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Tag Archives: Java

Sambal

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on October 28, 2014

Chopped ingredients

Sambal is a Southeast Asian condiment, a sauce, an appetizer, or an accompaniment to rice or viands. And because it’s hot and spicy, it’s something I have dearly adopted. I have learned to prepare sambal in Yogyakarta through Made, a Balinese cook.

Shrimp paste

There are several variations of sambal, and one can modify the proportions of certain ingredient to suit one’s taste. In a nutshell, here’s the process: chop shallots, garlic, chili peppers, and tomatoes, you may crush all together with a squeeze of calamansi juice, then saute everything with belacan (shrimp paste) in a small amount of oil. You’re done if you feel the urge to sneeze.

Not the saucy version as I didn’t crush the ingredients. Perfect accompaniment to my weekend lunch of fried eggplant and fried fish

Here’s Made, the Balinese cook

Made’s recipes in our cooking class can be found inside this Javanese cookbook

Here’s Made again

Front cover of the cookbook. A souvenir from my Jogja trip

Indonesia, Sawsawan appetizer, condiment, cooking class, Java, Jogja, sambal, sauce, Yogyakarta

Womenfolk Knapsack

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on April 10, 2014

Lady carrying a sack of goods in an alley in Jogja

Indonesia denizen, Java, Jogja, womenfolk, Yogyakarta

Sounding Bamboo

1 Comment Posted by Lana on April 2, 2014

An array of sound producing bamboo implements as traditional entertainment or toys of Java children.

Flute, bird whistle, top (will make sound when spun) and the unidentified one as seen in Malioboro street, Yogyakarta

Doing bird whistling by blowing and moving the stick at the same time

Apparatus, Indonesia bamboo, bird whistle, flute, gasing, Java, Jogja, top, toy, Yogyakarta

Tricolor Rice Eats

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on January 21, 2014

Rub-a-dub-dub, three sticky rice thing in a tub.
And what do you think they were?

This lady vendor in Prambanan Temple Compound has three appealing variations of sticky rice snack where the texture and taste are similar to a couple of glutinous rice based kakanin in the Philippines.

The purple one taste like puto maya while the pink one looks like an odd-shaped mochi with no filling (I was too full of the purple and green stuff to try this one, and its color isn’t natural that’s why).

The green thing that’s more visible in the photo below taste like suman sa lihiya but presented in tiny square bite size.

Sticks as utensil and banana leaf as plate

Whichever color you’d choose, they’ll be served with that latik at the center of the tub (sugar-coconut syrup), and garnished with grated coconut meat.

Food, Indonesia glutinous rice, Java, Jogja, kakanin, mochi, Prambanan, puto maya, rice cake, sticky rice, suman sa lihiya, Yogyakarta

Tempe

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on January 11, 2014

Very common in Javanese diet is this fermented whole soybeans known as tempe (or tempeh).

The lady at the market was showing the whole soybeans in banana leaf ready to be fermented inside those sacks in the floor.

Fermentation process ongoing in those sacks. After 24 hours one can already enjoy the protein rich tempe.

Newly fermented tempe on the table. Still warm when we bought it.

Slicing tempe in thin strips and frying it till crispy then covering it in caramel sauce using palm sugar will make a perfect accompaniment to spicy dishes.

Food, Indonesia fermentation, Java, Jogja, kering tempe, soybean, tempe, tempeh, Yogyakarta

Belinjo / Melinjo

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on January 5, 2014

I’ve been seeing a lot of this tiny red fruit at the Prawirotaman market the first time I was there so the next time I went there with an English speaking Indonesian cook, I asked her for the name.

Belinjo says the cook while showing several fruits in her hand.

Here’s a closer look at the fruit and its nut inside.

Belinjo nut can be made into a krupuk when roasted, peeled and pounded manually. Krupuk is a standard side dish in Indonesia with several variations and this is one of those.

Garlic krupuk, shrimp krupuk and belinjo krupuk (pointed by the red arrow) with sambal as accompaniment to the lunch meal we prepared.

Food, Indonesia belinjo, emping krupuk, gnetum gnemon, Java, Jogja, melinjo, Prawirotaman, Yogyakarta

Sate Bamboo Fan

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on January 4, 2014

Designed for fanning live charcoal when grilling satay (and for other similar tasks).

Apparatus, Food, Indonesia bamboo fan, barbecue, Java, Jogja, satay, sate, Yogyakarta

Oleh-Oleh

Leave a comment Posted by Lana on January 3, 2014

The concept of pasalubong isn’t unique to Filipinos. It’s an Indonesian habit too and one can’t fail to notice that at Yogyakarta airport from their baggages and even as I queued at Dunkin Donuts to buy 2 pieces for my kid. Locals would order several dozens but instead of having it boxed by dozens, each doughnut was placed in paper bag, that’s about 36 tiny paper bags for the guy in front of me. Presumably those were for his work colleagues in Jakarta or maybe for his relatives and friends in Surabaya or Bali. Wherever his destination may be, he was leaving Yogyakarta with his oleh-oleh in the form of hand-carried 36 paper bags of Dunkin Donuts.

A place for last minute oleh-oleh shopping such as bakpia in Yogyakarta airport.