It is necessary that you use fresh and whole spices and roots when obtainable. If it is not possible to obtain fresh spices and rots, it is all right to use bottled ground spices from the supermarket, although there will be certain dishes that demand the use of fresh spices and roots. As a rule of thumb, use ¼ teaspoon ground spices for 1 cm fresh spices and roots.
Asam, Tamarindus indica, asam jawa, tamarind
Tamarind is dried and sold in packets. For use in a recipe, soak a piece the size of a walnut in a half cup of hot water for 5 – 10 minutes until soft. Squeeze the tamarind and mix it with the water. Strain.
Other types of asam used in Indonesia are :
- Asam kandis/asam glugur/tamarind slices: these are preparedfrom similar types of asam (asam kandis=Garcinia globulosa ; asam glugur=Garnicia atroviridist) that are thinly sliced and dried. They are dark brown to blackis in color and very sour. One or two slices in a dish should suffice.
- Belimbing sayur/belimbing wuluh (Averhoa bilimbi) : small sour starfruit, either dried or fresh, used only in cooking.
Cengkih, Eugenia aromatica, cloves
Remove the head of the clove, if you want to lessen the smell of cloves in a dish.
Daun jeruk purut, Citrus hystrix, kaffir lime leaf
The leaves have a subtle fragrance which give a distinctive taste to many lemon grass based dishes. Substitute with curry leaves or bay leaves, but bay leaves have a stronger flavor. Use 1 bay leaf for every 2 or 3 jeruk purut leaves.
Daun mangkok, Nothopanax scutellarium, tapak leman
Cooked with dishes such as Gulai Otak, daun mangkok has ‘leaves like cups’. A good substitute is curly kale.
Daun pandan, Pandanus odorus, screwpine leaf
Pandan leaves give a distinctive flavor to desserts and savories, and a delicate green color to some desserts. As a flavoring, daun pandan can be substituted with vanilla extract.
Daun salam, Eugenia polyantha
Gives a substle flavor to dishes. Substitute with curry leaves (Murraya koeniglii) or bay leaves.
Daun suji, Pleomelle angustifolia
Usually used together with pandan leaves to give a distinctive green color. Daun suji can be substitute with green food color.
Jahe, Zingiber officinale, ginger
Fresh ginger root should be used if possible; powdered ginger just cannot compare with the fresh root. Choose the small, fibrous light brown ginger when preparing spice pastes. The big pieces of ginger lack the bite and flavor of the small ones.
Jintan, Cuminum cyminum, cumin
Use sparingly as it has a strong smell.
Kapur sirih, slaked lime
Slaked lime is a paste obtained by grinding sea shells in a little liquid. This is the lime which is chewed with betel nuts, gambir and tobacco.
Kayu manis, Cinnamonum zeylanicum, cinnamon
Choose old barks with rough skin. Usually used whole in cooking.
Kecap manis, Sweet Soy Sauce
Indonesian soy sauce is sweet. If it is not available, use 1 tablespoon regular soy sauce (preferably dark) mixed with teaspoon brown sugar.
Kemangi, Ocinum basilicum
‘Horappa’ basil also known as sweet basil, this sweet smelling leaf is eaten raw in salads or used as a herb, like the European basil, in dishes such as pepes and stews.
Kemiri, Aleurites moluccana, Macadamica ternifolia
It is a kind of nut, the size of walnut, with a very hard shell and a waxy, white kernel. Also called candlenut or Macadamia nut. The waxy white kernel is ground together with other spices.
Kencur, Kaempferia galangal, aromatic ginger, lesser galingale
Must be used very sparingly in cooking because the flavor is extremely strong.
Ketumbar, Coriandrum sativum, coriander
Kunyit, Curcuma domestica, turmeric
An essential root in Indonesian cooking, usually sold in dried or powdered form in Europe and the States. It imparts its yellow color and pungent taste to many to many dishes. If you can buy fresh kunyit, pick roots that are dark in color.
Langkuas, Languas galangal, laos, greater galingale
Sold in dried and powdered form in Europe and the States. When buying fresh langkuas, be sure to pick the young and still fairly soft roots.
Merica, Piper nigrum, pepper
Ketumbar, jintan and merica are three spices that form in integral part of traditional Indonesian cooking. When you buy the spices in bulk, make sure that they have been sun-dried and all dirt removed. Put them in sterilized bottles, close them up tightly and store in a cool dry place.
Pala, Myristica fragrans, nutmeg
Fresh nutmeg is dark red in color and hard. If the nuts have fungus growing on them, they are spoiled and should be thrown away immediately.
Serai, Cymbopogon citratus, lemon grass, sereh
Used in most curry-based dishes. Fresh lemon grass is used either sliced, pounded or bruised. They form long thin clumps of leaves, which you put in a dish by tying it up in a knot first. Powdered serai can be substituted, but use it very sparingly. When using fresh serai, use only 6-7 serai from the root up. Throw away the rest.
Terasi, belacan
A dark-colored paste made from shrimps and used in very small amounts as a flavoring. It is used in two forms, raw and grilled. Raw terasi is ground up with other spices into a thick paste, which is then fried a little bit of oil. Grilled terasi is used in recipes where the spices are not to be fried, but boiled. The terasi is grilled over a fire or gas flame, by itself, before it is made into a paste with theother spices.
2.Chilies
- We prefer that you use fresh chilies for the recipes in this book, but if it not available, you can use dried chilies.
- Dried chilies are fresh chilies that have been steamed and then dried in the sun. Soak the dried chilies in warm water first before using. Dried chilies lack taste and color and you must take these two factors into consideration when you use dried chilies. The advantage of dried chilies is that they keep well.
- The small, thin chilies are hotter than the big, fat ones. Remember this, if you do not like hot and spicy food.
- Remove the seeds to lessen the degree of hotness of the chilies. Keep the chilies in a cool and dry place. You can also keep chilies in a plastic bag in the vegetable bin of a refrigeratot and they will keep for 7-10 days.
3. Coconut
- For oily dishes, such as Rendang, choose old coconuts. These are dry with a dark brown skin. For dishes such as Lodeh, choose a fairly old coconut with a yellow fish brown skin. For desserts such as Kue Enten or savories such as Serundeng, choose a mature or young coconut. The best santan naturally comes from fresh coconut. However, desiccated coconut creams are excellent substitutes. To make thick santan from desiccated coconut, simply add enough water to moisten 2 cups desiccated coconut and squeeze through a strainer.
How to make a santan
- Quarter the coconut to make it easier for you to grate the coconut. To make a santan generally grate the coconut in an up and down motion holding the coconut with the convex side facing out. The gratings will be fine and result in more santan. For dishes such as Serundeng or various desserts where you need a coarser grate, you grate the coconut with the concave side of the coconut facing upwards.
- After the coconut is grated, add ¼ cup of warm water. Squeeze handfuls of the grated coconut so that the water becomes white and takes up the juices of the nut. Go on doing this until every last drop of the grated coconut has gone into the water. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve. The first pressing is called thick santan.
- Add another ½ cup of warm water after the first pressing to the grated coconut. Repeat the procedure above. This is called thin santan Continue adding warm water and squeezing the grated coconut and sieving until you have obtained the amount yu need.
- Thick santan is cooked in a different manner from thin santan. In santan-based dishes such as Gulai or curries, thick santan is added towards the end to minimize the danger of the santan separating.
- Do not forget to stir continuously when cooking santan-based dishes, especially after adding the thick santan. If you do not, the santan sauce will separate.
- When you make desserts/cookies or Nasi Kuning/Gurih, you must peel the brown skin of the coconut. You santan will be white as cream and not contain any brown spots.
4. Gula Jawa
- Gula Jawa or gula melaka or palm sugar, is made from the sap of the creamy yellow coconut flowers. The sugar is golden brown in color. There is also gula jawa made from the flowers of the aren palm or siwalan and the sugar is darker in color. For desserts and cookies, you should buy the golden brown kind of sugar.
- Sometimes, you buy gula jawa on the market that has tapioca flour added to it. These will not melt and will ruin your desserts.
III. Rice and glutinous rice
- Choose new rice to eat. It is fragrant and better-tasting. Old rice has a musty smell.
- To make plain boiled rice, fill the saucepan containing the rice with the water up to one inch above the surface of the rice. Bring the rice to a boil and let it bubble, uncovered, until all the water is absorbed. Stir once, and turn the heat to low. Cover the pan tightly and leave it undisturbed for about 10 minutes.
- To boil ketan or glutinous rice, you must soak the ketan for at least 1 hour. It is better to soak it overnight. In this manner, the ketan will cook more quickly and taste soft and smooth. After the soaking, drain and add water no higher than the surface of the ketan, so that the ketan will not end up as porridge.
- Use a stone mortar and pestle in making rice flour Electric grinders overheat and the results are not as good. Only in certain desserts, such as Kue Getas, you can grind the rice into flour with an electric grinder.
IV. Meat
- The most widely used meat in Indonesian cooking is beef. The best beef to use is fine-grained, fresh beef.
- Know which cuts of beef are most suitable for such dishes :
Sirloin - sate, bumbu bali dishes, semur
Cube roll - rending, empal, semur
Brisket - semur, rawon
Shank - soup, rawon, soto
Rib meat - soup, bouillon-based dishes
Oxtail - soup
Beef brain - gulai, fried
Oxtripes, beef intestines, beef lung - soto, fried, sate
Beef liver, beef spleen - sambal goreng, fried, sate, rendang
- To remove the black color of tripe, rub it with slaked lime or pour boiling hot water over the tripe.
- Rinse your hands in water before handling minced meat and the meat will not stick to your hands.
- There are some ways to lessen the smell of goat meat:
-When you cook gulai, add slightly more coriander than prescribed, to remove the smell of goat.
Substitute lamb for goat meat.
V. Vegetables
- Buy fresh-looking produce and pay attention to their color and smell. Good produce has crisp, beautiful colors, no wormy holes and brown edges on the leaves.
- Wash your vegetable before you start slicing them up. This way you prevent vitamin C from dissolving in the water.
- Add a squeeze of lime juice when boiling cauliflower. The cauliflower will emerge white as cream.
- To prepare bamboo shoot, peel and remove the outer skin and all hard parts. Cut the bamboo shoot in half if it is big. Rinse in water and boil in a sufficient amount of water for two hours. Drain, rinse with cold water and slice. Bamboo shoot should not be kept for too long.
- Soak peeled potatoes in cold water with a pinch of slaked lime to make it crisper when you fry them as sliced potatoes.
VI. Fish and Shellfish
- It is a bit tricky to choose good, fresh fish. Here are a few tips :
-Smell the fish. Fresh fish will not smell ‘fishy’.
-Fresh fish have bright red gills; rotten fish have blackish or gray gills.
-Look at the fish’ eyes. Fresh fish have bulging shiny eyes with black pupils and clear corneas. Rotten fish have grayish, concave eyes.
-Fresh fish have shiny, bright scales.
- To clean fish: remove the gills and entrails. Scale the fish and cut away the tail, fins and mouth. Put in basin filled with clean water and swish around until the fish is cleansed of all blood. Slice diagonally or keep it whole, as you wish.
- To remove the ‘fishy’ smell of fish, rub it with lime juice, vinegar or turmeric. You can also use asam (or tamarind), but the asam will discolor the fish when you fry it.
VII. Poultry
- Choose young and fat chickens. Poultry-farm chickens have more fat and are not flavorful as chickens that have been allowed to run around. When you use these farm-bred chickens, decrease the amount of water and santan prescribed in the recipe. Decrease also the amount of oil for frying. To decrease the amount of fat, remove the skin. Your gulai will not be oily and will last longer.
- To remove the ‘fishy’ smell of farm-bred chicken, rub the inside and outside of the chicken with lime juice, vinegar or ginger. Let stand for an hour and then rinse with water and dry with kitchen towel paper.
VIII. Eggs
- In Indonesia, we know two kinds of eggs: eggs laid by poultry-farm chicken such as Leghorn an Australop chickens and eggs laid by free-range chickens. Both kinds are equally good, but the second kind of egg is smaller (25-40 g) than the poultry-farm chicken eggs (50-60 g). You can also substitute duck eggs which weight about 70 g.
- Indonesian recipes usually use eggs laid by poultry-farm chickens. If you use the other kind, you must increase the amount of eggs needed (4 poultry-farm chicken eggs equal 6 eggs laid by free-range chickens).
- Add 1 tsp of vinegar to the water and your eggs will not crack when you boil them.
- You can substitute 1 tsp of corn flour for 1 egg to chicken a sauce.
- Your egg are sufficiently beaten when there are no clots of yolk and foam. It is enough to beat 20x with a fork.
- If you want a puffy omelet, add a pinch of sugar or corn flour to beaten eggs.
IX. Tofu and tempe
Good tempe has a tight consistency and is packed with soybeans. Fried slices of tempe made of this kind will be very crispy.
Do not buy soggy tempe that is not fully covered by the white fungus. This means that tempe is not done yet.
Good tofu has a bounce to it.
Tofu and tempe can be kept in the refrigerator. Tofu has to be washed often with fresh water to keep it for 3-4 days. Or you can cover it with water and keep it in the refrigerator. Tempe will only keep for a day.
X. Soto and soup
Use chicken feet, necks and backs to make chicken stock. Boil on low heat in a covered saucepan over low heat for 1-2 hours.
To make a beef stock, slice the meat in small cubes. Boil in a covered saucepan over low heat for 1-2 hours. It is better if you use a saucepan with a small diameter so that the water will not evaporate too quickly.
You can substitute chicken or beef cubes dissolved in hot water. Or use any of the canned soup stocks available on the market. Be aware that they contain a lot of sodium and adjust your seasoning accordingly.
Keep your left-over soup stock in the freezer. Pour it in ice-cube tray. When frozen, remove and bag the cubes. Put back in the freezer for use when you need it.
XI. Desserts and savories/snacks
If the ingredients call for newly pounded rice flour/glutinous rice flour, the flour must be prepared no longer than the day before. On how to make rice flour/glutinous rice flour, see Helpful Hints : Rice and glutinous rice.
On santan and gula : see the part in Helpful Hints : Choosing and preparing your ingredients.
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