Ayam Goreng Yogyakarta / Yogya / Jogja ( Yogyakarta Style Fried Chicken)og

Yogyakarta often called Jogja is one of main Indonesia Tourism Destinations. Yogyakarta has rich cultural and historical heritage. Yogyakarta once was The Capital of Mataram Kingdom.

One of the great historical and cultural heritage that remains and well preserved until now is "The Temple of Borobudur" established in the ninth century by the dinasty of Syailendra. Jogja is also famous of its beautiful tropical scenes and covered by a large areas of rice fields. So, if you plan to go on a vacation next summer, try Jogja...

If you're interested to find out more about Indonesia, I suggest you to read this amazing Travel Guide to Indonesia, "Indonesia (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)"

Now, let's prepare a dish from Jogja, "Ayam Goreng Yogyakarta"

Ingredients:

• 1 large fresh chicken cut in 8 pieces
• 2 cups water
• oil for deep-frying

Spices:

• 1 tablespoon coriander
• 3 tablespoons of crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons of dried turmeric
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons of ginger
• 2 tablespoon oil
• Oil for deep frying.

How to:

1. Grind the coriander, garlic, turmeric, ginger and sugar together to make a fine paste.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok.
3. Once hot add the spice mix and the bay leaves and cook for 3 minutes until fragrant.
4. Add the chicken pieces and coat well once the skin is brown add the water and simmer uncovered until chicken is almost cooked.
5. The water should have evaporated by now and the chicken should have a brown spicy skin.
6. Allow the chicken to dry a little then heat oil for deep frying.
7. Add the chicken to the hot oil and cook for a few moments until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through.
8. Serve with sliced cucumber and thin carrot strips as a garnish.

Recipe and image source:
http://www.wokme.com/recipes/indonesian/ayam_goreng_yogya.htm

Ikan Pepes Bumbu Merah (Spicy Fish Baked In Banana Leaves)

Pepes is an Indonesian Traditional Steamed Cooking Style that's very popular around West Java (Jawa Barat). Pepes dish locks the original aroma and taste. It also help the spices to be better absorbed.

Carp fish is often used to prepare the dish, but I personally prefer Patin Fish (Silver Catfish) it's more greasy and tasteful.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg whole fish (carp or snapper)
• 1 chopped tomato
• 1 stalk green onion
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 5 salam leaves
• 50 g kemangi leaves (sweet basil)
• salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 tbl. salad oil
• banana leaves or aluminum foil to wrap

Spice paste, grind the following ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 shallot
• 2 cm ginger
• 2 cm turmeric
• 50 g fresh chili pepper
• 5 candlenut
• 5 g tamarind
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 25 cc water

Directions:

1. Scale and clean the fish.
2. Take out the intestines but not the egg.
3. Make three diagonal slashes on each side of the fish for spice paste flavor to immerse.
4. Marinade the fish with salt and tamarind for 15 minutes then wash the fish with a bowl of water to remove excess salt.
5. Add cooking oil to the spice-paste, mix.
6. Coat fish with spice paste.
7. Put kemangi leaves, salam leaves and sliced lemon grass for the flavor.
8. Wrap the fish in banana leaves or aluminum foil.
9. Steam with medium fire, 30 minutes. Use pressure cooker for faster cooking time and better taste.
10. Let it cool and grill the wrapped fish over charcoal fire.

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Recipe source:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Pepes_Ikan

Image sources:
http://www.desertmodernism.com

Gulai Paku (Fern Tips in Coconut Milk)

Ingredients:

• Large bunch edible ferns ( or 300 g/10 oz English spinach or amaranth)
• 50 g ( 1 ½ oz) salted or smoked fish thinly sliced (or dried prawns)
• 750 ml ( 3 cups) coconut milk
• 1 stem lemongrass bottom
• 14 cm ( 5 ½ in) only bruised
• 1 turmeric leaf
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 slices asam gelugor ( dried garcina fruit)
• 125 ml ( ½ cup) thick coconut milk salt to taste.

Preparations:

1. Pinch off and reserve the soft fern tips remove leaves from the tough stems discarding stems wash the tips and leaves thoroughly then drain there should be about 300 g (10oz) set aside.
2. Put fish coconut milk lemongrass turmeric and lime leaves and asam slices in a large saucepan and slowly uncovered until slightly thickened 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the ferns and simmer uncovered stirring frequently until tender 3 to 4 minutes add thick coconut milk and bring to the boil stirring constantly simmer 2 minutes taste and add salt in desired.

Serves 4
Preparation time : 15 mins
Cooking time : 25 mins

Recipe and Image Source:
http://www.indolists.com/recipe/Article/Fern-Tips-In-Coconut-Milk--Gulai-Paku-/1525

Tempe Bacem (Sweet Taste Tempe / Tempeh)

When I was in college, Tempeh Bacem is my substitute for meat.
The taste is Sweet, Thick, and Delicious... Yummy...


Ingredients:

• 7 oz Indonesian Cuisines tempeh, sliced
• 1 stem (stalk) of lemon grass, crushed/smashed flat
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 inch of fresh galanga, crushed/smashed flat
• 2 1/2 cups of tap water
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 medium size red onion, chopped fine
• 1 medium size clove of garlic, crushed/smashed flat
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tbs of brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp of coconut powder
• 1 tsp of "sambal oelek" (coarse red chili sauce), if you like it sweet and "hot".

How to prepare them:

1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Slow cook them on medium heat untill most of the "bumbu" solution (mixture of condiment) is absorbed by the tempeh
3. Stir occasionally
4. Finally, fry the tempeh submerged in sufficient oil on medium-high heat until the color of the tempe changes to light brown, but the tempe is not crispy.
5. Serve warm. Enjoy!

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Recipe source:
http://www.soytempeh.com/TempeBacem.html

Image source:
http://k43.pbase.com/g4/76/410576/2/60953782.P1090565copy.jpg

Bandeng Presto (High Pressure Cooked Smoked Milkfish)

Pressure cooking was first introduced by French Physicist, Denis Papin. He invented Steam Digester to reduce the time needed to cook foods. Basically what the steamer do is tighten the air pressure inside it to increase the boiling point of water, therefore the food would be cooked faster.

Bandeng Presto uses high pressure cooking technique that probably was introduced during Dutch colonization in Semarang, Central Java. Bandeng or Milk Fish contains many bones that makes it harder to eat when cooked with regular pressure. Bandeng Presto is Smoked Milk Fish which cooked with High Pressure Cooker.

Bandeng is a large toothless silver fish that lives in warm parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans and related to the herring and the salmon, is commonly used in Indonesian cuisine. Presto came from Italian language “quickly”, but in this case, it refer to the pressure cooker brand “presto” – the first pressure cooker penetrated the market in Indonesia.

It is readily prepared by deep frying or bake it in the oven and serve hot/warm. There is no additional ingredients needed. A vacuum packed smoked milk fish is the most commonly used method for preserving Bandeng Presto and widely sold in Semarang Stores. It can be kept for 6 months - 1 year in the cool place without reducing the freshness and nutrition.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg (or 3) fresh milkfishes, remove gills and stomach part
• 1 tablespoon tapai yeast (read below), grounded
• 2 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoon tamarind water
• 10 bay leaves
• 10 cm galangal (see: opor ayam), sliced and pounded
• 2 1/2 litre water

Grounded spices:

• 14 cloves red onion
• 7 cloves garlic
• 4 cm ginger
• 4 cm turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 150 g big red chili peppers, boiled
• 10 small green chili peppers, boiled
• 8 cloves red onion, boiled
• 4 cloves garlic, boiled
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon terasi (shrimp paste), fried

Other Ingredients:

• Banana leaves for wrapping as needed
• Egg’s white or flavoured flour as needed

Method:

1. Slice the stomach part of the fishes. Clean them up using water and let them dry.
2. Smear the fishes with tapai yeast, salt, and tamarind water. Leave them for about 1 hour.
3. Smear the fishes with grounded spices evenly.
4. Put bay leaves and slices of galangal on top of the fishes.
5. Wrap with banana leaves so that the fishes are easy to lift from the pressure cooker.
6. Pour 1 litre water into the pressure cooker. Put a sieve on top of the cooker
7. Arrange the wrapped fishes ontop of the sieve.
8. Cook until the cooker hissed, 30-50 minutes depending on the type of pressure cooker you use.
9. Let the cooker cool with open lid.
10. Pour water again and cook until the water is no more.
11. Take out the fishes and let them dry.

Method for chili sauce

1. Heat vegetable oil.
2. Sautee grounded spices until the sauce smells good.
3. Put into plate and let it cool.

Serving:

1. Smear the fishes with egg’s white or flavoured flour.
2. Fry until brown.
3. Serve with chili sauce.

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Images Sources:
http://afeministblog.blogspot.com
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2183/2152563196_dcfa836013_o.jpg

References:
http://discoverpressurecooking.com/history.html
http://sofhaljamil.com/2008/10/14/from-semarang-with-bandeng-presto/

Tempe Tumis Sapi (Fried Tempeh with Beef )

The origin of Tempe / Tempeh is still considered a mystery until now. Some believe that Tempe is invented by Javanese. The record of Tempe is found in one of ancient Javanese Literature called Serat Centhini that's written in 16th century.

Other records also show that tempe might be produced using black soybeans before 16th century by Javanese Rural Community in Mataram.

The word tempe probably came from Javanese Ancient Word "tumpi".

But some also believe that Tempe was first introduced by Chinese immigrants who came to Java. They introduced 3 recipes made from soya beans called Tofu, Tom Ping, and Toya. Tom Ping is Tempe itself.

Enough the story, whether Tempe originally came from Java or China, It's an undeniable fact that Tempe is an Indonesian Traditional Food. And Indonesians eat most of the tempes in the world :)

Ingredients:

250 g tempe, chop into pieces
150 g beef, boil until softened and dice
50 g green chilies, chop into 1cm size
25 g red chilies, chop into 1cm size
100 g tomato, tear into pieces
6 shallots, slice
3 cloves garlic, slice
1 salam leaf
1 cm galangal, crush
250 cc water
5 tbs kecap manis
1 tsp salt

How to:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry garlic until brown, add shallots, green chilies, red chilies, salam leaf, galangal and tempe.
2. Add beef, tomato, water, kecap manis and salt, stir fry until the soup evaporate.

Reference:
http://indotempe.com
http://zumaladwi.blogspot.com/2008/06/original-of-indonesian-traditional-food.html

Recipe source:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/miho/selamatmakan/recipe/menulisteng.htm#zensai

Image source:
http://rucheechesse.wordpress.com/category/kuliner/

Gangan (Belitung style fish soup)

This is a Belitung / Belitong Style Fish Soup. Indonesian Popular Novelist Andrea Hirata who wrote the Tetralogi, "Laskar Pelangi", "Sang Pemimpi", and "Edensor" stated the menu as one of his favorite dishes in one interview.

Honestly, this is a very unique dish for me... It has Cassava cut into pieces and added into the soup, Hm.. that's very tempting...


Ingredients:
500 gr ikan bandeng (mackarel)
500 gr singkong (cassava)
1000 ml water
2 salam leaves
1 tsp asem (tamarind)
1 tsp palmsugar
1/2 tsp salt

Spices to grind:
2 shallots
3 candlenuts
4 cloves garlic
3 cm ginger
2 cm laos
3 cm turmeric
4 red chillies
1 tsp shrimp paste / terasi /belacan
1 lemon grass


Directions:

1. Clean the fish and slice it into pieces.
2. Slice the singkong (cassava) into small pieces.
3. Pound or grind the ingredients for the bumbu fine into a paste.
4. Heat in a pan the water and add the spices, the salam and the singkong (cassava).
5. Lower the heat and add the fish, the salt and the palmsugar and let it simmer slowly until the singkong and the fish are cooked.

Recipe source:
http://asianrecipe.eu/indonesian/sopsoto/616-gangan-fish-soup-with-cassave-from-belitung

Image source:
http://rustameffendie.multiply.com/journal/item/1