Hit the Road Jackfruit

Does anybody know the song ‘Hit the Road Jack’ ? It is an old song written by rhythm and blues artist Percy Mayfield and recorded by singer, pianist Ray Charles. It hit number one for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning on Monday, October 9, 1961.By the way, I am not in the process of changing from “cooking to singing career”. I just borrow the name of the song for the title of my cooking story today.In cooking, I am more of ’cooking-make-easy’ type of a person. I don’t like cooking a dish which takes a long time and complicated method. But one day, out of the blue, I had the gut to try cooking ’Gudeg’, the signature dish of the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, or DIY), Central Java.

Gudeg is made of young ‘nangka’ (jack fruit) among other things, boiled for several hours with palm sugar and coconut milk. Additional spices include garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal and teak leaves, the latter giving a brown color to the dish. It is also called Green Jack Fruit Sweet Stew. Gudeg is usually served with white rice, chicken, hard-boiled egg, tofu and/or tempeh, and a stew made of crispy beef skins (sambal goreng krecek).

There are three types of gudeg: Dry, Wet and East-Javanese style. Dry gudeg is a gudeg which only has a bit of coconut milk and is served dry. Wet gudeg is a gudeg which (obviously) has a wetter look than the dry gudeg. There is much more coconut milk used in making this type. Meanwhile, the East-Javanese style gudeg employs a more spicier and hotter taste, compared to the Yogyakarta-style gudeg, which is sweeter.

I found the recipe of the Yogya-style Gudeg in one of the cooking artciles in website and by following this recipe I started my marvelous cooking misadventure with Mr Jackfruit.

Ingredients
5 Shallots
10 candle nuts
10 cloves of Garlic
4 salam leaves or Indian bay leaves
250 gram young Jackfruit and some teak-leaves
12 gram coriander seeds
6 gram cummin
40 gram palm sugar, shaved
2 cup (500ml) coconut milk
2 tsp. (30g) Tamarind
1 kg Chicken (cut into small pieces with bone
5 cups (1 liter) water
2 inches bruised galanga

Method
Cut jack fruit 1 inch thick wash.
Boil the jack-fruit together with the teak-leaves to give color .
After the jack-fruits become tender, drain from the water & discard the teak-leaves
Grind shallots, garlic, and candle nuts. Saute paste
Add salam leaves, and galangga, until fragrant then add chicken pieces
Stir fry until chicken changes color
Pour 4 cups of water and palm sugar, cumin, corriander, tamarind, and bring to a boil
Add jack fruit and simmer until chicken and vegetables are tender
Add coconut milk 5 minutes before it’s done, bring back to a boil

Serve hot with rice. This dish is sweet and usually served with shrimp craker and it supposed to look like this:

For every first time cooking trial, I always follow a recipe to the letter and I did the same with this Gudeg recipe. First, I boiled the jack fruit and the teak-leaves. While waiting for the jack fruit to become tender, I pound the ingredients, saute the paste then add the chicken with the rest of the ingredients. In the meantime, I checked whether the jack fruit has become tender by tasting it a bit but wait a minute, why did the jack fruit taste bitter? Initially I thought it was probably due to the jack fruit was not cooked long enough so I cooked a bit longer. It still tasted bitter. Oh, probably because it was not yet added to the chicken. So I followed the next instruction of the recipe. But even after the dish seemed well cooked, the jack fruit still tasted bitter. Apparently, the palm sugar and coconut milk did not seem able to cover the bitter taste of the jack fruit

I was devastated. The labor of many hours was a total failure and I did not have a clue what have I done wrong with the jack fruit. The next thing I know was that the Gudeg of my labor went strait to the bin. I really felt betrayed by Mr. Jackfruit and suddenly the words of the song popped into my mind

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more

Since then I never dare to try cooking Gudeg Yogya again. I decided that a dish using Mr. Jackfruit as the main ingredient is not the type of dish I will be able to cook. I prefer to buy Ready To Eat (RTE) Gudeg at one of the Gudeg sellers whenever I feel like eating it.

As much as I love cooking, I find that buying RTE Gudeg or any other jack fruit dish is much easier, cheaper and more satisfying than trying to cook it myself

Hit the Road Jack fruit, don't you cook no more no more no more....Hit the road Jack fruit

Dangerously Delicious

In everyday Indonesian language, the word delicious is translated to enak.  The word enak is usually used to describe the taste of  food and beverage. But we Indonesian also use it to describe our health condition. For example, when we are not feeling well, we say tidak enak badan which, if literally translated, means my body is not delicious.

Speaking of not delicious body, I have a habit of craving for a certain food whenever I am not feeling well. Strangely, the food I mostly crave is one of the so many delicious Padang dishes named  Spicy Prawn with Stinky Beans or in Bahasa we call it  Balado Udang Petai.  And believe it or not, it always works, the dish can cure me whenever my body is not delicious.

I have learned how to cook Udang Balado Petai from one of Periplus Mini Cookbooks – Spicy Padang Cooking which was written by the famous Indonesian Culinary Expert Mr. William Wongso together with Hayatinufus A.L. Tobing. When I first learned how to cook a dish, I followed the recipe to the letter. But after sometimes, I found my own version of every recipe I’ve learned either from books or TV programs.

This is my version of Balado Udang Petai, the adaptation of Spicy King Prawns by William Wongso and I gave it a new name:

The Balad of Sexy Prawn and Stinky Bean

Ingredients:

500 gram of fresh large prawns note: in Indonesia I use Udang Topi; some people like the prawn to be peeled but I like them un-peeled but the head taken out.
Vegetable oil for deep frying

2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice
Pinch of salt
20 peeled whole mature stinky beans

Seasoning:
10 red finger-length chilies, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic chopped
5 shallots, finely sliced
1 medium tomato, deseeded and chopped
1 teaspoon sugar; optional
Pinch of salt
2 kaffir-lime leaves

To make the seasoning, grind all ingredients, except the kaffir-lime leaves, to a smooth paste in a mortar or blender, adding a little oil if necessary to keep the moisture turning.

Rub the lime juice and salt onto the prawns. Set aside for a few minutes then drain the prawns and pat dry with towel paper
Heat the oil in a wok in high heat. Deep fry the prawns, a handful at a time about 1 minute or so for each batch. Remove and drain on towel paper

Heat 3 tablespoons of  vegetable oil in a wok over medium heat, Stir fry the stinky beans with the seasoning and kaffir-lime leaves until fragrant and cooked around 5 minutes. Add the fried prawns and mixed well and blended  but don’t over cooked the prawn. Discard the kaffir-lime leaves and serve immediately with rice

I assure you that this Balad of  Sexy Prawn and Stinky Bean is dangerously delicious. I love it and I believe that many Indonesians and Asians love it too although some people don’t want to admit it or eat it in public because the dish contains stinky bean so it is considered dangerous to self-image.

It’s hard to ignore Mr. Stinky Bean. You’ll either love it or hate it. Stinky Bean has bright green color and shape of plump almond and has a rather peculiar smell. The bean itself is not particularly stinky but once you eat it, you will begin to notice things. The effect on your breath will be worrying. And when you burp, and if you eat stinky beans you will burp, you’ll get to taste of the stinky aroma all over again

A few months ago in KL, I and a German colleague went to a shopping mall next to our hotel for dinner. Being an Anthropologist, my colleague wanted to taste the real local food so I took her to one of  the local Malaysian Restaurants. I suggested her to try the famous nasi lemak and for myself I ordered steam rice and  Sambal Udang Petai which is quite similar to Indonesian Balado Udang Petai. When our foods were served, my German colleague could not resist to try this dangerously delicious dish, so she did try it even after I warned her about the stinky beans.

Surprise, surprise, she immediately fell in love with the dish and finished it up. Wow, a German lady fell in love with Mr. Stinky Bean

What is so special about this Mr. Stinky Bean?
Known to the botanist as Parkia speciosa, stinky bean
are known to help in treating depression, premenstrual syndrome or PMS, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and constipation.

Really?
No wonder this dangerously delicious dish can cure me when ‘my body is not delicious’.