Cucumber Sambal (Sambal Selamat)

1/2 cucumber, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 shallots, finely sliced
100ml rice or white wine vinegar

Place the garlic, fennel seeds, sugar and salt in a pestle and mortar and pound finely. Alternatively, grind the ingredients thoroughly in a food processor.

Stir in the shallots or onion, vinegar and cucumber and allow to stand for at least 3 hours to allow the flavors to combine.

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Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls (Onde Onde)

Bottom layer :

600g sweet potato, steamed and mashed
50g plain flour, sifted
50g glutinous flour, sifted
1/2 grated coconut (white part only), steamed for 15 minutes
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp castor sugar
6 tbsp sesame seeds, for coating
5 cups oil for deep-frying

Filling, mixed :
1 pc brown sugar chopped
2 tbsp sugar

For the skin, mix all the ingredients (except the sesame seeds, oil and sugar for the filling) to get a pliable dough. Add a little water if it is too dry or add a little more flour if it is too soft.

Divide into 30 portions. Form each portion of dough into balls, make a small hole and put in some filling. Seal and form into ball again.

Dip in water and coat with sesame seeds.

Heat oil and deep-fry the balls on medium heat till golden brown. Dish up and drain, and serve as a snack or dessert.

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Steamed Glutinous Rice and Egg Custard (Ketan Srikaya)

Bottom layer :
300g glutinous rice, washed and soaked for 4 hours, drained
180ml santan (coconut milk) from 1/2 coconut
2 pandan leaves, knotted

Top layer :
4 eggs, beaten with 150g castor sugar until sugar dissolves
1 tbsp cornflour
250ml thick santan from 1 coconut
4 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves), pounded to extract juice
1/4 tsp salt

Put glutinous rice, santan (coconut milk) and pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) into a steaming tray. Steam over high heat for about 30 minutes till the rice is soft. Remove from heat and press with a piece of banana leaf till firm and level.

Mix all the ingredients for the top layer to get a nice green color. Strain mixture over the glutinous rice layer. Steam over low heat till custard is cooked and firm (insert a fork to check whether custard is cooked). Leave to cool completely before cutting into pieces.

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Chicken Stew with Aromatic Coconut Gravy (Opor Ayam Solo)

1 whole chicken (cut into 8 pieces)
1 liter coconut milk
3 bay leaves
100g galangal (bruised)
salt and pepper to taste

Spice mixture, blend:
6 shallots
3 cloves garlic
100g candlenuts,
10g coriander
5g fennel

Boil chicken with 500ml. of coconut milk and bay leaves for 20 minutes. Add galangal. Stir occasionally till the oil floats. When chicken is about done, add remaining coconut milk together with the spice mixture.

Stir till boiling. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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Dried Shrimp Sambal (Sambal Ebi)

3 table spoon ebi (dry small shrimp)
3 fresh chili, thinly sliced (reduce to less spicy)
1 tomato, chopped
1 tbs fried peanuts, crushed
1 cup of hot water
1 tbs fragrant citrus juice
1/2 tea spoon salt
sugar to taste

Soak ebi with hot water for 5 minute, drain Add the rest of the ingredients together with the ebi: fried peanuts, chili, salt, tomato. Add water, citrus fruit juice, sugar and salt. Serve.

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Javanese Style Beef Steak (Bistik Jawa)

400 g beef steak meat (sliced, according to your taste)
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp nutmeg powder
salt to taste

2 carrots, peeled and cut into sticks (or other vegetables you like)
1 small canned of corn
5 potatoes, cut into french fries style
Boiled egg, peeled and cut in half

Sauce
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbs tomato sauce
3 tbs sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 tbs of pepper
1/2 cup of water

Season the steak with salt, pepper and nutmeg, set aside for 30 minutes. Heat oil, and fry the steak until it turns into golden brown.

Make the sauce by frying the garlic and onion from leftover oil. Add the sweet soy sauce, tomato sauce, pepper and 1/2 cup of water. Cook the sauce until it's thick.

Vegetables: cook the carrots in boiling water until tender. French fries: fry the potatoes. Set aside.

Arrange the steaks, carrots and corn, boiled egg and french fries. Pour the sauce around the steaks.

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Vegetables with Spicy Peanut Sauce (Pecel)

100 g bean sprouts, cleaned
100 g spinach, cut
100 cabbage, shredded
add any vegetables you like (cucumber, cooked peeled corn, bitter gourd, etc)

200 g peanut, peeled and fried (or peanut butter jams)

Spice Paste
2 cloves of garlic
2 red chillies, seeded and fried
5 eye’s bird chillies, seeded and fried
5 cm kencur (kaempferia galangal), peel off the skin
1 tbs dried prawn paste (terasi), optional
7 kaffir lime leafs
2 tbs tamarind mixed and squeeze with 100 ml lukewarm water and drain.
50 g palm sugar or to taste
1 tsp sugar
fried prawn crackers

Fry garlic and the chillies. Set aside. If you use peanut butter jams, simply grind or blend jams with the rest of ingredients of spice paste. Continue blending to make it smooth. Add some of warm water to make the sauce thicken

Cook all the vegetables. Set aside.

Serve: Arrange the vegetables, pour with the peanut sauce, add some fried prawn crackers. Ready to serve.

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Fresh Vegetables Soup (Sayur Sop)

2 carrots
100 gram cabbage, cut into small pieces
100 gram bean, cut 3 cm long
200 gram potatoes, cut into medium cube
2 chicken hotdog (optional), thinly sliced
5 chicken wings for broth
2 stalk of celery leaves, chopped
1 stalk of spring onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of fried shallots
800 ml water
salt and sugar to taste

Note: you also can add broccoli, read beans, sweet corns and many more!

Spice Paste
3 shallots (or half medium red onion)
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of pepper

Place chicken wings in boiling water for 20 minutes to prepare the broth. Add the carrots.

Heat oil in the pan and fry the spice paste until its fragrant, and put it into the broth. Add the rest of the ingredients, salt and sugar to taste. Continue cooking until all vegetables well cooked. Add some water if it's necessary.

Serve with fried shallots.

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Sliced Beef with Thick Sweet Sauce (Semur Daging Manis)

250 g beef, cut into thin slices
3 potatoes, peeled and cut
2 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
5 tbs of sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1/2 tbs of pepper
1/2 tbs nutmeg powder
500 ml water
2 tbs fried shallots
salt to taste
Cooking oil

Heat the oil in a wok, fry the potatoes. Set aside. With the leftover oil, sauté the onion, garlic until fragrant. Add meat and fry until it changes colour. Add water, sweet soy sauce, salt, pepper and nutmeg powder.

Reduce heat, cover the wok and cook the beef until its tender. Add a little water from time to time to get the desired tenderness. Add the fried potatoes. Sprinkle with the fried shallots.

Best serve with steamed rice.

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Green Mango Salad Indonesian Style (Salad Mangga Muda)

1 green/un-riped mango, peeled, thinly sliced
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 birds eye chili (reduce to less spicy)
1 green onion (chopped) - optional
1 tbs basil (chopped)
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs palm sugar
1 tbs roasted peanuts (chopped)

Mix the mango, shallots, chili, green onion, basil in a large bowl. Mix fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar in a small bowl. Toss the salad with the dressing and garnished with the peanuts. Ready to serve.

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Spicy Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk (Sayur Lodeh)

200 g long beans (Kacang Panjang)
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes
200 ml thick coconut milk
400 ml light coconut milk or you can substitute with 200 ml water
2 cm fresh galangal
1 fresh kaffir lime leafs (daun jeruk purut)
1 Salaam leaf (Bay leaf)
Sugar and salt to taste

Spice Paste
2 red chillies (optional, depend on your taste)
2 bird's eyes chillies (optional)
3 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
2 Candlenuts (kemiri)
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1 cm of fresh Kencur or 1/8 teaspoon Kencur powder
2 cm fresh turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
A pinch of dried shrimp paste (terasi/balacan), toasted
Salt to taste

Grind or blend the spice paste. Then sauté until it's fragrant, add the galangal, kaffir lime and salaam leaf.

Add the light coconut milk/water and sugar. Continue mixing for few minutes until all spices are absorbed.

All all the vegetables, add thick coconut milk. Continue cooking until its boiling, do not overcooked the vegetables.

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Cooked Vegetables with Spiced Grated Coconut (Urap-urap Sayur)

100 g bean sprouts
100 g cabbage, shredded
50 g green bean (buncis), cut into 2 cm
100 g spinach, cut into 2 or 3 cm
200 g fresh grated coconut

Spice Paste
4 cloves of garlic
3 red chillies, seeded
2 bird's eyes chillies
2 cm Kencur, peeled and sliced
50 g Palm sugar
4 fresh Kaffir Lime leafs, finely shredded
Salt to taste

Grind or blend all spice paste ingredients. Heat oil and sauté the spice paste until fragrant. Then add the grated coconut, mix it well for few minutes, then set aside.

Cook all the vegetables, set aside and cool them off.

Serve: Combine the vegetables with the spiced grated coconut.

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Beef Curry (Gulai Sapi)

300 g beef
500 ml coconut milk
1 stalk of Lemongrass, crushed
3 fresh Kafir Lime leaves
2 Salaam leaves (bayleaf)
1 tbs coriander leaves (optional)
100 g green soya (kacang hijau), clean and cooked
1 block beef seasoning mixture
salt and sugar to taste
2 tbs fried shallots

Spice Paste
6 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
5 Candlenuts (Kemiri), or 7 almonds as a substitute, crushed and fry without oil
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 cm fresh Galangal (Lengkuas/Laos)
1 cm ginger
1/4 tsp cloves powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 eye's bird chillies (or paprika powder for less spicy)

Cut the beef into small pieces, cook under boiling water until the meat is tender. Leave the broth for about 1 cup.

Grind or blend the spice paste.

Heat the oil, and saute the spice paste. Add lemograss, kaffir lime leaves, salam leaves. Mixed well.

Put the spice paste into the meat, then pour the coconut milk and let it boil until the spice is absord. Add the beef seasoning mixture, coriander leaf, sugar, and salt. Continue cooking.

Serve it with lontong (race cake), garnish with fried shallots.

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Spicy Vegetables Salad with Shrimp paste (Rujak Cingur)

50 g bean sprout, cleaned
50 g shredded cabbage
1 stalk water spinach
100 g egg noodle
1 cucumber
1 un-ripe/green Mango
1/2 Pineapple
2 fried tofu
2 fried tempe (bean cake)
200 g cooked beef lips (Cingur)
Lontong (rice cake)

Sauce :
100 g fried peanut
4 tablespoon petis (black fermented shrimp paste)
2 or 3 bird's eyes chillies (optional, you can make less spicy if you want to)
1 tbs of fried sliced garlic
1 tsp roasted terasi (dry shrimp paste) - optional
1 tsp palm sugar
1 tsp tamarind

Clean all the vegetables, then cook. Set aside.

Peel and clean all the fruit and slice into small slices. Set aside.

Prepare the sauce by grind or blend all the ingredients, add a little of water to make it thicker.

To serve, cut lontong into small slices, arrange it on the plate, add cooked vegetables, the fruits, fried tofu, tempe, cingur (cooked beef lips) and pour with the sauce. Garnish with prawn cracker.

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Spicy Grilled Shrimps Satay (Sate Udang Bakar Pedas)

700g, whole raw shrimps
175g cherry tomatoes
1/2 cucumber, cut into chunks
1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1 small red chili, seeded and chopped
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

Pound the garlic, ginger, chili and sugar to a paste using a pestle and mortar. Add the soy sauce, vegetable and sesame oils, lime juice and salt. Cover the shrimps with the marinade and allow to marinate for as long as possible, 2-3 hours.

Thread the shrimps, tomatoes and cucumber onto bamboo skewers. Grill the shrimps for 3-4 minutes, scatter with the coriander and serve.

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Shrimp and Beansprout Fritters (Bakwan)

Ingredients A :
120g plain flour sifted together with 1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
150ml water
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp pepper

Ingredients B :
120g beansprouts, tailed and halved
1 big onion, diced
1 stalk spring onion, diced
2 red chilies, chopped
5 cups oil for deep-frying
200g shrimps, shelled with tail intact

To make Ingredients A, mix sifted flour with egg and water till well-combined. Add Ingredients B, salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a wok. Dip a soup ladle in the hot oil for a little while to heat it up.

Then remove it from oil, and fill it with batter and a few shrimps on top. Dip the ladle in hot oil and leave to fry till the fritter floats free.

Fry till golden brown. Dish up and drain. Repeat till all the batter is used up. Serve fritters with chilly sauce.

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Seafood Curry (Kari Seafood)

400g fish fillets
200g green prawns, heads removed and peeled
200g squid, cut into 1/4-inch rings

1 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
2 lime leaves, shredded

Paste:
2 French shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp root ginger; chopped
3 chilies, deseeded and sliced
1 lemongrass stalk, sliced
salt and sugar to taste

Grind or pound paste ingredients in a mortar with pestle or in a food processor. Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add paste and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add turmeric and coriander and cook until aromatic.

Add coconut milk, water, lime juice, palm sugar and lime leaves. Bring to the boil, add seafood and cook for 3-4 minutes or until seafood is tender.

Serve seafood with noodles or rice.

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Terik Daging (Spicy Beef with Coconut Sauce)

600g beef (chuck or topside), cubed
1/2 cup thick coconut milk and 1.5 cups thin coconut milk from 1 coconut
2 kaffir lime leaves
4 tbsp cooking oil
4 tbsp toasted peanuts, pounded

Spices, ground :
10 shallots
5 pips garlic
5 red chilies
1 cm kunyit
1/2 cm galangal
1 lemongrass
1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp pepper
5 candlenuts
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt or to taste

Heat oil in wok and saute ground spices till aromatic. Add beef and daun kaffir lime leaves, and fry till beef loses its pink color. Add thin santan and bring to boil. Lower heat and leave to simmer till the beef is tender. Add thick santan, pounded peanuts, brown sugar and salt to taste. When gravy is thick, remove from heat. Serve with warm rice.

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Spicy Fish Fritters (Perkedel Ikan)

500g boneless fish fillets
4 green shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp root ginger, chopped

1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 egg
1 tbsp cornflour
Cooking oil

Dipping Sauce:

1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sambal ulek

Combine shallots, garlic, ginger; fish, soy sauce, kecap manis, egg and cornflour in a food processor. Process until mixture comes together and is smooth.

Using wet hands shape mixture into small patties. Mixture tends to be wet so cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan or wok. Cook patties for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden. Combine ingredients for dipping sauce in a small dish. Serve fritters with dipping sauce.

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Fried Carrot Balls (Gorengan Bola-Bola Wortel)

350g carrot, peeled and sliced
1 egg, beaten
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup sesame seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
Cooking oil, for deep frying

Place the carrot in boiling salted water for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and mash well. Place the ginger in a garlic crushed and squeeze the juice into the mashed carrot. Add the spring onions, sesame oil and egg and season to taste.

Shape the carrot mixture into small-sized balls. Roll the balls in the combined flour and sesame seeds, shaking off the excess. Heat 3-4 cm oil in a pan; add the carrot balls and coo in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden.

Remove the balls from the pan, drain on paper towels, then return to the oil and cook for another 30 seconds. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

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