Indonesian Basic White Condiment Paste

Indonesian dishes are well known for the usage of rich herbs and spices which contribute to the distinctive fragrance and taste. Mostly, they're grinded together into paste form and cooked with any kind of meat of your choice, fish or others such as egg, tempeh or vegetables

One thing is, it can be quite a hassle to prepare. We're talking about lots of chopping here, that is a hassle to me :)

 

Preparing the basic paste in advance is proven to be really helpful in cutting short the tedious process. Just take it out from the freezer, thaw and cook accordingly

Many Indonesians do that. Including me. We all have our own version of recipes, adjusted to our liking. And here's my version :)

 

 

 

 

For 4 servings (each serving can be used for cooking 1 whole chicken or 2 large fish)

 

What you need: 

 

300g shallots

120g garlic

120g candlenut

30g coriander seeds

2 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp ground white pepper

240ml water

120ml canola oil

6 pcs Indonesian bay leaves

6 pcs kaffir lime leaves

3 stalks of lemongrass

1 thumb size of old ginger root

1 thumbs size of blue ginger

 

Method:

1. Peel and cut shallots and garlic (shed the tears away, ladies! I cried so much during this step LOL). Grind together using Bosch MaxoMixx Hand Blender’s XL chopper attachment
2. Chop candlenut into small piece. Peel both ginger and pound lightly. Also lightly pound lemongrass
3. Heat wok and dry fry candlenut, remove from heat. Dry fry coriander seeds, remove from heat. Grind them together using Bosch MaxoMixx Hand Blender’s XL chopper attachment
4. In a blender, grind together shallots mixture and candlenut mixture, salt, sugar, pepper, water til forms smooth paste. I used Bosch MaxoMixx Hand Blender's blender attachment speed 4
5. Transfer to a wok and cook for a few mins til hot
6. Add in oil, both leaves, lemongrass, both ginger
7. Let cook over medium low fire until fragrant and well cooked, stir occasionally
8. Let cool, discard leaves and roots, and divide into 4 airtight containers or glass jars
9. Keep in the fridge for a week or two or in the freezer for a few months

Dry fry coriander seeds

 

 

 

Chop and dry fry candlenuts

 

 

 

Cut garlic and shallots

 

 

 

Bosch MaxoMixx Hand Blender’s XL chopper attachment

 

 

 

Grind mixture of candlenuts and coriander seeds

 

 

 

 

Now is the garlic and shallots' turn

 

 

 

Using blender attachment, blend both candlenut mixture and garlic mixture with water

 

 

 

 

Smooth paste is formed

 

 

 

Cooking the paste with other ingredients

 

 

 

Now that the paste is ready, time to cook a dish :)
This time I cooked turmeric grilled chicken using the paste
I grinded a thumb size of turmeric (or you may use 1 tsp of ground turmeric) and mix in to the paste, and I got a yellow paste


And this is how I prepared the grilled chicken:

1. Rinse well a whole free range chicken and into 8 parts. Rub all over with salt and juice of a large lime. Set aside for a few minutes, do not rinse. In a wok, mix in chicken parts with yellow paste and water (I used about 1 1/2 cup)

I included the leaves and roots used beforehand to make the paste

 

2. Let boil and then cover, simmer over low fire til the water reduced in quantity and thickened

3. Grill until browned. Brush the chicken all over with the remaining yellow paste during grilling

Here it is :)

 

The yellow paste

 

 Yummy yummy succulent chicken. You may deep fry too, but I prefer grilling them. I find it's more flavourful

 

You may use the white paste as it is, or turn it into yellow paste like I did, or adding chilli to turn into red paste. Very versatile, I must say :)