 km² (1,641 square miles).

Just like mostly other saté/satays in Indonesia, Sate Klopo is dished up on banana leaves and eaten with lontong (rice cake) or rice. The different about this sate/satay is the poyah (known as koyah too) which is served on the side beside lontong or rice. Koyah or poyah is grated coconut that has been spiced up and toasted.

I thank mbak Lia who is a Madurese descendant to share her recipe. Unlike her recipe, I used my homemade bumbu dasar kuning (Indonesian yellow basic spice paste) to get a faster process in preparing the Sate Klopo.  This time I used the one without galangal and ginger mix of Indonesian yellow spice paste. But don't worry if you include galangal and ginger in the recipe, you're still able to make this :).

Click read more after the hiccups for the recipe!

Sate Klopo
Surabaya Coconut Beef Saté/Satay

Ingredients:
750 grams sirloin (has luar) or tenderloin (has dalam) or rib eye (cube roll or lemusir) , cut into a bite pieces
2 packages of frozen grated coconut, thawed
bamboo skewers, soak in cold water

Spice Paste:
3 tablepsoons bumbu dasar kuning (yellow basic spice paste)
3 teaspoons toasted ground coriander
7 kaffir lime leaves, discard the midribs and finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt or as desired

Other Condiments:
kecap manis
bird eye chilies (in this case I used scotch bonnet pepper) shallot, sliced
saus kacang (peanut sauce) -> recipe as follow
poyah/koyah kelapa kuning (yellow toasted grated coconut) -> recipe as follow






Methods:
Combine beef pieces, grated coconut and Spice Paste.

Thread 3-4 pieces of spiced beef pieces into each skewer, including 1 piece of fat (if you like the fats pieces) in the middle.

Grill or barbecue one side until done. Flip the other side until done. The best way to make sate is using a charcoal grill.

Serve with lontong (rice cake) or rice, peanut sauce and other condiments.

Poyah/Koyah Kelapa Kuning 
Yellow Toasted Grated Coconut

After all the beef pieces have been threaded, you can use the remaining mixture grated coconut and spice paste for poyah/koyah. Then toast in a pan/skillet at small heat until dry.

Saus Kacang 
Peanut Sauce

This sauce is a bit different with peanut sauce for my Chicken Saté/Satay.

Ingredients:
150 grams garlic roasted peanuts, ground
200 milliliter water or depend on how thicken the sauce that you like
4 tablespoons cooking oil

Spice paste to be ground:
5 long red cayenne peppers (discard the seeds), stir fry until done -> in this recipe I used 2 scotch bonnet peppers
5 cloves garlic, stir fry until fragrant
1 tablespoons petis udang (dark shrimp paste)
3 tablespoons coconut sugar or as desired (can be used interchangeably with palm sugar)
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Methods:
Heat a sauce pan at medium high and add oil. Stir fry the spice paste for peanut sauce.

Add ground peanuts and water. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer until thick and concentrated or dense.