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 :)

Indonesian Grilled Fish Fillet (Happy Call) (Barefoot Contessa)

I came across this recipe when I was browsing for Ina Garten's recipes in yummly.com
I was curious how the taste is cos it's stated Indonesian but when I saw the seasonings, I was not very certain it would be the Indonesian taste :)

I prepared this dish for dinner this evening, it's quite nice, not the authentic style, but it's nice in its own way
However. I found it too salty
The next time I make this, I will omit the salt

What you need:
(modified to suit my preference and portion)

500g fish fillet (I used premium sutchi fillet)

Marinade:
40ml soya sauce
30ml canola oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
30ml lemon juice
10g finely minced ginger
2 garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp dijon mustard

dark sweet soya sauce to brush during grilling

1. Mix the marinade ingredients and put fish in it and marinade for minimum of 4 hours, overnight will be the best
2. Prepare Happy Call pan, brush a little oil on top and over medium low heat, grill the marinated fish around 5 minutes each side / til cooked, brush each side with dark sweet soya sauce
3. Place on serving plate, and cover with aluminium foil for 10 minutes before serving

Nice to eat with hot fluffy rice :)

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May

Indonesian Style Grilled Chicken (Ayam Bekakak) (Happy Call) & Stir Fry Beansprout With Silver Fish

Indonesian has many kinds of grilled chicken, some are nice, some are not so nice
It all depends on the marinade mixture, and also the cooking process
One important factor also how long the chicken is marinated

This grilled chicken can't be considered as nice, that's not exactly how it should be described, cos it tasted fabulous!
Definitely will make this again :)

I'm not sure why they named it ayam (meaning chicken) bekakak
What is bekakak? I'm not sure and I haven't asked any of my Indonesian friend so far
Maybe I should, but for now, let's just celebrate how tasty this dish is :)

What you need:

1 chicken, split the back, crushed lightly to flatten it
2 lemongrass stick, crushed lightly
2 bay leaves
2cm blue ginger, crushed lightly
1 tbsp tamarind, mixed with 2 tbsp water, mixed and discard the seeds
2 lime leaves
5 tbsp dark sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)
500ml water
3 tbsp cooking oil

Seasonings:
6 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
2cm old ginger
2cm yellow ginger
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp sugar

1. Put all seasonings in food processor and blend til smooth
2. Heat oil on frying pan, sautee the blended seasonings til fragrant
3. Add in lemongrass, bay leaves, lime leaves, blue ginger and cook til fragrant
4. Add in chicken, cook til chicken changed color
5. Add in water, kecap manis, cook til seasonings thickened and water lessened, turn to the other side ocassionally
6. Grill in the happy call pan over medium low heat, flip the pan til both sides golden brown
7. Each time flipping the pan, brush more seasonings

Eat with chilli paste

To make chilli paste:
4 large red chillies, discard seeds and cut small
4 shallots, cut small
2 tsp prawn paste (belachan)
salt, sugar

1. Put all ingredients in food processor, blend til smooth
2. Heat a little oil on frying pan, fry the blended ingredients til boiling
3. Off heat

Another dish which you won't be satisfied with only 1 bowl of rice! :)

And this is the companion:

What you need:

100g silver fish
4 handful of beansprout, cleaned and rinsed
5 shallots, slice thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large red chillies, discard the seeds and cut small
sugar, salt and cooking oil

1. Wash silver fish well (to reduce the saltiness), and pat with kitchen towel
2. Heat a little oil on frying pan, fry silver fish til crispy, golden in color, drain and set aside
3. Using the same pan, add a little bit more oil, heat and sautee shallots and garlic til fragrant, add in chillies, and mix well
4. Add in beansprout, mix well til well cooked, add in silver fish, mix well
5. Add sugar and a little salt (you don't have to add salt if you feel it's salty enough with the silver fish), mix well
6. Off heat

Simple but it made a great companion to the chicken :)

Grilled Chicken In Soya Sauce (Ayam Bakar Kecap)

Another nice chicken dish loved by my family

Recipe is from Ricke's site with slight modification

What you need:

1 chicken, cut (I didn't use chicken drumlets cos my family is not really into it)

To coat the chicken:

juice of half a large lime

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Seasonings: (I made 1 1/2 recipe as stated below)

6 shallots

3 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cm old ginger

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

6 tbsp dark sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)

6 tbsp tomato ketchup

3 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tsp worchestershire sauce

3 tbsp margarine, melted

1. Coat chicken with lime juice, set aside for 15minutes, rinse with water, tap with kitchen towel
2. Add salt and pepper, set aside  for 30minutes in the fridge
3. 
   
4. For the seasonings, put shallots, garlic and ginger in food processor and blend til smooth
5. Mix with the rest of seasonings
6. Heat oil in a wok, sautee  seasonings til fragrant, add in water, approximately 1.5L and add in chicken too, boil on medium fire til chicken soft and water lessened and thickened
7. Arrange chicken on a lightly greased roasting pan, coat chicken with the remaining seasonings, and grill til browned

Very yummy dish, it's even yummier when you put the seasonings on hot rice and eat with the chicken! :)

Grilled Banana

Still using the same banana as what I used in the bread I made the other day, I made grilled banana too
Another big hit among Indonesians :P

Sweet juicy pisang raja...

Grill peeled ripe bananas over low fire on both sides for approx 3 minutes for each side
Put them in a clean plastic bag and using a flat heavy object press them lightly til flatten (I used chopping board)

Take them out from the plastic bag, arrange on serving tray, lather some margarine on them and put topping as desired

I & DH still preferred choco rice+cheese

Many Indonesians (Javanese mostly) do with a combo of pineapple jam+icing sugar

I separated those two since I personally said it's just too much hehe....

Another sinful and yummy treat - especially if you have a sweet tooth! :)