Dayak-Style Shrimp (Udang Bumbu Kalimantan)

2 lbs medium shrimp (peeled and deveined)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-4 medium red chilies (sliced)
1 medium shallot (sliced)
1 garlic clove (sliced)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon tamarind paste (dissolved in water)
1/4 cup water
1/2 inch gingerroot (sliced)
1 teaspoon salt
1 small tomato (chopped)
steamed rice (to serve)

Saute shrimp in 1 tablespoon oil over moderate heat for 2 minutes, then set aside.

In small food processor, blend shallot, garlic, chiles, sugar, tamarind liquid, ginger, salt and tomato to form a paste.

Heat remaining oil in pan, then stir-fry paste over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add shrimp, cook 2 minutes more.

Serve warm.

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Braised Banana with Palm Sugar and Coconut Gravy (Kolak Pisang)

100 gr palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2 (200 gr) medium sized sweet potatoes, cubed
4 (450 gr) ripe cooking banana
4 pandan leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup thick coconut cream
1 cup thick coconut cream, diluted by 2 cups water

In a medium saucepan, add diluted coconut cream, pandan, banana pieces, sweet potato cubes and salt. Bring to boil over medium heat and stir constantly for 10 minutes

In a smaller saucepan, melt palm sugar with 1/2 cup of the coconut water from the first boiling saucepan. When fully melted, strain the liquid to remove foreign objects / insects (very possible to find dead flies trapped in the palm sugar block)

Add the palm sugar syrup and the rest of the thick coconut cream into the saucepan, lower heat

Simmer for another 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, serve warm or cold.

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Spicy Shredded Balinese Chicken (Ayam Pelalah)

250 g breast chicken meat
1 tbsp margarine

4 tbsp sliced shallots
2 tbsp sliced garlic
1 tsp sliced kaempferia galanga
1 tsp sliced galangal
5 candlenuts
1 tbsp sliced turmeric
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp sliced lemon grass
1 tbsp sliced red chilies
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
1 tsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sliced shallots
1 tsp sliced garlic
1 tbsp sliced shallots
1 tsp sliced garlic
1 ripe tomato, sliced

Blend all spices into a paste, add shallots, garlic, red chilies, and tomatoes.
In a bowl, toss chicken with the seasoning and mix well, let stand for a few minutes.

Grill the chicken until done and turn lightly brown, keep the remaining seasoning.
Shred chicken into fine strips.

Put margarine in a wok, saute the remaining seasoning until fragrant. Add the shredded chicken and stir well.

Transfer into a serving dish and serve immediately.

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Banjar Clear Soup (Soto Banjar)

Soup
1 whole chicken. cut into 4 pieces
1,5 litres water
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
4 spring onion, chopped
2 chinese celery, chopped
10 shallots
5 cloves garlic
1/2 whole nutmeg
5 cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 pods cardamon
2 tablespoons cooking oil

Condiments
100 gr mungbean noodles, blanch with boiling water for 2 minutes
3 hard boiled eggs, cut into wedges
50 gr beansprouts, blanch with boiling water for 1 minute
deep fried shallot flakes
frikadel potatoes (recipe here)
sweet soy sauce
2 limes, cut into wedges

Chili paste
5 red chili
10 thai eye’s chili
5 candlenut,
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Wrap nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and cardamon with a piece of cloth (preferably some type of muslin). Set aside.
Grind shallots and garlic into fine paste. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil over high heat for 2 minutes. Toss in the spices in muslin.
In a big stock pot, add the water and the spices from above, cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
Add pieces of chicken into the pot. Cook for another 20 minutes.
Remove chicken pieces. Shred the meat and get rid off the bones.
Set aside.

To prepare the chili paste, put all the ingredients in a spice grinder and grind them into paste.

To serve, ladle the soup into individual serving bowls. Add mungbean noodles, beansprouts, shredded chicken, bitter-nut crackers, perkedel potatoes and hard boiled egg wedges.
Sprinkle some shallot flakes and a couple of dash of soy sauce with squirts of lime juice before serving.

Add chili paste moderately and mix everything up.
Serve with warm rice

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Grilled Rice with Basil and Lemongrass (Nasi Bakar)

2 kg rice
9 stalks lemongrass
9 salam leaves
100 gr kaffir lime leaves
250 gr lemon basil leaves, picked and washed clean
300 gr galangal, quartered and crushed
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 chicken bouillon cubes
4 tablespoons cooking oil

Remove the upper stalk of lemongrass, use only the lower 5″ of the stalk.
Wash and cook rice. Leave in a container till completely cool, for at least six hours.
Heat cooking oil in a big saucepan (big enough to contain the cooked rice) over high heat.
Saute galangal, lemongrass and salt for 5 minutes till fragrant and lower heat.
Add kaffir lime leaves, salam leaves and lemon basil. Quickly stir fry for a couple of minutes.
Toss in sugar, chicken cubes. Mix well for a couple of minutes until the leaves start to wilt.
Add the cooked rice, combine with the rest of the spices.
Remove from heat.

Wrapping
Lightly rub the banana leaves with a wet kitchen towel. Dry thoroughly.
Cut the banana leaves into 10″ x 12″ squares
Scoop two cups of rice and place in one end of the banana leaves, it is ok to include the herbs. That would give the rice an extra kick. The guest will remove them later
Roll up the banana leaves to resemble a sushi roll
Close the right and left opening with a couple of toothpicks
Grill over open charcoal fire for 3 minutes each side until the banana leaves turned brown
Take care not to grill too long as it will burn the rice
Serve warm.

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Spicy Dip with Shrimp Paste (Sambal Balacan)

1/8 cup cooking oil
1 (120 grams) medium size tomato, halved and seeded
5 (20 grams) shallots
10 (75 grams) red chilies
8 (25 grams) green chilies
1/2 tablespoon (5 grams) shrimp paste (belacan / balacan)
2 tablespoons shaved palm sugar (gula melaka / gula merah)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 lime

Heat 1/8 cup cooking oil in a skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes. Fry tomato and shallots till soft and brown for 3 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Next fry chilies until they turn a shade lighter for one minute.

Drain the oil, leaving only 2 tablespoons of oil on the skillet and turn down the heat. Fry the shrimp paste quickly, break the paste using the spatula for 2 minutes. Remove from heat for later use.

Pound the chilies and shallots in a mortal using pestle hard and slowly for 8 minutes. Add tomato halves (skin removed), shrimp paste, palm sugar and salt. Pound till everything mixed well for 5 minutes.

Squeeze lime juice into the mortar and mix well with spoon. Serve with selections of fresh and boiled vegetables.

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Coconut Rice (Nasi Lemak)

For coconut rice
4 stalks lemongrass
80 gr galangal
5 salam leaves
7 kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon salt
700 ml coconut milk
5 cups rice

Wash rice with cold water
In a pot, add rice, coconut milk, salt, galangal, salam leaves, kaffir lime leaves and salt
Boil for 20 minutes – until all liquid is absorbed by the rice
Move the rice to a steamer. Steam for 20 minutes
When the rice is dry and fluffy, it is done. If not, steam longer

For condiments
250 gr (1 1/2 cups) peanuts
100 gr (1 1/3 cups) anchovies
100 gr genom crackers
100 gr red and white crackers
200 gr (1 pc) cucumber
200 gr cabbage
250 gr string beans
3 eggs

Deep fry peanuts, anchovies, and both type of crackers
Cut cabbage and string beans into bite sizes and blanch with boiling water for 2 minutes
Make thin omelette and cut julienned
Serve with the coconut rice

For Chili Shrimp Dip
50 gr (1/4) tomato
20 gr (1/4 cup) bird’s eye chili
50 gr red chili
40 gr (10 pcs) shallot
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 lime
5 gr shrimp paste (“belacan”)
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Boil tomato, chili, shallot and garlic for 5 minutes
Toast/pan fry shrimp paste/belacan for 3 minutes
Grind all ingredients using a spice grinder for 1 minute till medium fine
Serve as dip for the vegetables and coconut rice

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Fried Soybean Cake (Tempe Goreng)

Get one block of soybean fermented cake, slice accordingly.
Sprinkle some salt on the soybean cake slices
Heat one cup of oil in a small frying pan.
When you can spot some smoke coming out of the surface of the heated oil,
the oil is ready to take in the soybean cake.

Deep fry in batches till brown and slightly dry.
One minute each side is plenty.

How to prepare Spicy Chili and Soy Dip

1/3 cup (30 gr) Thai green small chili
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
Using mortal & pestle, grind both ingredients for 3 – 5 minutes.

Mix one teaspoon of the chili paste with three tablespoon of light soy sauce in a bowl.

Set aside the rest of the paste for future use. If refrigerated, the chili base paste can last for a couple of weeks.

If one teaspoon is too strong / too spicy, reduce the amount of paste or dilute furthermore with soy sauce.

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Corn Fritters (Perkedel Jagung)

400g can sweetcorn, drained
1 small red chili, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
4 green shallots, sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
pinch of salt
1 egg
1/4 cup rice flour
1 tbsp plain flour
vegetable oil for cooking

Combine corn, chili, shallots, coriander, salt, egg and flours. Leave to stand for 30 minutes. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Drop spoonfuls of mixture into oil and cook until golden brown.

Serve with chilly sauce.

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Avocado Cheese and Sausage Omelette (Omelet Alpukat Keju Sosis)

eggs, beaten with a little milk
salt and pepper
sausage, cooked and cut into pieces
avocado, sliced
fresh tomatoes, diced
cheddar cheese, shredded (also good with pepper jack)
sour cream
green Tabasco sauce (optional and delicious)

Basically, pour the eggs into the skillet and cook like you would normally cook an omelette. Add salt, pepper, sausage, avocado, tomatoes, and cheese onto half of the omelette.

Fold over and cook until cheese is melted. Serve topped with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, avocados, and sour cream.

Serve.

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