I have a friend from Japan who really like this soup. Unfortunetely not all the ingredients were available in Asian store near her house and some of them were out of season in Japan. So,she made some changes in ingredients. She replaced fresh peanuts with bagged walnuts and frozen green bean with freash Oregon pea pods. It still taste fantastic.

So, for some of you that might not find some of the ingredients below, just make some changes and see what would it taste like?

Vegetable Sour Soup

Here is the recipe

• 1 tsp. tamarind
• 5 tbsp. warm water
• 1 shallot, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 inch-long piece fresh ginger,
• peeled and sliced
• 1 red chili pepper, seeded and sliced*
• 3 tbsp. raw peanuts
• 1 tsp. shrimp paste
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 5 c. low-fat chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 c. salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 chayote, peeled, seeded, and
• sliced thin
• 1/2 c. fresh or frozen green beans,
• ends trimmed
• 1/3c. frozen corn kernels
• 1 green chili pepper, sliced (optional)

Direction

• Prepare tamarind by placing it in a small bowl with warm water. Let soak for 15 minutes.
• To make spice paste, combine shallot, garlic, ginger, red chili pepper, raw peanuts, shrimp paste, and salt in a large mortar and blend well with a pestle. Use a food processor or blender if you don’t have a mortar and pestle.
• Transfer paste to a medium saucepan and add chicken or vegetable broth, salted peanuts, and brown sugar. Stir to combine, and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, use a strainer to separate the tamarind seeds from the juice. Throw away the seeds and keep the juice.
• Add chayote, green beans, and corn to the soup, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes.
• Just before serving, add tamarind juice and stir. Garnish with green chili pepper slices if desired.

Rujak, an Indonesian Spicy Salad consists of assorted slices fruits and ingredients, such as Jambu air (water apple), pineapple, raw mangoes, Jjicama, cucumber, kedondong and sweet potato. Sometimes it also added with belimbing and green apple in same Indonesian regions.

The spicy thick sauce is made of water, shrimp paste, peanuts and brown sugar-wait– there’s one more thing *thinking*, you may add 2 or 5 bird’s eye chili, and red chili (optional) as desired. All of fruits are sliced and put on the dish and poured with the spicy sauce. And, I usually enjoy rujak in mid day.

You may also found Rujak in Singapore and Malaysia (with different taste and style Of Course). The term “Rujak” itself was coming from Malaysia meaning “Mixture”.

The complete recipes is, as follow. Enjoy!!

Rujak

Ingredients:
1 chayote, peeled
1 Granny Smith apple, cored
2 cucumbers peeled and cut in half lengthwise with seeds removed
1 raw mango
1 orange, peeled and divided into sections
½ tsp. crushed red pepper
¼ tsp. shrimp paste
3 tbsp. brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. tamarind, dissolved in 1 tbsp. warm water
1 14-oz. can diced pineapple, Drained

Direction:
1. Coarsely chop chayote, apple, cucumbers, mango, and orange sections.
2. In a large bowl, combine crushed red pepper, shrimp paste, brown sugar, salt, and tamarind to make a paste.
3. Add chayote, apple, cucumber, mango, orange, and pineapple to the bowl, and stir well to combine. Serve at room temperature.

Whether you enjoy it with rice or ketupat, both are still taste fantastic. Let’s take alook at the recipe:

Beef Rendang

Ingredients :

1 1/4 liters Coconut milk from 2 old coconuts
1 Turmeric leaf, torn and knotted
5 Kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk Lemon grass, bruised
1–2 pieces Asam Gelugur
10 Red chilies, finely sliced
1 kg Beef, fat and sinew removed, cut into 3 cm cubes

Spices

3 tablespoons Chopped galangal
1/2 tablespoon Chopped turmeric
1/2 tablespoon Chopped ginger
200 g Red chilies
4 Shallots
Salt

How to Cook:

• Simmer coconut milk with turmeric leaf, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, asam gelugur, sliced chilies and ground spices until the milk thickens and becomes oily.
• Reduce heat.
• Add beef and cook until tender.
• Stir occasionally until the spices dry and turn brown.

I’m not a fan of sambal but in the daily menu of Indonesia people, sambal seems can’t be separated. Although, Sambal is not the main menu, but its presence is always awaited among other main dishes. The dishes would be tasteless without sambal and one of the most popular sambal among Indonesians is Sambal Terasi, let’s take a look its recipe:

Ingredients:

15 red chilies, sliced and seeded
2 Tbs. dried shrimp paste
2 medium-sized tomato, chopped
2 small shallots, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and bruised
2 Tbs. oil
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbs. salt
1 Tbs. lime juice

How to Cook

• Heat oil and saute shallots, chillies, garlic and tomato until they are fragrant. Take out from the wok and set aside.
• Grind or blend all the fried ingredients with dried shrimp paste, salt and palm sugar, until smooth in mortar.

Sambal Terasi

When I was about 10 years old I spent most of my morning through midday time with my aunt in country side. She’s very good at making festive rice along with its complement Potato Fritter (perkedel kentang), crispy tempeh, and some garnishes like celery and sliced tomato.

In Indonesian tradition usually we enjoyed it during festival or in holiday such as Ramadhan. But of course you can enjoy it everytime you like.

Yellow Rice

Here is the recipe:

4 tbsp. canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 tbsp. turmeric
1 lb. uncooked Thai fragrant rice
3 c. water
1 14-oz. can reduced-fat coconut milk
2 stalks lemongrass
1 tsp. salt
1 red chili pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced thickly
1 tomato, cut into wedges deep-fried shallots
10 fried shrimp crackers

Direction

• In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onions, and turmeric and stir-fry for 3 minutes, until onions are soft but not brown.
• Add rice and stir to coat.
• Add water, coconut milk, lemongrass, and salt. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
• Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid.
• Remove from heat and cover pan with a dish towel. Set aside for 15 minutes.
• Remove lemongrass stalks. Mound the rice on a serving platter. Garnish with chili pepper, cucumber, tomato, fried shallots, and shrimp crackers.