Empal Gentong (Cirebon's Beef Stew)

I was living in Cirebon for about 1.5 year because of my job. It's a small city in the north of West Java with a very rich cultures and culinary. I stayed in a rented house close to Kanoman Palace so I can see a lot of happening around there. 

I don't mind to visit Cirebon again for the food and local produce over there. One of the food that I really like from Cirebon is Empal Gentong. It's a beef stew with a rich spices taste. I don't remember if I ever buy this stew in a special place, I think I always bought this in any street vendor :)

Ingredients:

400 gr beef (you can use brisket)
1500 ml water
2 bay leaves
2 cm galangal, crushed
2 lemongrass, crushed
1.5 tsp salt
4 tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp cinnamon powder
3 tsp cloves powder
500 ml coconut milk ( i mixed 400ml canned coconut milk and 100ml water)

Spices (ground)
6 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 toasted candle nuts
2 cm ginger
4 cm turmeric + 1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp toasted coriander
1/4 tsp toasted cumin
4 cardamom
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Topping
2 tbsp sliced chives
2 tbsp fried onion
dry ground chillies

Method

1. Boil the meat in water together with the bay leaves, galangal, lemongrass, and salt until the stock is reduced to 1250ml. 

2. Remove the meat from the water and cut into 1x2 cm size.Put the  beef back to the gravy. 

3. Heat oil on a wok, saute the ground spices. Add the cinnamon  and cloves, stirring, until fragrant and cooked, remove from heat. Put the cooked spices to the pan. Pour the coconut milk, cook until boiling, stir occasionally to prevent the coconut milk from curdling, remove from heat.

4. Serve the stew with chives and fried onions. Add some chili powder if you want a spicy stew.

*i always add extra turmeric powder for the color as i found the turmeric here didn't give enough color to the food.

The recipe inspired from Vania Blog

Sambel Goreng Tempe

Tempe is one of the most popular ingredients in Indonesian culinary. It's cheap and a good source of protein. 

I've been living in Cork for almost 6 years now and I only get the  tempe if i went to Dublin or asked my family in Netherlands to bring some. I asked the owner of the Asian shop here if they will have tempe someday, but it never happened. They even didn't know what is tempe.

My friend, been in Cork only about 2 years now, showed tempe to owner of the shop and asked them to sell it in Cork. Voilaaaaa!!! Tempe is available on weekly basis in Cork now.

Lesson to learn:don't just ask, act!

English:

Ingredients:

400 gr tempe (fermented soybean cake)200 ml water
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic,crushed

1 tsp coriander powder

1 cup vegetable oil

2 bay leaves

2 lemon grass, crushed

2 red chillies, sliced

6 green chillies, sliced
100gr Pete/Parkia/Bitter bean250 ml chicken stock/water
3 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

Spices (ground)4 cloves garlic
8 shallots1 tsp belacan1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cm galangal2 tomatos


Method :
1. Slice tempe in 1x1x3cm size. Soak the tempe slices with a mixture of water,garlic,coriander powder and salt for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in the frying pan. Drain the marinated tempe, then fry in hot oil until it has golden color, set aside.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons cooking oil in the frying pan, put the ground spices, bay leaves and lemon grass. Saute until fragrant, put the chilies and bitter bean. Stir well.
4. Add fried tempe, pour the stock/water, add sweet soy sauce, and sugar,stir well.
5. Cook over low heat while stirring occasionally, until the stock is reduced.
6. Serve with rice.


Bahasa Indonesia
Bahan 
400 gr tempe 
200 ml air
1 sdt garam
1 bawang putih
1 sdt ketumbar bubuk
1 cup minyak goreng



2 lembar daun salam
2 batang serai bagian putih, memarkan
2 buah cabe merah, iris
6 buah cabai hijau, iris 
100gr petai
250 ml kaldu ayam/air
3 sdm kecap manis
1 sdt gula pasir 

Bumbu halus
4 siung bawang putih
8 butir bawang merah
1 sdt terasi
1/2 sdt garam 
1/2 cm lengkuas 
2 buah tomat 



Cara Membuat :
1. Iris tempe ukuran 1x1x3cm, rendam tempe iris dengan campuran air,bawang putih,ketumbar dan garam selama 30 menit.
2. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam wajan. Tiriskan tempe dari air perendamnya, lalu goreng dalam minyak panas hingga matang,sisihkan.
3. Panaskan 3 sdm minyak goreng dalam wajan, masukkan bumbu halus, daun salam dan serai. Tumis hingga harum, masukkan cabai dan petai. Aduk rata.
4. Masukkan tempe goreng, tuangi kaldu/air, tambahkan kecap manis, dan gula pasir, aduk rata.
5. Masak di atas api kecil sambil sesekali diaduk-aduk hingga semua bahan matang dan bumbu meresap, angkat.


Modified from: Vania

Soto Betawi

I was asking my friend to buy a beef intestine so i can make the Gulai Tambuksu. Instead she bought me the beef tripe. So i just make this soup instead of gulai (Indonesian curry).
The english version is a modified from the recipe in Bahasa Indonesia as I only use the ingredients that i have in the kitchen.




Ingredients:
500gr beef
250 gr washed and cleaned tripe
2 bay leaves
2lt water
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
4 lemon leaves
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
400ml coconut milk


Grind:
4 cm ginger
8 shallot
3 garlic
1 tsp roasted coriander seed
1/2 tsp roasted black pepper
1/4 tsp roasted cumin


Method:

1. Boil the tripe with bay leaves in 500ml water  about 20 minutes. Discard the water and the bay leaves.
2. Add the beef  and 2000ml water, cook until the water is boiling, add nutmeg, cinnamon, lime leaves and salt. Cook until the beef is tender.
3. Remove the beef and tripe from the stock, diced the beef and tripe about 2cm x 2 cm size.
4. Put beef and tripe back to the stock.
5. In a wok, heat oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat, add the spice paste. Stir fry until fragrant.
6. Add the coconut milk to the wok and cook until it's boiled.
7. Pour the coconut mixture to the beef stock, stir and cook until it's boiling.
8. Serve with fresh sliced tomatoes, sliced fresh spring onion and fried onion.
9. Add chili sauce, Kecap manis and lime if you like.

Bahasa Indonesia

Bahan : 

300 gr daging 
300 gr jeroan sapi
2000 ml air untuk merebus 
1/2 biji pala 
3 butir cengkeh 
5 cm kayu manis 
4 lembar daun jeruk 
2 sdt garam 
1 sdm minyak goreng, untuk menumis 
250 ml santan, dari 1/2 butir kelapa 

Bumbu halus : 4 cm jahe 
8 butir bawang merah 
3 siung bawang putih 
1 sdt ketumbar sangrai 
1/2 sdt merica 
1/8 sdt jintan sangrai 

Pelengkap : 
250 gr tomat, potong-potong 
3 batang daun bawang, iris halus 
3 batang seledri, iris halus 
3 sdt bawang goreng 
kecap manis, air jeruk limau, emping goreng, dan sambal rawit. 


Cara membuat:

1. Rebus daging (dan jeroan) hingga mendidih, tambahkan pala, cengkeh, kayu manis, daun jeruk, dan garam. Masak terus sampai daging (dan jeroan) lunak, angkat. 
2. Angkat daging (dan jeroan) dari kaldu. 
3. Ukur kaldu sebanyak 1500 ml. Bila kurang, tambahkan air panas. Potong-potong daging dan jeroan 2x2 cm, masukkan kembali ke dalam kaldu. Jerangkan di atas api. 
4. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam wajan, tumis bumbu halus hingga harum, masukkan santan, aduk, angkat. 
5. Masukkan santan berbumbu ke dalam panci kaldu. Timba-timba hingga mendidih dan matang. Angkat. 
6. Penyajian: Siapkan mangkuk saji, masukkan daging (dan jeroan). Tambahkan tomat iris, daun bawang, seledri, dan bawang goreng. 
7. Bubuhkan kecap manis dan air jeruk sesuai selera. Hidangkan dengan emping goreng dan sambal cabe rawit. 

sumber: Mbak Vania

Ayam Lodho (Twice Cooked Chicken with reduced coconut sauce)

I keep saying that I want to explore international culinaries in my kitchen, but then once again it ends up with Indonesian Traditional food recipes. Maybe it because when I was in Indonesia I didn't have enough knowledge about cooking and Indonesian food so at this time it's just like a revenge :P


I just tried it yesterday and the result is soooo yummy! The taste of grilled chicken with spicy coconut sauce is soooo perfect! So another new fave dish :P

Ingredients

1 free range chicken, about 1 kg

2 tbsp salt

500ml thick coconut milk (about 80%)

4 chillies,sliced (optional)

3 cm galangal,crushed

3 lemongrass, crushed

3 lime leaves

2 bay leaves

Grind:
10 shallots
10 garlic
5 cm turmeric
4 cm ginger2 cm Kaempferia galanga (kencur)
2 bird eyes chillies
2 tsp salt

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tbsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

Method 

1. Butterfly the chicken and rub it with salt
2. Grill the chicken about 5 minutes for each side.
3. Grind the shallots, garlic, turmeric,ginger,kencur,salt and chillies until smooth.
4. In a wok or skillet, heat oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat, add galangal,lemongrass,lime leaves and bay leaves,stir fry the leaves until fragrant. 
5. Add the spice paste to the wok,stir fry until fragrant.
6. Divide the coconut milk in two jars each 250ml. Add 250ml water to one part of coconut milk, stir it to become a thin coconut milk. Pour the think coconut milk to the wok.
7. Add the chicken, when the coconut milk is boiled,reduced the heat to low heat.
8. Add the thick coconut milk to the wok. Cook the chicken until the sauce is reduced about half of it.
9. Serve with the rice.

Bahasa Indonesia:


Bahan:
1 ekor ayam kampung
1 butir kelapa, kupas, parut, ambil 250 ml santan kental dan 500 ml santan encer 
Haluskan:
10 butir bawang merah
10 siung bawang putih
3 (5 cm)ruas jari kunyit
2 (4 cm) ruas jari jahe
1 (2 cm) ruas jari kencur
2 cabai merah keriting, rebus
2 sdt garam
Bumbu Kasar:
1 sdm merica butiran, tumbuk kasar
1 sdm ketumbar, tumbuk kasar
1 sdt jintan
100 g cabai rawit
1 jempol (3 cm) lengkuas, iris kasar
3 batang serai, memarkan
3 lembar daun jeruk purut
2 lembar daun salam

Cara membuat:

• Belah ayam dari bagian dada depan ke bawah, lalu bentangkan ayam hingga terbuka lebar.
• Lumuri garam dan bakar di atas bara api hinggasetengah matang.
• Tumis bumbu kasar hingga wangi.
• Masukkan bumbu halus, aduk hingga wangi dan matang.
• Tambahkan santan encer ke dalam tumisan. Didihkan.
• Masukkan ayam bakar ke dalam wajan, tambahkan serai, daun salam, dan daun jeruk purut.
• Teruskan memasak dengan api kecil sampai mendidih.
• Tambahkan santan kental. Teruskan memasak dengan api kecil sampai kuahnya menjadi sangat kental (dalam bahasa Jawa disebut: mblondho).
• Sebaiknya masakan ini disimpan semalam, dan dipanaskan kembali keesokan hari untuk disantap dengan nasi gurih (nasi uduk) dan urap sayur.

sumber: Detikfood