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

Indonesia, the Tropical Islands of Spice and Rice

Being a researcher as my profession has led me to conduct desk research for my new-found cooking hobby. I browsed the internet, read many books and interviewed some people trying to find out all about cooking. And as Indonesian, of course I started my research on my home country cooking.

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago, consist of more than 17,000 tropical islands ranging from the world’s largest to mere tiny coral atolls stretching some 8000 kilometers from the northwestern tip of Sumatra to the southeastern of Papua. Indonesia is a home to some 235 million people and it’s hard to imagine a more appropriate motto for this nation than Bhineka Tunggal Ika which means Unity in Diversity.

A typical Indonesian meal can be described as simple mound of rice accompanied by several savory side dishes of veggie, fish or meat or chicken dish with a chili-hot condiment (sambal) on the side and crispy wafers (kerupuk) and fried shallots sprinkled on top to provide a crunchy contrast (this description is valid mainly for Sumatra, Java & Bali, the most populated islands). In other islands of the archipelago we can discover the diversity of the Indonesia’s native cuisines.

Preparing Indonesian food does not require a complex arrays of ingredients or a number of utensils needed as I used to think. First and foremost you need a tool to grind or crush the seasonings (bumbu). I use a saucer-shaped mortar and a pestle both made of volcanic stones. You can also use food processor, blender or spice grinder as the easier way to prepare the basic spice paste.

Also important is a chopping board and a heavy non-stick wok that won’t tip over easily. To partner the wok, I use a wooden spatula and a perforated ladle for lifting up deep fried food are useful.

I learned from some cooking books that it is not advisable to use aluminum or cast iron saucepan for cooking Indonesian food. Many of our recipes contain acidic ingredients such as tamarind or lime juice, or coconut milk and using aluminum or cast-iron will result in discolored sauce or can cause a chemical reaction. Choose either stainless steel, glass or enamel saucepan.

Rice, the soul of the Indonesian Life

For Indonesian, rice is more than just a staple food. Even when we have eaten Big Mac or a bowl of noodle soup, for many Indonesians including me, it feels like we have not eaten yet if we have not eaten rice.

One of Indonesia’s most popular dishes is fried rice (Nasi Goreng). It is prepared in countless different ways and is eaten morning, noon and night. During my stay at my sister’s house in Bern (Switzerland), she cooked me the classic Nasi Goreng from my mom’s recipe. This classic version is accompanied by sunny side-up fried egg (telor mata sapi) and deep-fried shrimp crackers (kerupuk udang). Any sort of left-over meat or shrimp or chicken may be added but the source of the true flavor of Indonesia comes from the use of chilies and roasted shrimp-paste (terasi).

INDONESIAN CLASSIC FRIED RICE (NASI GORENG)

Ingredients
• 500 gram cold cooked rice or leftover rice
• 3 table spoon oil
• 2 eggs
• 4 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled & sliced
• 2 - 4 red chilies, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried shrimp paste, roasted
• 200 g chicken meat or any other left-over meat, diced
• 200 g thinly sliced cabbage
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
• Sliced cucumber & tomato to garnish

Method
• Flake the cold rice with a fork or fingers to separate the grains. Set aside
• Grease the non stick skillet with vegetable oil and fry the egg. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Pound the shallots, garlic, chilies and roasted shrimp-paste in a mortar and pestle into a paste.
• Heat the remaining oil in the wok over medium heat and stir fry the spice-paste 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
• Add the chicken dice until almost cooked around 2 minutes, add the cabbage and continue to stir fry until the cabbage is almost wilted around 2 minutes
• Add the rice, salt and Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) and stir fry briskly until all the ingredients mixed well and heated through, about 2 minutes.
• Remove from the heat.
• Transfer the fried rice to serving dish and top with fried egg and if liked garnish with cucumber and chili slices.

Notes and Tips

It is important to use cold cooked rice (leftover rice of yesterday which is kept in refrigerator) since freshly cooked rice is too soft and will absorb the oil. It’s good to use long-grain rice (e.g. basmati rice) because it remains separate when cooked correctly.