Dessert First

Unlike in most western countries, in my country it is not our custom to serve dessert after meal. Desserts or sweet dishes are regarded simply as snacks, to be eaten when and where you have the need for one.

Desserts also have a social function as well…….they are for serving to guest who drops in or comes visiting…….. they are for eating at any family gathering, formal or informal,……  and they are there too, simply as  a self-indulgence, when you are having a cup of coffee or tea.

During fasting month like now, we even serve desserts first since it is best to start with something sweet and sweet dessert fits well as a starter to break the fast.

We have a comprehensive list of options for delicious sweet desserts . With abundant tropical produce such as coconuts, lots of Indonesian desserts use Santan or coconut milk.
 

Check out a few examples out of the so many ‘drool worthy’ Indonesian desserts to break the fast:

 
Bubur Pacar Cina (Tapioca Pearl Dessert)

This tapioca pearl dessert is very popular in Chinese community and its even called “Pacar Cina” which literally means “Chinese Lover”.  Cooking this dessert is not difficult, but is quite tricky. They would turn soggy if overcooked, or else the middle part is not cooked through without enough cooking time

 
Kue Centik Manis (Pretty and Sweet Dessert)

Centik comes from the word Cantik which means pretty while manis means sweet. The name of this dessert literally means Pretty and Sweet which reflects the look and taste of it. It’s very easy to make, no steaming or baking process. Centik manis is also popular during Ramadan (fasting month) in Indonesia.

 
Kue Lapis Sagu (Layered Coconut Cake)

This cake with its mysterious layered structure is not as difficult to make as it looks.

And here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 180 gram glutinous rice flour
• 180 gram tapioca
• 400 gram sugar (or depends on the desired sweet level)
• pinch of salt
• 900 ml coconut milk
• 5 sachet (40 gram) vanilla
• a few drops of pink food coloring

Direction:

•  mix all ingredients except food coloring to abatter, divide into 2
• dye one part with a few drops of pink food coloring
• pre-heat a steamer and wrap the lid with a clean tea towel to capture the steam
• spoon a thin layer of uncolored batter into a spring-form cake tin
• steam for about 5 minutes it sets and looks shiny
• add a thin layer of pink batter to the tin and steam again
• continue the process alternately until all the batter is used up
• the whole process may take up to 3 hours. the final layers may have to steam longer around 10 minutes
• allow to cool completely before cutting into thin slices

Kolak Pisang (Banana sweet soup)

Kolak is an equivalent of sweet soup. The soup is made of palm sugar and coconut milk. To the soup we can banana or other ingredients such as jack fruit, pumpkin, or cassava. Could be served either warm or cold.


Kue Putu

Everybody will notice easily if a vendor of Kue Putu passes by. It is because he has a special whistle that toots along the way. Usually, the vendor bears two cabinets using yoke or rides a bicycle.

Kue Putu is a traditional cake made of rice flour with palm sugar filler. The taste is plain outside but sweet inside. Added with steamed grated coconut makes the taste richer. The color is white or green and the shape is like a cylinder.


Onde-Onde (Sesame balls filled with mung bean paste)

Onde-onde is one of traditional cakes in Indonesia, and particularly being famous in Mojokerto (East Java) since Majapahit era. We can find Onde-onde in traditional market or in some stores or even in fancy restaurants. Moreover, we can find this cake in China town in Indonesia or in every corner of the world.

References:

• the real taste of Indonesia, a culinary journey – 100 unique family recipes – Hardie Grant Books, Australia
• asiafinest.com
• bandungholic.blogspot.com
• indonesiantravelguide.com
• sotokudus senayan

 

Let's Roll Some 'Lemper'

Lemper is an Indonesian dish made of sticky rice and chicken. The chicken is rolled inside the rice, in a fashion similar to egg roll. This is in turn rolled and wrapped inside a banana leaf or a plastic sheet to make a packet ready for serving.


Lemper also can be called ”Indonesian sushi roll”. A savory and delicious snack and sometimes good for breakfast too.


Some people cook Lemper by steaming or grilling after the Lemper are wrapped with banana leaves so that the fragrance of the leaves could be absorbed into the sticky rice. Lemper is one of the most popular ‘Jajanan Pasar’ in Indonesia (notes: ‘Jajanan’ means snacks and ‘Pasar’ means traditional market so it’s basically an Indonesian traditional snack).




Steamed Lemper (**)

Grilled Lemper (**)

Why Lemper?


I had been thinking of making Lemper for sometimes and have collected some recipes from different sources. I still regret it that I never learned how to make Lemper from my Mom as she made the best Lemper ever.



After studying the recipes, I decided to try the one which I thought closest to my Mom’s Lemper. And this is the recipe I chose to follow:


Ingredients:

• 250 gram sticky rice, rinsed and drained
• 400 ml water
• 50 gram cream coconut powder
• salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 225 gram minced chicken
• 2 pandan leaves
• 3 Kafir lime leaves
• 1 teaspoon squized lime juice

Ingredients for the spice paste:

• 1 oinion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoon shaved palm sugar or brown sugar
• salt

* in the original recipe it uses 1 teaspoon of cumin in the ingredients for spice paste, but I skip the cumin coz my family don’t like it




The first time I tried making Lemper was on last February 3rd, during the holiday for Lunar New Year.


I managed to cook the sticky rice:

and the chicken filling ….. (note: I did not really mince the chicken , basically only it into small pieces)  

When came the time to roll the Lemper……….that was a bit of disaster.


I have never learned before how to roll the sticky rice. I tried to figure it out myself but could not roll the sticky rice because my fingers got all sticky….even with the help of oil and the Lemper was breaking up.


After struggled trying to roll the sticky rice and the chicken filling, I knew that it must be something wrong with the technique. The taste was OK but the look was far from the Lemper I’ve known. Oh gosh, what should I do?


I remember I have ever seen another technique of making lemper in a cooking magazine. Instead of rolling the sticky rice, they used baking pan to form the lemper as shown in the following picture (**):

So I decided to make the most out of the mess I’ve made by putting the sticky rice and the chicken filling in a baking pan as follows:

• First I brush the baking pan with oil
• Put one layer (around 2 – 3 cm thick) of the sticky rice in the pan
• Add a layer of the chicken meat on top of the sticky rice layer
• Cover the chicken meat layer with another layer of sticky rice.

Since part of my sticky rice has been mixed with the chicken filling, I could not avoid having a little bit of the chicken pieces on the top of the sticky rice…which should not be!.
 
 

 
Definitely, the look of my Lemper was not good at all, but fortunately the taste was OK and that’s all the matter for first time trial. 


When cut, my first time Lemper looked like this: 

 

I promised myself that next time I will try making better Lemper not just in terms of the taste but also the appearance.

The second time I made Lemper Ayam was last week end. This time it was much better than the first, both in terms of the taste and the look.

I did not know the step by step of rolling the Lemper, so I just rely on my memory of how my Mom’s made Lemper many years ago. When trying the second time, I found out that to roll the sticky rice, I need the help of banana leaf or plastic wrap or plastic gloves to prevent the sticky rice get stuck on all over my fingers


And this was how I made Lemper the second time:

• Place the sticky rice in a pan and add the water
• Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes
• Add half of the cream coconut and a pinch of salt and continue to cook over a low heat until the rice is tender
• Spread the hot rice in a plate and allow to cool

• Using a pestle and a mortar, pound all the spice ingredients into a smooth paste. Add in the pieces of pandan leaves 

   

• Gently fry the spice paste in the oil until fragrant    

   

   

• Add the minced chicken and Kafir line leaves, then stir in the remaining half of the coconut cream powder and a dash of water
•  Continue to stir fry until the chicken is cooked through and the mixture is dry
•  Season with salt and the squized lime juice
•  Remove from heat, discard the pandan and kafir line leaves and let the chicken mixture to cool 
• Brush a sheet of plastic wrap or aluminum foil with oil
• Spoon heap of sticky rice onto the plastic wrap or aluminum foild and shape into rectangles

• Spread some chicken filling along the center of each rice rectangle from end to end

•  Fold both sides of the rectangle rice towards each other lengthwise
•  Roll with our fingers (covered by plastic wrap or gloves) and shape it like this:    

   

•    continue to fold one by one until you get a batch of Lemper   

This is how the Lemper rolls should look when they are wrapped in banana leaves:

The banana leaves make a nice aroma. After that, you may steam or grill the Lemper. Many people said when Lemper rolls are wrapped with banana leaves and then steamed, it makes the Lemper can be kept longer (not easily get spoiled). Eating Lemper is very easy but making it is a different story. It takes a long time and our determination to cook it. But once you can cook good Lemper, it’s worth the effort.

My second daughter loves Lemper so much but she would only eat Lemper when it’s cooked by my Mom. She could even finish seven pieces of my Mom’s Lemper at one time. She would not eat Lemper unless it tastes exactly like the Lemper made by her grandma. That’s why when I tried cooking Lemper the first time, I tried hard to be as good as my Mom’s. Fortunately, the second trial was considered a success as she ate seven pieces of my Lemper too


References:

• Wikipedia
• MyKitchenProduce Blog
• KitchenCake Blog
• IndoChef Blog
• Google Images for some pictures (**)

My Dark and Sweet Journey with Risotto

After success with Pasta, I want to develop further my cooking skill by trying to cook Risotto. Why risotto? Coz it’s a rice dish and as Indonesian, I simply love rice. Indonesia have so many different  rice dishes: nasi goreng, nasi uduk, nasi ulam, nasi liwet, nasi kuning, nasi kebuli and many others (note: nasi = rice).

Again, recipes from Periplus Mini Cookbooks become my guide. This time I found the recipe of Mushroom Risotto in Classic and Essential Vegetables. Carefully, I studied the recipe and it looked easy.

The ingredients were: 750 ml vegetable stock, 250 ml white wine, 60 gram butter, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 leek, 250 gram button mushroom, 250 gram Arborio rice, 50 gram grated parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped thyme.

When I checked my stock, I had everything I need except the Arborio rice. Mine was the Indonesian Setra Ramos rice. Rice is rice, I thought. How could it be so different from one to the other. I decided to just go ahead with my plan to cook Mushroom Risotto with whatever ingredients I had. Since this was the first time for me to cook Risotto, I followed the cooking instruction from the recipe to the letter
Place the stock and wine in a pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently.Heat the butter and oil in a large heavy-based pan. Add the leek and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the mushroom and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender. Add the rice and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add 125 ml of stock and stir until absorbed, then add more stock. Repeat until all the stock has been added and the rice is soft and creamy. Stir in the Parmesan and thyme and cook for 1 minute or until the cheese is melted.

OK, the dish I just cooked was supposed to be the mushroom risotto. But, wait a minute. How come it did not look like the mushroom risotto which showed in the picture of the recipe? It looked so ugly and messy. Well, probably I did not stir it right and as long as the taste is good, I am happy” I said to myself. So I tasted it and…………..yuck!

My mushroom risotto was a disaster. It tasted so bad that even a stray cat did not want to eat it so it ended up in the bin.

Now I learned my lesson. Risotto is a rice dish and like any other rice dish, the most important thing in cooking rice dish is to use the right type of rice. The recipe mentioned Arborio rice and I used Setra Ramos Indonesian rice (not even the high quality type of Indonesian rice).

Not long after my risotto experience, I watched Bobby Chinn on TV. He was in Bali and he mentioned that he would cook Balinese Risotto. What? Balinese Risotto? Never heard of it. It must be something new and exotic or probably a type of fusion cooking or something. I watched carefully when Bobby Chinn explained the details of the cooking.

I could not believe what I saw. What Bobby Chinn cooked was not something new or exotic at all. It was just the simple Indonesian ‘Bubur Ketan Item’ (in Bali it is called Bubur Injin) which I have known since my childhood. People say that its hard to find foreign visitors to Bali who does not fall in love with the wonderful nutty flavor and melt-in-your-mouth smooth texture of Balinese Bubur Injin or also known as Black Rice Pudding which served with coconut cream on top.

This is what I like about celebrity Chef like Bobby Chinn – he gave fancy name to the dish, bubur injin became Balinese Risotto. Bobby inspired me to go back to Risotto.

This time I cooked Bobby Chinn’s Balinese Risotto but I did not follow exactly the details of his recipe (he used the classic recipe of Balinese Bubur Injin). I modified the recipe a bit and I name it Dark and Sweet Risotto.

The ingredients:
100 gram uncooked black glutinous rice
100 gram uncooked white glutinous rice
1 liter water
1 pandan leaf, tied into a knot.
2 table spoons of white sugar or shaved palm sugar
1 pouch (220 gram) Full Cream Sweetened Condensed Milk (SCM).

The original recipe does not use sweetened condensed milk but coconut cream.In my recipe I use full cream SCM coz the taste is much better than coconut cream. I learned this secret from street hawker who sells ‘bubur kacang ijo’ (mung-bean porridge) and ‘bubur ketan item’ (black rice pudding). He substitutes coconut cream with Full Cream SCM. The SCM should be the full cream otherwise the taste will not be creamy enough.

Method:
Place the rice in a plastic bowl, rinse several times until water runs clear.
Put the rice, pandan leaf and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally until the rice is soft and cooked with porridge-like consistency.
Add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. No need to add too much sugar coz later we will top it with SCM which will give more sweet taste. Discard the pandan leaf.
To serve, spoon the porridge into individual serving bowl and top with full cream sweetened condensed milk

Like any other Risotto dish,the quality of the rice will determine the look and taste of the Risotto. For Dark and Sweet Risotto, I recommend to use the organic glutinous rice coz it gives really smooth texture in the mouth

Notes:
You may substitute pandan leaf with 1 drop of vanilla extract.
You may also cook the rice in a rice cooker
This is also a good food for breaking the fastduring Ramadhan