Indonesian Sate (Sate Babi and Sate Ayam Bumbu Kecap/Kacang)

A person once told me that they thought that an individual is not a good cook unless they could instinctively know how to make dishes without a recipe. After reflecting on the matter through all of my cooking endeavors, I can honestly state that I disagree. Everyone has to go through their own trials and tribulations, and I believe that the need for a recipe does not in itself make the individual an inept cook in any sense. We are also obviously not born with an apron on and a knife at hand either. We could certainly hope that at some point in our lives, there would be a time when we are intuitive enough to make some dishes instinctively. However, I believe in life we are all going through a journey, and part of the process is to learn from others and then adjust as needed to adapt whatever it is into our own lives. I guess this is why it is so important to taste during the cooking process. We all have preferences, and it is up to ourselves to adjust the seasoning to our liking. It is also at this time that we can tweak any recipe to possibly make it even better than the original.

The third entry of my Indonesian themed dishes is Indonesian Sate (Sate Babi and Sate Ayam Bumbu Kecap/Kacang). I used pork for my skewers, but the same recipe can be used for chicken. I think this recipe, also from the Rasa Malaysia website, would be great for barbecuing in the summertime. Our family is big on barbecues, so it is always nice to find another option since it is inevitable that we will be holding a slew of barbecues throughout the summer. I found that even without the dipping sauce, the pork was quite flavorful. We did end up using the peanut sauce for dipping though. It could also be eaten alone or just with some more Kecap Manis.

MARINADE

Cut your meat into bite sized cubes, and marinate with:
a good sprinkle of Garlic Salt
a couple dashes of ground Paprika
a dash of White Pepper
2 tsp. ground Coriander seeds
2 tsp. ground Nutmeg
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Olive Oil
2 cloves of Shallot (thinly sliced)
A dash of Soy Sauce
Lots of Kecap Manis (You want them to be almost drowned in this)

Marinate for a few hours, or for best result, let it marinate overnight in the fridge.

The skewering:

The next day, stick the meat cubes with the bamboo skewers. I stick 4-5 pieces of meat cubes per sate with some pieces of onion. If you’re using meat with fatty bits, mix fatty and lean meat cubes in each skewer

GRILLING

Before grilling, squeeze a bit of lime juice over the sate.

While grilling, baste the sate with a mix of:

Kecap Manis, this should be the dominant flavor
a dash of Fish Sauce
a clove of thinly sliced Shallot
juice of half a Lime

SAUCE

1 cup of roasted Peanuts (or use crunchy peanut butter)
1 clove of Garlic
2 cloves Shallot
1 tsp. ground Cumin
2 tsp. ground Coriander seeds
1 small block of Palm Sugar (or replace with brown sugar)
dash of Salt
dash of White Pepper
a bit of Olive Oil

Process everything in a food processor until well mixed.

Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice)

This week, I was a bit at a loss as to which country I wanted my theme night to be focused on. However, it only made sense to "visit" Indonesia when I looked at the ingredients that were available to me from both my Thai and Malaysian nights. (Unfortunately, I had not taken pictures of the Malaysian themed dishes I made the previous week, but I will probably want to recreate a few of them at some point).

My first entry of my Indonesian themed dishes is the Nasi Goreng. This recipe is adapted from the Rasa Malaysia website (http://rasamalaysia.com/), which is an absolutely amazing food blog website. I truly recommend it if you are trying to find an asian recipe. I thought this fried rice was really flavorful and I think there would be many ways to spice it up including putting other veggies and/or ground pork/chicken/beef.

INGREDIENTS

1 Shallot
1 Garlic
1 Chili (sliced)
1 Tomato (chopped into small pieces)
1/2 tsp. toasted belacan (terasi)
1/2 tsp. palm sugar
1/2 tbsp. kecap manis
8 oz. overnight rice
1 fried egg (well done and chopped)
2 tablespoons oil

DIRECTIONS

Break the overnight/leftover rice using the back of a spoon so they don’t clump together. In a wok, toast the belacan on low heat until it becomes dry and aromatic. Toasted belacan should be somewhat powdery and appear like tiny granules. Fry an egg (well-done), cut into small pieces and set aside.

Using a mini food processor, blend the shallot, garlic, red chili, and toasted belacan. Transfer the blended flavoring paste into a small saucer.

Heat up a wok and add oil. Add the flavoring paste and stir-fry until aromatic or when the oil separates. Add the rice into the wok and stir well with the flavoring paste. Add kecap manis and palm sugar into the rice and continue to stir-fry and make sure that they are well blended with the rice. Finally, add tomato and fried egg and continue to stir-fry. Dish out and serve immediately.